While driving along the road towards the South Rim I spotted this raven (I hope I am correct, as I am no ornithologist!) horsing around with a buddy in one of the turnouts. I got out of the car to get a few photos, and they flew to the trees at the edge of the canyon.I did my best to get a clear shot of either one of them, but they were too sneaky for me! I eased around as quietly as a 240 lb man can while crouching low enough to see where they had gone to, and got this photo of one of the pair.
We saw a coyote, a young deer buck, and a few ravens/crows while we drove along. Mostly they were just wandering along the road. We could tell where they were by the cars that lined up along both sides of the road while the tourists like ourselves took photo after photo.
This photo is for Heather, who has ravens in her back yard. To see some fascinating movies of her "pets," go see the Heather -Raven Lady blog. There are photos and a couple of movies!
I think you'll enjoy them.
More later. Hope you're having a great day!
Mike Z
PS Rockadee identified my photo bird as a raven by its' wedge shaped tail and the location the shot was taken. Thanks Rockadee! To see his Flickr page check out Birding in the Wild. Great photos!
I'm not sure if that's a Raven or just a Crow, Mike. Hard to tell. It looks a bit small but I have no idea how big that tree is to compare. Crows are normally smaller than Ravens. Nice pic though. Yes, they are hard to get a picture of. Thanks for posting it. Heather
ReplyDeleteNow don't take my word on whether it's a crow or a raven. :) But you're right about Crows being more flighty and hard to take pictures of. So that may very well be a Raven. Woo Hoo! Can't wait to see more pictures from your trip. Did you check out the new "My Blog List". It's easy to add, just like a page element, then you can see when your favs update or change something. I've got mine set up. Take a look. Very cool indeed. Cheers Heather
ReplyDeleteHI MIKE!!
ReplyDeleteI am also back from the forest. thank you sooooooooooo much for the camera hints!! i am planning to get one soon but at the moment still looking around for the info.
anyhow - your canjon pics are AMAZING!! do you have some more???? :D
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI was told yesterday that a crow has a straight(er) beak and a raven has a curved beak. I don't know if that's true. Truth be told I went to your site to check your raven pictures and the jury's still out. I saw what appreared to be a straight beak and a curved beak (the two birds w/ the white house in the bg) It's a toss up. Maybe an expert on ravens/crows will happen by the blog....
KL,
Thanks for your kind comments about the canyon photos; yes, I've got lots more, but am having trouble transferring the files from the chip to the hard drive. Seems like the system gets clogged up and slows down to a crawl, then times out. ARGH!!!
I have been tracking your progress in your woods, and it looks like you were putting in LOTS of hours on your project. Really liked the photos though. I hope you get just the right "new" camera, you have a great eye for good photos!
Best to all,
Mike Z
I think I have the word on the bird in the photo...
ReplyDeletethe moderator of Birding in the Wild wrote this on my Flickr page:
ROCKADEE_One With Eagles says:
Raven...Wedge-shaped Tail And The Location.
I highly recommend Birding in the Wild if you're interested in great bird photography. I will put his Flickr photostream in my Favorite Websites section if anyone would like to check out his photos. I think they're Great!
More later, I am picking up my Seattle/Austin travel photos on CD today and maybe I can work on them more quickly and get them posted to the blog tonight or tomorrow.
Thanks to all for visiting!
Mike Z