At least one raven couple nests near our cabin, so we’ve become accustomed to seeing one or the other of them drift down to the rocks in front of the veranda, to check whether I’ve been successful fishing lately, and perhaps careless with my cleaning. They make a fairly good living off our occasional leavings, or at least rely on us for snacks. I got a bit suspicious recently when one of them landed at the veranda, and began ducking its head below the rocky edge. We investigated, and, sure enough, the ravens have joined everybody else in eating our currants!A tasty variety of currant grows on the periphery of our dooryard. From them we make delicious syrups and jams . . . if we can. Beginning in midwinter with the moose assault on their woody branches that threatened to severely reduce our yield, the currants barely get a break throughout their growing season.
We began to have hope in spring when the voles failed to arrive in significant numbers to pluck and eat the currant blossoms. But, now that the berries are beginning to ripen, we’re seeing a parade of visitors to the veranda. Varied thrushes and other songbirds, squirrels, and now the ravens come to compete with us. Since we’re the only ones who seem picky enough to want to wait till they’re fully ripe, we’re likely to lose out.
It’s not a big deal, I suppose; we know of many places nearby to pick currants, so we’ll likely get what we need as well, but I do find it hard to sit idly by and watch everyone else get to our food source first!