Nevermore...

Yesterday I returned to Douglas, AZ to move the ravens nest to a safer location. Laura and I left Phoenix at 5 am to make the long journey down. She explained to me that ravens are smart birds and don't like change. She said that often ravens wont return to the nest once its been moved or altered because they recognize that things have changed.

The original nest

We were both optimistic though, she had been lucky so far with ravens.

When we got to the area, which consequently was located behind a prison, the power company crew was ready to go.

They first turned the power off to the lines they were going to work on. Then the 2 men piled into the buckets and Laura explained to them how to remove the babies and/or eggs in the nest, and up they went. The men took the babies out and handed them off to us.

Laura explaining how to get the babies

The power company was going to do some work on that pole so they would be a while. They brought the nest down as well and began their work.

5 raven babies

We then began ours. There were 5 baby ravens in the nest; 5 newly hatched babies. They had their eyes closed still and had no feathers, totally helpless little guys. We weighed them and gave them fluids and fed them. We had brought some mice (dead) along to feed to them.

Lunch for the ravens

They rested and we waited. It was several hours before they finished the work on the line and got the nest back up. The power company created this nest platform to put the nest in and place in a safer location. However, the location needs to be very close to where the nest was originally or most likely the birds wont come back.

the nest on the nest platform

So finally it was time to put the babies in the nest. We fed them once more and handed them off to the linemen. The parents had been circling around while all this was happening which was a good sign.

The ravens new home

We decided to give the parents 2 hours to get back on the nest. If they did not, we would call the crew back in and take the babies.

It was about 95 degrees out and we were concerned about exposure and dehydration. Its now about 1 Pm and everyone has cleared the area. Laura and I parked the car so we could watch the nest. We sat in silence and watched as the parents stayed close but not landing in the nest.

Packing up

As the 2 hour mark came, we were getting concerned. The parents were right there but not going to the nest. We hate to call the crew and then the parents go, but at the same time those babies are up there with no shade or food.

We gave them more time and at the 3 hour mark we made the call to have the crew come back. I think Laura and I both had a bad feeling about the babies well being.

The guys came back and went back up to get the babies. As soon as they got to the nest they shook their heads. 1 they said, 1 is still alive. Our hearts just sunk, it was a real blow. All this time and work and we lost 4 babies.

They brought the box back down to us and when Laura opened up I nearly began to cry. I had to fight the tears back. Those little ugly babies, so helpless. We explained to the men that we thought that because they were so pale that they died probably within the first hour. Some of them were very small and weak. We noticed that they were very dehydrated when we first got them and didn't seem to have been fed in a while. We suspected the parents were first timers and this whole experience was too much for them. Most of the time not all the babies make it. They have a lot of eggs in hopes to fledge maybe 2-3 young.

We took the one little guy remaining and gave him lots of fluids and a mouse. He was a little red from being so warm and exposed up there, but he seemed ok. He was a little out of it but he ate all the food.

We check on him several times on our way back to Phoenix. He made the journey back and we have high hopes that he will survive and we will be able to release him when hes old enough. Until then we will feed him and then hand him off to the foster ravens who will teach him how to be a raven.

It was a sad ending to our 16 hour day for sure but we saved a family from electrocution. That nest was just inches away from that. The babies and the parents could have been killed. Yes, we lost 4 babies, but we saved the mating pair and 1 baby.

So now you know what I do as a biologist for Liberty.

-Nina