More baby stuff!

    One of the greatest joys I have right now in my life is being able to watch George and Gracie raising their family.  I get such a wonderful feeling of happiness whenever I see them or hear them.  Being allowed to be in there flock is amazing.  Yes I'm the outsider, but they still look for me and talk to me whenever I'm around.  I think of myself as the distant Aunt they love to visit every once in a while.  George still talks to me all the time and most times comes looking for me.  Gracie has, WOW, changed a lot since this summer.  She is staying in the tree now when I come up to the feeding station.  She is still very very cautious, but if the energy is right and I don't have Deegan with me then everything is grand!.
     Thursday was an interesting day.  I got to watch Gracie a lot and I also got to watch the babies really work their wings for the past couple of days.  I also got some video of the babies and Gracie in flight.  They are very acrobatic right now.  They have gotten so much better now that they have gotten bigger.  Here are some new photos.

As you can see the babies are on the log and if you look closely you can see Gracie right above them on the stump.  From what I can gather from left to right is Angel, Demon and Runt.  Demon is fearless and is very attached to his daddy.  Here is a photo of Demon in flight.

This next photo is Demon at the top of the birch tree watching daddy get some food.  It wasn't until Tuesday that George and Gracie have started bringing the babies to the feeding station.  

Later that afternoon I got some video of kids and Gracie in flight.  They flew over my head talking to me the whole time.  The one that you hear in the video the most is Demon.  He not only talks to me when he sees me, but he also was looking for George who happened to be in one of the trees close by.  I didn't get video of him in flight, BUT I did get this photo of him flying after his family and he talked to me on the way by.  You will see that is beak is partically open.  Just at the moment he was talking to me and you can also see that his eye is trained on me.  Neat isn't it?!

Another thing I noticed was whenever Demon got to talking to much it seems like George was reprimanding  him.  Because when George spoke to Demon it sounded like SHUT UP!!!!  Hahaha!!!  Below is the video of the kids flying around.  Enjoy!  I'm sure that I will have more in the future!  Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven! George and I appreciate it!

Busy day for the Ravens!

     Even though I had one of the busiest and most difficult days yesterday I still managed to get some great pics and observe George and his family.  Yesterday morning on the way to the farm I got to the top of the hill.  At the top of the hill on the Old Silo Road you can see the farm from the road.  There is about 25 acres there so the road goes next to the pastures really well and you can see all of our critters from there!  Well when I got to the top I started to slow down.  I had plenty of time before I had to actually be there.  I slowly made my way down the road and looked into the field and saw Gracie and George sitting on the fence posts!

George is on the left and Gracie is on the right.

So I stopped and pulled over.  Because where they are the babies are very close by!  And they didn't disappoint.  This next couple of photos told me a lot about George and Gracie and how ravens teach their young.  AND I made a brand new discovery.  Not only did I learn how ravens teach their young about food I found that we have THREE babies and not two.  I was so surprised!!!  And if you can see the photo up close you can count bodies!!!

How they got to this point was amazing!  George apparently had a big piece of suet.  The babies were making all kinds of noise.  I will try to record them so you can hear what we have to listen to on a daily basis!  

George jumped down onto the ground and Gracie followed suit.  Then like a flash three babies landed in front of them in a half circle and began begging for food.  They would try get the food away from George, but Gracie would intervene and George would peck at and move it around. He was clearly trying to teach them something.  Every time he broke a piece off all three would squat down, spread their wings and make all sorts of racket!!!  I named the little one Runt.  He is so much smaller than his siblings.  They stayed like this for a few minutes.  Something spooked them in the woods and I got photos of two of the babies flying away.  Its great fun watching them deal with the wind currents.  They are struggling right now, but soon they will be doing all sorts of turns and twrills!!! 

The one of the left is Demon and the other one is the middle child.

It was really foggy yesterday morning that is why the photos are so dusky looking.  Also these photos are cropped so you could get a better look.  I'm planning on getting a camera with a better zoom for Christmas this year.  Debating on what to get, but something more wildlife friendly.  

I also got some video of Gracie in action!  Yesterday I fed them ham, suet, hot dogs, hamburger rolls, and of course their eggs.  Since we found out they have three babies we have increased their eggs by one or two.

And the suet I gave them this morning was after I watched them in the field, so the food that George had was from one of his stashes.  So that may be what George was trying to teach them.  

Below is one of the photos that I took of Gracie yesterday morning.

And this is her taking one of the eggs!

I'm just waiting for the video to upload so I trying to remember everything that happened yesterday.  OH! I just remembered one more thing that happened yesterday!!!  We had gone out to dinner, Kathy and I, we brought home some french fries, a part of a hot turkey sandwich and a little bit of mash potato.  Kathy and I were in the barn tending to our sick horse Peaches when George did a fly by and called to us!  He saw that there was food on the roof!  He loves his french fries!!!  I wonder if he will share with the babies or if he will keep his chocolate to himself!!  Hahaha!

So that is all that happened yesterday with the raven family!  Still waiting for the video to load.  

Finally!  Here is the video.  Please forgive the poor quality. I was shooting through a window, but you will get the jest of it.

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

I HAVE BABY PICTURES!!!!!!!!

     I'm so excited!!!  I got baby pictures today!  Not just one, but a couple!!!!  AND George and Gracie have 2 babies not 1!!!!  I have been jumping for joy all day.  I couldn't wait to get my day done so I could share baby pictures with you all!
     How I found them this morning was very very easy.  The two young ones are extremely noisy right now.  I had a blast watching them fly around trying to find mom and dad.  Talking frantically with each other.  One is definitely bigger than the other.  And I really can't believe how big they are compared to George and Gracie.
     I walked around the farm today doing chores when I heard the babies making all sorts of racket.  I covered my eyes and looked out into the pasture and I spotted all four of them in a tree!  My heart stopped. Then all of a sudden they flew off and flew around and around.  George and Gracie did fly bys to see if I had put food out there this morning which I did of course.  After a half an hour of listening to them move in huge circle around the farm they showed up again in the tree that I originally saw them in.  I walked to the truck, cursing myself with each step BECAUSE I forgot my camera.  I thought for sure I was going to miss them.  I hightailed it back to the pasture and sure enough they were still there!  I walked out as far as I dared to and this is what I got.  It was really foggy this morning.  George and Gracie on are the left and the babies on the right!!!

There they are!!!!

I'm such a proud Auntie!!!!!  Wow are they noisy!  I think they talk louder than Squeak and Squawk from last year.  I think I will call the louder of the two Demon cause he doesn't talk like a raven yet.  He screeches and screams like a demon.  I haven't decided what to call the other one yet, but I can't wait to watch them more.

They keep close to the barn and have a huge circle surrounding the farm.  They don't go back to the nest hardly at all anymore.  So I'm wondering if they are roosting somewhere else or if they just go to the nest at night.

A couple of other things happened again today which was surprising.  We were almost ready to leave to go to the other farm when I  kept hearing George talk over and over and over again.  Then he started using his voice that he uses to get my attention.  I knew then that something wasn't quite right.  

I walked up the driveway with my camera in hand in case babies were about and I took my daughter and her friend with me to the upper cow pasture.  That is where George was making all the racket.  It took my a few minutes, but I found George!

He was way up in this massive pine tree.  He keep talking and when he saw me he kept going on and on.  I tried to tell him it was alright.  Then I noticed that he looked down.  I could only see him from the camera lens because he was so far away.  Once I realized he was looking down this is what he was trying to tell me.

That's right!!!  We had a fox in our cow pasture!  Isn't she beautiful!  She was looking for a den I think!  She looks as though she might be pregnant.  George was having such a fit about that fox being there.  I finally shooed her off and George immediately calmed down.  So the danger had passed.

George is extremely protective with his babies.  This is the only time of the year that I can't get really close to him.  Which I don't mind at all.  The more ravens we have the better.  

After I chased the fox away we left to go to the other farm.  We stayed up there all day.  We got home around 4pm.  When we parked the truck and got out I went to my truck and I heard the babies carrying on. This is what I saw.

That is George on the right and one of the babies on the left.  George was out in the upper cow pasture teaching the babies how to hunt for bugs and worms!  

George on the left and baby on the right.  George at this point has seen me, but I wasn't a threat because I was so far away.  These photos are also cropped that is why they are a little fuzzy.

George again on the left and baby on the right.  I wasn't sure which baby this was until.

George and baby flew off into the trees.  I found that the one with him at that point was Demon.  And this next one is Demon by himself.

He was just sitting on that branch talking away.  His little brother/sister was making some noise too, but Demon sure has his sibling beat!

This is so exciting for me.  Just the fact that I have something wonderful to look forward to every single morning.  Yes, it is in the form of a bird, but they sure do bring a smile to my face.  If the weather is nice tomorrow we may be going riding.  I wonder if George will follow us with the babies in tow or not?

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

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!

My Sidekicks!!!

     Today I had the funniest morning!  I took it fairly easy today.  I just wanted to enjoy the wonderful weather we are having here in Vermont.  I started out my morning like I usually do.  I got the medicine for Peaches ready then I went to the fridge and tried to figure out what to give George for his breakfast.  So I decided to give him a light breakfast.  If you have been following along then you know that I feed George more than what he would normally eat in the wild.  Part of this his training, the other part is feeding other critters, and figuring out what other birds like to eat.  For instance, Blue Jays and Starlings will eat other meat.  Like chicken, hamburger and pork chops.  If the pieces are small enough they will almost gorge themselves on the meat.  The only thing that George will not eat and this is such a typical kid thing to do.  George will not eat his veggies!  NO SIR!!!!  Keep those greens right off his feeding station by golly!!!  George will throw the greens right off the roof.  I have seen him do this with broccoli.  He likes to take the green beans in his mouth, wait for a goose to go right under the eaves of the roof and he will try to drop the green beans on a goose's head.
     Sorry, I got off track.  This morning for breakfast George got his two eggs with two hamburger buns and some beef liver that I cut up into small strips so he could bring some back to the nest.  He didn't take more than 2 minutes to get his eggs.
     I also did something different with him today.  Lately for the past week or so George has made himself seen, but not seen.  That is out of the his character from this winter.  George would stay with me for hours at a time and now I hardly see him.  And when I do see him he treats me like I'm a stranger.  So after he showed up I dissed him.  He landed on the birch tree and clapped his beak at me and cocked his head.  Normally by that point I would have said, "Hi George, Good Boy George." then I would have turned and walked away.  His release from the pressure of me talking to him while he stays in one place on the tree.
     Instead of talking to George, I looked up at him and turned my back on him without saying a word or looking back.  My theory seemed to work.
     While I was ignoring George, Deegan and I went around the pasture to take pictures and look at fence lines.  The whole time George would croak at me above my head waiting for me to say something.  I completely ignored him.  Deegan and I would stop here and there taking pictures or mending fence as we went.  After we went into the house and I watched as George flew around the house a couple of times.  Deegan and I went back out after we got a drink and I decided I wasn't quite ready to do chores yet so I grabbed a pail of water from the stalls and practiced my action/water shots.  I took different things and dropped in them into the pail.  I would take photos of the splash.  Here is one of the photos I took today.

Deegan and I did this for about a half an hour.  After that I went and started chores.  Well the geese were having a fit.  They make a certain type of ruckus when George is around.  So I went out into the grain shed and pulled out some bread. I fed the geese a little bit and all of a sudden I heard a whoosh, whoosh noise coming from behind and above me.  That  crazy bird didn't land in the birch tree or on the roof.  He landed right above me in the Willow tree.  At this point I still wasn't talking to him.  He tried everything to get my attention.  I slowly got my camera and walked back to the fence post and started taking photos of George. After the third or fourth photo I finally greeted him and told him he was a good boy.  Since he stayed with me the whole time I went into the house and gave him an egg to reinforce the behavior of him staying with me.  George even stayed there in the Willow tree the whole time I was in the house and it took him a few minutes to take the egg.  He then flew around the barn with it.  I think today he was trying to hide his food differently.  I have four crows here at the farm.  They have been making themselves a nuisance to George lately.  They have been ganging up on him and stealing food from George's stashes.  He flew around the barn several more times before landing in the Willow tree again.  Here are some shots of him in the Willow tree.

George hung up in that Willow tree for nearly an hour.  He didn't leave until I went back into the house.  But before I did go in the house I went back inside the grain shed and got some bread to put on the roof for George.  He didn't leave once in almost an hour.  He stayed there the whole time and watched me and Deegan do chores.  Again the bread on the roof is a positive reinforcer for him staying with me.  Now I don't want you to think that I want to completely tame George.  I don't.  I want George to very much as wild as possible.  It's just nice to have a relationship with such an intelligent bird.  I also get to see a side of raven's that most people don't get to see.  I feel very blessed.

After we got with chores Deegan and I went into the house.  George at one point must have lost track of me somehow because he flew around the house not once, but twice.  We know that George knows my truck.  Truck is still in the driveway so Sierra is still that the farm.  The second time George passed around the house he landed right on this post.

Kathy and I were watching him for a couple of minutes. I got some great shots of him on that post.  One of my favorites is this one!

We have no idea what made him jump like that, but it was funny.  He reacted to whatever it was that scared him like a mouse scarring a woman.  It was so funny!  We were laughing so hard.  And I can't believe I stayed focus long enough to get this shot!!!!

I then went out onto the front porch and got some more great shots of him.

.

This one he is saying, "HAW! I found you Sierra!"  After he found me he took off.  What a crazy wonderful bird!!!!  He hung around with me on that farm all morning!!!  It was nice to see him, flying around free in the sky.  And at one point of George taking food off.  He was in one corner of the woods when all of sudden Gracie started making a racket.  Next thing I know George is flying toward the nest like his tail was on fire. The only thing I can think of is that the men who are working on the highway are getting to close to the nest.  I wish there was something I could do.  I may have to go over into the median sometime this weekend and take a peak and make sure the nest is alright.  Maybe I'll even leave a note and some donuts to those guys.  Maybe they will think its cute and maybe stay away from the nest.  Oh, I don't know.  I guess I will figure it out when I need to.  What a great day.  Isn't George just beautiful?  He is probably one of the best looking Ravens I have ever seen.  He truly is a credit to the Raven species!!

Thank you 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!

   

Curious George!

     Today was extremely busy for me.  I didn't get to see George as much as I would have liked, but that is life.  Today I gave him something new to try.  He loves pasta dishes.  Today he tried some of my Stroganoff noodles.  He LOVED them!!!
     I did a lot of stuff around the barn today.  One of my many chores was changing a tire on the riding lawn mower.  I had lots of help.  George also kept his eye on me as well.  He flew around the house a couple of times wondering what I was doing.
     I also got to rake up the hay from this winters hay deposit to the barn.  I didn't get to finish that, but I had an audience for that too.  George wasn't very far away and he would fly around the barn several times at different intervals.  Sometimes he would talk to me in flight and other times he would be in the nearby tree just watching.
     The funniest part of my day with George is when I was taking photos of flowers.  Here is one of the below.

I was on my belly.  I wanted to get some really great Macro shots.  So I had to get on the ground.  Next to me was Deegan.  Faithful as ever he was right beside me putting his nose on the flowers and then looking at me.  It was so adorable.  I had to send him away cause he kept messing up my shots.  He didn't got that far away however maybe four or five feet away.  As I was setting up for a shot I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye.  At the same time Deegan was rolling in the grass like a maniac.  I looked up and George was flying around us!!!  George flew around and around tilting his head flying lower and lower.  All the while Deegan was still rolling.  I hollered up at George and said, "Hi George."  He must have thought something was wrong cause he RAWRKED and settled down in the tree nearby.  I had to laugh.  Just imagine what had been going through his mind.  I wonder if he thought I was hurt.  He doesn't normally see me on the ground like that.  I can only imagine!

The one other thing that George did today that gave me a chuckle was when I was finishing chores I went and dumped my last wheel barrel full of poo and shut the gate.  As I turned something caught my eye.  I looked out into the pasture and sitting on the tree was George.  I stood there and watched him for a moment cause he seemed like he was doing something strange.  This is what he was doing.  He was standing on the tree.  He would stand up really straight and cock his head really really severe.  He would then jump up off of the tree and land on the ground and then lift is head like he just ate something.  I should probably tell you that the tree he was standing on is on the ground so he didn't have far to jump.  He did this for several moments.  I at one point spoke to him and he looked at me.  It almost seemed like he was showing me what he was doing.  He would repeat his "stalking technique" then look at me, "stalk" then kill whatever it was and eat it then looked at me like, "Do you understand?"  It was amazing!!  Maybe he is practicing with me for when the babies are ready to leave the nest.  George was scratching around on the ground like a chicken for a few minutes too.  That was really funny. A raven acting like a chicken.  Ha Ha!

Its great to be able to see the things that I see.  What I see other people take for granted or they just don't believe me.  If people would only take the time to smell the roses they could see what I see.  I feel so privileged to share my life with this incredible bird!!!

Tune in tomorrow for the next edition to George: The Old Silo Raven!!!  Thanks for stopping by George and I appreciate it.