The Postscript: "Raven Watch"

The ravens are back.

Last year, they had a nest right on my hiking trail but I didn’t notice them making it. I didn’t notice when they started guarding it or when the female laid eggs. I didn’t notice a thing. I never saw the nest—which is almost five feet across—and I’m not feeling too stupid about that because the nest is more than 100 feet in the air. I didn’t notice a thing until the chicks were hatched. Then I noticed.

A baby raven is a lot closer to a baby pterodactyl than any baby bird I’ve ever encountered. They are not sweet. Whatever the opposite of sweet is, tha...