Day 196 - Ravens Rock

on the lookout

I so nearly missed the opportunity to snatch a photo of this fine pair of ravens!

As you know, I recently proclaimed that I would try to get photo's of all the local corvids, for the blog.

This morning, when I went upstairs to get dressed for climbing, I immediately noticed the two large black birds in one of the trees across the way...we know there are two or three local ravens, and I've seen them in this tree before. 

Ravens look almost identical to crows, except that they're considerably bigger.  Size is not always easy to establish when the bird is a long way away, often in the sky and thus with no reference points...hence our long running debate over which ones are ravens (most of them, say I), and which ones aren't (almost all of them, says Anna).

When I spotted these, I immediately challenged Anna to deny that they were ravens - they're huge!   

To my surprise, Anna agreed...at which point I suddenly realised I was missing a golden opportunity for a shot of them.

I knew that the camera already had the zoom lens on, so I ran downstairs, grabbed it, and rushed back up, removing the lens cap and turning it on as I bound up the stairs...

I felt the pressure of the possibility for missing the chance, as I hurriedly opened the window, and started to try to find a solid, stable position.   Settling in, I looked through the viewfinder at the blur, and started trying to find and focus on the ravens. 

Once located, I zoomed right in and refocussed...brilliant, I'm going to get them!   

I clicked the shutter release...nothing!  Huh?! 

I clicked again...still nothing, argh! 

Did I forget to switch it on?  No, because it just focussed!

Hang on...what's that flashing symbol in the viewfinder?   Squinting, I peered into the tiny screen...

Oh, bollocks, no memory card!!

By this time, Anna was at the end of the bed with a storage crate pulled out from underneath, completely blocking my path...on the bed, May-Z was lurking about looking for some fuss...

Sorry Mayz, I'm coming through! 

I leapt over the bed and ran downstairs again to retrieve the missing card from my PC...I felt sure that I would miss my chance now, but as I leapt over the bed again, past a bemused and somewhat startled looking May-Z, they were still there. 

I rattled off a couple of shots, before one of them dropped down away from the tree:

spotted something

I lucked into this nice profile of the first one to leave.  There's a pleasing amount of detail, given that they were 100m or so away from me as I leaned out of the bedroom window.

incoming

I hoped to get a shot of the second one leaving the tree, but I mis-focussed on the sky at just exactly the wrong moment, and as I was trying to get back to focus and find the remaining raven, he too dropped out of the tree and flew out of sight into the far fields.

Oh well, I did get a nice profile shot of him just beforehand:

lethal weapon

Look at that beak!  He is a big, impressive bird, probably my favourite of all the corvids, although I do have a soft spot for crows too.

So I've learned some lessons about being prepared, and acting quickly once the opportunity arises.

And I got some nice shots - they're not going to change the world, but they were going to be the most difficult corvid to capture, except maybe the jay.  We see the jay much less frequently, but when we do he tends to be much closer - in the garden somewhere. 

So we'll see...

For now, I'm just really pleased to have had the chance to get my local raven buddies into my blog!

B-)