A Beach Drive resident by La Rustica Restaurant sent in an email to see if any of our readers has advice on how to deal with a Raven who's not afraid of humans.
Here's part of her email:
"I don't want the raven hurt but I cannot walk my dog in the morning without getting dived at. I did get a reprieve today when it went after another lady with her dog. It actually hovered over her head. Yesterday it harrassed my husband and I and drove us indoors from enjoying our coffee on the deck. Any ideas? Ravens are new to me and not sure the proper procedures to shoo them from me. Thanks!!"
Any tips?
Crows and Ravens are probably the smartest birds in the world and it’s a bit hard to tell them apart.
Crows are smaller about the size of a pigeon, Ravens are about the size of a hawk.
But, it doesn’t make much difference for your problem. they are both very smart and have great memories and even specific facial recognition.
It is late for it to be protecting any young, that finished up a few months ago so it just doesn’t like you or your dog.
Once it has taken a dislike to you (for whatever reason) it will generally attack and re-attack the same person or dog that it has taken a disliking to.
You might try to find out if it is after you or your dog by first dramatically changing your appearance like hiar color or style or clothes and see if it still attacks.
If it still attacks it may be your dog that it doesn’t like.
I’ve never heard of anything you can do other than dramatically change your appearance or change your dog……other than waiting for it to decide it hates something more than you or your dog, wait for it to die of old age, or kill it yourself somehow.
If your lucky it just might just get disinterested in harrassing you.
The crow population has exploded in Seattle along with the Raccoon population mostly due to human feeding either intentionally or unintentionally.
A good website to visit is the seattle audubon website.
http://www.seattleaudubon.org/sas/LearnAboutBirds/SeasonalFacts/Crows/tabid/304/Default.aspx
It most likely has a young one in or around the nest. Relax– it will stop when the little one starts to fly.
That would be very unusual, but not impossible.
Crows/Ravens are among the earliest birds to begin the nesting process, so if you see any other birds involved in nest building or sitting on nests, you can be pretty sure that local crows are at least as far along in the process.
Since they start nesting in early srping and the young are ony their own by August at the latest.
Having young that the parents are caring for in late September isn’t normal.
I saw this raven right after we came back from holiday on the 25th (we live a few doors down from La Rustica). He seemed more curious than anything, and quite bold, sitting on my porch table while I grilled some salmon. I gave him a little and he seemed to really enjoy it.
I named him ‘Edgar’ (after Edgar Allen Poe, of “The Raven” fame). Haven’t seen Edgar since; I hope he’s alright.