2007-11-19

fuyu: (happy al)
2007-11-19 01:05 pm

two for joy

On the way from class to the student center just now, I heard a strange noise.

It was sort of unclassifiable - it sounded to me like a plastic bottle rolling or something, but a cursory examination of the surrounding grounds revealed no visible source. I was about to just let it go, since I'm excruciatingly tired and it probably didn't mean anything... when it came again, louder, and closer. Looking around still offered no explanation. I was next to a tree, though...

I looked up and HUGE BIRD IN THE TREE

I couldn't identify it for a second, it wasn't making a recognizable call and the leaves broke my view of it. But as I backed to one side for a better look, the black feathers and the beak gave it away right before it let out a loud, croaking caw.

HOMG A RAVEN INNA TREE

I must have stood there for like five minutes in the sidewalk, just gaping and grinning at ZOMG RAVEN. We don't get ravens in this area that often, so this was a very memorable event. I could hear another one cawing, too, but couldn't locate the sound and anyway this one was like seriously right above my head. I would have walked straight under a raven without even knowing it if it hadn't called.

A student standing in the middle of the sidewalk and grinning foolishly at a tree will attract attention, and one girl who had figured out what I was staring at and was equally thrilled stopped by to inform me that the second raven was on the clock tower. We gleed at each other for a few seconds, the tree raven flew off towards the tower, and I ran over there to see.

Sure enough, two big, lovely ravens just perched at one face of the clock tower, nary a care. One of them was holding some plant matter in its beak, which it then put down out of my sight. As I watched, they clasped at each other's beaks and generally behaved affectionately towards each other. (Ravens are social birds, right? I thought. They must be bonding.)

I think they're nesting on the clock tower. Those of you who know me and my flailing adoration of corvids can probably guess how incoherently happy this makes me. I really hope they're here when I get back.

s,djghkdsfh RAVENS!!!!11