Today, LA marathon morning, they are making a big fuss out on Billy Wilder Square. Usually that fuss is reserved for hawks, but as this is nesting season, I think it one territorial pair fussing at an interloper (or two). The alarm was raised just outside my window, so I had a fine show for a minute or two. The three-call  vocalizing is less rapid than one hears when hawks are involved, but just as loud.  I noticed a pretty aggressive chase yesterday, two. If this is the local residents, then they would be the ones living down the street at the church, and if I can get photos uploading properly, I’ll have something to write about that, too. Question: is this competition between Runyon residents and Sunset residents?

I’ve just been calculating - not something I do well, which is one reason I’m not a biologist! However, based on some research about hatching and fledging times, it may well have been possible for Bernie and his parents to have been the ravens from the nest at the edge of the burn area - the birds in this blog’s masthead. Finishing touches on the nest at the intersection of Hollywood Drive and Western Canyon Road were being put on around March 1. From that date there were 68 days or so until the fire. Just long enough. So it’s possible. But impossible to verify. But Fern Dell is straight downhill from there, and the easiest place to flee to if you can’t fly very well yet. With that scenario, Bernie would have been around 130 days old or so at the time of the photo above.

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2007/10/city_birds_are_tougher_than_co.php

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/animals/video/raven_begs_scraps.html

Google Maps is now rolling out its personalized maps service, so I’ll have to take a look and see if it will be useful. So far as I’ve learned, ravens are spread out foraging across Hollywood during the day in pretty good numbers. The only really interesting thing to learn at this point is whether or not other areas in Los Angeles host as many.