Is it possible? Ravens down in the lowlands of West Seattle?
A couple of weeks ago over on Marine View Drive I saw one of my crow families chasing a black bird. It looked like a crow but bigger. However, the tell tail sign was his voice. It was a deep croak not the higher caw of my crows.
Then last weekend on my search for the elusive Trillium in Fauntleroy Park I heard a murder of crows mobbing something in the woods. They were acting like an owl or hawk was in the fir trees. They don’t especially like them with it close to nesting time. Along came another person walking her pretty little dog. We chatted about the crows and how both of us had seen owls in this park’s wooded ravine.
About that time, we saw a large dark bird fly out of the forest making that croaking sound. Sort of like a goose but deeper and a goose would not be up in the trees let alone be all black.
My fellow park goer then told me about how she was in Lincoln Park recently and how she saw a pair of ravens. We were laughing about her story because she told me that she ran after them and her dog was drug along for the ride.
So, is it possible they are down here looking for food, nesting spots or have they been here all along and we just never noticed?
Since I love pictures in blogs and I didn’t get a photo of the mysterious birds, I am going to leave you with a Raven we captured on a Motorcycle at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics National Park. He actually raided the saddle bags.
Crows of Arroyos 
…Quote the Raven, “Nevermore!” … (Edgard Allan Poe’s The Raven)
🙂 In Delaware and Maryland there are supposed to be quite a few ravens. I can’t really tell. I KNOW there are many crows. We have a huge group of “black birds” that fly overhead at certain times of the day – leaving their home in the swamps near the turnpike to go… elsewhere! Then they return home, to the swamps, at the end of the day. I’m not sure what type of black birds they are — starlings, red-winged blackbirds, crows, etc… (sometimes a swarm of barn swallows fly overhead, they look like a whip in the sky, i.e, their flight pattern fluctuates like a “cracked” whip) …
The crows and the seagulls sometimes forage together, here. Sometimes the crows are HUGE… that’s when I am not sure if they are ravens or not!
We have a history, here, with Edgar Allan Poe and the Raven. Do you know Poe and his poem “The Raven”? He earned his daily bread through giving lectures up and down the East Coast. One of his stops was the University of Delaware (This was in the 1800’s, a different building then…) Supposedly, he bombed at his lecture at UD, got depressed, and went to the DeerPark, the local tavern. There, he got stinking drunk and cursed Newark. His curse was “Anyone who comes here will never be able to leave.”
🙂 Well, that is what the locals say! It is part of the foktales here.
Baltimore, Maryland is where Poe is buried. Maryland’s football team is called The Ravens. 🙂 Yes, it emphatically named after Poe’s poem, The Raven!
Thanks for your story about sighting the ravens in your area. 🙂
hugr5
In 2011 my wife and i adopted a baby Raven that had been kicked out of its nest due to overcrowding. We raised her on vashon island but one day she decided to follow our truck, unbeknownst to us, and couldn’t find her way home. She ended up settling by alki and became a frequent guest at la rustica. Ask the owner if you ever make it by there. Her name was Francis and she was known for harassing families of crows.
This is so wonderful but sad like a child going off the school. My baby crow we raised came back one last time and then went back to the crow world. They really do find their way just like we humans. Thanx for visiting my humble little blog.