Raven attraction creates a bone yard

Editor's note: A couple weeks ago, Pine Knot News columnist Annie Dugan received a text from Wrenshall resident Dale Wolf about a flock of ravens in his backyard.

He provided her with his growing birding story.

Six winters ago I returned home to find a cottontail rabbit had been hit near my driveway. I put it out in my backyard, thinking a fox or coyote would retrieve it within a few nights. I came in and fixed myself some tea. I was amazed to see that in only 15 minutes there were two ravens sitting on the rabbit. It was fascinating to watch them work together as a team to get to the meat, and it felt good to know they would get full stomachs that day.

My father had always told me that ravens mate for life, so I figured this first pair were a couple and always worked together. The next morning I watched the ravens return to finish what little remained of their meal. I felt really sorry the third day as they returned to an empty carcass, flew off and returned off and on that afternoon.

So I broke down and retrieved some old hamburger and a couple hotdogs that the ravens seemed to need more that cold winter day than I did. It wasn't long before they returned and with their intrinsic bounce-dance they always do when approaching something new, they eventually ate the new menu.

From then on I was hooked on my morning live nature channel. It was the best way to start the day, hot tea and cheerful ravens. I must admit that for the next several weeks it was a bit expensive buying cheap hotdogs as well as something called "pork neck bones" at Walmart. Since then, the wonderful people at Carlton Meat & Grocery and the great staff at the Super One meat department have helped out with a good supply of meat scraps. Road kills and neighbors processing meat have also helped, including the leftovers from deer butchering have also helped supplement my supply.

Ravens have an amazing repertoire of sounds, from the normal "blawk-blawk" to gurgling like a half-filled jug of water in our packsack to mimicking other birds and surrounding noises. They also truly love to just play. Yup, while many songbirds dive and pester crows to keep them from robbing their nest, ravens actually have fun following crows, turning upside down in flight, and delighting in the crow's dismay.

It wasn't very long before wintering crows also discovered my feeding station. An amazing thing I learned that first year was that ravens would hide extra food left there under the snow. I assumed it was so that the crows showing up later would not find most of it. Like gray squirrels, the next day, even after a blowing snow had covered 6 more inches of lawn, they could dig pieces out that they had squirreled away.

I watched them at times take frozen pieces of meat from prior days and seemingly swallow it, only to pop it back out a few minutes later, like a magician doing card tricks. A friend theorized that they were thawing chunks out so they could bite into digestible pieces.

By the end of that first February I had a wonderful routine, now watching two pair of ravens come in early to beat the crow or murder of crows. I started getting enough meat from my support group to put enough out each morning so the crows got their fill.

I had two tons of whole corn dumped to feed the deer, so the crows did all right for themselves, even if they had to endure the taunting of the ravens.

One day things took a change for the better. I had set out a large chunk of meat in addition to the smaller pieces I scattered about so all could share. I came in to watch the struggle as many birds competed over the large chunk of meat. When I refilled my tea I was amazed to see that the whole chunk was gone. I thought maybe they dragged it somehow to a position I couldn't see from my back window. When I went to another room I was delighted to see that up in a tree off to the west was a giant bald eagle enjoying that missing piece.

For the rest of that first winter the eagle was a visitor off and on. So was a rough-legged hawk and, one delightful morning, what looked like a prairie falcon.

A birder friend of mine said there are falcons that winter in Duluth and visit the grain mills to chase pigeons. The end of that March we had more snow and it was hard to trudge down my worn path to the feeding station. Carrying a bucket of food made it even trickier. But that was the day I saw two bald eagles sitting on the ground, eating my offerings. I was hooked on them as well as the ravens.

Two years ago and last year, the snow again made it difficult to tramp down a feeding area and to even get down there on my sloped lawn. So I figured I'd just start putting out the meat and other assorted treats right in my plowed yard. It didn't take them long to realize this guy means us no harm. So for the last two years I just walk out to the end of my sidewalk and throw out bird breakfast.

Just as the number of visiting ravens has vastly increased, so too have the eagles. That first pair I saw six years ago have returned ever since then. At least that is my assumption because we see them in the summer. But I don't have them banded or otherwise identified. Best of all, each year a new young eagle joins them. You can tell their age by the coloration of their feathers. All dark brown eagles are 1-year olds. As they age they get more scattered white feathers until by age 4 they are almost adult-looking except for a few brown feathers yet in their head and tail sections.

This winter I have a 1-year old, a 3-year old, a 4-year old and three very mature adults who pop in to dine almost daily.

I never want any of my birds to get so dependent on me that they are in a bind if I am gone. So far I have been lucky in that I have a dear friend who has come over and thrown out bags of meat scraps I have left for him in the garage if I take a winter trip.

It is also difficult to see them stand on one leg when it is minus 34 and see the frost around their eyes and bills. Of course, they are the ones who choose to not join their birds of a feather who fly farther south for the winter - not all ravens or crows stay here for the whole winter.

One tends to end up with a yard full of bones, even though I shovel most back from day to day the ravens and eagles love to pull them back out as either a game or because they think they can find more to eat off them. It has caused me to place an explanatory sign up for my FedEx, UPS and propane delivery drivers so they don't get too freaked out.

Whether it has been the attraction of my feeding or just a cycle of nature, I now have more ravens than you can shake a hotdog at. Plus, I have a summer nesting pair just to the south of me in some pine trees and another family just north of me by the creek.

I don't feed in the summer but they seem to call to me whenever they are flying overhead. They most likely do that to anyone, just like they tease crows, so maybe I tend to project a bit too much about their friendship with me.