2 Ravens (or Crows) attack a squirrel and carry it away

When I left work two weeks ago, I saw my first robin pecking at the ground. Ah, "Spring is here" I thought. The temperatures were warming up and most of the snow had melted.

The next morning, I was home, drinking a cup of coffee and looking out at the early Saturday morning sun.

A squirrel was in a tree building a nest in a nearby tree. Yes I thought, indeed "Spring is here".

The nest was quite large, about 2 feet in diameter (I guess) and was located in the crock of two branches about 20 feet above the ground. The squirrel would run and jump to adjacent branches, nibble off a twig, and then insert it into the nest. Every so often, the squirrel entered the nest and appeared to push everything into place.

After I watched the squirrel jump off to another branch, a big black bird landed about a foot away from the nest. It stood there, cocking its head, looking at the nest. At first I thought it was a crow, but it looked awfully large. So, I decided it must be a Raven.

As the squirrel returned to the nest, the raven hopped away. But when the squirrel ran off to get another twig, the raven boldly hopped over to the nest and looked into it. Then the squirrel returned and the raven backed away.

I thought it was odd that the squirrel ignored the bird, but it must not have felt threatened.

When the squirrel left the nest again, a second raven landed on an adjacent branch. "Two against one", I thought. But the both birds just stood on the branches, watching the busy squirrel.

When the squirrel returned one more time, and entered the nest, the two ravens attacked. With open wings, they hopped onto the nest. The first raven grabbed the squirrel by the neck, and the second raven took the tail. Then they flew off together with the squirrel trying to get free. I watched them fly until they disappeared over the trees.

"Wow" I thought! I didn't know that crows or ravens would attack a living squirrel. I knew they were scavengers and would eat a dead carcass, but I didn't know that they would hunt in pairs and kill their prey.

I told this story to my mother-in-law who is 85 years old. She grew up on a farm and told me "Oh yes, they do attack animals". She said that when she was young, her mother told her to watch the chickens and chase away any birds that would land. But, as she was watching, a big crow (or raven perhaps), swooped down from the sky, grabbed a small chicken, and flew away with it. Just like that!

So now when I look out my window and see that unfinished nest, I think about the poor squirrel who was just trying to make a summer home for itself and live in harmony with all the wild creatures. I guess "Spring is really here"!

Read more:
I found a very similar story titled: Wild Bird Wednesday

Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger are now released

Always trying to improve earnings and help their users monetize their own blogs, Google has released "Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger"!

To be eligible, you must be a Blogger user and be approved for AdSense. If you have these, then you should be automatically set up.

According  to their Blogger Buzz article Monetize your blog with Google Affiliate Ads for Blogger, all you have to do is to write about brands or products that you love.

For example, lets talk about gardening. Easter has already passed and Spring is here. This is an excellent time to work in your garden, do the weeding, and plant flowers, vegetables, and more.

For example, lets talk about gardening. Easter has already passed and Spring is here. This is an excellent time to work in your garden, do the weeding, and plant flowers, vegetables, and more.

The best products that I found for sprucing up my garden are found at my local grocery store. They have an excellent stock of seeds to plant, seedlings, and a variety of different bushes and shrubbery.

In theory, I should be able to include related affiliate ads in my gardening section. However, my post editor for this article does not include affiliate links. So, I'm not sure exactly how or when the choice ads will appear.

From the documentation, Google parses your blog content and if it is pertinent,  it will display a Gadget section on the right side tool bar beneath the Post Sections area. While my earning section indicate that this blog is Eligible for Affiliate Ads, none of my older posts on this Blog have this option available.

However, I have examined older posts  in my 3 other blogs and have seen the widget available.

So, be on the lookout for a "Gadgets " section with an "Advertise products" choice when writing your posts. If it is there, then select an ad and include it in your article! 

You can learn more about these Affiliate Ads by clicking on the link above, and reading the Blogger help article:  Enable Affiliate ads in your blog posts .

PS: As an aside, I visited my post about 4 hours later, and the Advertise products Gadget was there! So, I selected a product and added it to this post!