Woke up this Thanksgiving morning with the rrak-ousness of five or six ravens chasing each other around my building. Unless that bird in the lead was a hawk… later I spied on over the empty lot next to the TraveLodge, and decided to grab the camera aned go see what might be on. Didn’t have to go far. Three ravens were perched right up in the dead Canary Island pine across the street from Ravenwood Manor.
One had a large crust with it, clearly very happy. The third was chased off by the second, but not after a good bit of winging in the I’m-a-poor-hungry-juvenile assuming-subordinate-posture mode. After a while it tried to come back, only to suffer the same banishment. The superior bird didn’t even ruff or fluff, just hopped up towards the junior, which provoked the pathetic pleading and retreat. Meanwhile, bird with crust flew over to a lush pine across the street, and proceeded to cache the treat in the dense needles of a bough. It was really exciting to see behaviors that I’d only read about till now, and to see them on my doorstep! (As usual, the photos are being developed and will appear soon).
And I thought Tim Allen in my local 7-Eleven was cool. The only thing better than this will be raven watching in Dodger Stadium when baseball season comes back around.
