Common Raven on the wing – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Earlier this month I had a brief opportunity to photograph a Common Raven on a gate at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge on a bright, beautiful morning. As abundant as Common Ravens are I have found them to be very skittish away from locations where they are fed by tourists or where they pick up scraps in parking lots.
This Common Raven had been jumping up and down on the gate before it took flight. The raven may have been trying to get the attention of its nearby mate but I really can’t say that for sure. It might have been just playing and having fun.
I had been having heat wave distortion issues that morning and most of the photos I took of the raven jumping up and down on the gate were soft and the quality of the resulting images was not acceptable to me. I’m not sure how this flight photo was sharp and in focus when all the rest weren’t but I am happy that it was.
I do wish that the raven had been looking more towards me but I love this flight pose.
As winter starts to loosen its grip on the refuge and spring begins warm up the marsh I will see fewer ravens out on the marsh because they will head to suitable nesting habitat. I know I will be seeing them in other locations though and I am happy about that.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Common Raven photos plus facts and information about this species.
I adore ravens. I am very glad that you were able to capture at least one photograph of this beauty which met your exacting standards.
Growing up along the Wasatch Front I never saw Ravens or Crows. They started showing up in the 1980’s. I have tried finding article in particular about the Wasatch Front and why the covids move in.The few articles I found felt the urbanization of the front made a more desirable habitat for crows and ravens with the abundance of garbage. Do you know of any studies? One article I read in the 90’s from Cornell that said a researcher found with West Nile and the collapse of families of ravens, the birds were moving to new territories, the crows seemed to relate the sickness to geography. They were forming new non family member groups of survivors with many younger birds losing the knowledge of old family members.
I always love photos of Ravens! When will he get some new tail feathers?