Happy New Year

Raven couple grooming each other in a close up photo

We spent most of today, the last one of 2025, up on our local mountain — spending time with friends and some ravens.

This raven couple spent lots of time taking turns grooming each other’s feathers — just as if they were planning a big night out and needed to look their very smartest.

It occurs to me that a raven wardrobe assistant would be handy for many of us on those mornings when we don’t have time to do our own hair …

Fashion goals for 2026 …

Photograph of a raven standing in the snow with feathers fluffed out

Happy New Year, everyone — with so many thanks for all of your support for my work over the past twelve months.

Or, in some cases, the past twelve years, and more!

 

 

 


© junehunterimages, 2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to junehunterimages with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Festive Greetings, Dogs, Cats and a Raven

Wishing you all the very merriest of Festive Seasons, and all the best for 2026.

My board of directors have gathered by the tree to help me send this vital message.

Geordie the dog and Edgar the cat posed with the 2025 Christmas tree

Luckily for us, Edgar has never been one for playing with the tree ornaments. He’s more fascinated by the tree when it first comes into the house in it’s natural form — the annual mystery of the arrival of The Great Green Stranger!
Our greatest Edgar challenge this year has been his determination to seek out his hidden Christmas gift (three catnip-filled fish.) He seems to be able to sniff them out, however cleverly I hide them — putting me in mind of the kids when they were little. I finally had to move them into the studio for safe-keeping until the Big Day.

Edgar the ginger Scottish Fold cat in front of the Christmas tree

Geordie feels (with some justification) that he deserves a large Christmas bonus for being made to wear the dreaded reindeer antlers for a few seconds again this year.

Geordie the black and white dog wearing reindeer antlers and looking worried

My Christmas wish for some snow on the mountains finally came true this week, so we were able to enjoy a snowy walk on Mount Seymour.

Phillip took this photo of me in my happy place, videoing a raven in the woods.Photographer in the snowy forest taking a picture of a raven in the tree above her

And, here’s the view from my perspective …

Geordie was also in his happy place.

Black and white dog on a bridge in the snow

So much better than posing with silly antlers!

May this holiday season find you in your happy place, whatever that looks like!

Close up of a snow-covered but happy photographer

See you in 2026 with lots more crow and raven news.

Happy Crowsgiving

With apologies to readers of my blog who may be wondering where I’ve been for the past few weeks, here is a very short Crowsgiving greeting.

I have been going on many long crow walks, and there is so much news for the crow-verse, it’s hard to know where to start relaying it all.

But for now, on this Canadian Thanksgiving, here is a little round-up of the past week or so with some of the local crows.

One of the most joyful things this year has been the number of crow fledglings making it through their risky first summer — many more than I’ve seen over the past few years. Several youngsters seem to be sticking with Mom and Dad for the fall.

Lucky II is Marvin and Mavis’s fledgling from this spring and seems set to stick around, replacing Lucky I, who stayed with his parents for three years before moving on to start his own family this year. Lucky II is already a forceful personality!

Barry and Beryl, who live on the street with lots of berries, have Baby Berry and Fearless Fred (and his more conservative mate, Florence) have both of their fledglings with them, learning Fred’s fearless ways.

Crow harvest festival has been in full swing, with nuts being hauled out of trees and the road being used as a nutcracker. If dropping their bounty from a height doesn’t work, the crows wait for cars to run over them and then race in to scoop up the fragments — hopefully before the squirrels or other crows get their first.

Now that the nuts are almost all gone, it will be time to move up the street to harvest the berries on the dogwood trees. After that, it will be Persimmon-fest, when the big orange fruit reaches bird-snacking perfection in November. The persimmons are a big favourite with the starlings, but the crows manage to get their share, of course.

I hope your Thanksgiving is sociable and bountiful too!

Lucky II on bin day — the crows’ weekly fun fest!

 

 


© junehunterimages, 2025. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to junehunterimages with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.