In the alley behind my garage, I heard raven noises that didn’t sound like raven noises I was used to. There are several nests in the tall pines around my neighborhood, and the big birds are normally noisy and boisterous.
I thought perhaps they’d gotten a pigeon which I’ve seen them do before or maybe they had spotted a piece of black or white plastic garbage bag overflowing from a blue G-Men garbage bin -- they’re not even shy about that anymore.
Anyways, I went back there and found two smaller, younger birds I suppose, pulling feathers from a much larger raven who was on its back with its mouth wide open and breathing hard. They weren’t making much of the noise that I had heard. He was in distress. This wasn’t a mating thing. This wasn’t an everyday altercation over a crust of bread or ice cream container pulled from a magic black bag. The two ignored me and kept at it. I didn’t like it. I was reminded of the bully behavior in A Clockwork Orange, so I waved my arms and scared them off.
The big bird was panting something fierce and hopped up on its feet with a big croak. It backed onto the old concrete slab behind my garage rotating its head back and forth in search of its aggressors. I didn’t immediately see them, but I think that he did. He continued to catch his breath and keep his broad black back with ruffled feathers against the garage door.
There were three or four feathers littering the gravel of the alley. There was an indentation where they’d pinned him down.
I’d never seen a raven on its back before. I went to the old Google for the answer on my phone, which let’s face it, by the current standard return at the top of every search you do is the not-so-new AI dominated answer system. AI and the subsequent answers subservient to it on the page as I scrolled down my phone told me what I suspected was the truth.
Ravens are extremely territorial. Admittedly there are quite a few around where I live. Kinda like all the whitetails that I saw bedded down in Whiteside Park at dusk when we went past on Mother’s Day. Holy Cow(s).
Anyways, again, that unkindness that we use to name a group of ravens, like a Murder of Crows, etc., is more than just an interesting moniker. Groups of ravens can be unkind. Sometimes when a raven is being pursued, harassed, or outright attacked on the ground versus in the air, they will roll onto their back to increase their fighting chance.
Although it makes their softer bellies and eyes more vulnerable, the proximity and usefulness of their beak and huge clawed feet tend to even out the odds against the group. Against the unkindness.
It was logical and likely that this larger bird was much older than the two smaller males and that they were trying to take over this territory, to push him out or if they couldn’t get him to leave, well, you’ve all seen a western before.
It was high noon. Same, same. Now, a few minutes later, he was still behind my garage, but he was pacing back and forth, his mouth not quite so wide open and instead of desperate, he looked more observant, wary?
I wanted to make sure that they hadn’t damaged his wings and so I startled him to make sure that he could fly away and he immediately did so without any issue, down the alley, between the garages, but before he’d made it 20 feet his pursuers appeared like twin fighter jets screaming down the alley after him.
He lifted high into the pines as they banked into a sharp turn around the neighbor’s garage. They must have just been waiting for me to leave the whole time.
I don’t have any great reflections on the incident. Like, when you’re down and flat on your back, show em’ your claws and beak! Hey, I interrupted the natural world. I intervened. Or maybe, I do and perhaps this is the reflection.
Sure, it is the world of the flora and fauna, not our people population, but when someone’s down, and it looks like it’s bad, like down for the count, how about stepping in? Everyone seems quite capable of piling on during a social media “conversation” these days.
The comments are filled with folks who have no filter and are scrapping for a fight. That online behavior that is highly unaccountable, leads to in-person loud and inappropriate and aggressive behavior while driving and while waiting in lines and while on vacation. Maybe try smoothing your feathers and chill out and maybe when we see this type of behavior, we can combat the unkindness with, well, you know… KINDNESS.
