The Picky Eaters

Yesterday was a first.  The ravens came in the morning as usual but made very little noise.  They were out there in the redwood trees making their soft little sounds to each other and preening each others feathers.  I got up to get my tea and to put some food out on the deck rail.  I put out an egg, 5 bread slices, some dry dog food and a piece of beef- what a raven feast!  They just looked at the food and did not come down to get any of it.  So I went away.  When I came back they had flown off with 2 pieces of bread and that was all- they did not take the meat!  This was unprecedented!!  Seems they were full of food from some other source and were not very hungry.  When raven finds a great food source they will eat as much as possible until they can barely fly.  No wonder they spent most of the day sitting in the trees watching what I was doing. 

It must be hunting season right now as I have heard a number of gunshots lately.  Perhaps a hunter has left a food source behind that the ravens like.  We also have the remains of a deer on our property that would be raven food.  There are always dead gray squirrels on the road also- why the squirrels run across the road and toward the cars is a mystery to me!  So raven has plenty to eat- no wonder they are so big and beautiful.

Yesterday afternoon we took a ride down the mountain to sit in the sun by the Napa River and watch the fish jump.  A block down from our house is a open field by an old house.  It was full of juvenile ravens all pecking around in the new grass looking for something to eat.  I wonder if ravens eat ladybugs?  The lady bugs have arrived.  They come every fall and winter over in a sunny spot near the creek.  There are thousands of them and they appear to like the color white.  If you walk over to where they are located with a pair of white socks on- you will soon have a zillion ladybugs on your socks.  One of the curiosities of nature.  We have some white chairs near their wintering spot and they like to get on those as well.  We saw a program on California's Gold on the subject of wintering ladybugs.   Ladybugs like a sunny spot by a water source so the location they have chosen on our property is just right.  The program was about a man who knows where a large group of ladybugs winters and he goes and gets them and puts them in gunny sacks and sells them to nurseries.  So many of them die in the process.  The ladybugs on our property are left undistured.  I have never seen the ravens over where the ladybugs winter, so the well feed ravens do not appear to feast on ladybugs.  I am glad.

This morning the ravens were anxious to see me.   All the food which had been left on the railing from yesterday was gone before the ravens arrived.  The resident raccoon or gray fox had cleaned up during the night.  This morning we had steak bones and scraps for the ravens and they were on them in a New York minute.  So we are back to normal today.