Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Raven Redux



The triumphant Moros scour the bush for bread to feed three big babies feathered in black. I thought I saw a diminished fourth in the back of the nest but am uncertain. Often the parents fly straight past the white crusty beaks begging for supper. They are intent about their business.

The frazzled Inklings (see damp Edgar Allen Inkling to left) have retaken an old nesting spot on the cliff where they were at home in years past. Their rival Jets are so consumed with life in the palm tree, that they appear to have taken little notice and no threatening actions.

The Grogs are acting enigmatically. Sunshine no longer sits in the eucalyptus tree nest and there is no evident life about it. Grog is not guarding there. Have they moved because of the troublesome building distractions? Arthur Conan Grog is giving nothing away yet (Mr.Cool in photo on top).

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Before the rains


The poor Inklings have been washed out again. This was their home before the rains. What will they do now? Which way to turn? It's forever starting over, again and again and again...





Meanwhile, further north, three Moro babes showed their beaks. The Moro family is a raven's pace ahead. El and Ella Moro scrounge the coast for tasty tidbits for their hungry young.

A.C.Grog coasts along the sands in a more leisurely fashion as his mate, Sunshine, is stuck incubating the nest. Occasionally, he flies in with a morsel to keep her content. Otherwise, this is deep breath time before new demanding beaks begin to call.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Raven Families Update 2011


Faithful Grog is guarding his nest and feeding his Sunshine who sits impatiently. She was happily gallivanting through the air and around the beach only last week. Now she is stuck in that old necessity of creation. The Grog couple are at home in the eucalyptus tree still left standing after their previous tree home was chopped without notice in 2009. There is busy building around and beneath them but A.C.Grog keeps his beak up, more concerned about potential trouble from the air.

Hidden Grog Home (photo)

The Moros are also at nest. Ella Moro rarely ventures off from her edgy cliff-face home, cleverly camouflaged in shadow. Her views of the Pacific are second to none but perhaps she can be blase, having lived there many a year. She keeps her head mostly down, focusing her warmth and trusting in the aerial ingenuity of her mate, the El Moro, to take care of 'out there'.

El Moro flying on his back (photo)


The Inklings appear to have taken over Pip
territory, having built a nest in the runoff pipe
only to have it washed away in last week's rain. Today, I saw it was rebuilt in the same place. Let's hope the predicted storm does not wreck their work.

The Jets remain in their palm tree, although they venture further into the beach area, seeming to claim a narrow stretch between Moro territory and old Inkling ground as their own. In rather aggressive fashion, they are staking the air further and further south, pushing the Inklings closer to the border and cousin chihuahua ravens. The Pips appear nowhere in sight.

The family furthest north, north of Grog territory, I failed to mention before. I call them the Smuts. Gus and Elise are magnificent raven specimens. They have lived for years in a palm tree with the flat top of the grand arches leading up Coast drive as their front porch.