I'm always so glad when I have the first sighting of my one legged Raven in the late fall or early winter. He and two of his friends have been feeding at my winter feeders for at least a decade now. I'm not sure how he lost his left leg or if he was born deformed but he does quite well for himself and he is always seen with two other ravens . Ravens mate for life so I'm not quite sure how to interpret this trio. Maybe the other two Ravens are his parents and they have stayed with him because he is disabled or they are his siblings at any rate they are very happy together and he is never alone. In the photo he is having a breakfast of leftover oatmeal. There is a pecking order the other two ravens eat first and he stands in the background until they fly over to a tree to wait for him then he eats his fill. I usually have my feeder hanging in an apple tree about 10 meters from the house but this year I have it above a small deck outside my garden door and I wasn't sure if he would come this close to the house because they are very shy and fly away at the slightest noise even-though I've been feeding them for years. Well I guess he just couldn't resist his porridge breakfast.
