This little known fact explains the trails beside the highways leading to the National Parks in the mountains of Canada and the USA. This has not been written about and is not advertised for fear of terrorists taking them hostage. If you have ever been to one of them you may have noticed the Ravens. They are in the parking lots and picnic areas. You will see them walking around bumming food, and posing for pictures. They will hop up onto the hood of your car and threaten to take a dump if you do not hand over your hot dog! BB&B, big, black and beautiful! That has been said about Ravens too. In The Canadian Rockies a good place to view these interesting phenomena is the Columbia Ice Field stop on the highway from Banff to Jasper, Alberta. At the foot of the Glacier the Elevation is aprox. 11000 ft ASL. There are normally about 30 - 40 Raven walking around the parking lot. The more inventive ones will climb onto the hood or roof of a car and spread their wings, going CAWW, CAWW, and then leap off. When the hit the ground they fake an injury and of course everyone rushes over to give them sympathy and FOOD! As soon as the tour bus leaves they regain their health and stand around in groups discussing how good a job Blackie did with the bus from Vancouver. If you want the last laugh hang around until dusk. This is when they all slink off and start to walk back down the roadside to Jasper. It is a long 2 Kilometers before the elevation is suitable for them to take off. You can see where the trail mysteriously ends. That is because they fly out from there. It's quite a sight to see, all those big black birds, sometimes 2 or 300 of them, walking single file along the side of the highway. There is not a sound until they are about 200 meters from the take of point. Then they start to mutter and jostle for position. They continue single file right up to the point where the jump off the cliff and soar downwards and away with a loud CAWWWWW! Beware the Theet O Vac. Free New Articles DelsMolds.com |
