Basic Flight Training

The ravens have had their young one flying, or attempting to do so, since the day after Memorial Day. Two are doing well, but the third hasn't even passed basic training yet. He began by bouncing off my camp roof after colliding with the metal smokestack then sliding backward down the metal roof. Then he tried another camp and a couple of trees, at which point, he up and quit. He decided walking, or hopping, was safer and did so for hours,much to the parent ravens horror. He hopped over and looked at me through the screen door, he hopped clear around my camp, up the road, and back again. By nightfall Beauty and Notch were beside themselves. They had gotten the other two ravens safely tucked away in their nest, but Hoppy still was hopping. Finally they began attacking him until he took flight---well, sort of low flying like a kite that can't quite catch the air to rise.


This has continued for quite a while now. The other two young ones are doing quite well, but Hoppy, well he hops most of the time. First he goes to a big tree behind my camp, about thirty feet up and shreeks. The parents try to urge him to fly further, and he doesn't for about a half an hour. Then, when the parents are clearly out of patience, he flys to another tree and the procedure starts all over again. I think he doesn't like heights. To each his own.