Hunger and Isolation

I can remember being deep in the woods in Maryland in late November. You are surrounded by trees and bushes with rolling hills everywhere. You can't take a step without crushing a lump of dead leaves. When the wind blows through all of this, there are times that you can almost sense the wind as a solid entity moving through the woods. It can give off a creepy illusion that something is out there, something you can not see. It can be somewhat claustrophobic.

180 degrees to that setting is the desert in winter. Today the wind gusts were up to 40 mph or so. Walking with Finley just a few hundred yards away from the nearest house and you can still feel this awesome sense of isolation. You can see for miles and it's just the same scrubby little bushes, the same rocks, and the same cracked dirt. You can walk past a larger bush, and it comes alive with sound as the wind plays it like an instrument. In fact, all you can hear is wind. You feel it push you, trying to get inside you, and rushing past. It's not good weather for running, but if you feel like a quick escape into isolation, it's an oddly beautiful thing.

Walking back towards my house I noticed a strange black object in the sky. It was a large black bird hovering in the wind. I thought it was hawk perhaps, but I'm pretty sure it was just a raven. The first time I ever saw a raven was my visit to AZ a few years back. I heard it before I ever saw it ,as it buzzed over me in a walmart parking lot. Later I saw one lifting things out of a trashcan finally getting a Jack In The Box bag out to eat some fries. They are big and fairly smart I think.

As I continued my walk I saw this raven sitting at the end of a light pole and noticed another smaller bird at the other end of the pole. As I got closer the smaller bird turned out to be a mocking bird. Wow, I thought it was a sparrow. Then the raven began tossing feathers off the light pole. He then held up what looked like a large chunk of bird and waved it around and jumped up and down. The mocking bird then flew down to a tree next to the light pole where I noticed another mocking bird. These two birds sat there in the tree looking up as the raven continued ripping his meal apart. I don't think mocking birds would wait for scraps. Which begs the question, why were they watching? Was the raven's meal their offspring? Or was it a territorial posture on their part?

The raven didn't like me stopped and looking I guess because he took his meal and flew off. The mocking birds flew away too, but I lost track of them. As I rounded the corner a few minutes later, I could see the raven perfectly silhouetted in the afternoon sun on top of another light pole. If only I were to carry around a 400mm lens eh. This time I would walk right under the light pole the raven was on. I could hear his claws scraping the metal and hear his beak pecking the metal. He stopped and looked at me as I stopped underneath him. I said, "Does it taste good?" He continued eating, and I went on my way.