Raiders of the lost nest
Wagga Wagga is, I suppose, a bit west of COG’s "area-of-interest",
nonetheless you may find this interesting.
Owners of a grazing property east of Wagga, which I visit regularly, told me
that during the winter of 2004 a pair of Australian Ravens built a nest atop a
tall Grey Box tree just 60 metres from the homestead. All went well until about
25 days later – when, more than likely, there were nestlings present – Mrs
Grazier noticed a couple of her baby chicks were missing.
One morning she saw a raven perched on the fowl yard fence and shot it. With
the demise of one raven, its mate appeared to leave the area, as no further
activity was noticed around the nest. Interestingly, going by Michael Lenz’s
report at the recent COG meeting (Gang-gang, October 2006), Mrs Grazier
may well have taken out the male raven.
Fast-forward to last June and Mrs Grazier-Chickenfarmer-Birdwatcher was
disconcerted to see a pair of ravens loitering in the vicinity of the old nest.
Ensuing observation confirmed they were dismantling the nest and carrying away
their salvaged sticks to a site unknown – and probably well out of the range of
Mrs G’s twenty-two.
John Layton
