Album Raven

Artemus

Artemus

I walk
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Joined
Jun 25, 2012
Messages
4,430
Well, I've done it. I love our Wildlife album. But it covers all species and it is intended for our wonderful photography. I created this album hoping it to be a repository for our own photography, yes, but also for other things Raven. Our photos, experiences we have with ravens, videos, heck even poetry if anyone writes it. My appreciation for this one of the most intelligent creatures on earth knows no bounds. Please share your experience with this Corvus corax lover.

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This album seed photograph was taken at Petrified Forest National Park some years back.I spent an hour or two with this bird and his/her mate. They mostly sat in this great bush peacefully surveying their domain. The day was chilly and quiet it being a winter weekday and there was no traffic at a pullout where we could hang and study each other.

In my decades of visiting national parks I have noticed a raven behaviour change. Ravens are notoriously shy and stay away from threats, especially Homo not-so-sapiens. However in places I visit such as Zion, Natural Bridges, Petrified Forest, Canyonlands, etc. I have noticed a decided decline in their shyness. Others have noticed this as well. A mated pair like these two basically owns a large patch of ground living much of their lives (ravens do not migrate) excluding most others. But this pair had decided they had a better life tolerating the traffic and threats in this park, in this turnout, because... why? Well certainly there are impromptu dinners, ravens are highly qualified omnivores so cheetos are a delicacy I am sure, but why in high traffic parks and monuments? I travel a lot in the backcountry away from people and they still are reclusive there. Maybe just my anecdotal observations, but I think not. @Scott Chandler has a new raven friend in his park and much experience in our protected parks. What do you think Scottman? Can you post your friend's picture here?
 
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One of my favorite corax videos. Seems like this raven has put aside it's innate fear of the unknown to search out a human to take advantage of their opposable thumbs.
 
Taken at Bryce Canyon. A herd of tourists had just left on their bus leaving me alone with this chatty fellow. No real fear of people, too many goodies handed out if you stick around.

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tennistime99 said:
Taken at Bryce Canyon. A herd of tourists had just left on their bus leaving me alone with this chatty fellow. No real fear of people, too many goodies handed out if you stick around.

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Good one, Tennis. Love his beak pointing and aligned with the line of the sign.
 
Udink said:
This was in February 2013 near Head of Sinbad in the San Rafael Swell. There were dozens of 'em filling the sky, and it was pretty wondrous watching them.

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Whoa, EXTREMELY odd behavior. Are you sure they were ravens and not crows? Crows will flock far more often than ravens and in numbers much like those in your pictures. Or did a garbage truck crash?
 
My love affair with the raven first started the summer I worked in Yellowstone. I was visiting Old Faithful for the umteenth time and walking through the parking lot I encountered a couple ravens on a motorcycle. They weren't riding it but more so picking it apart. They had managed to get into every bag on the thing and were picking out which nicknacks they especially liked. Most pieces ended up on the ground, but a few ended up in a nearby tree. I must have watched then for ten-fifteen minutes, it was fascinating.

Which brings up a good point. Ravens are amazingly smart and extremely adaptable, especially to humans. I recently saw a social media post from JTree NP stating that raven populations had grown 1000% in the past 35 years there, and they attribute it to people. They are amazing at following us around. WE have learned at the park to not leave any garbage bag exposed and unattended as they will gladly go for them. It is a sad day when someone didn't close a dumpster lid, or simply over filled the thing. They will pull trash out piece by piece to get food. It is so much easier than foraging.

While I have gotten close to many ravens at my park, I have never met one so gutsy as the one the lives at the end of the paved road at The Needles. That little thing hung out ten feet from me, following me around, making little clucks. I thought it would fly into my car. When I got into the driver's seat without relinquishing any food, the look on its face was clearly disappointment. Then it flew onto my rearview mirror in a defiant exclamation of desire. Clearly, I was not something to fear.

Very neat birds. All sorts of things to say about them.

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Scott Chandler said:
Whoa, EXTREMELY odd behavior. Are you sure they were ravens and not crows? Crows will flock far more often than ravens and in numbers much like those in your pictures. Or did a garbage truck crash?
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I'm fairly certain they were ravens. If you click the photo to see the larger version, you can seen enough diamond-shaped tails to be sure.

Driving to the Maze in November last year, there were a LOT of ravens just chillin' on the ground in the dead grass at Waterhole Flat, both on the way into and out of the Maze several days later. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of 'em.
 
Udink said:
This was in February 2013 near Head of Sinbad in the San Rafael Swell. There were dozens of 'em filling the sky, and it was pretty wondrous watching them.

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Wild ! Ravens are typically seen only as two - a mated pair. But the adolescents will group up. Teenagers. Then they will hang together in the 10-20 size as they learn their way and start looking for a mate. It has been documented that roosts will number this high. These roosts are at places where a large group will sleep the night in a canopy of trees typically. Did you have any clues that this was a place they overnighted or used over and over, Dennis?
 
Scott Chandler said:
My love affair with the raven first started the summer I worked in Yellowstone. I was visiting Old Faithful for the umteenth time and walking through the parking lot I encountered a couple ravens on a motorcycle. They weren't riding it but more so picking it apart. They had managed to get into every bag on the thing and were picking out which nicknacks they especially liked. Most pieces ended up on the ground, but a few ended up in a nearby tree. I must have watched then for ten-fifteen minutes, it was fascinating.

Which brings up a good point. Ravens are amazingly smart and extremely adaptable, especially to humans. I recently saw a social media post from JTree NP stating that raven populations had grown 1000% in the past 35 years there, and they attribute it to people. They are amazing at following us around. WE have learned at the park to not leave any garbage bag exposed and unattended as they will gladly go for them. It is a sad day when someone didn't close a dumpster lid, or simply over filled the thing. They will pull trash out piece by piece to get food. It is so much easier than foraging.

While I have gotten close to many ravens at my park, I have never met one so gutsy as the one the lives at the end of the paved road at The Needles. That little thing hung out ten feet from me, following me around, making little clucks. I thought it would fly into my car. When I got into the driver's seat without relinquishing any food, the look on its face was clearly disappointment. Then it flew onto my rearview mirror in a defiant exclamation of desire. Clearly, I was not something to fear.

Very neat birds. All sorts of things to say about them.

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Geat photo, Scott. They are hard to capture being so uniformly black and a little iridescent.
 
Udink said:
I'm fairly certain they were ravens. If you click the photo to see the larger version, you can seen enough diamond-shaped tails to be sure.

Driving to the Maze in November last year, there were a LOT of ravens just chillin' on the ground in the dead grass at Waterhole Flat, both on the way into and out of the Maze several days later. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of 'em.
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Wild! There must have been some sort of draw, some magically string of coincidences to bring so many together. I think the most I have seen is six clearly associated with each other.
 
More raven fun, they are considered quite mystical beings by many native american cultures. While visiting Anchorage after my stint working at Katmai, I visited a heritage center for Alaskan people. Outside they had this sweet statue made honoring the raven.

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I'm not 100% sure which culture the sign talked about, I want to say it was either Dena'ina or Inupiaq, but the Raven supposedly put all the stars and planets and the moon up there in the sky. The raven could also shape shift into a person. I'm paraphrasing a lot, the statue overtook my memory of the sign.
 
I love ravens. I have tons of photos of a mated pair near Moab, where I spent nearly a year camped doing some work. This pair hung around my camp and would wake me every morning making a racket. They delighted in chasing the dogs, who would then chase them back and try to climb the trees where the birds would sit just out of reach and taunt them. They would even go on hikes with us. I felt extremely fortunate to be kind of adopted by these birds, though I know it was just for the entertainment value. They would let me walk right up within 20 feet of them, sometimes closer. I'm going to post a few photos, though these aren't my best - I unfortunately didn't have that great of a camera or lens. I hope I don't overdo it.

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The last one kind of reminds me of Halloween. :)
 
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Rockskipper said:
I love ravens. I have tons of photos of a mated pair near Moab, where I spent nearly a year camped doing some work. This pair hung around my camp and would wake me every morning making a racket. They delighted in chasing the dogs, who would then chase them back and try to climb the trees where the birds would sit just out of reach and taunt them. They would even go on hikes with us. I felt extremely fortunate to be kind of adopted by these birds, though I know it was just for the entertainment value. They would let me walk right up within 20 feet of them, sometimes closer. I'm going to post a few photos, though these aren't my best - I unfortunately didn't have that great of a camera or lens. I hope I don't overdo it.
The last one kind of reminds me of Halloween. :)
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Great, Skipper! You really can't overdo it and that is what the thread is for. I especially love the last picture. The profile reminds me of some bad-guys helmet in some fantasy movie stuck in my memory somewhere.

Where were you camped? What I mean to ask is was it an established campground, an established informal camp spot, or ??? Some context of where you were that they accepted you readily would help.
 
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Art, I was in various locations in the Sand Flats, but not all at once, but in stretches of several months at a time. I was doing some volunteer work for the BLM which took on various forms, the majority of which was helping monitor usage. This was all some time ago before it all went crazy, so it was pretty quiet. I had a Springbar tent, so I could hear everything around me, especially when the ravens started making noise early in the morning. There were also lots of coyotes, but I don't hear them as often when I go back now. I suspect too many people. I was also up there later for some time working on research on sedimentary structures for my geology stuff.
 
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