Public Art on Public Transportation
Posted by ravens at February 5th, 2010
Nice to see this decorative motif on the Orange Line in the San Fernando Valley.
Ravens in Camelot
Posted by ravens at January 5th, 2010
Who are we to argue?
“January 6 – 9, 2010: The original Renaissance Pleasure Faire will transform the Egyptian Theatre’s Courtyard into an Elizabethan Village with food, vendors, craft demos and entertainment from the time of King and Queens. Inside the King’s Palace (or should we say the Pharoah’s Palace) tales of knighthood, quests for riches, revenge and revelry, not to mention a smattering of faeries, serpents and ravens will unspool on the giant screen…”
The Crow Line
Posted by ravens at December 15th, 2009
To most Angelenos, it must seem like crows range everywhere. They love the city and the way humans have made it so habitable for them. However, crows do not range into Griffith Park, and possibly other parts of the Santa Monica mountains. I’ve known this for a long time, but it wasn’t until my visit to Monterey – a place where ravens won’t be found, in spite of their proliferation in California generally – it wasn’t until that visit that I began to think it might be worth while to investigate and map the Crow Line (or the No Crow Line, if you prefer).
I have two things now that I didn’t have the last time it seemed like an interesting project: iPhone and binoculars. I’ve picked out a couple GPS apps to test, which have topo maps. I’ll start inside the no-crow zone and walk out until I find and note specimens of C. brachyrhynchos, repeating the route on different days to build up an accurate data picture of the boundary. After locating the line, more observations can be made to figure out how the line actually works.
Corvidiclature
Posted by ravens at December 15th, 2009
All of a sudden have notice lots of non-avian ravens all over the place. The USS Raven of the Star Trek universe (TNG, I think – thanks to Celsius1414 for that one). Raven, the horse ridden by one of the police officers lately murdered in Washington. A small military drone system named Raven. In the film Independence Day, one of Will Smith’s fellow jet fighter pilots is nicknamed Raven. Or maybe it was Will Smith’s character.
Raven’s Eye View
Posted by ravens at November 18th, 2009
At the Airship Ventures web site, a great view of one of LA’s primary raven habitats as the Eureka arrived today in the southland for another visit. I always wonder what ravens think of the various human machines they encounter. Not much, I’m sure, unless food is involved.
http://airshipventures.blogspot.com/2009/11/griffith-observatory.html
Awkward moment
Posted by ravens at November 7th, 2009
Was recognized by local ravens when I made an early trip to Starbucks on a recent morning.
two ravens off 101 at coyote
Posted by ravens at October 28th, 2009
but lots and lots of buzzards / vultures
A corvid mystery on the Bay
Posted by ravens at October 28th, 2009
It does appear to be true that ravens neither live nor forage in the vicinity of Monterey. And there seems to be no obvious reason, at least to this amateur naturalist, for this odd range limit. C. brachyrhynchos loves it here, as do two species of jays. Can’t imagine there is a predator here that does not exist elsewhere in the state, and there is an overpopulation of C. corax everywhere else. I cannot think of any other factors that would affect ravens but not crows. This leaves me with only one rather weak hypothesis. This is one of the first places that humans with guns settled in California. They may have brought with them rural beliefs about predation of ravens on newborn livestock, or may have been shooting at ravens for other reasons. And then a cultural taboo on the area has been passed on by the birds ever since. This seems to have happened in the eastern US as well, so maybe it is not totally far-fetched.
As with crows and the Santa Monica mountains, there is some kind of zone in the normal range of the species that is simply passed over. Maybe I should go back to investigating the no-crow zone at home. It might be too simple to put it down to absence of lawns and other anthropogenic factors. As for Monterey and crows, there are plenty, probably too many, but I have not had time to see what they are really living on. Some are clearly local pairs, comfortable in their neighborhood trees, but down by the shore and downtown, there are lots of juvenile gangs having all sorts of fun in the strong winds and competing with all the other urban birds – which here includes Euphagus cyanocephalus, or Brewer’s blackbird. Over in Carmel, the latter seems to fill the niche usually occupied by sparrows in the most built-up areas, but that’s only a passing observation.
Heading up to Monterey
Posted by ravens at October 24th, 2009
Ventura to Santa Barbara: lots of ravens along the coast so far; in fact, have been seeing them from Union Station on.
Of ravens and writers
Posted by ravens at October 23rd, 2009
If California history balances like a teeter-totter between north and south, the fulcrum must be Monterey, the capital town of the colonial province. Ravens in Hollywood will be boarding the Coast Starlight soon for a trip north.
According to the Monterey Bay Shoreline Guide, ravens are very scarce between Big Sur in the north and the Pajaro River to the south. We shall see.
Robert Louis Stevenson has a Monterey connection as well, so our sister blog should be involved, time allowing. I’ll keep a running commentary on this topic in the comments section until the conclusion of my visit, and then write up a new post.