Raven and Raven's Mate

Post date: Feb 04, 2016 12:10:50 AM

We have a pair of ravens that hang around the livestock area. I have no idea how to tell male from female, but they are definitely a pair and they have been around for years. Ravens on Santa Cruz Island were observed attacking newborn lambs. These ravens have never done that, and I feel about them the same way I feel about coyotes - as long as they behave, they are tolerable, but if they attack a lamb they will have to go. So far so good. In fact several years ago when we had a plague of grasshoppers, we could see the ravens hopping around the fields catching those insects. And they were welcome to them. The raven above is waiting to get some of the turkeys' grain - corn, barley, and so on. The llama, Precious, is in the photo too. The raven's mate is in the middle barley pasture, not sure what he/she is looking for. Insects? Worms? I have to say, they are beautiful and interesting birds.