Ethan,

You ask if it is odd to see a Raven eating a dead squirrel in South Seattle
at S. Orcas St. and 64th Ave S.. My answer is that, while I still count it
as notable, it is not surprising. Ravens have started moving into Seattle
and breeding in Seattle.

About 15 years ago, for the first time since moving here in 1978, I saw a
Raven in Seattle. It was in Seward Park, close to where you reported your
Raven. I then learned that a pair of Ravens were nesting on Mercer Island
at that time. About 6 years ago, a pair of Ravens started visiting, and
spending their days largely in Lincoln Park, in West Seattle, in the
winters, for about 4 winters, but not staying for breeding season. At that
time, I would see them a couple of times flying across the Puget Sound.
Then 2 seasons ago, they started nesting in Lincoln Park, raising 2 young,
then this past summer raising 3 young. You can now regularly hear the loud
Ravens in Lincoln Park. I don't know if it is only the parent Ravens that
have remained in the park, or if we still have any of the young hanging
around, but I expect the young to have dispersed, and your neighborhood
isn't very far for them to disperse to. I know the Ravens don't just stay
in Lincoln Park, as I'll see them in other parts of West Seattle where I
go. I know that in the last few years there were other Ravens breeding,
and being sighted, in the metropolitan Seattle area, but I don't remember
just where.

So the answer is no, it is not odd, but your observation may be recording
an expanded area where they are now being sighted in the city. The Ravens
are moving into our metropolitan area.

-Stewart Wechsler
www.stewardshipadventures.com

Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2016 15:17:18 +0000
> From: Ethan Whitney Smith <ethanwhitneysmith at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Tweeters] Raven in the middle of South Seattle
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Message-ID:
> <CADd2XqGdV5B23FAYZn2YbUowy2Z6qRYn3HUaRDZnkzN7eTPaHw at mail.
> gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> I've lived in South Seattle for sixteen years. This morning, for the first
> time, I saw a Raven in the middle of the city at the corner of S. Orcas and
> 64th Ave. S. The Raven was in the middle of the street working over a dead
> squirrel.
>
> Have I not been paying attention or is this as odd as it seems to me.
>
> Thoughts?
>
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