Ravens in Hollywood

Posted by ravens at September 22nd, 2009

Almost 6 a.m. and the pathetic strips of grass at a Carl’s Jr are being irrigated by equally pathetic sprinklers – most of the water is running off as waste into the storm drains. But homeowners are getting charged fines if they exceed their quota.

Posted by ravens at September 20th, 2009

Lone raven flying above Dodger stadium

Posted by ravens at September 6th, 2009

Raven above Pink’s looking peckish

Posted by ravens at September 4th, 2009

six soarcling songbirds over the superb showhouse

Posted by ravens at September 4th, 2009

Ravens want to know when Zeppelin will be flying over Griffith Park. Airship Ventures reservation office not terribly helpful. Hoping online calendar is accurate.

Posted by ravens at August 24th, 2009

The moment I’ve been waiting for. Observing ravens from 3rd floor of new campus library (Del Reyvens presumably). They soarcled up on therms from Playa Vista and then glided down towards Lincoln Ave and the west end of campus.

Posted by ravens at August 23rd, 2009

Wright and

co-workers studied cooperative foraging strategies using sheep

carcasses placed at varying distances from the roost that were

baited with color-coded plastic beads. These beads were ingested

at the carcass and regurgitated in aggregations of pellets back in

the roost, the spatial distribution of which consistently reflected the

geographical location of bait sites.

…and way easier than strapping radios to ravens. This could be an effective method in LA. We obviously have mobile juvenile gangs here, but their easy access to landfills makes any questions about their foraging less interesting. The interesting questions come up in the area of pairs and their territories. Most of the ravens I observe in Hollywood are pairs, whether or not they own their own territories. In the Santa Monicas – Griffith Park, Elysian Park, and Verdugo – is where the juvenile gangs roost and rendezvous.  By contrast, the population in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains is very sparse.

Posted by ravens at August 21st, 2009

Billy Wilder ravens perched on billboard above Starbucks watching the sun rise. Such a nice couple.

Wonder how large their territory is. With the superabundant food here it may not matter.

Posted by ravens at August 19th, 2009

Ravens cashing in on the vampire fad. Oh the shame!

Posted by ravens at August 6th, 2009

Shark Week on Discover channel. Let’s see… giant fish pigging out on tuna. Giant fish pigging out on easy to catch seals. Giant fish pigging out on floating carcasses. Giant fish mistaking zodiacs for floating carcasses. Giant fish being tricked into attacking seal-shaped pieces of carpet…

Wake us when it’s over. Oh, and can giant fish stop eating long enough to make tools and solve problems?

Rooks and corvids doing more amazing problem solving on camera