In the 1970’s I worked as a surveyor on the Alaska Pipeline north of the Yukon River working out of GMC suburbans that held all our gear, and a bountiful supply of food to keep us fueled during the cold winter days.

One morning while parked, I watched a small band of large Ravens milling around in the snow next to our yellow suburban obviously waiting for handouts (that was a previously learned behavior since in those days there were a lot of yellow suburbans being driven by a lot of pipeliners with a lot of food in them).

Anyway, I tossed the core of an apple I had just eaten into the snow bank next to our rig. Only one Raven saw this. Instead of immediately jumping over to it, I watched as it casually sauntered over to the area, then, when none of the other birds was watching, it poked the core deep into the snow bank with a quick stab of its beak, then quickly left the area. It returned a short time later when the birds had gone to another spot, retrieving the core, and flying off.

This bird had clearly suffered from the bullies in the flock, and learned to keep its “finds”.

I loved watching those birds in those years, and still do, waiting to be surprised by something new.