Raven Update: They've Grown and Flown and Left the Nest

Adult with youngster learning to fly

Well, just as predicted, the last week of June the ravens left their nest and took their first solo flights.  I heard the commotion in the evening and discovered one adult with a youngster on the roof a few houses over.  This one kept flying about and landing back on the roof.

However, the second babe had apparently taken off from its nest and flown across the street landing on the bottom deck of my next door neighbor's house. I watched as it tried and tried to fly upward, but it only got halfway.  Meanwhile the two adult were squawking and flying about.

Fledgling stuck on my neighbor's deck



Lower left, young raven on deck.  Upper roof--adult and fledgling.

Adult flying frantically over the deck where fledgling sits below

After watching it try to fly through the rails several times, I feared it might injure its wings.  So I called my neighbor.
                                      

First she tried to shoo it off to the side where there was an opening, but it wouldn't budge.  So she gently lifted it up and set it on the railing.  It wouldn't fly.  It just sat there forever!

Soon it was getting dark.  The other ravens--two adults and one fledgling-- had flown away to the trees across the street.  This one just sat there.

My sweet neighbor Pat, who helped the raven onto the railing, encourages it to fly to its family.

I kept checking on it by flashlight all night, and there it was, in the same spot, even at midnight.

The next morning I woke up at 6AM and hurried to the deck.  The fledgling was gone.  I looked everywhere on the ground underneath and prayed nothing had gotten it in the night.  When I looked into the nest across the street, I saw one raven--perhaps one of the fledglings?  Then I saw two others flying about, one of which kept flying over to the tree across the street.  I grabbed my binoculars and there I saw--the other fledgling perched on a limb just as it was on the deck railing the night before.
                            
With I relief I counted one, two, three, four.  Two adults, two fledglings.  They were all there. 

The next morning, there was no sign of ravens at all.  The nest was empty.  I could hear cawing in the distance from a clump of trees--perhaps their new spot as they learned to perfect their flying and find food.  But I have not seen the four since.  Last year a little raven family had entertained us all July, using the roof across the street as their perching place.  But not this year.  They've chosen another spot. 

Now and then I see one or two ravens soaring by.  They stop in a neighboring tree for a bit and then move on.  I assume it is the adults who are here year round.     

                                

Such an abrupt departure for the youngsters.  I had hoped to watch them for a few more weeks. But what a thrill it's been these past few months! 

Yesterday I noticed that the neighbor who allowed the ravens to build their nest on his roof had taken the nest down.  No longer needed.  Not just empty nest now, but no nest at all.  Until next year....