Ravens and Crows in the City

October 5, 2024 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 6 Comments

If only I could bring some real crows and ravens along to one of my Raven/Crow presentations; they speak more eloquently for themselves than I could ever do.

This morning they magically appeared to demonstrate many of the things I cover in my talks, in the calendar and here, on my blog.

The crows and I heard the raven at about the same time …

Following the crows, I headed west until I found the source.

For a while, there were only a few crows, mostly keeping a polite distance from the raven while she groomed her feathers in peace.

Gradually, more crows arrived and began to get a little more rowdy.

One crow in particular got up the courage to launch a sneak attack. I love how you can see them pecking the branch aggressively as they advance, building up their nerve for the mission.

The raven, however, was having none of that guff.

The crows got a little more rowdy.

A little dive-bombing ensued.

Still, the raven continued preening and looked quite relaxed.

I feel I should give a shoutout to my companion, Geordie, who had already been waiting patiently beside for me about half an hour at this point.

He accepts that crows are going to mean a slight delay and is always resigned to the fact that ravens are really going to throw a spanner in the walk works.

Philosophically, he lay down to pass the time in comfort.

Good boy!

Things looked to be taking a turn for our raven visitor when I heard a BIG gang of crows coming in from further away.

The raven made one call.

And there, seemingly from nowhere, her* mate arrived.

Note how the crows quickly gave up on the attack.

Two ravens; now that was something to reconsider.

The crows became much quieter and the ravens were clearly happy to be together again.

A few crows swooped half-heartedly by, but our raven couple were oblivious—immersed in affectionate allo-preening and beak play.

The original raven moved away from their mate, ever so politely, to take a poop.

This was their prelude to leaving, flying casually off somewhere to the north.

The crow crowd cawed in corvid victory.

They had ousted the enemy!

Although it seemed more like the barking dog and postie situation, where the house dog feels that their heroic efforts are 100% responsible for the delivery person’s daily retreat.

In less than an hour the obliging crows and ravens illustrated so many points from my talks:

the relative size of crows and ravens
the different calls of crows and ravens
the group action plan of crows
the pair bond between birds
how ravens communicate with their mates over long distances
the affectionate behaviour between raven couples (crows couples also allo-preen, but don’t engage in beak play)

I may have to update a couple of the slides in my presentation with some of these new videos!

* I guessed that the first raven was the female in this couple because of her preening and beak play behaviour. She’s also a lot smaller, which can be a clue — but not always.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

© junehunterimages, 2024. 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.

The Status Crow

June 9, 2024 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 9 Comments

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been fooled repeatedly.

I hear that insistent begging call, and I think — “Aha, a crow fledgling!”

There SHOULD be some out and about by now — but it’s been another perilous nesting season and each time I hear the begging call, it turns out to be not a fledgling, but a female crow calling out to her mate for food while she remains close to the nest.

Bella places an emphatic food order

Bongo delivers

At this time last year, Bongo and Bella’s fledglings had been out of the nest for almost two weeks and they looked on schedule for another early start. When we left for our trip to the UK in mid-April, Bella seemed to be sitting on eggs in their nice new nest. I’m not sure what happened in the month we were away, but they now have a new nest in a different tree and no sign of any fledglings yet.

Bongo, always near the nest on high alert

And poor Norman and Nancy! After a very trying start to the season, they were on their third nest effort when we left in April. When we got back in mid-May I was thrilled to see that, not only were they still on that nest, but I could see the heads of at least two little baby crows in there. Things were looking good!

But baby bird catastrophe struck overnight in some mysterious form (hawk, owl, eagle, raccoon, cat?) and the nest was abandoned.

A day later, Norman was out again on stick-gathering duty. I don’t know where the new nest is — and hopefully neither do the hawks, owls, eagles etc!

As for Marvin, Mavis and Lucky — they seem to have moved further away from our house following a short but heated territorial dispute with Norman.

Norman boldly ventured into what was hitherto Marvin and Mavis-land — was challenged by either Marvin or Lucky — and crankily refused to back down.

I’m not sure who’s who in this tussle. Fortunately, neither bird was injured — but the unseemly outburst was enough to convince Marvin, Mavis and Lucky to move a little further east for a quiet life.

The Walkers, back after their mysterious fall and winter disappearance, are still holding onto their old territory. Mr. Walker may have to be renamed Mr. Flapper as, since his eye injury, he does very little walking. His impaired vision has made him less confident and he seems to feel safer now on branches, wires and rooftops rather than strutting along the sidewalk as in days of yore.

Mr. Walker, May 2024

Wanda makes some desultory begging calls.

Wanda left, Mr Walker right.

The Walkers seem to be in nesting mode, but I can’t tell where the nest might be or at what stage they’re at, only that Wanda is begging for food.

Having only two good eyes between them, it’s going to be a challenge — but crows, as we all know, are determined and resourceful birds and the Walkers are veterans of nesting challenges.

A few blocks away, Earl and Echo had their first nest all completed back in April but, as with Bongo and Bella, something went wrong and they’ve had to relocate.

I’ve seen his Earl-ship around a lot, accompanied by last year’s fledging, but nary a trace of Echo …

… until a couple of days ago, when she emerged from what, judging by the state of her feathers, have been tumultuous times in the nest.

So that’s the nesting status-crow for now.
I’m expecting/hoping to see some baby crows in the ‘hood in the next week or so.

And when those babies DO emerge from the nest, remember that the parents will be (justifiably) beside themselves with worry as the fledglings stumble about helplessly on the ground until they get their flying skills sorted out.

Some crow fledgling tips:

__________________________________________________________________________________________

All Season Crows

February 2, 2024February 1, 2024 / The Urban Nature Enthusiast / 11 Comments

A month into 2024, and the crows, like the rest of us, have already experienced several seasons.

Vancouver has had “mild and wet” followed by “bloody freezing” and “snowpocalypse” leading, inevitably to “slushmageddon” with, “record-breakingly warm and wet” to round out the month.

We’re all suffering from weather whiplash!

2024 began with pretty standard Wet Coast weather — good conditions for “crows in puddles” photography.

Marvin, Mavis and Lucky (right) debate puddle ownership with Norman and Nancy (January 8)

By mid-month temperatures had plunged to around -13C at night (colder with the wind chill factor) and it was “tuck your feet up into the pantaloons” time for the crows …

… and “wake up at the crack of dawn to check the hummingbird feeder” for me.

After several frigid days the cold snap eased — and the snow started.

It kept on snowing until our neighbourhood was an unrecognizable winter wonderland. The human inhabitants shovelled … and shovelled … and shovelled some more.

Sometimes there was just too much shovelling …

People got around on skis and toboggans and schools were closed for two days in a row. If you didn’t HAVE to get somewhere, it was magical.

“Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow” — Christina Rossetti

One of my favourite moments was seeing a little girl in a pink snowsuit passionately declaring while throwing herself face-first into the snow, “This is the BEST day of my life!”

Of course, she probably didn’t have to do any shovelling!

My biggest regret: not getting a picture of the night-time unicyclist pedalling through the snow with a plastic toboggan tucked under one arm.

More standard snow commuting options — dig out the car or risk a bike ride.

The crows, unequipped with shovels or sleds, just had to forge their own way through the drifts.

Especially for last year’s fledglings, it must have been confusing to find their normal perches inaccessible. Roofs, railings and branches were suddenly at capacity with snow, making Hydro wires the most reliable landing option.