Description

Gronk the grounds-keeper takes pride in his work. He's responsible for maintaining cleanliness in the area just below "Upper Falls", a waterfall that is the highlight of the Johnston Falls hiking trail in Banff National Park. When human hikers arrive in his district, Gronk is quick to arrive on scene, and even quicker to clean up any food scraps that should happen to drop on the ground. He's conscientous and often takes a proactive approach - he has even been know to grab cashews out of the hands of hikers in order to prevent them from being dropped on the ground.

Gronk is actually an incredibly bold Common Raven who knows that he can find food where people gather. I've never had such a close look at a wild raven - I think those ruffled feathers under his neck are quite cool. I chose the name "Gronk" because that's what I think the call of a raven sounds like - my bird guide actually describes the voice as "brronk". It's a deep primitive sounding call that is useful in distinguishing crows from ravens.