George Bumann learned to speak raven when he and his wife Jenny Golding moved to the Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley.<\/p>\n
It was 2002 and a pair of ravens claimed the topmost piece of the corral fence as their perch, repeating the same three-note call endlessly, especially in the mornings.<\/p>\n
“It just went on and on and on,” Bumann remembered recently, seated in his studio just outside the north entrance to Yellowstone. <\/p>\n
As he told the story, he skillfully and realistically mimicked each sound. <\/p>\n
“It’s like, \u2018What are you saying? What is going on here?\u2019” he explained.<\/p>\n
Bumann later realized, “That’s their song. They’re the largest songbird in the world, and that’s their song.”<\/p>\n
As Bumann listened more carefully, he noticed the three-note call would change when a car pulled up at the foot of the Buffalo Ranch driveway.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ravens were emphasizing their territorial claim, announcing to any listening: “This is our turf. Anything that comes out of that lunch pail, you know that grocery bag, it’s ours.”<\/p>\n
But the raven vocabulary extended far beyond territorial songs. One day while walking his dog, Bumann heard yet another variation. Looking up, he saw a raven chasing a golden eagle out of its territory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“From then on I knew every time I heard that variation, that’s a golden eagle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Years later, over lunch with a bird biologist friend, Bumann mentioned the call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“He’s like, \u2018Oh gosh. Yeah. That’s how we know to get the traps ready for the eagles \u2014 the ravens rat them out before they ever get close to us,'” Bumann recalled.<\/p>\n
There is even a different variation of a raven\u2019s call for bald eagles.<\/p>\n
“I’ve managed to pull it off a few times,” Bumann said, describing how he\u2019s impressed those he\u2019s with by predicting that a bald eagle is about to fly by. “I think a bald eagle’s coming, probably from over there. And a minute goes by and oh, there it is.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Animal-talker-elk-calves-10.12.25.jpg\")
A pair of elk calves spotted in Yellowstone National Park by George Bumann. (Courtesy George Bumann)![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Animal-talker-black-bear-10.12.25.jpg\")
A black bear observed in Yellowstone National Park by George Bumann. (Courtesy George Bumann)![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Animal-talker-elk-calves-2-10.12.25.jpg\")
A pair of elk calves spotted in Yellowstone National Park by George Bumann. (Courtesy George Bumann)![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Animal-talker-bison-10.12.25.jpg\")
A herd of bison with a number of “red dogs” observed in Yellowstone National Park by George Bumann. (Courtesy George Bumann)Arrow leftArrow rightTalking Turkey<\/p>\n
This journey into animal languages began decades earlier in upstate New York, where a young Bumann hunted, fished and trapped, doing “everything that the culture I grew up in offered.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
He learned to call turkeys, ducks and geese \u2014 even competing in the New York State turkey calling amateur open when he was about 19, finishing second overall and placing in the top three or four in the natural voice competitions, where competitors use just their vocal cords.<\/p>\n
Sitting behind a curtain, judges evaluated calls based on their accuracy to archetypal turkey sounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Real turkeys are not invited to sit back in that curtain,” Bumann realized. “Real turkeys competing would not win.”<\/p>\n
Once, a state competition judge said, “If you hear a lot of really good calling out in the woods, it’s not a turkey, it’s a hunter, because turkeys make a lot of mistakes.”<\/p>\n
“Mistakes?” Bumann thought. “Wait a minute, that doesn’t add up, right? Mistakes are interpreted in this way if someone doesn’t know the language.”<\/p>\n
Even through graduate school in wildlife ecology, Bumann felt he wasn’t getting closer to understanding what animals were really saying.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then a breakthrough came at a nature preserve near Blacksburg, Virginia, in a spot locals called Eden. Bumann would sit there before going to classes and lab work.<\/p>\n
One morning, huddled by a rosebush, Bumann was suddenly “inundated with birds, like, birds come from everywhere.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
A couple minutes later, he saw a woman and her\u00a0dog hiking\u00a0on the ridgeline above about 100 yards away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It clicked. Those two things were related,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The birds weren’t seeking his company \u2014 they were escaping ahead of the disturbance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Those birds, if not themselves, took the word of others who were closest to that person when she was hundreds of yards away. They’re escaping ahead of the arrival and hanging out until the disturbance leaves,\u201d Bumann recalled.<\/p>\n
“My cranium just exploded,” he said. “I was like, \u2018Oh, my gosh. This is what I’ve been missing my whole life.\u2019”<\/p>\n
The Book and Beyond<\/p>\n
That realization became the foundation for Bumann’s book, “Eavesdropping on Animals: What We Can Learn From Wildlife Conversations.” His goal was simple: “Share what took me four decades to learn with someone so they can start doing it right now.”<\/p>\n
The Wall Street Journal took notice, with a reviewer describing how Bumann probes the idea of developing a \u201cpeaceful coexistence, even rapport\u201d with animals through sound.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He encourages readers to develop their own listening habits and experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"George](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/George-Bumann-2-10.12.25.jpg\")
(Courtesy George Bumann)No Talking To The Animals<\/p>\n![\"George](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/George-Bumann-and-Jenny-Golding-10.12.25.jpg\")
George Bumann and his wife Jenny Golding have spent more than two decades learning how to understand what the animals in Yellowstone National Park tell us. (Courtesy George Bumann)Coyote Telegraph<\/p>\n