canberrabirds

Strange encounter with Australian Raven

To: "'John Layton'" <>
Subject: Strange encounter with Australian Raven
From: "Philip Veerman" <>
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 11:56:36 +1100
Interesting story. We should bear in mind that in the suburbs there always is the chance that such a bird is regularly fed by people, either directly or not. They will hang around school yards for scraps of food. They certainly collect golf balls, so this is a similar story. A few years ago I found a little toy teddy bear under their nest when they were nesting in the big tree in my yard. They presumably thought it looked like a nice little animal to eat and when it wasn't, just dropped it from the nest. If anyone wishes to see the teddy bear, after I washed it, it hangs from the rear view mirror of Maria Lukacs' car for the past few years.
 
Philip Veerman
24 Castley Circuit
Kambah  ACT  2902
 
02 - 62314041
-----Original Message-----
From: John Layton [
Sent: Monday, 2 November 2009 8:36 PM
To: Canberrabirds
Subject: [canberrabirds] Strange encounter with Australian Raven

0700 hours today, MacDermott Place, Lake Ginninderra, I stood talking to a friend while casually watching an Australian Raven perched on a limb high in a tall eucalypt about 40m away. It didn't appear to be taking any notice of us until Sal took a shiny fob watch from his pocket and let it swing back and forth on its chain. Suddenly, the raven dived from the limb and descended towards us at speed. It probably would have passed some 2m above our heads but we ducked anyway as we heard the strident swish of the bird passing through the air. It flew up into another tree, hopped around on the limb so it faced us again, cocked its head from side to side and  peered down at us.
 
"What's a-biting him?" Sal said.  "Dunno," I replied, just as the raven descended again, but this time it didn't come down like the Hun outta the sun, rather, it flapped slowly by, head turned towards us, less than three metres away, looking intently interested. Now, I've watched ravens since childhood, but to see this totally wild, unrestrained creature cruise past at such close quarters was a remarkable experience. We heard the rhythmic, unhurried, wingbeats and could see the small feathers of the mantle rippling in the air slipping over them. Saw the eye in detail, like a little roundel centred with a circle of ebony surrounded by a perimeter like translucent, white glass. Could clearly make out the bunch of bushy throat hackles and oh, yeah, that bill. When you have that hefty, sharp, scimitar-like bill pointing squarely at your kisser from just 2.5 metres away, it makes you wanna yell, "Buddy, pal, amigo ... Kemo Sabi. Peace, Brer Raven!" Anyhow, the raven ascended to its original perch, turned around, looked down at us and crouched forward as if to launch another eye-to-eye recconnascence.
 
"Here comes another incomin' round. What's a-matter with that a-mad a-b*****d?" my Neapolitan friend cried.
 
"Put the watch away, Sal," I said. Ole Sal pocketed his flash little tick-tock lickity-split and Brer Raven promptly lost interest in us, hopped onto another limb and faced the other way.
 
Now, I couldn't see  a nest in the area, anyhow, I've never been dived upon by a nesting raven. Probably because they realise I'm an incredibly nice little guy with the best of intentions, after all they are very intelligent birds and so, on that basis alone, would feel much affinity for me.
 
So, are Australian corvids attracted to shiny baubles as I'm led to believe the northern hemisphere Magpie Pica pica is?
 
John Layton.
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