A "Hill" story by Ed Farrell. Grizzly
I
drove to Bella Coola from the California Bay Area in September of 2003.
The Hill was closed to traffic at the time, except for two brief
"windows"--once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The rest of
the time road crews were dynamiting the mountain side and widening the
road. Well, I crossed Heckman Pass and arrived at the barricade about
two hours before the second "window" of the day. I was the only car
there and it was insanely quiet. After stretching my legs I rolled down
the car window and read a book. It began to rain, so I rolled the
window up. Soon the sun came back out and I rolled it down again. After
a few minutes, I heard the window roll back up. I stuck my arm out:
the window was down. Hmm. After a few more minutes I heard it roll up
again. Once again it was down. I began to question my sanity when I
noticed a raven in the tree about twenty feet away, staring at the car. I
whistled at the bugger and he answered me with: the perfectly rendered
sound of a car window motor.
The rest of the ride down the Hill was totally uneventful. Ed Farrell Apr 25, 2012 01:17 PM
The rest of the ride down the Hill was totally uneventful. Ed Farrell Apr 25, 2012 01:17 PM
They sure are amazing birds. I saw one open a can of sardines using its beak to pull the little metal ring. Now how did it learn how to do that? - Margy
ReplyDeleteI love and admire ravens, but then, I love and admire any creature that has a higher IQ than I do. :)
ReplyDelete