Raven in the sun

[Steve Foss]

Wild raven, but it was baited.

My upstairs office window faces east, and the sun in late winter afternoons shines right into these spruces from a low angle. I'm above the garage roofline, which it between my office and these trees, and we HAVE been known to throw fish guts and other leavings on the garage roof for the ravens.

I was in my office late this afternoon wrestling with some new technology when I heard a commotion and looked out. Opened my window, stuck the lens far enough out to protrude past the heat waves and got Mr. or Mrs. Raven before he/she left for parts unknown.

Ravens are so spooky. I've been close to them many times, but the moment you point that big black eye at them they are GONE! This one was a bit fixated on what was on the garage roof and let me fire off a burst.

Canon 30D, Canon 100-400L IS at 400mm, iso200, 1/500 at f7.1, handheld

[Deitz Dittrich]

Nice shot bud! Good stuff!

[Dbl]

Lucky turn of events, didn't even have to leave your chair! Nice work Steve.

[Steve Foss]

I did TOO have to leave my chair. It's two steps from my chair to the window.

Thanks, guys.

[Dbl]

LOL

[finnbay]

Great detail in what had to be a difficult exposure! Nice pose, too!

[mmeyer]

Great shot Steve, and you got some exercise to boot!

[Steve Foss]

Yeah, by the time I got over to the window, fired off the burst, pulled the lens back in, sprinted to my computer with the CF card and downloaded the images I was all out of breath.

Gotta get back in shape. I mean, what would have happened if I had to shoot out of the window DOWN THE HALL????

[JayinMN]

So thats the secret to getting a raven on camera, fish guts on the roof. How does that work out in summer time though when the windows open? Nice shot.

[MN Shutterbug]

OK, so what's the difference between a raven and a crow? I know the sound they make is quite different and crows are found more in the north country, but visually, what is the difference?

BTW, good capture.

[finnbay]

Well, the resident bird men will give you a lot more info than I can, but ravens are much larger and tend to be loners unless they gather around some food source. Crows are much more gregarious.

[FishOn!]

In my opinion, its the beak, and eyes that are so different between the two. Great shot Steve!!

[Nate McVey]

The raven will be the one saying "never more"

Sorry it's been a long day and I'm headed out with some guests for a moonlight snowshoe excursion and I'm a little giddy......

Nice shot Steve!

[Steve Foss]

Yikes, Nate! Quoting Poe? What's gotten into you? Or perhaps I should as what's MADE you giddy.

Ken's right on the size. Ravens are significantly larger, and their bills are more massive in proportion to their heads than crows.

Jay, winter or summer the stuff on the roof doesn't stay there long enough to cause problems. In summer, you can add crows and herring gulls to the mix and it's a big fat fight to see who gets there first.

[Dbl]

Nate quoting poetry...he is bringing a whole different aura to the photo boards.

[Nate McVey]

 Quote:

Or perhaps I should as what's MADE you giddy.

Believe it or not, the thought of hiking under the full moon and the idea I may here a wolf howl with some "city folk" had me giddy. Unfortunetly, no howling, but we did have a nice hike under the almost full moon.

[Steve Foss]

 Originally Posted By: shiner2367

we did have a nice hike under the almost full moon.

In the day-to-day reality of our world, it doesn't get much better than that. Glad you had a good time!

[yakfisher]

Nice work, I'm glad you didn't strain a finger opening the window.