Have you ever seen a Raven mad!!!!

     I haven't been able to do another egg test yet because of all the rain we are having here in Vermont.  BUT something did happen that amazed me.  I have finally seen George and Gracie's baby.  They only had one this year.  I don't know what happened because Ravens will lay anywhere between 3 to 7 eggs.  George and Gracie have only been able to produce 2 at one time.  This troubles me!  I'm so afraid that the construction near their nesting site may have been a factor.  We will never know.
    Knowing that George and Gracie have this one precious little baby I'm sure you can imagine how protective they are.  I did get a photo of George and the baby in flight.  Its far away, but George is the higher bird and the baby is lower.  You can see the difference in size from the baby to George.  He has a lot of growing up to do to fill those wings!!!!.

I first saw the baby with George and Gracie the other day.  They were in the road by the cow pasture.  It took me completely by surprise.  I slowed right down.  They quickly got the baby in a tree. Gracie took off, but George stayed with the baby.  I rolled down my window and said hello to George.  He responded by clamping his beak.  I said hello to the baby and it cocked its head at me.  A new family member! How exciting.  Once baby raven are out of the nest they stay with their parents for 6 months.  So this should give me ample time to get a photo in.  I haven't named the baby yet I need to see its personality.  I can tell you though that this baby is not nearly as noisy as the two from last year.  I'm assuming its because it has no competition.

With all of this information. You will find this funny and amazing!  Yesterday I fed George and Gracie their food.  They got some roast beef, eggs, and meatloaf.  Surprisingly they didn't eat the meatloaf.  The Blue jays helped themselves though!  They couldn't get enough of it.  Gracie came to the feeding station more than George did.  Now that the baby is out of the nest George is going to be extremely protective.  Gracie gets to relax some.  They acted this way last year with the other two babies.  Its a nice partnership that George and Gracie have!

Back to my story.  George had been pretty vocal most of the morning.  Sometimes he called me, other times he was looking for Gracie or he would do flybys with the baby in tow.  But what really got me was I had finished all of my chores.  I went into the house and took my spot in the dining room to wait and take photos of George and family.  

All of a sudden George and Gracie start vocalizing like you wouldn't believe.  All sorts of different sounds were coming from them.  They clearly were not happy.  It wasn't until I saw Gracie flying around in tight circles that I noticed who she mad at.

That's right!  That naughty boy Zack had wondered to close to the Ravens and Gracie was telling him under no uncertain terms he was not welcomed.  Now I didn't see Zack until I paid attention to Gracie.  And it wasn't until she perched that I saw Zack running for his life into the goose pen.  Here are the photos of how she was looking at him and the end result.

                                       
She landed on this branch first.  I followed her line of sight and saw Zack running for his life into the goose pen.

At that point Zack was inside the goose pen.  Zack moved so fast that I wasn't able to get a shot of him going into the pen.  Then she moved down one more branch.

She kept her eye on him very very well.  She realized that she couldn't get a good look from that vantage point so she went to the fence.  There she could get a "birds eye view".

Look how mad she is!!!!!

Gracie realized that Zack would probably come out the other door.  Which he did and she was right there to let him know it wasn't ok for him to be around her baby!

Zack even thought he would try to talk some sense into her, but she wasn't having any of it.  At that point I hollered for Zack and he welcomed the get away.  Gracie watched him run to the house and make his way through the window before she left!  She even gave a Victory wing spread and then went back to George and the baby.

Within a few moments George came by and took the other egg.

Then Gracie came back after a little while and tried her hand at some roast beef and so did George!

Petite little Gracie!

Big Burly George.  

Sometimes its hard to tell them apart.  Its all in how they move and their feathers when they either land or fly off.  George has one of his wing feathers missing and Gracie's tail feathers are ruined because of the egg setting.

I wonder if Zack has learned not to mess with the Ravens?  I guess we shall see!  

Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven!

George and I appreciate it!

The Egg Test: Day 2

     Sorry that I haven't written in a couple of days.  The weather hasn't been that great for my camera to be outside.  I did however get this new footage and the third egg.  This video is the second video, but third egg. The second egg was blue.  Bright blue. I tried to get footage, but they saw me set up the camera and I think they have the timing down because they showed up on the roof just as the camera got done.  I did get to observe though which egg they chose.  I had two eggs on the roof.  One was the blue one and the other was a greenish regular egg.  What surprised me was that it was Gracie that showed up first and she took the blue egg first.  George came right after that and took the other one.  

     This third egg test and second video will show you not only which egg George took first, but you will be able to see how he interacts with the camera.  I did move it back so it wasn't so close.  That seemed to help a little bit.

     Also yesterday I gave him something new.  I had some left over Chicken Alfredo with broccoli in it.  I decided to give it a try to see if he would like it or not.  Here is the proof that George loves my cooking!

I almost forgot!  I did manage to get a photo of George taking the white egg yesterday.

So here is the video that I made for the third egg test!  Enjoy!

Thank you for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven!  

George and I appreciate it!

The Egg Test

I finally have started my experiment with George and the colored eggs.  It was interesting and fun and I learned a few do's and don'ts with taking video which means they will only get better!!!!  Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven! George and I appreciate it!!!

What a day!

     Busy Busy Busy!!!  That's me alright.  Sorry I haven't been on to tell you my stories.  Working on a farm and being a single parent is a lot of work.  But I promise you I do have some George tales AND some brand new video.  But first I will tell you a story.
     It was a pretty exciting day.  I got to see George and Gracie today.  I even got a couple of seconds of video of Gracie this morning.  She and George kept taking turns to go the feeding station and bringing the food back to the nest.  I think the babies have started out of the nest.  They were traveling in a different direction this morning and were very very chatty.  So maybe the babies are able to explore now.  I will keep a sharp eye out!!!!
     I got to hang with George of a few minutes.  I set my camera up with him in view.  I swear he must hear the camera going.  Maybe he can see himself in the lens.  I have to edit that piece of video before I can show it to you, but wait til you see George react and look at the camera.
      I do have two very short videos to show you.  Yesterday I brought George out some food.  Now you know that George loves to pick on the Geese.  I was taping George and I caught the geese and George reacting to each other.  It is so funny.  You will have to watch the geese as George approaches and how George reacts to the geese as they go into their pen.  It is never boring on the farm.  I truly don't need a television when I have all sorts of drama, comedy, action, horror and a little sci fi right there at the farm

After I got this video things had calmed down quite a bit.  I stayed busy on the farm and at one point I saw George on a new perch.  I hadn't seen him use this post before.

He stayed here for quite a while.  He has been hanging around the farm more and more lately.  Its been fun to be walking in the field and all of a sudden hear the whoosh whoosh of some powerful wings go right over your head.  I'm waiting for him to all of a sudden land on my shoulder.  After I took these photos I guess he had to amuse himself.  See the pile of wood just behind George.  This is what he did at the pile.

Then he decided that he had played enough with the woodpile and left me.

The past couple of days George and Gracie have been switching on and off getting food and bringing back to the nest.  What is really cool about this next video is that I caught George in the act of stashing a couple pieces of pork chop that I had on the roof.  I haven't seen many videos of Raven's stashing food and if you notice you will see that at the end he actually catches me video taping him and then takes off.  He movements are subtle, but once you learn his moves you will see what I see.

Sorry about the end of that video I was trying to follow him through but lost track of him. 

 George also the other day had to keep moving around and around the farm because a crow was following him.  George would try to hide his food then either see or hear the crow.  George would panic and take his food and try to stash it somewhere else or fake it.  I have seen him fake stashing food within the past couple of days as well. That is something I haven't seen him do before until this spring.  Gracie has blessed us more and more.  She is still very timid, but she is sticking around a little bit more all the time.

Another thing George has had to contend with lately are all of the male Red Winged Blackbirds.  They have several nests around the farm and since George is such a great egg thief he has to contend with all of the males grabbing at his tail feathers, chasing him around in the air or dive bombing him while he is in his perch.  My goal is to capture it with on video or on a photograph.  I love having little challenges like this that I have set up for myself.  It keeps me thinking all the time.  And next week I'm going to start my colored egg study and see what colors George will or will not take.  So stay tuned!!!

Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven!  George and I appreciate it!!!

I'm Being Followed!

     Yesterday was a quite day.  I decided to take the afternoon off from the farm and go fishing.  But I did do my chores and did some extra work around the farm before I left.  George was there before I even got out of my truck.  He flew around me.  Lately he has been playing shy.  I'm not sure why maybe he is getting camera shy.  So I have backed off on my interaction with to give him time to miss me.  Its paying off cause for the first time in a couple of days he landed in the birch tree and stayed with me for a few minutes.  I haven't figured out why he won't stay.  Part of me thinks its still a little to overwhelming for him, it might be Deegan or it could have been the combination of me, Deegan and Kathy talking to him all at once.  Now that I think about it in the animal world George could have seen us like he sees the geese.  They gather around the bottom of the shed when he lands on the roof and squawk at him to get him to leave.  Maybe that is what he thought we were telling to him to do.  Makes sense now.
     You see everything is a working progress when you work with animals.  You win some and you lose some, but you should never give up.  It keeps your mind healthy to think of all the possibilities instead of dwelling on negative issues.  Now that I know and figured out why George acted that way I can adjust the training.  Most times trainers will not take that step back to find out why the animal is acting differently.  All most all of the time it is the trainers fault and not the animals.  Most trainers thinks its the animals fault because things have been going so well they don't understand why the animals attitude changed.
     George right now is dealing with a lot of issues.  I tend to back off during this time of the year because of that reason.  If you think about it, what have I been writing about for the past week.  This week alone, I assume that there are babies, Turkey Vultures have invaded his territory and so have the crow and lets not forget the couple of days of where the humans were near the nest site working on the interstate.  George has had to deal with a number of things.  He is in high stress mode.
     Now that I know what is going on in George's life I can adjust my training.  That will not only show him that I had an AHA! moment but it will also show him that I respect him.  Respect and trust go a long way in any relationship.
     George did hang around the barn though.  We were working on cleaning up the paddock and the stalls.  He would circle the barn several times, again curious about what we were doing.  He also has a new favorite spot near the pond that is on the farm.  Lately he has been flying and landing near the pond. Maybe to get a drink or harass the geese.  He really enjoys doing that.  I haven't been able to observe him over there yet, but I will with patience.
     Yesterday for breakfast I fed him two pieces of beef liver, two eggs, hamburger rolls, two hot dogs and a baked potatoe with broccoli and cheese.  Yummy!!  How can you resist a meal like that!!  The only time thus far that I have noticed George taking something else before he takes his eggs is when I feed him beef liver.  If I place the liver and the egg next to each other like I did yesterday he will always take the liver first then the egg.  Other than that he always takes his eggs first.
     OH my goodness!  I just thought of this brilliant idea.  I wonder if George would take an egg that has been colored.  HA! I just created another project to work on.  I can decorate them the same way I would Easter eggs!!!  Then I can see what color he likes or if he likes them colored at all.  Isn't that something.  I can't wait to try this experiment.  I will only use food coloring so as not to harm George.  And if he doesn't it eat then I will just break it open and cut it up for him.  He eats hard boiled eggs as well.  I'm so excited! I don't think there has ever been an experiment like this one. I can take video and everything!  I'm tingling all over!!!!
     One other thing happened yesterday that I almost forgot to mention.  After I got done at the farm I went into town and did some errands, got my fishing licence, went home got my gear and headed to go fishing.  I started on the River Road in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.  That road is right next to the Passumspic river and the Passumspic river heads south to the Connecticut River in Barnet, Vermont.
     I started in St. Johnsbury and worked my way down to the town of Passumpsic and then was going to stop at a fishing access, but it was all full.  So I figured I would try my luck in East Barnet.  I took the back way to go to East Barnet which is going right past the farm.
    I was going slow cause I was also looking for wildlife and interesting things to photograph.  I got to the farm and stopped at the top of the hill so I could observe the landscape and see where all the critters were.  When all of a sudden WHOOSH! There goes George right in front of my windshield and landing in the tree right above me.  I rolled down my window and was giggling.  I think he likes my giggle cause he always tilts his head to listen.  "Hello George, Hows my pretty boy doing?"  He clapped his beak a couple of times and then he flew off.
     I was very happy to see him and that he has recognized my truck.  The cool part is coming up though.  As I was going down the road something caught my eye and there flying next to me was George.  Then he would veer off and then I would be down the road a little farther and Theres George!  That crazy bird followed me all the way down to East Barnet which is about 2 miles away from the farm.  Once I got out of the truck he circled above me and clapped his beak.  I told him "Thank You." Because that is the proper thing to do and he started booking it back to the farm.
     How amazing is that.  I can't wait to see what he does this year when we start riding in the mountains.

     Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven! George and I appreciate it!

   

George and Annie: Their First Meeting!

      I decided to share a story with you that I had written for my other blog Frye Farm Antics.  This story occurred last summer.  This is the first time I caught Annie and George playing together.  All true with photographic proof!!  I hope you enjoy!

George had a long summer with his brood this summer.  He and Gracie had two babies this year and Kathy and I called them Squawk and Screech!  They were the noisiest baby birds we have ever heard on the farm. Squawk was the worst of the two. Extremely noisy and full of himself and George hardly had time to himself.  But being the great parents that they are they suffered through it and now the babies are finally gone and on their way.  George lately has had to deal with two very large Turkey Vultures that have made their home on our mountain.  They don't bother George and Gracie to much, but when they come around the farm and circle overhead George lets us know they are around.  George has also developed a relationship with Kathy's cats Annie and Zack. Annie and Zack are year old Siamese cats. Sister and Brother.  They have been very naughty this summer getting after my chipmunks and squirrels and the birds, but we love them so we deal with it.
     Lately Annie has been "stalking" George.  George is 3times bigger than Annie and below is a picture of them together on the barn roof!

They stayed there in that position for what seemed an eternity.  Annie would look up at George and George would look down at Annie.  He would sometimes even clap his beak at her and she would stand on her haunches and try to grab at him.  She started out on the ground and slowly ever so slowly worked her way up to the roof.  Annie hid right next to the birch tree.  She almost got his tail feathers.  She timed everything perfectly.  George was bothered by almost getting his tail nabbed, but after he came back and perched on the post he seemed very amused.  

A Raven who likes cats!!!  How funny is that??  After several minutes they were at a stand still.  So I went outside and gathered Annie.  When George saw me coming he went up into the birch tree.  He stayed and watched me chastise Annie and scoop her up.  I looked up at George and apologized and he just bowed his head as if to say Thank You!  I brought Annie in the house and she stayed by the window watching as George continued with his gathering of food.

Its amazing to me how animals of different species can communicate.  How knowing deep in my heart George realizes that I'm there to protect him and that I love him.  Its simple gestures of respect that wins in any relationship great or small.

Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven!  George and I appreciate it!

Those darn Turkey Vultures!!!

     Today I didn't get to see George all that often.  He was a busy bird this morning!!!  It was funny though.  I had my farrier come over because my horse Lacey lost both of her front shoes.  Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but Lacey has Navicular and can't go without her shoes.

So while I was tending to my horse and the farrier, Kathy came up to me and said, "Your boyfriend is here." rolling her eyeballs at me.  So since Deegan was already next to me I knew she was talking about George.  I just grinned!!!  Then throughout the little over an hour my farrier was there George would fly around and around the barn.  I could hear his wings in the air.  He is so noisy!  I love it!!!  Kathy kept saying, "You better go feed him."  I just shrugged.  "He can wait. He isn't starving."  Besides if I dropped everything right then and there who would be training who around there.  So I stood my ground and didn't feed him.  I had some goodies for him today.  Things that he just loves.  After my farrier left I went to the truck and got out the goodies I had brought from home.  I had one raw pork chop and one raw piece of chicken with some plain spaghetti noodles and I added some suet and two eggs to his breakfast.

He wasn't far from the farm this morning and it didn't take him long to get over to his feeding station.  I called to him and I could see him flying in circles over the median about a quarter a mile away.  I figure something had gotten hit.  He was circling pretty good.  Then after I called to him a second time he looked over at me and Rawrk, Rawrk!  As if to say, "Yeah Yeah I heard you the first time."  So shaking my head I went into the house to see what else Kathy needed done.  

She then informed me that I needed to put a couple of new tires in her little lawn tractor cart.  So I grabbed my camera just in case and I took some awesome photos this morning.  George even made an appearance finally.  It was really hot today and he had been doing a lot of flying around. Here are some of the photos I took of him today.

Just so you know.  The middle one won an Outstanding Creativity Award from viewbug.com this afternoon!!!  I'm so very proud!!!  

After George came and took his two eggs and a couple of pieces of meat, I finished up the cart for Kathy then went about getting chores done.  It had been really quiet for a while.  So I went to see if George was around.  I couldn't see hide nor hair of him, but I did hear him having a fit in the same direction I had seen him earlier.  

Something had caught my eye so I walked further up the driveway and sure enough I saw the very reason George was having a fit.

(This photo is not mine.)

Yeah!  That's right this big ugly guy was flying around up in the air.  Right above where George was making all the racket.  Then there wasn't just one, but two.  George has been having a really hard time with these Turkey Vultures.  It all started last year.  They have taken a liking to George's territory and have made themselves a menace for George and Gracie.  It was very very quiet for a while.  I didn't hear a peep out of him.

After I finished chores I saw that every single bird feeder was completely empty.  So I had some time left before a photography meeting I had so I went around and filled all the feeders.  While I was doing so guess who showed up.  Yep!  George was able to come out of hiding.  The Turkey Vultures had gone and he was now flying right over my head wondering what I was doing.  He just kept flying around and around.  He was doing some amazing flight patterns.  I did manage to get this one pic of George flying with a jet in the sky.  George is in the lower left hand corner.

I know its hard to see, but I just thought it was really cool. I tried to get a better one, but I just couldn't get the timing right.  Still cool though.

He finally left right after I took this photo and went back to where he had been hanging out all day. So I'm not sure, but there is probably some road kill on the interstate he is fighting with the Turkey Vultures over.  George can be very protective and vicious if they get to close to the nest or the farm.  

Oh! At one point while the Turkey Vultures were out of sight George did fly really low and croaked at me and made a huge circle over the mountain and back to the farm.  He croaked through the whole circle and back again.  I guess he was just letting everyone know that was his territory.  I love George!!!  Always looking out for us!!!

Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven!  George and I appreciate it!

New Cover photo and exciting news.

     I have a tendency to be an insomniac.  So I get really creative in the very early hours like right now.  I have been up since 3am.  It is now 4:26am and just created a new photo for my blog.  Here it is!

The silo on the left is the very reason that the Old Silo Road got its name.  This silo is over 100 years old and is one of the original building still left in this part of Barnet, Vermont.  I have loved this old silo my whole life. It would be the perfect Rapunzel tower.  I have always wanted to own the property that it sits on and matter of fact it is for sale, but I will never own this.  I don't make enough to barely live on.  So I get the privilege of passing it twice a day, 5 days a week.  Let me know what you think of my new photo!!  

Now onto the great news!  Gracie was around the farm a great deal this morning!!!  She came and got food off of the roof and brought it back to the nest until the food was all gone.  So I firmly believe that WE HAVE BABIES!!!  I don't know how many.  I won't know for a couple of more weeks.  It will take between 35 to 42 days before they can fly.  I would go check, but I really don't want to disturb them.  I don't want George and Gracie to move.  So I'm hoping that because they brought their babies to the farm last year that they will do the same this year.  And now that I have a better camera I will be able to get some great shots of the babies. 

Last years babies were so noisy and full of personality that we named them Squeak and Squawk!  Squawk was extremely noisy and extremely demanding.  We thought George and Gracie were going to pull their feathers out!!!!  But to their credit they dealt with their noisy children like champs.  Below are a few photos of George and Gracie over the years.  You will notice in one of the photos that George and Gracie are on the back of one of the Hereford calves taking hair off of him.  Its a little blurry, but I was so excited to get such a photo!  George is the one that you can see first.  

Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven.  George and I appreciate it!

Gracie: George's Lady

     Today was a wonderful day at the farm because not only did George show up first thing this morning, but he brought Gracie with him too.  Gracie has been setting in her nest for the past couple of weeks.  Ravens will nest for about 18 to 21days. And its only the female that lays on the eggs, thus the reason why I know George is a male and not a female. She and George have been giving us about two clutches a year.  That we have noticed.  Last year they had only two babies with each clutch.  Let me tell you, they are some noisy babies!!!!
     George and Gracie have been together for as long as I know.  I have been working with them for the past 4 years and I have no idea how old they are or how long they have been a mated pair.  They do defend their territory with great ferocity.  George is such a wonderful mate.  I have even seen him shield Gracie from a bad snowstorm once.  George and Gracie are both very attentive with their fledglings.  I love watching the two of them with their children.  They are so attentive and are very patient with them.
George and Gracie are the only Ravens for about 20 miles in every direction.  They mostly stay near the farm though.  We have a great water supply and with their nest being near the interstate and the farm they are always guarenteed food.
     Gracie is not quite as big as George.  She also carries herself differently than George does.  Gracie lands tenderly and hops a great deal out of nervousness of her surroundings and George just plops himself right down.  He is heavier in the chest and Gracie is quite a lady.  Everytime I see Gracie she reminds me of a princess and George the commoner.  Also when they fly Gracie tends to tip her wing tips up more in an arch where George is more level.  Gracie also perches in the Willow tree which is oppisite of the feeding station, closer to the house.  She will perch on the birch tree, but does so at the very tippy top, where George will go to the lower branch.  There are three positions to the tree.  Gracie will start at the tippy top and make her way down as she sees there are no threats where as George will enter from the next to top perch to just landing on the roof.  He is clearly more comfortable with the farm surroundings that she is.
     Below is a photo of Gracie in the Willow tree that I was able to take today.  I was so happy to see her and I hope that I will be able to get photos of the babies this year as well.  I should be able to hear the fledglings in a week or so.  Its amazing to hear them first thing in the morning.  George has also started bringing more food to the nest instead of stashing it like he normally does.  So, we wait with baded breathe!

Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven!!!  George and I appreciate it!

Gracie in the Willow tree just before she jumped on the roof for her breakfast.

This is Gracie realizing I'm in the house.  George and Gracie and can see me in the window.  I can get some of the best curious looks from George when he is trying to see me in the window.