Today, as the June mowing of the last few days was smelling good, but causing confusion among the previously nesting Red-winged Blackbirds and Bobolinks, a group of Ravens parked themselves on fields next to my house.
I suspect this is the same group as flew through earlier in the weekâthere were 6 then and there were at least 4 today. They foraged on a field mostly out of sight through brushy trees and spent the whole day whooping, quonking and making noises that turned out to be fledglings demanding what adults were finding. Definitely fledglings involved, as they occasionally landed and vocalized high enough in the trees that I could see them well at the edge of the field and our scrubby land. The landings entailed a great deal of flapping and some sudden vocalizations as the branch did not hold. I got a few sightings of flying ravens with relatively small heads, in the stretching, trying-to-fly-faster posture of young corvids. I got a few other views, including one of an adult carrying a whole,small rodent low across the field back toward where the fledglings seemed to be perched. The vocalizations from the waiting birds crescendoed and everyone followed the bird with the food along the tree line, so I had glimpses and some good views of 4 or more. They seemed to ignore one of the local pair of Redtail Hawks as it also soared back and forth over the fields, being attacked by Redwinged Blackbirds. Anyway the picnic on the hayfield lasted noisily all day until about 7 pm. Now they have disappeared, I think off to the South and back into the Basin, which might be Hammond Hill area or closer to 13. Wish they had been more visible. Anne -- 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/ --
