Anything I write that has to do with writing will be in From Pico's Pen, my author's blog. Everything that doesn't fit any of the sites I write on will be here. This is my practice. I could have kept it private and farmed out the good stuff but I found my readers like too much of it to do that. It isn't a diary because there are things I keep to myself but you can learn a great deal about me from the randomness you will find here.

Wednesday 4 May 2016

The Ravens Are Restless



Living in the bush allows a person to see things that they otherwise wouldn't, if they're paying attention. I have a bunch of issues on my mind right now and a walk often helps me sort some of those things out. I've been doing a lot of walking lately.

I was pacing down by the curve in the dirt track we call a road, where the horses used to be watered in a previous era. I heard an approaching rustle of wings and an intermittent Canada Goose call. Caught my attention because the geese usually don't come up by us. They nest close to the river and the only other place I ever normally see them is the cornfields in the fall. When the bird winged into view, it wasn't a Canada goose at all. It was a raven imitating the goose's call and it was getting a distant answer from the direction of the river.

Ravens are very intelligent and I imagine whatever game it was playing must work. Either eggs or goslings are on the menu. I'm not sure if I was a raven I'd be willing to mess with a goose. They can put up a heck of a fight. I had a call centre friend in Ontario who loved to golf. She swatted one into the bush next to the course and thought she might be able to find it and play it anyway. She came face to face with a mother goose with a nest full of golf balls. She decided to take the penalty.

A short while after seeing the goose imposter, I saw another raven getting dive bombed by a couple of smaller black birds. Must not be a lot of dead things laying around. I'll have to make point of running over a couple of racoons or something.

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