{"id":25460,"date":"2014-08-01T06:03:43","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T12:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=25460"},"modified":"2014-08-04T10:30:40","modified_gmt":"2014-08-04T16:30:40","slug":"ravens-crows-and-an-unforunate-decision-by-the-utah-wildlife-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/01\/ravens-crows-and-an-unforunate-decision-by-the-utah-wildlife-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Ravens, Crows And An Unfortunate Decision By The Utah Wildlife Board"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve always loved ravens.\u00a0 I appreciate their intelligence, their adaptability and their\u00a0association with myth and mystery in\u00a0human folklore.\u00a0 I also enjoy their playfulness.<\/p>\n

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\"common<\/p>\n

\u00a01\/1250, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I encountered this juvenile Common Raven six days ago near the continental divide on the border between southwest Montana and Idaho.\u00a0 The tongue and inner mouth lining of adults are black but those same\u00a0parts are pink in juveniles like this bird.\u00a0 Interestingly, the age at which the pink turns black is largely dependent on the social status of the bird – dominant birds have black mouths by their first winter but subordinate individuals often have pink or mottled mouths for two years or more.\u00a0 I would dearly love to know the whys and\u00a0wherefores of that fascinating little\u00a0piece of natural history!<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\"common<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/1250, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But back to this bird.\u00a0 Soon after it landed on the conifer it began to fuss and flap around like it was bored and\u00a0looking for something interesting to do.\u00a0 Eventually it reached down…<\/p>\n

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\"common<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/1600, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0and plucked a small branch from the tree…<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\"common<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/1250, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

and I swear it was playing with it.\u00a0 It manipulated the twig in its beak, grasping it in several different places and it continued to do so for some time.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\"common<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/800, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Eventually it flew off…<\/p>\n

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\"common<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

and landed on the top of another nearby tree and then seemed to give me hell when I followed to get some more shots.<\/p>\n

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Corvids are fascinating birds – all of them, but here in Utah the future is looking bleak for our two largest corvid species, the Common Raven and the American Crow.\u00a0 A crow hunt in the state has just been approved and it will surely have dire consequences for both crows and ravens.\u00a0 Two days ago I attended and spoke at a meeting of the Utah Wildlife Board as they made their final decision as to whether or not to approve the\u00a0crow hunt.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0proposed hunt allows licensed hunters to kill 10 crows per day and have 30 in possession.\u00a0 Hunting\u00a0crows\u00a0would be allowed Sept. 1-30 and again from Dec. 1-Feb. 28, 2015.\u00a0 The rationale of the\u00a0Division of Wildlife Resources and some members of the board for allowing the hunt included increased opportunities in the field for hunters,\u00a0control of alleged agricultural depredation by crows and an introductory “sport” for young hunters.<\/p>\n

I was under the impression that the\u00a0purpose of the meeting was for the board\u00a0to\u00a0accept input from the public and then take that input into account when making their decision.\u00a0 Silly me…<\/p>\n

I’d estimate that 25-30\u00a0spoke at the meeting as individuals\u00a0(as opposed to less than\u00a0a handful\u00a0who spoke representing groups with vested interests and a couple of them supported the hunt, mostly for political reasons) and virtually all of them opposed the hunt and gave logical, rational reasons for their opposition.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Following are some\u00a0of those reasons voiced by the public at the meeting:<\/p>\n