Cleanup Crew
One of my favorite things about the school that I work at and my children go to are the birds. We have a flock of ravens (poetically known as an unkindness of ravens) who live at the school. There are 8-12 around the school at all times. Ravens are gorgeous birds -- big, black, shiny, and very smart. They make the most amazing range of noises.
They are normally pretty solitary and aloof from people but these are used to us. Still, if you get too close, they leave the area. In the picture above, I took two more steps and they left the area en masse.
Yesterday, I watched one of the ravens walk past my classroom door. He (She?) turned and went up the stairs. He hopped up the stairs all the way to the 2nd floor. Funniest thing I've seen in a long time -- and no camera available.
I love seeing and hearing the ravens everyday. We live 3 miles away from the school and rarely saw ravens around here. Thankfully, this spring, a pair moved into the area. I hear them almost every afternoon and see them often. They are not used to people and remain wild but we've seen some dramatic flights over our house.
I got the closest I've gotten to a raven with my camera today and got this shot here . . .
They are normally pretty solitary and aloof from people but these are used to us. Still, if you get too close, they leave the area. In the picture above, I took two more steps and they left the area en masse.
Yesterday, I watched one of the ravens walk past my classroom door. He (She?) turned and went up the stairs. He hopped up the stairs all the way to the 2nd floor. Funniest thing I've seen in a long time -- and no camera available.
I love seeing and hearing the ravens everyday. We live 3 miles away from the school and rarely saw ravens around here. Thankfully, this spring, a pair moved into the area. I hear them almost every afternoon and see them often. They are not used to people and remain wild but we've seen some dramatic flights over our house.
I got the closest I've gotten to a raven with my camera today and got this shot here . . .
2 comments:
We don't get ravens much here in Ohio, but I would love to see one. I have to settle for crows. Which I love.
I have a love/hate thing with crows. They are totally cool birds but they aren't ravens and they drive ravens away when they come into an area. This summer, I watched a group of them drive off a pair of ravens that was established there. It was really strange to see. Crows are moving up our valley and are in my town as well -- I worry that they'll drive off our population of ravens.
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