I’m a baby witch, determined to get closer to nature, obsessed with having a bigger life. Ironic given I’m typing this into a machine. But help is on the way in the form of ravens, the trickster gods of my skies.
That was about two months ago, the rocks quite far from my Airstream. I put down some very rotten eggs just to see if they’d want them. Hey, it was all I had on hand. And yes, they loved the rotten eggs.
This began a long and still ongoing process of “training” my ravens to associate me and my closeness with yummy food. The above image is from February 10th. This one below is from March 21st.
The training began slowly. I laid down aluminum foil near my trailer but in the still unfinished horse paddocks whenever I’d set out some nibbles for them, hoping they’d understand that when the shiny foil was out, dinner was served.
This either worked or didn’t but the ravens soon associated the space itself with sweet treats. But it was a while before the birds were comfortable with me being out there while they were perched on the t-posts.
I’m not able to tell my birds apart yet, but I’ve come to call the one who consistently shows bravery (or greediness depending on the perspective) as “Regina” and I think the bird in the image above is her.
I see Regina when she choses to be seen, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in evening. Yesterday she made my evening more special than she may realize (I was without my phone so I had to commit it to memory instead). I was filling a water spout, crouched low and not paying attention, and turned to see she had landed 20 feet from me, waiting. My two little dogs were right beside me. I gathered them and put them inside, so they wouldn’t charge at Regina. I then took a single egg from my refrigerator and went back outside. She flew off initially, but stayed very close. I backed away and she flew in immediately. Rather than taking the egg and eating it elsewhere, she ate the egg right there, with me watching her. She seemed perfectly comfortable.
I felt chosen.
No I’m not sure if she’s a girl or a boy. I’m assuming everyone is a girl these days.
How do I know they’re ravens and not crows?
There are several indicators, the first is my black winged companions are large, almost the size of hawks. They also speak in more ways than the crow’s trademark “caw.” They trill, coo and chirp. Thirdly, they usually fly in pairs. Occasionally I’ll see them in their conspiracy, but more often I see two at a time. They also barrel roll as you can see in this YouTube Short.
I delight so much in these birds and I look forward to seeing them every day. I even get sad when I don’t see them, feeling as if we’re friends already.
Befriending these little babies is my mission in life. I should have other missions, but this one I feel is the most important for some reason. That maybe if I can align with such magical creatures I can align with myself.
And yes, I’ll try to get better footage, but I also don’t want to scare them away. What if they’re camera shy?
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