Mt. Veeder Raven Visit

This week I had the opportunity to go up to Mt. Veeder for two visits.  On Monday afternoon I went up to the The Enchanted Hills Camp for the Blind.  It is across and down a little from our former residence on Mt. Veeder.  I was there as part of the Hill and Dale Club to give the camp a $1000 toward operation of the camp.  I had not been to the camp since 1958-60 when I was a Girl Scout.  The camp is on the down hill side of the road and it is quite steep.  As a Girl Scout we would walk with the blind children all around the camp.  There were ropes along the sides of the paths that the blind children would hold on to as they walked with us.  The ropes are still there along the paths.  The director told us that the children don't use them anymore as they are trained to use a walking cane at an early age.  In the late 1950's children were not trained to use the walking canes.  This changed however due to the fact that many men coming back from WW II and Korea were blind.  The men were trained to use the walking canes and were very successful.  After that they began to train children at an early age to use the walking canes.  We also used to roller skate with the children.  Unfortunately the roller rink is in bad repair as is alot of the facility.  The neighborhood is trying to help the camp out with painting parties etc. HOWEVER- Bold and Shy were out and about overhead.  I could hear them calling and see them flying overhead.  They were too far overhead for me to get their attention.  It was great to see them however and to know they are there in their territory.
On Wednesday the Hill and Dale Club went up to the site of the former Lokoya Lodge at the end of Lokoya Road. Lokoya Road comes off Mt. Veeder Rd about .9 miles from our former home.  The Lodge property contains the 2,000 year old sequoia tree that I could see from my kitchen window on Mt. Veeder.  We had a great tour of the property with the current owners and saw many historic photographs.  My family used to go up to the Lodge on Sundays in the 1950's.  It had swimming pools for kids and beer for the adults.  It burned down in 1959.  It was a visit to the long gone past of the Napa that was before the wine culture took over.
The whole time we were visiting the Lodge area there were 6 ravens flying around and making so much racket.  I think they must be juveniles who have banded together.  The property owners don't like them because they said they chase away the other birds.  I had alot of other birds at my Mt. Veeder home as well as the ravens.  The birds will come if there is food available.  It must be a lack of food AND the ravens that cause the dearth of other birds. Well- I enjoyed the presence of the ravens- those cheeky birds!!  I just really like those big purple/black birds!!!
This evening at about 8:30 PM I went outside to admire the evening and I heard a sweet little bird song.  It was coming from the redwood tree by my driveway.  I went over there and listened.  It was a 4 note descending song.  I don't know what bird was singing.  I see white breasted nut hatches in the redwood trees.  Maybe it is one of those.  We had the red breasted nut hatches up on Mt. Veeder.  Both white and red breasted nut hatches like redwood trees.  I sent a note to the Audubon expert asking if they knew what the bird could be.  A little bird mystery right here in suburbia.
Well all in all it was a great RAVEN week with a little bird mystery thrown in- not a bad thing at all.

CROWS ON THE ATTACK

This morning I was out gardening early because it is going to be hot today.  I was working in what will be my Alice In Wonderland garden corner.  Then there started up such a crow racket!  There were 4 crows in the top of the redwood trees cawing at maximum pitch.  I thought it was because of the lack of peanuts in the feeding tray but no, the tray had peanuts.  HUM- then I saw the problem.  A very large hawk with a white breast had settled into the top of a redwood tree.  The crows started diving at the hawk.  I mean they were flying straight at the hawk and only veered off at the last minute.  One after another they did this manuever.  Finally the hawk did a dive right to my bird feeder for the finches and he grabbed one.  I could not believe it.  Wow- he was fast in flight.  He got his prey and took off.  The crow noise then subsided and all was quiet in the garden.  Nature is wonderful and terrible to watch.  It is amazing what one can see in a suburban garden.
Next week I will be going up to Mt. Veeder to visit the ravens, Bold and Shy.  Our Hill and Dale Club is donating $1,000 to the Enchanted Hills camp for the blind.  The camp is located across the way from my former home on Mt. Veeder.  This is Bold and Shy's territory, so a visit with goodies to eat is in store.  I look forward to seeing them in their habitat.

KNOCKING CROWS

Today was the crow family's lucky day.  I made chicken soup for my daughter's family yesterday since they were under the weather.  I saved all the chicken fat and brought it home for the crows.  So today they had a gourmet meal of chicken fat, peanuts in the shell, left over cat food kibbles and 2 old chicken eggs.  A veritable FEAST for crows.  There were 8 crows at one time trying to get on the platform feeder.  Some had to hang out on the rose arbor and wait their turn.  When they had cleaned up the food most of the crows flew away.  BUT- one crow stayed behind in the big valley oak tree next door.  Chuck and I were sitting under a live oak tree in the backyard having our lunch - hark what did I hear???  A knocking crow.  The ravens on Mt. Veeder knocked and clacked all the time but I had never heard the crow do it like he was doing it today.  He was knocking and clacking and really going to it.  I loved it!!  I kept talking to him- hey Mr. Crow- I like your knocking etc.  I think he likes it when I talk to him.  This is the crow that recognizes me.  The one who looks like he was in a fight since he is missing some feathers.  Maybe all the good food caused him to knock and clack!  How fun it was for me to hear.  I think I will have to get another crow banquet together.  I can see chicken soup in my future- maybe tomorrow!

Baby Crow Forever

I have spent the summer watching the antics of the crow family that visits me on a daily basis.  There is a real difference between ravens and crows with regards to babies.  By now- mid September, the young ravens have left their parents and joined up with a group of young ravens.  The parent birds make sure the "BABY" has left their territory by August.  My friends on Mt. Veeder told me this was a good year for baby ravens.  The mated pairs had 3 to 4 babies this year and as a result there was alot of raven noise heard in the forest this summer.  Several people complained to me about all the racket- imagine- they did not love the sound of baby ravens calling for FOOD and more FOOD!  How I miss the sound!
The crows on the other hand keep their babies around.  The babies are very big by now BUT they still holler for food!  I read that the babies stay around and then help with the next batch of young birds.  BUT- when will that young bird stop trying to get fed???  He is gigantic!!!
My crow friend, the one who recognizes me, must have met up with a bigger bird or a wind machine or something.  He is missing a bunch of feathers around his neck and he looks like he was in a fight.  He is able to fly and pick up peanuts so he is not too damaged.  These days I am running through unsalted peanuts in the shell at a very fast clip.  I put them out each morning for the crows but the scrub jays are faster than white lightning at picking up the peanuts.  So I have to feed all the jays before the crows can get theirs.  It is fun to watch the jays swope and pick up the peanuts. And so it goes in my suburban garden.
I was up on Mt. Veeder yesterday for a very nice luncheon with the Hill and Dale Ladies.  I did not hear one raven the whole afternoon.  I wonder where they were hanging out???  The Stellers jays were making up for the lack of raven racket.  They were so LOUD.  We were eating outside so maybe they wanted part of our lunch.  ON the way down the hill I stopped to pickup a couple of rocks for my garden.  I saw a perfect rock, nice and round, worn down by water- but what was that lying right by the perfect rock?? A rattlesnake!!  I have heard that the rattlesnake population is way up this year.  I wonder why.  We did not have alot of rain this past rainy season.  So I backed off and did not get the perfect rock.  The snake then slithered under an adjacent pile of debris and I thought YOW!!! maybe picking up random rocks is not a good idea.  I could pick one up and there would be Mr. Snake right under the rock.  It has been suggested by my friend Dick that I come up to his property on Mt. Veeder and collect rocks in the creek bed as he has never seen a snake around there.  So I think I will take him up on the offer.  I want to surround a dirt area with rocks and plant California poppy seeds.  The winter rains will be coming around October 15th and so it is time to scatter the seeds for next years flowers.  And so another year of nesting, egg laying, and baby raising ends for my bird friends and my favorite time of year, FALL, will soon begin.  I will travel often up the hill to Mt. Veeder to see the change in color of the big leafed maple trees.  The wheel of time keeps turning for all God's creatures.

RAVEN GETS EVEN!

Got a camping report from my daughter Lexy.  She arrived at Brighton Beach camp ground near Capitola with the tent trailer in tow.  They parked under a large tree and what do they see?? but a pair of ravens in the tree.  Apparently the ravens did not appreciate their arrival and promptly pooped on them!!! HA HA- ravens get even!!!
It has been very noisy around here in the early morning.  The crow pair has been arriving each morning with at least one very raucous baby.  Chuck says- don't feed those birds so early!!  I have to go outside and tell them to quiet down and to my surprise they actually do.  I yell- QUIET!! enough already, no food for noisy birds!!!  The birds got a real big treat this weekend.  We went to the 25th Anniversary party for the Napa Valley Yacht Club (yes dear ones, Napa has a Yacht Club, a little 1950's frame building on the Napa River, hardly what one thinks of as a Yacht Club, but I digress).  Prime rib was served and after dinner I went around and collected all the nice fat/meat that people did not eat.  I brought it home and have been putting some out each day.  I am a very POPULAR human with the birds right now and now the Yachting people think I am nuts but there it is- I am nuts about CORVIDS!!!

Saturday Racket

This morning early I was watching Poirot on TV and working on embroidery and what did I hear- very loud RAVEN calls.  I ran outside to see what was going on.  I spotted two ravens in the top of the tallest tree in the neighborhood and they were really making alot of noise.  I also saw three hot air ballons floating by on the breeze.  Then I saw the cause of the racket- three harrier hawks were circling the area above my neighborhood.  I have not seen harriers (march hawks) in my area before.  They are usually found hovering over marshy areas looking for prey.  We are close to Redwood Creek and to the large open space which is across the main street.  This could be why they are in the neighborhood, looking for an unlucky mouse to eat.  The ravens had come from the open space also.  The ravens usually aren't in my neighborhood because it is dominated by a contingent of crows.  After much ado, the visiting birds all flew away to continue their discussion at some other local.  It is interesting to note that not one crow was in sight during all this disturbance.  Those crows are no dummies!  They are very smart birds indeed.  Now- on with the experiment.  I am going to go load up the platform feeder with crow goodies, unsalted peanuts in the shell, meat scraps, black oil sunflower seeds, and one raw egg and THEN wait until they come around and THEN I am going to start playing my bodhran and Scottish music.  This should be fun!

Ravens/Crows/Bodhrans

What a week it has been for Ravens, Crows and Bodhrans!  I went up to Mt. Veeder this week to visit the ravens.  They were out picking around in meadows looking for good things to eat.  Good thing I brought a bag of peanuts with me.  Yum yum- they love unsalted peanuts in the shell.  They are such beautiful birds. I never get tired of watching them.  They are SO much bigger than my crow friends.
The most outrageous thing happened this morning!  I am taking on line lessons on how to play the BODHRAN- the celtic drum, for those who don't know what it is.  I was banging away with the music with my on line Scottish teacher when what did I HEAR???  Yow- it was crows carrying on outside my window.  They were clacking, yelling, screeching and making all kinds of noise!  I have never heard such a racket from crows!  They didn't like my playing because they quit making noise when I ceased banging on my drum.  Hum- they don't appreciate good Scottish tunes!  What am I to make of that?  I am going to try it again tomorrow.  I am going to fill the platform feeder with their favorite foods and THEN I am going to get my bodhran going.  What will happen?? Will they again let me know that they DO NOT like my musical selections?  Stay tuned!