I promise to you, all my devoted readers . . . I think there are 3 of you now since I went on my mini-blogcation when school started . . . anyway, I promise you that I still watch birds. It’s just that I have also been on a photocation as well which means that I haven’t been taking pictures of them and without pictures . . . do I know if I really saw them?
What a zen puzzler. If Liza sees a bird in the forest but has no camera, was she or it really there?
Anyway, I am making a conscious effort to work at it. So, when I was walking to my car with the kids the other night and saw this lovely raven . . . I stopped my forward progress, got my camera out of the car, and took some pictures. My children stared dumbfounded at a sight they hadn’t seen in months. They then dropped their backpacks, took each other’s hands, and started dancing in a circle chanting “Mom is back! Mom is back!”
Okay, I made that part up. They know better than to make that much noise near a bird I’m watching even if it is a raven who is making quite enough noise on her own.
Her own? Why so sure it’s a her? Well, I’m not SO sure — after all, all Ravens look alike. I don’t think I’d know for SURE unless I saw one laying an egg. However . . . what originally caught my attention was a male strutting his stuff on a nearby roof, puffing up his ruff, prancing back and forth, and kronking boldly. He was quite a display. Fall is when Ravens fall in love and reaffirm their lifelong love. There are lots of courtship displays in the fall at my school — food sharing, nuzzling, kissing (and I’m talking about the birds here! We don’t let the little kids act that way, thank you!). So, I knew this gentleman was trying to impress a lady and there she was.
I don’t know though . . . does she look impressed?
mother. wife. friend. teacher. writer. reader. photographer. birder. quilter. blogger.
Liza Lee Miller 
What a great raven photograph. Glad you took your camera out, liza! I think she does look quite impressed.
Oh, I don’t know… I think I see a gleam in her eye, don’t you? :c) So glad she perched there in all her splendor for you to see and capture!
Whoa–what a face on that raven. And the glossy blue-black feathers. Quite awe inspiring (I would have said awesome were that word not so over-used!).
Dancing and chanting mom is back?
Hmm…not sure about the impressed stuff. She may be holding out for more.
Glad you are back! I’ll be more myself after the election. Right now I am a hopeless, worthless addict.
Ever wonder if girl birds just sit around and chat about their husbands?
“Girl, you wouldn’t believe what he was doing! Strutting around like he was all sexy! Passing me berries, for God’s sake! Like I can’t find my own berries…”
Excellent photo, great character in that bird! We saw ravens recently too.
Birds in love…
I like your first line: If Liza sees a bird in the forest but has no camera, was she or it really there?
LOL!
Mary doesn’t see the bird unless it’s through the camera lens, either. Since I stopped feeding the birds, my camera waits.
I don’t know how to tell a raven from a crow, even though I know you have explained it in the past. I just read a long internet article about ravens because every time you mention them I get all intrigued. But I still don’t know how to tell which is which.