My Friend Edgar Raven

Two years ago, our friend Edgar and his wife Aida had 4 Raven babies. They died in a freak extended brutally cold April rainstorm. It was very sad. They both went off and did their Raven things. We’d see Edgar occasionally during the year, but not much.

Last year, Edgar and a wife (I don’t think it was Aida) tried nesting in a tree further up the canyon. She sat on the nest for a while, then for whatever reason, the nest was abandoned before any babies hatched. Edgar and his wife went off and did their Raven things. We saw Edgar more frequently through the year; whenever he showed up and hollered for a treat, we hopped right to it. Bread crumbs, expired raw chicken, cat food, dead lizard, dead mice. Once I trapped a pack rat and tossed that out for him and that was The. Best. Raven. Treat. Ever!

Edgar mostly hung around over last fall and winter; and now that it’s spring, he’s set up camp here. He hollers for a treat, I put out one a day for him. I’m starting to up the ante: if he wants more than one treat, he has to retrieve it while I sit outside on the porch and watch him. So far he’s come close to getting the treat (it’s plenty far away from me), but it’s just too much for him. I’ll keep trying. I tell him if he come and sits on my shoulder I’ll feed him all day long. He hasn’t taken me up on that yet.

He does have a girlfriend again this year (I don’t know if it’s the same Raven as last year). She’s highly skittish and won’t come near, though she hollers at him from a distance while he’s near and hollering at me for food. If they are going to nest, they’d better get busy. By March 26 two years ago Edgar and his mate were building a nest. So far I haven’t seen evidence of it.

I was gone a week at the beginning of March. My neighbor said Edgar hollered for the first two days for a treat, but gave up after he realized I was gone. The very day I got back home, I had walked out to see the horses, and Edgar saw me in my red coat and he flew right up to see me, floated low and zigzagged over me as if to say, “Where have you been!” We went right back to the once-a-day treats.

When I work our two horses in the arena, Edgar likes to fly up in the Big Tree and watch. Sometimes when I’m out hiking up our canyon, or I’m out riding on my horse, Edgar comes flying over to check on us. He has to keep an eye on his vending machine, after all.

I am thrilled to have the privilege of calling Edgar Raven my friend!

pizza crust!

Ravens in Mourning

The answer to “Do Ravens Mourn?” is yes. They do.

The last Raven baby died sometime during Saturday night. (See last post.)

Throughout the day Sunday, I occasionally heard Aida begging for food in a random tree or on a random hillside, and knew when Edgar was feeding her by the excited caws she gives off while he puts food in her mouth.

In the afternoon I heard a very strange noise I’d never heard before, and I hunted it down, or rather up. In a tree, Aida was snuggled close to Edgar, grooming him, giving off low, tender rumbles. Edgar sat still, accepting the caresses, and, I swear, looking sad.

At times they would fly to the nest tree, sometimes sitting and snuggling together on a high branch; once I saw them fly to the tree and sit on the rim of then nest, looking in, as if to see if anything had changed, or as if to think, well, what now?

I threw dog food out in the evening; Edgar flew down and gobbled up the bits. Aida flew in, landed a few feet away, and as Edgar walked up to her, she gave her excited food call and crouched and fluttered her wings as he fed her, just as they’d done in the nest for the last 2 weeks.

Ravens are believed to mate for life, so maybe these two will carry on together, stay in this area, and try again to nest here next spring. 

I’ll know for sure it’s Aida by her unusually high-pitched voice, and by Edgar, who lets me come close and talk to him.

Yet another storm coming through on Sunday.