I traditionally release my “best of the year” collection in January, so I’ll just have to share one of my runners-up for now.
Ravens are one of my favorite Yellowstone winter subjects. Along with bison, they’ve become a common black and white subject for me as well thanks to their rugged looks, charisma, and poofy plumage. I’ve taken quite a few portraits in recent years, but this one stood out thanks to the nice textures in the throat feathers and a peek at the chaonal papillae… those are the spiky ridges inside the raven’s mouth. Not much is known about their purpose, but they can be used as an indicator of a bird’s health (vets check them in certain domesticated species).
Max, love the wide open view here. Say ahhhhh has to be a good caption for sure.
Seeing this guy brought two stories to mind immediately. 1st was a connection to the Alfred Hitchcock thriller “The Birds”. One of the guys I worked with dated Tippi Hedren a few times several years after the movie was released. They remained good friends for years too.
2nd story was much more personal for me. I’d hiked deep into a canyon area in Death Valley NP years ago awaiting a reflective light event on the canyon walls. While waiting I was eating a PBJ sandwich when out of nowhere a raven landed about 50 feet away. He picked up a small red rock and began tossing it several feet at time toward me. After about 5 tosses or so it landed within a couple feet of me. It dawned on me he wanted to barter for this special small red rock. I tossed a few bread crusts his way and after he ate them off he went. Still got that rock sitting on my PC desk top here in my home office…
Beautiful portrait, Max! He definitely is letting you know what he thinks! I love Ravens, they are so smart. @Paul_Breitkreuz makes me want to tell my story…we were hiking a peak in the Colorado Rockies and came up behind a group of ravens who were taking turns jumping off the cliff and catching the thermals, cawing as they went, and would come back for more! We watched them do it for quite a while, they were having so much fun and we had fun watching.
Wonderful!!! And amazing stories about Ravens! I’ve heard other stories of Ravens (and Crows, I think) offering gifts. Begging or just hoping for food is one thing, but bartering brings it to an amazing new level! And who would have thought a bird, for whom flight is so common, would enjoy hopping off a cliff to catch updrafts! But the part about taking turns and coming back to do it again makes it so obvious that they were having fun!!
I’m sure the capacity for enjoyment is a good indicator of animal intelligence.
