On a camping trip along Lake Superior I observed a raven family walking along the water’s edge. The two young found someone’s sandal and began to toss it about and roll on it. Finally the patience of the adults wore thin. With a loud GRONK the young fell into line as they continued along the shore.
Sue Wetmore 
Sent from my iPod

> On Jan 18, 2021, at 9:39 AM, Ian Worley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Years ago while doing wildland surveys in remote parts of southeastern Alaska I encountered three ravens on a single utility wire in a small, essentially roadless, fishing village.  Ravens were everywhere, and their antics were just as Maeve has described.
> 
> One bird, which I took to be a female, was perched on the wire.  The other two, which I took to being males were coming and going to the wire, shuffling along the wire to cozy up with the female .... who would skitter further down the wire.  Then one of the males took flight and went through some aerobatic maneuvers overhead and then landed right by the female who moved away.  The second male then took his turn and did some definitely serious flips, wing-overs, spiral dives, and zooms. He too landed on the wire, and she-the-audience again skittered away.
> 
> After another round or two of this, one of the males landed a couple of feet from the female.  The other male had distanced several feet away.  The landing male was croaking away and began to rock back and forth on the wire, back and forth more vigorously, then suddenly on one of the rocking backwards just kept going and started spinning around the wire backwards, hanging on with his feet, faster and faster.  After a few more revolutions he let go, being tossed airborne from the wire in one chaotic dizzy finale. He restored himself and returned to land victorious by the female.  But there was only an empty wire ........ she had left during the performance, apparently having had enough.
> 
> Ian
> =========================================
> 
>> On 1/18/2021 8:12 AM, Maeve Kim wrote:
>> One time in southeastern Oregon, a group of us watched 15 ravens playing: sometimes two of them gripping talons and tumbling' sometimes one climbing high and then diving straight for the ground and pulling up just in time; sometimes two or three passing a stick or a feather back and forth, one dropping it, another picking it up, flying a bit and then dropping it. We watched for over a half hour, and the birds were still romping when we finally left. - I think omnivores, like all the Corvids, have much more time on their hands than the birds who have to spend all of every single day just getting enough food to stay alive. The corvidae have used that extra time to think, reason, problem-solve, communicate - and play!
>> Maeve Kim, Jericho Center
>> 
>>>> On Jan 17, 2021, at 9:44 PM, Linda Gionti <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> 
>>> A week ago I saw something I’ve never witnessed before: 2 ravens that appeared to have their claws locked together tumbling end over end in free fall. They broke apart just above the treetops. I’d read about eagles and other raptors doing that, but didn’t know that ravens do it as well. From the little bit I’ve read it sounds like it can be either courtship or conflict… for raptors anyway. I’d be interested in hearing whether others have seen this kind of display from ravens.
>>> 
>>> Linda Gionti, Hanksville