CAUTION: White Raven Crossing!

On the islands of Haida Gwaii, we saw ravens of such size as we’d never seen before. None was more special to us, however, than the white raven, memorialized in the Port Clements Museum. Either a genetic rarity or a bird from the time before Raven turned black, this bird held a particular magic over the people who knew him. The only one of its kind on these 1,884 islands, the white Raven was well known and beloved by the residents of Port Clements; so much so, in fact, that they erected this sign: CAUTION! WHITE RAVEN X-ING! Sadly, in 1997, this unique animal was electrocuted. There are no white ravens populating Haida Gwaii today; this lone creature is now on display in Port Clements, a reminder of what once was. If you look carefully and listen to the stories, you’ll hear of other white ravens – one near Kitwanga, two on Vancouver Island – but this trickster, as always, remains elusive.