Wildlife plays a big role out here.  We are always captivated whenever we have a close encounter with one of the ‘really neat’ creatures but, of course, they are all pretty neat. 

Our most frequent fliers are the ravens.  They come every day.  Jack and Liz.  Jack is bigger than Liz by about 20% but their personalities are what allows us to differentiate between them.  Liz is a bit ‘skittish’ and ready to take flight at anything.  Jack is way cool. 

They come to the corner of our deck railing where I made a small ‘landing’ on which we place appropriate table scraps.  Jack gets most it but Liz gets her share.  I can call them.  I go out on the deck and make goofy raven-like ‘caws’ and, in a minute or two, they show up.  Typically, Jack sits on the landing and Liz sits in a nearby tree.  We dole out a lump or two of something which Jack scoops up and then Liz comes in to see what’s left.

They like cheese.  They prefer meat.  They don’t like prawns and we never feed them bread or ‘filler’.  More than once they have had salmon, steak and even a whole egg each.  That looks weird.  They don’t break it, they just pick it up and fly away.   

They are grateful for this handout, especially when they have chicks in the nest.  And we know this because, every now and then, Jack leaves us a ‘present’ of something wretched (semi-digested mouse?) or a grouping of small bones.  Once he brought Sally a sprig of leaves with berries on it, like Mistletoe.  There is no question – he is reciprocating our hospitality.

This week – for a change – I tried to feed the ravens from my hand.  Direct.  If I lay myself out, splayed over the deck railing like I had been stepped on by a giant and, stretching as far as I can, Jack will just snatch the rather long cut of cheese I hold out.  This tactic went on for a few days and then Liz got in on the act.  Then, so did Sal.  Finally, Sally could feed Jack while standing normally.  This may not be ecologically correct or whatever.  The Sierra club may be grinding their teeth but, for us, it was kind of special.

And, speaking of which……………

There are the wolves.  We don’t see the wolves.  But we hear them.  They are ‘up island’ and we can only hear them on some windless night or hear about them from our neighbours. 

And the latest news is pretty neat.  One neighbour has a wildlife camera sitting in a tree near her home.  The house is on the ‘wilderness highway’, the place where the animals can most easily pass from island to island.  Lately she has caught a few wolves on film.  But the most interesting part is that the neighbours also have two large dogs.  VERY large dogs.  Mastiff/Rottweilers.  Probably around 150 pounds each.  It seems that the alpha male of the local wolf pack dwarfs them.

“He seemed twice as big as one of our dogs.  He was black.  And he was huge!”  

I doubt that that means the wolf was 300 pounds.  That’s a small bear.  But it does sound like this big male is close to or over 200 pounds.  That is a big wolf.

And they are an effective, flourishing pack.  They know their business.  Last summer, another of our neighbours was anchored in a little bay up the channel taking a lunch break from their busy day of log salvaging.  While sitting in the boat, they heard a big splash behind them – not far away.  They turned to see a deer lighting out for the far shore.  It had just launched itself into the bay.  The reason became obvious pretty fast.  The wolf pack was right behind it.  Within seconds the bulk of the pack had leapt in, caught the deer and redirected it by twisting it’s neck back to the shore.  They then dispatched the hapless doe and enjoyed her al fresco on the spot. 

There you are having your tea and cookies and a deer is turned into lunch before your very eyes!

Of course, that doesn’t happen every day but things like that do happen often enough each season to make you keep a watchful eye and we are never disappointed. 

Things just happen out here.