Common Raven close up on the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1250, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
Common Ravens are abundant here in northern Utah but they can be very skittish and take flight easily so when I finally find one that is approachable I take as many photos of them as I can. Yesterday morning I found one of those approachable ravens near the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake.
At first the Common Raven was near the side of the road but it moved down the rocks and got closer to the lake and where it poked around in the rocks. Quite a few of my images weren’t taken with the best of light angles but there were a few that were so even the darkest plumage of the raven showed nice details.
For more information about exposure problems and light angles when it comes to Common Ravens have a look at this post: Common Raven in the snow – An exposure problem. It is crucial with pure black and pure white birds to have the best light angle possible.
Calling Common Raven close up – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1000, ISO 500, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
This is an adult Common Raven that was by itself which surprised me because I usually see them in pairs at this time of the year. The raven was calling very softly, I am not even sure that I could describe the sound it made because it was so difficult to hear. I was trying to find the call it was making on xeno-canto.org but there were over 1000 calls listed there for Common (Northern) Ravens so after a bit I stopped trying to find it.
There are a bunch of images that I took of this Common Raven yesterday that are just going to get tossed into my delete bin because the light angle could have been better but there were a few gems amongst them.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Common Raven photos plus facts and information about this species.
Excellent lighting and sheen.
I like these portraits of my personal favorite too, and crows just a bit less. A few years back we were in the southeastern part of Utah, Arches and beyond, and occasionally would come across a pair of ravens. One was actually begging from us in the parking lot, making unusual sounds too.
P.S. Thanks for the fun link to all the bird calls, which include interesting maps! (xeno-canto.org)
Beautiful shots.
Nice photos! Common Ravens are a personal favorite but I find them to be very difficult to photograph due to their skittishness. For every 100 ravens that I encounter I get at best one or two photo ops.