Last Minute Raven

April 11, 2024April 10, 2024 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 5 Comments

One last trip to the mountains before the spring melt makes the trail impassable. Also the last trip before our month away in the UK.

Of course, I hoped that this excursion would include a little raven farewell — but it seemed as if that were not to be.

I wasn’t surprised by their absence — the last few times out there we’d witnessed courting behaviour, mating and, most recently, nest building — so clearly the ravens are busy and probably staying close to those new nests.

We headed out early yesterday morning amid rapidly melting snow conditions — the only humans crazy enough to be on the trail. The going was sloppy and difficult, and it was clear that in the next day or so, the little snow bridges over open water would be washed away and the path would be even worse.

Phillip preparing to cross Wet Boot Creek — you just never know when the snow bridge is going to give way and give you that soaking surprise!

All the way along the trail, starting in the parking lot, I called out my amateur raven greetings. Once or twice, a raven flew by before disappearing into the misty trees.

The view at Dog Mountain was lovely when we arrived, with just a few wispy clouds garlanding the city.

I kept on with my raven calling, but only succeeded in confusing the resident Steller’s jays again.

We waited, ate some trail mix. I kept quorking my enticing raven greetings and we waited some more.

After an hour or so, the clouds rolled in and a cold wind picked up. At this point, both Phillip and Geordie expressed the opinion that it was time to give up on ravens for the day.

All the way back I stopped to call every few minutes. As I mentioned, we were the only people out there — otherwise, I’d probably have been too embarrassed to keep it up.

Hope springs eternal. I kept calling even as we walked through the ski hill parking lot and back to the car. No ravens.

By then, even I had given up, so I took off my snow boots and changed into my Blundstones for the ride home. We sat in the car; I unwrapped a granola bar; Phillip started the engine and began to pull out onto the road.

And then he arrived — my Last Minute Raven came from nowhere to casually land right in front of the car.

Was it the famous tricky raven sense of humour, to watch me do my crazy calls all day while chuckling knowingly from the forest? Was it the imperceptible rustle of granola bar wrapper from inside the car? Pure luck?

Whatever — I never, ever look a gift raven in the beak!

I was out of the car immediately and wading about in the slush in my unsuitable city boots.

I’m assuming this raven was a “he” as only one appeared and I would think the female of the pair would be on the nest at this time of the breeding season.

Playing with a dried leaf

Soaring about in the misty forest

Making soft calls with wide-open beak

Just passing the time of day …

Rarely have soaking wet feet been so worthwhile! I was very happy to have that last raven visit before we leave on our trip. The next ravens I see will either be at the Tower of London or in Snowdonia.

Footnote: Ironically, when we got home, I heard a raven flying around right behind our house, driving the local crows mad. It was as if he was saying — you could just have stayed home and had dry feet. As I mentioned, these birds have a great sense of humour.

Mr Walker Strides On

March 11, 2023March 10, 2023 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 1 Comment

Mr. Walker is number four in my City Crow Stories book of crow characters — and his life seems to be rambling on much as it has in previous years.

He and his mate Wanda wait for the dog and I each morning. If Mr. W is busy in the alleyway checking out the bins, Wanda will let him know it’s time.

Time to drop whatever he’s up to and get himself into position for the daily gallop alongside the “bringers of the peanuts” to the sacred spot at the foot of the massive cherry tree.

Here he is in action this very morning — showing fine promenading form once he gets neck and neck with Geordie, the dog …

As per usual, he strides/ambles/scampers alongside Geordie, waits for him to have the customary sniff at his tree, and then up onto his pedestal for the peanut payoff.

As is also routine, Wanda, having arrived at the tree via air (I’ve never seen her lower herself to pedestrian pastimes), drops down from the branches above to get in first dibs.

Mr. Walker this morning, looking as suave as ever

I wrote last summer about the Walkers’ early nesting failure and, though they did seem to be working on a second nest, I think the stress of another hot dry summer led them to just give up in order to concentrate on keeping themselves fed and hydrated.

It’s a pretty exhausting business raising fledglings, as seen in the book with pictures from 2021 when they raised two of them

They went AWOL for the latter part of the summer and imagined them just kicking back in the shade, tiny sunglasses balanced on their beaks, waiting for the cooler weather. Far too hot for any jogging, even for peanuts.

And, indeed, by fall they were back at the appointed spot — Mr. Walker ready, willing and eager to get back into training for the peanut Olympics.

On this occasion, for once, he beat Wanda to the goodies!

The simple reliability of this little daily ritual is strangely comforting — and Mr. Walker’s enthusiastic perambulation technique always brings a smile.

Hip To Be Square #TBT

August 9, 2018August 9, 2018 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 7 Comments

1200px-Kodak_Instamatic_100

This was the first camera I owned. Well not that one exactly, but this type. I received it for my ninth birthday in, gulp, 1963.

I don’t believe it came with a manual as it was so utterly basic. There was no focusing, no exposure settings, certainly no filters. Framing choices were limited to square.

It was case of: point, shoot and hope for the best.

Perfect for an enthusiastic nine year old!

This nine year old me does not look very excited, but I was. Our class went on a thrilling school trip to the Flamingo Park Zoo, in distant and exotic Yorkshire! However, as you can see I was always going to be more comfortable behind the camera, rather than in front of it. Or maybe I was just worried my friend was going to drop my new treasure …

A picture from the first roll of film I ever shot, again at Flamingo Park Zoo. There were also a lot of photos of flamingoes …

Perhaps because of this early viewfinder, I always “see” my images as squares, even when using a rectangular viewfinder. Square format came back into fashion during the Polaroid era, and now Instagram has brought it back. That’s nice — makes it easier to find frames!

However, I do like to think I “invented” the one and only thing you could do to vary my square photographic universe — the “groundbreaking” Diamond Shot.

Me and my first Canadian dog, Finlay, taking a break while tree planting in northern BC — a photo made using the exciting Diamond Shot method.

A pair of cactus-themed diamond shots taken on a road trip to the Mexican desert.

A more conventional square shot of some roadside repairs being done on the car that took us (unbelievably) to Mexico and back to northern BC again.

The good old Instamatic, although technically rather stunted, was super portable. It travelled with me through schooldays, university, and moving to Canada.

It’s portability, in the end, proved to be its downfall. While tree planting in a particularly gorgeous spot near Mount Robson, I decided to bring the camera with me to the top of a “run” so I could get a photo of the view. Sadly, the only place to carry it was in my tree bag, where it got wet from the peat moss meant to keep the trees moist and alive. As I advanced the film for the last shot, the lever made a sort of grinding noise from the particulate matter in there.

Still, the film did come out, and this is the very last photo on the roll. Great view, right?

McBride-4f

It was a sad goodbye to an old companion, but that Instamatic had been a trusty friend for almost twenty years, so I really couldn’t complain. Plus, well … wet peat moss …

After some brief flirtations with Canon and Minolta models, I finally settled on an Olympus OM-1 film camera to replace the old Kodak. No automatic features, but tons of fun to be had playing with f-stops, film speed and exposure length. I’m still using an Olympus — now the digital variety. I’m on my third model after “killing” the first two, both times without the aid of wet peat moss!

Ah, they really do not make ’em like they used to.