Shadow of the Raven | Behind the Scenes of Wildlife Filmmaking
I just had an amazing opportunity to film a young raven while a team of researchers banded it for science. Banding is one of the key ways biologists can monitor bird species and populations and how they move about on the landscape. Ravens are some of the hardest birds to capture due to their incredible intelligence. They are capable of accurately recognizing someone – even if they put a hat on, so capturing them as adults can be extremely challenging. Baby ravens however are a different story, as they haven’t quite yet mastered the art of flight. I’ve been on location producing a documentary about burrowing owls and filming some incredible moments, and this was certainly one of them. It was amazing to watch the raven parents hunting and flying overhead. It’s no wonder that ravens are often revered or feared, showing up in myths and cultures around the world wherever they are found. They even inspired the poet Edgar Allan Poe to write his masterpiece called The Raven.
