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lwan

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Apparently for the english language, this raven is common. Where I live, it's called the "great raven", due to its size probably. 40 years ago it was near absent from my area, the costal paths created all around brittany's coastline in the 70/80s generated too much disturbance. Progressively, the great raven went away. But for the last 10 years it's been making a huge comeback, nesting in quarries deeper in the country. This afternoon, after letting my popup hide rot in the rain and wind for a couple of weeks (the bird here is extremely shy, I wanted it to get accustomed to the blind before going inside), 32 of them were in my largest field, and obviously they were gathering near the manure pile. After I spooked a few by moving my lens as slow as I could despite being fully hidden in the hide, with only the lens hole opened, one finally got "brave" enough to offer me a photo opportunity.
Doing some research on the bird around the world, I once again was amazed at how common and "meh" some birds are in other countries. For me, its extreme shyness (more than any other bird I photographed) and relatively rare occurrence in a place I can anticipate to "snipe" (quarries are impossible to enter) make taking this photo of a once endangered species a really special moment. I hope the photo do justice to my feelings!
I wish I could have called this a murder, maybe next time :)
DSC_4875_DxO_M.jpg
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lwan said:
Apparently for the english language, this raven is common. Where I live, it's called the "great raven", due to its size probably. 40 years ago it was near absent from my area, the costal paths created all around brittany's coastline in the 70/80s generated too much disturbance. Progressively, the great raven went away. But for the last 10 years it's been making a huge comeback, nesting in quarries deeper in the country. This afternoon, after letting my popup hide rot in the rain and wind for a couple of weeks (the bird here is extremely shy, I wanted it to get accustomed to the blind before going inside), 32 of them were in my largest field, and obviously they were gathering near the manure pile. After I spooked a few by moving my lens as slow as I could despite being fully hidden in the hide, with only the lens hole opened, one finally got "brave" enough to offer me a photo opportunity.
Doing some research on the bird around the world, I once again was amazed at how common and "meh" some birds are in other countries. For me, its extreme shyness (more than any other bird I photographed) and relatively rare occurrence in a place I can anticipate to "snipe" (quarries are impossible to enter) make this photo of a once endangered species a really special moment. I hope the photo do justice to my feelings!
I wish I could have called this a murder, maybe next time :)
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Raven is one of the smartest bird species, I have seen their interactions up close, quite facisnating bird.
 
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BlackRockArt said:
Raven is one of the smartest bird species, I have seen their interactions up close, quite facisnating bird.
Click to expand...
I've heard they can count and they don't forget if they see you enter some place, unlike other bird that after a while just reset their perception of danger, the raven KNOWS you're still inside. It took almost 2 hours for them to slowly return near the manure, and only once I got the chance to take a picture :) Incredible (and magnificent) bird.
 
Member's gallery
lwan said:
Apparently for the english language, this raven is common. Where I live, it's called the "great raven", due to its size probably. 40 years ago it was near absent from my area, the costal paths created all around brittany's coastline in the 70/80s generated too much disturbance. Progressively, the great raven went away. But for the last 10 years it's been making a huge comeback, nesting in quarries deeper in the country. This afternoon, after letting my popup hide rot in the rain and wind for a couple of weeks (the bird here is extremely shy, I wanted it to get accustomed to the blind before going inside), 32 of them were in my largest field, and obviously they were gathering near the manure pile. After I spooked a few by moving my lens as slow as I could despite being fully hidden in the hide, with only the lens hole opened, one finally got "brave" enough to offer me a photo opportunity.
Doing some research on the bird around the world, I once again was amazed at how common and "meh" some birds are in other countries. For me, its extreme shyness (more than any other bird I photographed) and relatively rare occurrence in a place I can anticipate to "snipe" (quarries are impossible to enter) make taking this photo of a once endangered species a really special moment. I hope the photo do justice to my feelings!
I wish I could have called this a murder, maybe next time :)
View attachment 53001
Click to expand...
A simple search on the Internet shows that the "Grand Corbeau" (common raven) is a bird of intelligence comparable to that of great apes and children.
Unfortunately, his black dress and his usual cry do not make him popular.
And, yes... nice picture ;)
 
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lwan said:
I've heard they can count and they don't forget if they see you enter some place, unlike other bird that after a while just reset their perception of danger, the raven KNOWS you're still inside. It took almost 2 hours for them to slowly return near the manure, and only once I got the chance to take a picture :) Incredible (and magnificent) bird.
Click to expand...
Many years ago, I couldn't tell ravens from crows, one day I was standing on the hills just north of Golden Gate Bridge when a pair of ravens landed a few feet away; I thought wow, this looks huge; then I noticed more unusal features of the bird. After some quick search I realized those were ravens.

As I get into bird watching, the ravens & crows continue to pique my interest. Have you seen their courtship ? Truely beautiful.

Oliver
 
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Very nice shot; great detail in all that 'black.' I've had some remarkable experiences with Ravens; their intelligence produces some great personalities. And so very beautiful, too.
 
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Thank you everyone for the nice comments, means a lot!
I must admit I didn't pay much attention to "nail the exposure" and let my Z6 do its thing, then pushed a few sliders locally on the bird in ACR :)
 
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