As for the birds' tranquillity, they learned that from all of the time spent with the trainers. Plus, when Rise and Conquer were big enough to move to the zoo, in a building with the "zoomobile" animals, separate from those on exhibition, their neighbor across the aisle was Jamilla, a wary-eyed serval, a wildcat with a taste for birds. The neighbors to the left and the right were Louie, a noisy macaw, and Martin the porcupine. Rise and Conquer learned to expect the unexpected.
Their living quarters at the zoo have been, as Rose-Innes puts it, "raven-proofed." Workers installed extra screens on the eaves where an enterprising bird might give his trainer the slip; they reinforced the wood trim along the floor boards against pecking and filled it with potential playthings.
Almost like house cats, Rise and Conquer love to shred, particularly toilet paper and telephone directories. They like to hide tidbits of food under paper towels. They enjoy fishing plastic toys from a big tub of water.
On game days, however, the young ravens are all business.
They take the field through the same tunnel that Joe Flacco and Ray Lewis run through, but without the fireworks. While the team wrangled recently with the Cincinnati Bengals, Rise and Conquer perched near a goal post on the arms of Eveleth and Ziolkowski. When the Ravens scored, the women pumped their arms a bit, causing the birds to flap, seemingly in appreciation.
The duo made live TV for a few seconds and patiently posed as NFL Films shot their own, extra footage. Conquer pecked at his flight suit every chance he got.
When a fan seated just above the birds cheered, she shook loose a few violet feathers from her boa that floated down to field, close enough for Conquer to grab one in his beak, perhaps thinking it was from a long-lost friend.
At some point, Gabrielle Dow, the Ravens' vice president of marketing, hopes the birds can become part of the official pre-game show - coming out of that tunnel with the players and the requisite team pyrotechnics.
But Poe, the less authentically avian mascot, would prefer it if Rise and Conquer took a few more days off.
"They're putting me out of a job," the mascot says with a wink. "Everyone loves them."
