Yellowknife couple learns not to try to outsmart ravens

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

To stop the ravens from ripping at the tiles above their windows, Edith Mair and her husband Norm installed two life-sized plastic owls on the outside of their house. 

Of course, they hoped 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 ravens built 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 watches them from the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the little birds with their "aunt," Mrs. Owl.