Ravens in Hollywood

Posted by ravens at June 14th, 2010

Crow Planet and its author win the 2010 Sigurd Olsen Nature Writing Award! Congratulations, Lyanda Lynn Haupt.

Posted by ravens at February 16th, 2010

No sooner do I mention the impending nesting season, then what do I see first thing out the door this morning? The Billy Wilder ravens building a nest in their favorite billboard – the one above the Mashti Malone ice cream store sign.

In the meantime, the bus has broken down next to Pink’s – sadly, too early for lunch. Ravens frequent this intersection, too. There’s one in a nearby palm tree just now.

Posted by ravens at February 16th, 2010

I know I should be blogging about caching behavior and the impending breeding season, but SurlyRamics has just produced these fantastic pieces.
http://tweetphoto.com/11547923

Posted by ravens at February 5th, 2010

Nice to see this decorative motif on the Orange Line in the San Fernando Valley.

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…”

Posted by ravens at December 19th, 2009

Have arrived at Greek Theatre to test data collection with GPS app. Will walk down to Los Feliz or crow, whichever comes first. Lovely sunny day like you can only have in LA in December.

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.

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.

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

Posted by ravens at November 7th, 2009

Was recognized by local ravens when I made an early trip to Starbucks on a recent morning.