Birds and Nature

At the end of March this year I spotted a Common Raven going into a crevice above a rock face of a local cliff area called Castle Rock (as part of it looks sort of like a castle). I started watching this area and observed a pair of Common Ravens spending time around this location. On March 27 I spotted one of the ravens inside the crevice which now had what looked like nesting material in it--the photograph of that is the second pic here. I continued off and on to check this apparent crevice nest. At the end of May I saw what appeared to be a nestling inside the crevice. I continued birding in the riparian forest across the Arkansas River from this cliff area. When I was about a quarter mile away I heard a lot of raven racket and walked to a spot where I could see the cliff area through my binoculars. I could see a lot of raven action with the parent birds calling loudly so I expected that the nestling may have fledged or they were trying to get it to fledge. I went back t...

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

Since we have been discussing how to differentiate Chihuahuan from Common Ravens on Cobirds (colorado birding listserve), I thought this was an opportune time to upload the two pics of Chihuahuan Ravens (below) I took on 12-19-2010 in Texas I hadn't got up here. Both sets of pics show very nicely the long and thick nasal bristles on the stout bill of Chihuahuans (more than 2/3 rd's of the bill) versus the long bill (with minimal nasal bristles) found on Commons. It may be useful to enlarge the pics of the Chihuahuan Ravens by double clicking on each one (won't work with Common Raven pics due to technical issues). SeEtta

While I was watching the Bald Eagle from the last post with my spotting scope, I wondered why it kept turning it's head to the side with one eye looking downward and the other looking upward. I thought it might be checking for some prey beneath it but I was wrong. It turned out that this pair of Common Ravens in the top pic was flying above and when they flew off I found there was a pair of Bald Eagles soaring high above. So I think it was literally keeping an eye on these birds. SeEtta