PICKY PICKY RAVENS!

Well I have learned one thing, ravens do not like ham.  At least Bold does not.  I put out ham scraps after Easter and he ate them reluctantly.  Always went for the Easter eggs first.  Yesterday morning I put out some ham lunch meat and Bold ignored it all day.  In fact it was still there when night fall came.  I looked out later when I heard some rustling on the deck and saw the fox.  Foxy wasn't so particular.

This morning Bold got lamb chop bones, one of the favorites.  I then noticed the presence of two turkey vultures sitting in the trees near the deck.  They sure are BIG- what a wing span.  They are a dusty dark color and seem very spooked by me.  Bold just ignored them and went about his business of trying to stack up as many lamb bones as possible and get them into his beak.  He was having trouble doing it on the hard surface of the deck railing.  Now here is where one can see that ravens can think and figure out problems.  He put all the bones in the planter box that is on the edge of the deck.  It has a soft surface and the bones were now below his beak level.  In this way he was able to stack all the bones and get them into his beak all at once and then fly away with them.  He wasn't about to share with some old buzzards!  What a smart bird Bold is.

I believe the raven pair must be nesting now because I have not seen Shy in days.  I guess I will have to get on my boots and hike over to where I heard the babies squawking last year.  The nest was very high up in a redwood tree.  I think I will take my spotting scope along and go do a raven reconnaissance mission and see what I can find. It really is alot of fun watching the ravens and the other wildlife that live on Mt. Veeder.  We have been visited by rufous sided towhees this year.  They like the black oil sunflower seeds that I spread on the ground each day for the California quail.  The towhees are so very pretty with their black and white and red coloring.  They make me happy just looking at them.  The quail make me happy too with their bobbing top knots.  The sunshine has made everyone around here alot happier.  It truly is a beautiful day on the mountain.