Ravens in Hollywood

Posted by ravens at October 25th, 2005

The musical number that is our unofficial city anthem would have sounded slightly different if our city founders had been sticklers for taxonomic accuracy. Hollywood was alledgedly named for the large shrubs bearing bright red berries in the winter, not really holly, but toyon. They are one of the dominant species in the Santa Monicas and other hills and mountains of the coastal sage scrub climate that prevails from Los Angeles to the great inland valleys like San Bernardino. And they are apparently good for a snack, if you’re a raven and feeling a bit peckish.

Toyon (but in high desert, not Hollywood)

Posted by ravens at October 18th, 2005

Hollywood may be a mythical tinseltown to most people, but in reality it’s a place where the ultra-famous live alongside the utterly destitute, with a lot of ordinary working people in between. Lots of residents live off dumpster diving, and ravens are no exception, as my marathon raven expedition on Sunday in Griffith Park was to reveal.

A small brush fire above Fern Dell detoured me to the Vermont Ave. entrance, used for the golf course and Greek Theater, whose summer season has just ended. I had hardly arrived before I spotted ravens, and followed one to a location just outside the theater. I heard raven song as I approached, which I believe was coming from the raven in the dumpster, who emerged with a nice chunk of garlic bread.

Why the singing (the mysterious, xylophone-like sounds) just then?

Posted by ravens at August 30th, 2005

I have yet to see any raven with food. I have a feeling late risers like me are unlikely to be at an advantage in observing serious foraging.