122 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



A GREAT HORNED OWL HIDES FROM ITS ENEMY, THE CROW 



On its first flight from the nest, the young bird has taken refuge in the hollow 

 of a gnarled black oak, in \'irginia. Owls and crows seem to be natural enemies, 

 like cats and dogs. A good way to hunt owls is to hsten for the hubbub of 

 rasping caws that crows make when teasing a victim. 



hours. At last, after a three-hour wait, the 

 raven returned and we snapped the shutter 

 of the concealed camera. We thought of 

 our discomfort no longer in the realization 

 that we had a picture of an old raven, the 

 bird that we had been told would test the 

 skill of any nature photographer. 



However, we knew that getting good pic- 

 tures in this way would be largely a matter 

 of luck. An outcrop of rock almost com- 

 pletely hid the nest, and we could tell when 

 the ravens returned only by the gurgling 

 sound of the young ones being fed. Our 

 chances of pulling the string at the right 

 time were very slim. 



On our second 

 trip to the ra- 

 vens' nest we de- 

 cided to leave no 

 more pictures to 

 chance. Hoping 

 the birds had be- 

 come accustomed 

 to us, we built a 

 blind about seven 

 feet from the 

 nest. There we 

 succeeded in tak- 

 ing both movies 

 and stills. It 

 seemed as if we 

 could almost 

 reach out and 

 touch the old ra- 

 ven as she re- 

 gurgitated food 

 to the voung (p. 

 129). 



HOW RAVEN 



FENDS OFF 



HAWK 



The raven is 

 not only smart 

 but courageous. 

 \\' h e n we d i s - 

 turbed the duck 

 hawks they would 

 vent their anger 

 on the poor ra- 

 vens. Instead of 

 turning tail as 

 most birds do 

 when a duck 

 hawk stoops, the 

 raven would wait 

 until the hawk 

 was about to 

 strike, then turn 

 over on its back and thrust its feet straight 

 up into the face of the speeding duck hawk. 

 It is hard to say whether the duck hawk 

 was afraid to hit the raven or merely wished 

 to frighten it. At all events we never saw 

 the hawks strike while the ravens were in 

 the air, although they often raked feathers 

 out of the backs of the big black birds 

 while the latter were perched in a tree. 



While we were putting up our cameras 

 near the nests the ravens would fly from 

 tree to tree, tearing bark off dead limbs and 

 breaking twigs and buds with their strong 

 beaks in such a frenzy of rage that it seemed 

 as if they would like to tear down the whole 



