The Raven's Claw - Part 1

This morning I chanced to notice a specimen of the Corvus Corax, or what we would usually call the common raven, a tad more closely than I had ever before. On the grille of the biggest window of my house, one will find kept a bird bath and a bird feeder. These invite the sparrows and pigeons to drink water and feed on grains; and the crows and ravens to take dips in the bath and create a racket in the process. So it was here that this magnificent bird was perched while I admired its rich black plumage and rather impressive beak, hidden behind the curtains and careful not to make any sudden movements. Our dude, in the meanwhile, took a couple of dips in the bath and flapped away to bully a pigeon.

An unkindness of ravens resides in the trees near my house and is usually found harrowing other birds, and even animals. They go out on these expeditions in ones or twos usually. It is grave trouble when the entire conspiracy goes out together. The sparrows steer clear of these monstrous birds as much as they can, especially when they lay eggs. A few years ago a pair of sparrows had made their nest in the nook of the parapet outside our kitchen. When the eggs were laid, the nasty ravens began circling the little birds and their nest. We would shoo them off whenever we could. In a couple of days, however, the brutes had gorged the poor sparrows' eggs mercilessly. No sparrow has made its nest here again ever since.

The ravens come and harass the pigeons when they feed on grains. They will do all they can to dirty the bath too, making the water rather undrinkable for others. One can almost see the vicious glee when the raven does something of this sort. I have also seen them, on occasions, pecking at the crows. That they fight among themselves just as often should now be obvious given the brief account of their persistent belligerence. The raven has a hoarse caw, worse than a crow's which sounds like it has got something stuck in its throat all the time.

Our resident cat - Leo - finds her instincts suddenly aroused when she spots a bird. It is her favourite pastime to glare at the birds that visit our window and plan out strategies to hunt them. She will sit and intently observe the pigeons and sparrows. The crows irritate her, and her interest in the raven is always from a distance. Since we are peace loving people, we keep the glass panes on the windows shut in order to avoid bloodshed of any sort. One afternoon, Leo's siesta was disturbed by the harsh cawing of a crow. It seemed to have gotten into some sort of argument with one of the ravens and was perhaps taking a time out session at the bird bath. Thoroughly irritated, Leo made her way to the window sill - stretching out regally as she did so - and drew out her claws. She took her stance, the way she does when she is about to charge at something, and aimed at the crow. The angry raven sitting on a tree right in front decided, at that very instant,  that it had had enough of this crow and it was time to set it right. The raven took flight and aimed at the crow. 

The crow at the window spotted Leo advancing towards it and panicked. In a second it turned around only to find a pugnacious raven aiming for its right wing. Stuck between a savage cat and a bellicose raven, the crow had less than a second to save its life. It darted left, took a cut downwards and flew off slyly just in the nick of time. In the meanwhile, Leo had pounced at the window and the raven had charged at the bird bath. To their great disappointment they would realise that they had missed the crow. To their greater shock, they came face to face without any prior anticipation. Leo shrieked wildly at the sight of the raven who had its wings spread out wide and looked dangerous. She reeled back with shock. Simultaneously, the raven was forced to attempt a mid-air halt at the sudden transformation of the crow into a militant cat. It let out a howl and made an emergency water landing. The next instant Leo was back on her bed whereas the raven had scooted off to find another bird to trouble. This was truly one of those occurrences that present a strong case for carrying a camera in shoot mode around all the time. Blown out of their wits, Leo and the raven were not seen near that window for a good amount of time after this incident.

~