Birds and Nature

Very short video clip. After the parent ravens have escorted the adult bobcat away from their fledglings, one parent joins the 2 fledglings on the cliff ledge where they have been lured (with food) to spend the night. This is a pretty save ledge with only one apparent area that a predator could climb down--this is on the far left side and is where I have seen a parent perch for the night, apparently to guard the ledge. And as the guano indicates, this ledge has been used a lot. SeEtta

The raven parents continue pursuing the bobcat that emerges from the trees at the top of the cliff. They harass it, even landing close and flying at it, to encourage it to leave the area where their fledglings are located. This is a large bobcat, clearly an adult. When the bobcat climbs down to the bottom of the cliffs and disappears into the trees, one raven parent continues to keep watch from a nearby tree while the other parent returns to the cliff ledge several hundred feet away where the 2 fledglings are safely located. SeEtta

Tonight at dusk while watching a family of Common Ravens I have been following for the past 2 weeks, I saw the parents fly from past the safe rock ledge where they had brought the fledglings to spend the night to a tree several hundred feet away while calling repeatedly. They seemed to be directing their attention to something I could not see, then out walked a bobcat. Apparently these very protective raven parents saw this bobcat from hundreds of yards away and flew in to harass it into leaving the area. These raven parents clearly will not allow a threat anywhere near their fledglings (at least the two I could see) which were safely deposited on a ledge several hundred feet from where they began harassing the bobcat. SeEtta

While I was looking (unsuccessfully) for the other Western Screech Owl siblings and any parent birds, the female Yellow Warbler in the top pic took great exception to my presence--she called loudly, flitted about in an agitated state and appeared to try to draw me away from her nest or fledglings which I never did see. Her very attractive male partner came in to help, providing me with the opportunity to get these bottom two pics. SeEtta

I took these pics of the young Western Screech Owl fledgling this morning with my Canon xti dslr camera (with my 400 mm lens and 1.6 multiplier for not having a full frame camera I have the equivalent of about 640 mm zoom). The top pic is, of course, very cute as the little owl peeks over the crook of the tree at me. The little owl appears to be behaving 'coyly' in the middle pic though really it was just sneaking a peak at this big creature that makes a lot of clicking noise (with my dslr camera). The bottom pic shows how this little owl looks like most of the time as it stays hidden behind the foliage. SeEtta

I got this video clip of the young Western Screech Owl fledgling by digi-scoping it using my Canon s90 point and shoot camera's video mode hand held to my Zeiss spotting scope. SeEtta

Last evening, just at dark, as I watched some bats I heard some vocalizations in the trees that seemed familiar. Soon I saw 2 'figures' (just blurred things flying from a tree). I got out my spotlight and found the source of the continuing vocalizations--a young Western Screech Owl. Though I tried to get pics of the owl lit by my strong spotlight, these were not any good so returned this morning and refound this owl, getting these two pics I digi-scoped through my spotting scope by hand-holding my Canon S90 point and shoot camera over the lens. More to follow. SeEtta

The phoebe nest is located under a culvert across the Arkansas River from the Canon City Riverwalk where I took this video clip through my spotting scope. The culvert is lower than the riverbank where I was standing so I lowered the tripod and took this from a kneeling position, yet still could not get the top of the adults head. This is the female and she appears to be an Eastern Phoebe (tho there is some possibility she is a hybrid EasternXBlack) and the male attending this nest is a Black Phoebe. The nestlings are in the shorter nest on the left. After the female feeds one of the nestlings it turns it's body around and provides a rear view from which the adult takes a fecal sac as it produced and flies off with it. (there is some very interesting info at that link so click on it and many will likely learn something new--I did! SeEtta