As you all know, we have wildlife all around us but the most prominent for us are the ravens. Raven couple #1, Jack and Liz, left a year or so ago and then the two newbies moved in. They are pretty young, need some learning and experience but, just as important, they need to grow….physically. They came to us like thin, small teens and we are starting to see them ‘fill out’ a bit. Ol’ Jack was huge. Liz remained slim but she was long and slim and so the two of them filled some significant air space. And they had attitude! The newbies don’t really have much presence and it is weirdly evident in the role or status they lack or enjoy depending on the circumstances.

Jack and Liz swaggered around walking into a crowd of sea-gulls as if they owned the place and the gulls would part like the Red Sea and immediately acknowledge Jack’s rule. They were all polite and deferential to both Jack and Liz but they were actually afraid of Jack. Today, those same sea-gulls harass the newbies and steal their food. The new ravens just don’t have the same standing.

Things are slowly changing…. This past week, the ravens and the gulls have upped their aggressions on each other and it seems like the ravens are starting to make their beaks known. The skirmishes are still relatively benign but the ravens are now acting the equal of the gulls and, remember, there are always more gulls so the Newbie twosome are asserting their position outnumbered. It is no coincidence that they are also appearing a smidge bigger these days.

Recently the Newbies went nuts on an owl. We rarely see owls out here but the other day a very large horned owl was sitting almost invisibly in a tree. But he was visible enough to the ravens and they went after the owl as if he were the devil himself! Holeee…

The owl handled it all very well. Like the eagles, he basically just ignored the ravens but, to be more accurate, he also did not take to the air. Instead, he stood with his back to a tree trunk and simply owl-eyed their ongoing and aggressive antics. That went on long enough for us to ‘oooh’ and ‘aaaah’ and also to remember our camera.

Can you see the owl?

As for the DFO….those fine fellows in uniform on the half-million dollar boat I mentioned the other day? They paid us a visit back then and informed us that the rules re prawning have changed and that they were up in this neck of the woods confiscating offender’s traps. Sorta like seagulls on weaker birds. Classic stupid DFO. We told them we’d warn the locals of the rule change. The other day we went up to get the visiting doctor and take him back to the other island to his vehicle. But, as we left the island, I saw a boat way out there and thought I’d better warn them of the patrolling DFO and the new rule. So, off we went only to discover it was, in fact, the DFO boat I was going to warn. We said hello as they came out of their cabin to greet us – likely wondering what were doing. “Well, guys, your boat is so stealthy we didn’t know it was you until we got here. But, basically, we are here to warn you about you!”

They laughed. We went about our doctor-taxi effort but, after we dropped him at the community dock, we noticed that the DFO vessel was heading off station. They came up, floated about (same four crew) for awhile and then when ‘outed’, decided that they may as well go home.

We like to think we asserted our territory and we chased ’em off. Caw, caw!