Yellowknife couple learns not to try to outsmart ravens

When a couple from Yellowknife tried to outsmart tworavens that had been damaging their house, they realized it was a losing battle.

To stop theravens from ripping at the tiles abovetheir windows, Edith Mair and her husband Norm installedtwo life-sized plastic owls on the outside of their house.

Of course, theyhoped the ravens would think the plastic owls were real and therefore be frightened by them, but they had no such luck.

On the contrary, the ravensbuilt a huge nest right around one of them in a single day. Edith watched helplessly as they snapped off branches from a neighbour's tree for their new home.

"The two of them worked industriously the whole day until they had the nest made," she says.

Now, the ravens have babies.

Edith says she watchesthem from the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the little birds with their "aunt," Mrs. Owl.