They’re amazing numbers - it’s likely you’re seeing post breeding juvenile
groups. How and why these groups form and function is part of Bernd
Heinrich’s classic studies. Two of his books - 'Mind of the Raven' and
'Ravens in Winter' are both worth reading on this. (Especially the latter -
one of my
The Delaware-Otsego Audubon Soc. has been using trail cameras baited
with road-killed deer to determine winter Golden Eagle presence in the
Catskills and central NY over the past few years. The numbers of ravens
coming in to these sites is astonishing--hundreds at a time on
occasion. So many
Interesting bit of information. I seem to recall that it's said that one way
to separate Chihuahuan from Common Raven in Arizona / New Mexico is that
only Chihuahuans occur in flocks. Maybe that is true in that area, but could
this cast some doubt on that?
I didn't think about it all that much
There has been large groups of Common (really) Ravens at Minnewaska State
Park near New Paltz, Ulster County for the last few years. Scott Baldinger
has been keeping close tabs on them with his regular Tuesday Early Birders
Walks.
Richard Guthrie
On Fri, Dec 1, 2017 at 3:19 PM, Kevin J. McGowan
Nice sighting. It is very rare for around here to see so many in a flock, but
out West they are frequently seen in medium sized flocks sometimes much larger
usually at a feeding site such as a dead large mammal. I have personally seen
a flock of 80-100 in Unity, Maine, back in the mid 80's fly
Undoubtedly a winter non-breeder group. I remember less than a decade ago my
first encounter in the state with such a group in eastern Cortland County. I
realized that there were now enough ravens breeding in New York that the
juveniles could find each other. Looks like that might be true in you
On larger raven flocks (probably juvenile "gangs") See Bernd Heinrich's
excellent "Ravens in Winter" (1989).
Rick
Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device
Original message
From: Shaibal Mitra
Date:12/01/2017 2:42 PM (GMT-05:00)
To: "NYSBIRDS (NYSBIRDS-L@cornell.edu)"
Cc: