[ExI] The Magpie Whisperer

[Stuart LaForge]

Quoting Spike:

> Cool, thanks BillK!
>
> We have ravens around here which do things like this: find a person  
> they perceive as sympathetic and hang around in their yard.  They  
> somehow perceive things like that.  They fight and play too, more  
> than any mammal species I know other than humans.
> spike

There are some ravens that live or hang out near my work. A few months  
ago, I saw one of the ravens do something pretty amazing. I was in the  
parking lot watching a large hawk that was lazily circling high  
overhead just riding the thermals presumably on the look out for prey.  
I then noticed another bird that I was shocked to see was a raven  
flying higher than I have ever seen a raven fly, making a beeline  
toward the hawk.

The hawk, legendary for the acuity of its vision, was completely  
oblivious of this raven approaching him. It was then that I realized  
that the raven had climbed to an altitude higher than the hawk off in  
the distance somewhere, and was now sneaking up on the hawk from above  
while the hawk was scanning the ground.

When the raven hit the hawk beak first, I noticed the raven and the  
hawk were of similar size, but the hawk had no idea what was  
happening. It tumbled in the air a few times and then flapped  
frantically to get away from the raven. The raven chased it for a  
while, but the hawk who did not want any part of that raven.

Ravens are definitely a top-tier bird.

Stuart LaForge