What are the RAVENS doing at the Tower of London?

Just got back from London town.  It seems everyone in town is 30 years old or less.  We kept looking for people of a certain age, like ours, but no luck.  Well the real reason to go to London was to visit the RAVENS at the Tower of London.  So off we went.  We got to the Tower on a Friday morning at 9 AM, first in line we were.  So off to the Jewel House to ogle the crown jewels.  With that task completed- it was RAVENS I wanted to see.  There were several ravens sitting on park benches and on the grass.  I sat on one of the benches and had a talk with Mr. Raven.  I was close enough to see how his wing was clipped.  All of the feathers of one section of the wing, like a whole row, had been clipped down to the nub- ouch!!  I saw one of the clipped ravens try to fly- it could only flutter.  This made me very sad.  There were crows around the grounds and they were flying here and there.  I felt sorry for the ravens.  The Tower ravens have a much lower toned croak than Bold and Shy of Mt. Veeder.  It was interesting to listen to them.
It was very hot at the Tower.  London was having a HEAT wave.  I went to find a shady spot to rest.  There was a big cage located where I sat.  It contained 4 young ravens.  They were very hot and were panting. There was a small plastic pool of water in the cage.  They were getting a drink and splashing about and trying to stay out of the sun.
As I was cooling my heels, a fully dressed Beefeater came to stand near me.  He was looking for a cool place to rest also.  Their Beefeater uniforms are very beautiful but not suited to a heat wave.  I asked him about the ravens in the cage.  He told me that the raven chicks come from aviaries in Cornwall and Scotland to be raised at the Tower.  He said the breeding program at the Tower was not going very well and so they import the raven chicks.  They used to have a Raven Breeder at the Tower who was very successful.  Unfortunately he was killed by a dog that was brought into the Tower grounds.  The dog was brought to the Tower to search the grounds before a visit by the Queen.  How unfortunate was that, sort of goes along with other events at the Tower.  The Beefeater told me that they have 3 Raven Masters at the Tower.  I said that I would like that job.  He said he jolly would NOT like that job as the masters get bit.  Well- it is no wonder they get bit if they are the ones doing the wing clipping!  So I saw the ravens but it was not necessarily a wonderful experience.
Next we went out to Hampton Court Palace to see the digs of Henry VIII.  Walking the old hallways, one could almost hear the horses coming in the gate and footsteps on the cobble stones.  Of course my RAVEN detector was on and working.  I saw a lovely pair of ravens being harrassed by a murder of crows.  Really those crows are so pesky!  There is plenty of garden for all the birds at Hampton Court, why bother the ravens?  It is a beautiful garden and I saw many different birds poking around in the shrubs.  I would have liked to spend more time in the gardens but we were very tired and retreated to our hotel room in London.
Soon enough we left London and went to Kent to spend a few days with an old friend from Napa High School. She has lived in England all of her adult life.  As usual I was looking for Ravens along the one lane country roads.  I never saw a raven but did see many black and white magpies.  So all was not lost in Kent, a most beautiful, green and lovely place.
When we arrived home from England at 1 AM in the morning- what did I see?  A Welcome Home sign at the door AND a new doormat with a CROW on it!!  Wonderful!  What a nice surprise from my very good buddy, Dick.  I am going to take my black sharpie and modify that beak and it will soon be a RAVEN!

Where is the Stealth Raven?

The Stealth Raven is around and about!  I have been putting out 2 raw chicken eggs into the platform feeder each day if the previous 2 eggs have disappeared.  Some days it is obvious that the crows have had an egg snack.  They peck at the eggs and leave egg shells all around the feeder.  Other days the eggs have clean disappeared ala the Stealth Raven.  To see the Stealth Raven in action I have to be looking out the window at the moment when the raven flies in to pick up an egg.  This is a problem.  Up on Mt. Veeder the house had floor to ceiling windows everywhere so it was easy to monitor the action in the great outdoors.  Here the windows are of normal size and configuration- how I miss those big windows on the world.  So now I have to come up with a new plan for sighting the Stealth Raven.  This could take considerable thought.  How about a motion activated alarm that would ring on my Kindle? on an ipod? on my watch? Oh the possibilities are endless.

Last week we went out to Bodega Head at Bodega Bay- you know- the sight of the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds".  I never saw the movie because it gave black birds such a bad name for YEARS.  I would not support such a movie.  Anyway I went out there to enjoy the view of the Pacific Ocean and to visit the resident raven pair.  I took along some bread and crackers.  It was difficult to feed these ravens because the darn seagulls are faster at the draw and get the food first.  So I would wait for the ravens to fly by the open back end of my van and then I would throw out the food.  I saw one raven do a 180 degree turn in midair to grab the food I had thrown out.  Wow that was quite the maneuver!

We are going to the Scottish Games this weekend at the Pleasanton Fair Grounds.  There is a man there who walks around with a raven puppet/doll on his head.  This raven is dressed up like a Scottish King- with crown, kilt, the whole kit.  It is so neat.  I want one.  I am going to look for this man and take his picture for future reference.  This could be my next project.  I just finished my Raven Tote Bag.  It turned out quite well if I do say so myself.  When my daughter comes up to visit I am going to have her take a picture and show me how to add it to this blog.  I have to get with the 21st century I suppose.  I am hoping to hear a raven call today- how I love that sound!

RAVEN SONG

This morning I awoke to the sound of raven song.  I got up and looked outside.  A raven was sitting on top of the tallest tree around here- a very tall redwood tree.  He was calling for all he was worth.  Then I heard the sound of a juvenile raven making alot of racket.  Oh it was so wonderful to hear the raven fuss, oh I meant song!  I immediately went outside and put 2 eggs in the platform feeder.  When I got back inside I looked out the window- what??? one the eggs was already gone.  A raven must have been watching for me.  That egg disappeared in the time it took me to come inside, close the door and look out the window.  I say I have a stealth raven in residence.  I like the idea of a stealth raven.  I then watched the platform feeder periodically to see if the other egg would disappear but alas my crow bunch arrived and made short order of the egg.  It is difficult here with both ravens and crows in residence.  I like them both but they do not like each other.  Raven does not come around if there is a murder of crows in residence.  I don't blame raven.  The crows are a feisty bunch.  Last night there was such a bunch of crows in the tray feeder that they were jumping up and down to get a spot.  A one point I got worried.  It looked like the crows were tossing something black around in the air.  Was it a dead crow- yikes.  No it was just a battle for position power. 

Each morning I put black oil sunflower seeds in the platform feeder tray for the song birds.  Crow food must be in limited supply right now because the crows have been camping out in the tray and eating all the seeds.  Usually these are left for the small song birds.  So I then I fill up the tray again.  The 25 lb bags of seed have gone from $7.98 to $17.98!! It must be the freight charge to get them to the store or bad weather in the midwest or something.  So this year when the volunteer sunflower plants have come up from spilled seed, I watered them and let them grow.  I now have a healthy patch of big, bright sunny sunflowers.  I never have grown them before and I like them.  So all is well today in the Napa Valley.

RAVENS AT THE FEEDER

This morning when I got up, I looked outside and there were 2 ravens on the platform feeder.  They took up the whole feeder while sitting on it.  I realized how big those ravens really are when compared with my crow buddies.  The ravens took flight when I went to look at them out the back door.  One landed in a big tree in the next yard.  I was admiring him and his BIG size.  I went outside and put 2 hardboiled eggs into the platform feeder and then I went away to play with Andy the old cat.  The next time I looked, the 2 eggs were gone.  I am so glad that the ravens got them.  No sign of any egg shells in the feeder or on the ground which means the ravens picked them up and flew off with them!  The crows cannot pick up a chicken egg.  They eat them by pecking at them and then leave the shells all around the feeder or in the feeder.  An hour later I heard a fledgling crow out back making alot of racket.  He wanted a treat.  I went and put some rather old cheese out in the feeder and baby crow (very large) was very happy with that treat.

I just finished constructing a RAVEN BAG.  It is a tote bad fashioned after a crow bag pattern by Elinor Peace Bailey.  I converted it to a raven by changing the beak.  It is so fine a creation even if I do say so myself.  Elinor says that your life will not be dull if you dress funny!!  Either you have it or you don't!  Well I certainly have it with regards to toting around a raven tote bag!  Here is to funny dressing!

A Good Year for Ravens

I have had several reports from friends around the Napa Valley that it has been a good year for raven babies.  Usually my pair on Mt. Veeder had 2 babies per year.  This year I am hearing that raven pairs have raised 4 babies- wow!  A lot of raven racket.  By the end of July the babies will be pests for their parents.  The parents are now teaching the babies to feed on their own BUT that does not mean that the young ones have stopped begging and yelling for food NOW!  The crow babies around my house are doing the same thing.  They still want to be fed.  So much easier than getting it yourself!  I wonder why this is such a good year for ravens.  We had alot of rain this year and the weather has been very cool.  That is the only thing that I can point to but why would that affect ravens?  The mysteries of Nature.

Two days ago I was working in my garden when a raven flew right over my head and croaked.  Alas there was no egg in the feeder because the crows had demolished them for breakfast.  So I ran in the house and replaced the eggs and then stayed inside to see if the raven would visit the feeder.  No raven came, so I went back out to finish my planting.  Then I heard them, two ravens flying overhead.  I hadn't waited long enough- boo hoo.  They flew away.  BUT- the ravens definitely know where the eggs are!

RAVENS AT THE CASTLE

Yesterday evening at 6:30 PM we attended the Emerson String Quartet concert that was part of the Annual Napa Valley Festival Del Sole.  It was held at the Castello di Amoroso outside of Calistoga.  The castle is a reconstruction of a medieval castle from the mind of Daryl Sattui.  It is quite wonderful in design and appearance. The concert was held in an enclosed courtyard within the castle walls.  The stage was setup against the facade of the chapel wall.  From our seats we could look over the cross on the top of the chapel and see the sky and the towering conifers beyond.  The sky was a robin egg blue with fluffy white clouds.  It was quite lovely.  But HARK- what did I see- RAVEN gliding slowly back and forth in the sky.  WOW- that gave me something to watch during the sad/macabre Bartok music being played.  A linnet (house finch) was sitting on the top of the cross and singing it's heart out during the Bartok recital.  Ha- it didn't like the music either!  I could also hear the raven calls echoing across the valley- sublime.

As night drew in the ravens began to fly into a large conifer that was located directly behind the castle.  They had selected this tree for their night time roost.  I counted 20 ravens coming in for the night.  It was a lovely sight.  Once the ravens were settled, the music improved to a happier Franz Schubert.  All in all it was a lovely visit to the castle and it's raven neighbors.

This morning there was such corvid racket.  A baby crow was sitting in the platform feeder begging for a peanut.  I had put peanuts out first thing this morning.  The baby is of course as big as the parent and there it is begging and squawking like a maniac.  Hilarious.  I put eggs in the platform feeder later in the day as the RAVEN seems to come by in the late afternoon.  The crows will peck and eat the eggs if I put them out in the morning.  So now I have a schedule, the birds have trained me- crows in the morning, ravens in the afteroon.  My life is run by the birds, not, my life is for the birds- a big difference there!

ONE YEAR TO THE DAY- RAVEN COMES

It finally happened!  One year to the day exactly!  Chuck saw a raven fly into our little back yard, pick up the egg in the platform feeder and fly off with it.  It was so unexpected and I was so mad that I didn't see it.  As soon as he told me, I ran out and replaced the egg in the platform feeder.  Three days later I saw a big black bird gliding over the roof top as I was working in the frontyard.  However I could not see the bird very clearly.  I ran to the back yard to see if the egg was gone.  Sure enough the egg was gone!!!  Still I had not seen the bird with the egg.  BUT- just now as I was waking from a nap, I SAW IT!  A bird black bird was sitting on the top of the new arbor in the backyard.  It flew over to the platform feeder, adjusted the egg in its beak and took flight!!!  WOW WOW- I saw it with my own eggs, I mean eyes!!!  Soon after a couple of crows came around and were making all kinds of racket- they do not like the ravens in their territory.  After all they are the king of peanuts and of all they observe.  The next step is now to make friends with the raven.  I don't know if this will be possible because of my band of crows that hang out in our court.  The one pair of crows is here every morning for their peanut fix.  As soon as I put out the peanuts the two crows begin to crow and alert their friends that peanuts are out!  They seem to share as long as there are enough to go around.  The baby crows are still with them.  I can tell by the sound of their calls and their very skittish behavior.  A grown bird will approach a peanut straight on and pick it up.  The babies- jump forward and back, forward and back just like the baby ravens used to do up on Mt. Veeder.  It is comical to watch!!
Oh I am so happy- a raven of my own!!!  Now I must go and replace the egg in the feeder.  A friend of mine up on the mountain has a dozen eggs for me.  I must go tomorrow and pick them up as Mr. Raven has found me and all is right with life in the valley. 
It appears that all is all right for a number of people in the valley as we saw seven hot air ballons over the house the other morn.  Such a pretty sight.  Still that couldn't beat the time up on Mt. Veeder when I saw a hot air balloon coming up my driveway.  It was a couple of hotdoggers fooling around in a hot air balloon.  They were about 20 feet off the ground.  When they got to the part of the driveway that swung left they had to really put the gas to the unit or they would have run into the forest which was straight ahead.  What a sight- what a thrill!!  You just never know what one can see in a day.  Ravens, balloons, oh my!!!!