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.

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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.

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!

My Dark Angel

     I know that it must seem strange for a grown woman to be so enamoured by a flying creature.  Especially a raven.  In all reality I never liked birds.  I mean I didn't hate them I actually felt sorry for birds that were kept in a house.  Not being able to do what the Powers That Be intended them to do.  I always had a fascination with crows and ravens however.  I think that comes from the magic side of me.  Ravens and crows have been apart of magic for as long as I can remember.  They have been in more fairy tales than I can count and movies.  My gosh.  Have you ever seen a horror movie, fantasy or sci fi movie that didn't have a crow or raven in it.  The whole mystery behind them is intriguing.  Their intelligence and how they have interacted with the human race has amazed me.  Especially lately.  I have been doing a ton of research on ravens and crows and their relationships with their humans.
     I have come to the conclusion that once you have earned their trust that they are bonded to you.  For as long as they live.  My bond with George gets stronger and stronger every year.  When I'm not working on the weekends I think about him all the time.  If I don't see him for a couple of hours after I get to the barn I start to panic.  Where is George?  Goes through my head over and over.  And finally when I see him my heart goes into my throat.

I think what it was that made me realize how much I truly love George was on time when Kathy and I went trail riding last fall.  George and I had been working a great deal with Positive Reinforcement training.  He has done an unbelievable job!!!  George would meet me at the north end of The Old Silo Road and fly just above my van I had at the time.  He would fly really fast ahead of me and then I would see him sitting on one of the fence posts next to the road.  Once I passed him he would fly down to the farm and circle the driveway and fly over me while I walked into the house making noises the whole time.  

Kathy and I got saddled up after a couple of hours of me being there.  We always start our ride at 10 am.  George was hanging around in the birch tree and we headed up the road.  George flew up high and flew around us all the way down the road.  He would fly by us real close and then land in a tree.  He would cock his head and watch us go by then he would repeat flying past us either right next to us or way above the tree tops.  Once we hit the mountains we lost sight of him, but he always let us know that he was around.  He would click and cluck and Raw Raw Raw at us.  Then we would see him fly in and out between the trees.  It was amazing.  We had our own little body guard.  When we came out of the woods and headed back home via the dirt road he would do the same thing he did on the way into the woods.  The really cool thing was he would race us home and beat us there.  We could see him just hovering in circles around the drive way.  He would get so excited to see us at home.  He would continue to fly around and around until the horses were parked in the paddock!  

George would stay up in the birch tree just watching us.  We would talk to him and tell him what a good boy he was and how handsome he was.  All along he would cock his head and clap his beak and puff out his chest.  Job Well Done George!!!

That day I knew I had a true friend.  Someone who would watch my back.  Someone who would be worried and cared about where I was and what I was doing.  I never thought in a million years I would have a relationship with a Wild Raven.

My raven George, who I happily share with you all each day!!!  Thank you for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven.

George and I appreciate it very much!!

George and the Goose

     Since its the weekend I  have not been able to go to the farm.  So I figured I have four years of stories to tell, so why not dip into the past on the weekends.
     This story happened a couple of months ago.  It was so funny that I have not forgotten it and is just another great example of how intelligent ravens are and how much of a sense of humor George has for a bird.
     We give George our left overs and food that is starting to go bad.  We feed him any type of meats we have, it doesn't matter what it is.  If it is starting to go bad we feed it to him.  We also have experimented with George to see exactly what he likes to eat and what he doesn't like to eat.
     So far we have found that George will eat just about anything except the following, veggies, pork fried rice mostly.  One of George's favorite meals are my pasta dishes.  He loves meatballs, but he loves my spaghetti and this one dish of chicken alfredo that I made.
     One day before going to work I was looking in my fridge to see what I could donate in feeding George.  I had made some really yummy Chicken Alfredo with huge chucks of chicken in it.  It was really good.  But it had also been a couple of days so I decided that George could have it.
     I brought it down to the farm and got ready to bring horses their medicine and do my usual routine.  Deegan and I headed out the door and down to the barn.  I put George's food on the roof like I always do, called him and went about my business.  I then went back in the house took my spot in front of the window to observe and watch to see if George would eat the chicken alfredo.
     It didn't take long for George to get there.  The Geese got really noisy cause they are not to fond of George.  George used to steal their eggs during the spring and summer.
     Once George got on top of the roof. The big male goose that I have named Jerkoff of obvious reasons began to harass poor George.  He was right underneath the angle of the roof, squawking and hissing like you wouldn't believe.  George just picked up his eggs and went about his merry way.

Eventually after George had eaten his eggs and whatever goodies he wanted he decided it was time to check out the new goodies that I had set out for him.  He would cock his head and take a real good look at. He would taste test a couple of noodles and then found the pieces of chicken.

Jerkoff was still right there underneath him, still hissing and squawking.  George looked down at the goose and cocked his head.  Apparently George thought maybe the goose wanted some of that yummy chicken alfredo cause George started swinging his beak around and tossing some down to the goose.  The noodles I used were round.  Each time George would swing his beak, the noodles would land on the ground or what was more funny they would land right on top of Jerkoff's head!!!!  Plunk, Plunk, Plunk and Jerkoff's head would bounce each time one hit him.  Then George would peak over the edge to see if the goose was eating it,  But he seemed more amused than anything!!!  It was so funny to watch George doing what he was doing.  I didn't get video or photos.  I wish I did.  I couldn't stop laughing!!!!  It reminded me of a cartoon!!!  

George did end up eating all of the chicken alfredo and even eventually picked up the ones that he has tossed down to Jerkoff. Waste not, want not.  So that is my funny George story. I wish you could have been there. You would no doubt still be laughing about it just like Kathy and I do everyday.

That is Jerkoff going after poor Deegan.  Jerkoff is one of the meanest most aggresive geese that I have ever come in contact with.  But I have been learning goose language so he is getting better to handle.  Its all about body language and tail ruffling.  

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