YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

by Judy Lehmberg, BioPics Photography, www.vernelehmberg.com

There is a flicker nest we have been watching over the last few weeks. We don’t know if something has happened to Dad but we haven’t seen him in a good while. Usually both male and female flickers bring food to the babies but Mom is the only one we have seen. There are only 2 babies but that still seems like a big job considering how fast they are growing.
Yesterday we spent a couple of hours photographing and filming them. (We later found out Quad Mom and her 2 cubs were near the road in Swan Lake Flats during the time we were at the flickers, but you can’t win them all.) The flicker nest is right on the edge of a steep drop down to the Yellowstone River. There is a picnic area nearby and there are always beggar ravens around. As we waited for the mom to bring some bugs to her babies my husband commented on how smart ravens are and wondered if us pointing are lenses at the flicker nest might draw the raven’s attention. I thought about it. Ravens are one of the smartest birds around, but I couldn’t imagine they could draw conclusions from the direction a lens was pointing.

Not an hour later a raven landed at the nest and stuck its head in the nest hole. I don’t know how smart flickers are but I know the raven couldn’t get its head all the way in and after less than a minute gave up and flew away.

When Mom returned with the next meal we noticed one of the babies had blood on the tip of its bill. It had stabbed at the raven hard enough to draw blood! Maybe that’s why the raven left so quickly. I know ravens need to eat. I just don’t want to be responsible for showing them their next meal, especially after watching the mama flicker and knowing how much effort she has put into her babies.