A Raven Welcome

About a week ago, I took my two dogs Rosie and Henry for a walk in what used to be the Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve and is now part of Michaux State Forest. A few years back, Rosie and I used to hike these trails several times a week (she and I were both younger then . . . ), but now we only get out about a half dozen times a year. Don't worry, we haven't stopped walking but rather have opted for other closer locations, of which there are many here in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Whenever we do get to our forest trails, we're often greeted by a Common Raven.  I kid you not. It seems incredible to me, as if this raven knows me and the dogs, that somehow we're special. While this preserve/forest is not a high traffic place, I'm sure dozens of people each weeks walk its trails.  So, I wonder: Do they get the same reception?  

No sooner do the dogs and I enter the forest then the familiar Kronk, kronk, kronk, kronk! greets our ears. And I stop to see if I can see him or her flying overhead, though I seldom do. But you don't need to see a raven to identify it, that is, if it's calling out to you. 

Want to hear a raven? Just do an online search on "Call of the Common Raven,"  you'll get lots of videos.

Want to see a raven in the "wild"? Well, you guessed it--get yourself to a forest, a coniferous one or one with coniferous trees.  In fact, the raven that greets us has a roost in a large grove of American Larch trees. Unlike most confers that are evergreen, the American Larch is a deciduous conifer; it looses its needles in the fall.

Currently I'm writing and illustrating a chapter book serial series of seven books called The Bird Club. In book four (The Three-Cedar Secret), which I'll be publishing in July 2024,  the common raven plays a significant role.  Since I've no photo to share, here's my illustration of a Common Raven, one you'll find the upcoming book. If this bird looks big to you  that's because it is big, with a wing span of four feet.  The bird depicted is more than a "common" raven but, then, aren't they all?

Till next time!