Very cool observations. The preening of each other, called "allopreening," occurs in crows and ravens, but not jays. The fact that it was forceful suggests to me that the birds involved were a parent and a juvenile, not the pair. For a similarly forceful allopreening interaction among crows, take a look at the photo and video I have at https://picasaweb.google.com/KevinJ.McGowan/CrowBehavior.
Just to clarify a point, Common Ravens have light gray, not white bases to their neck and body feathers (the same as American Crows). Chihuahuan Ravens have truly white feather bases, which were the source of the older name, White-necked Raven. Pretty much all birds have uncolored bases to their body feathers, but usually when you see them they appear dark (like the "spot" on a Savannah Sparrow's chest), not light as in crows. Best, Kevin From: bounce-61059592-3493...@list.cornell.edu [mailto:bounce-61059592-3493...@list.cornell.edu] On Behalf Of Susan Fast Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 6:20 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Ravens I looked out our front windows a bit ago and saw 4 large, dark birds milling close together in the driveway of the Brooktondale firehall. It was raining pretty hard, and I thought at first they were the local crow family. Two of them wandered off across the lawn picking at probably snails or bugs; the other two engaged in preening, which I thought a little odd for crows, so the scope was hauled out. It was the local RAVEN family which we haven't seen for 2 months. One preened the head of the other for 5-10 minutes. At one point, Susie saw the preener pull the head feathers of the preenee roughly forward so far as to expose a large white area. The white we thought was skin, but research indicated it to be the white bases of the black feathers. Thanks to Bernd Heinrich for providing an excellent photo of these bases in "Mind of the Raven" The two wandering the lawn we assume to be this year's juveniles. S. & S. Fast Brooktondale -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
