August 1st & Raven's Ramblings

August 1^st

                                                             I go fishing and I catch fish! WOW!

RAVENS Ramblings , Bomb Proof Bay

My first  real observation of this incredible creature was about 15 years ago. It was after an Easter weekend at Iron Bay, Indian Arm. We had a derth of hard boiled eggs left over from the kids decorating contest so we disposed of these brightly coloured eggs by pitching them into the water as food for the shinners that frequent the area below the docks. Some went onto the beach area and were exposed at low tide. The Ravens were quick to discover this free lunch and after watching their antics to retrieve this new food source I  became  fascinated forever by  these black beauties. I  began to study them. The more I studied them the more suprised I was that they spend a great deal of their time studing us.

The first creature to visit us in a secluded bay on this trip to Bombproof Bay (McNaughton Group) was one of these marvelous birds. Usually you will hear the whisper (or more like a WOOSH,WOOSH) of their wings as they check you out from close quarters. Generally just above your head. After this brief encounter most of us would dismiss this a a chance happening. Most put it out of our conscience.

Many times if you look up on some lofty perch this black bird will be watching you. He will check out your moves, check to see if you are a threat to his territory or the bringer of gifts. Now if you have peeked his curiosity he will call for his mate.  He or She will check you out and there is some times a long conversation about your goings onsfrom some their lofty perch.
 

 I was cleaning my salmon on the back deck today and I know that they could smell the fresh fish.  Now they are not eagles that swoop from the sky and snag their own salmon. Ravens have there own brainy stradegy. They somehow know that I recognize them and I will have a short conversation that involves a clucking noise that they respond in kind. I am not beyond sharing our spoils of the salmon catch or specifically the left over tail, head and inards. They some how know I am not a threat and l paddle ashore and place (in there plain view) the treats on a high beach rock. They will wait patiently until I am at a safe distance from them and then and only then flip down to inspect the leavings. They are extremely cautious and check things out for a traps, snares or other tricks on them. (They are very hateful if you trick them for they do not like to be bested.)

The male is the bravest and he will hop nervously up and down and crane his neck out long to reach and grab a nibble from the safest distance. Only after he decides that it’s OK will he allow his lady friend to share in the feast. To make sure that she knows who is boss he will block the lady's attempt at a meal and dance around it then will step back and share. It’s a male macho thing!

I HAVE SEEN THIS MANY TIMES.

Now fresh salmon is clearly the “Nectar of the Gods”. They quickly dissect the meal and take the morsels and store the feast in secret caches high in the trees.  After all is secreted away they will fly away calling out their  Good Fortune to each other clucking and clooking in bird lanuage. (They are rainy day savers of food.) It is possible that they store (in their memories) hundred of food caches all through their territory.

I believe they have a wide vocabulary and comunicate with each other from miles away. Unlike crows that travel in a “Murder of Crows” (flock), ravens travel in Mom and Dad pairs. I believe when there’s more than two traveling together they are the young ones that have not partnered up yet.

The Ravens that I have made friends with will sit  close by and listen to you trying to learn my speech.  l can understand their language a pin prick worth by there posturing, head tilting and the subtle deflections in their chatting. That’s as close as my understanding goes.  I do know when they are listening to me and apparently enjoy the conversation as the white inner eye lids will flick open and close and  they will cant their heads back and forth apparently trying to understanding it all. It worries me that maybe he understands more than me. By the way the mate will be close by listening intently from some branch.

We have been good friends for some time now and if when returning from a long absence from Indian Arm (even 4 months or more) when they sight OA they will fly along side til we tie up and they start their screaming, clucking, cloocking in joy till I pay attention to them.

As close as we have become, they are still wild creatures and we both have our discreet distances apart when together. When too close I feel  to much in awe and reverence to be comfortable. He is NOT A PET but a mutual friend.

They miss nothing. One day they came over to visit but they hid in the trees and behind branches. They clearly wanted to visit but would not come near. I was preplexed about this and scouted the area to find out what was disturbing them. Someone had left a sling shot on the hand rail around the deck area. As soon as I hide it from view they came down and wanted to say “goodday”.

They can be a pest sometimes as when they have done their rounds of all of Indian Arm and are bored.  They will hang out at Iron Bay and I will scold them for spending too much time here (go annoy someone else I yell). Only then will they fly off in persuit of another adventure. 

They for some time brought me  gifts.  I was walking up the ramp from the dock and both Mom and Dad were hanging out close in the trees near the head of the ramp. About half way up I looked down and in the middle of the ramp was a large brown bat alive but stunned.  I have never seen one this close before and as he was not going any where fast, I had the oportunity to study it. Other than the head (to me it had only the face a mother could love) it was covered in a soft  tan brown coat with delicate wings, with little man hands. It was not pretty, but handsome.  As I approached it closer it sensed my presence and gave me a fright. It hissed with its mouth open like a snake its disapproval of my presents. All the time the ravens were watching close aboard, but remaining silent. The bat was one of God’s marvelous creatures so I went back to the boat and retrieved a large dust pan to scoop the creature up and move it to a safe place off the ramp. I no sooner had it on the dust pan and it fluttered of the dust pan over the side of the ramp onto the beach. It flew to undercover of the large boulders. All of a sudden the ravens started to make a thunderous commotion and the big male flashed past my face and darted to the rocks below.  He retreived the bat in its beak and again flashed by me with wings beating furiously and OUT OF THE CORNER OF HIS EYE GAVE ME A LOOK OF DISGUSSED for rejecting their gift. It happened on one other occasion and when it was clear that I would continue to refuse the gifts, they discontinued the food friendship thing. 

They are very territorial and if a raven interlopper comes by (usully a new young one looking for a long term relationship) they will charge up into the sky and beat him off with death defying barrel rolls, darts, near misses and loud (even by our language)  rude remarks. The Raven that befriended us in Bombproof Bay came by and gave us a caw and I responded in the familiar to me “CLOOK, CLOOK” that is universal in their language.  There is again the repeated “CLOOK,CLOOK” in response from the big black bird.

In the morning and evening they  patrol long distances. It seems that each mate patrols a different area and they join up and compare notes.  They set off for the mutual prizes that they will share high in a tree somewhere in their travels. When Mom is on the nest Dad goes and gathers food for her and deposits it with Mom which she ingests and returns the morsels to little open, noisy mouths. When I first started observing them Dad would not take food directly to the nest, but he would take a secret root every time. He would dart through the trees, go high in the mountains or speed along the beach noiselessly lest he alert preditors (& us) to the nest location.

When it is time for the chicks to be fledged Mom and Dad take them around to show them the ropes. WHEN  MOM AND DAD FEEL THEY WILL SURVIVE ON THEIR OWN they attack the young in flight to scare them off so they will  find their own lives, partners and hunting territories.  I know this, as Penny and I have seen the feathers fly and the violent chases of the now fledged young birds fleeing for their lives.

It is not the eagle that is the universal bird that created heaven and earth but the Black mischievious Raven. HE above all is the most Revered amongst All West Coast Tribes  from Mexico to the Frozen North.