Our Ravens have been absent all winter. It is well into the courtship and nesting season for them, so we had just about given up on having them as neighbors this year. They mate for life, so we were ready to assume one of our resident pair had perished and the other had dispersed.
That changed yesterday. While we were outside we heard that familiar "gronk" and saw two Ravens approaching from the east, just double tree-top level. They were flying very close together, wingtips almost touching. We ran to an opening to catch them in in the act of courtship display. What a sky dance! They swooped and swirled, looped and dooped, zigged and zagged, gronking mightily. It was jaw-dropping! To our surprise, another pair appeared from over our shoulders, again from the east, and headed straight for the first pair. These two dove right into the first pair and the sky suddenly became a swirling mix of big black birds, with sounds like bells ringing, metal clanking, frogs croaking, gronks, clunks and raspy caws. Jaws fell further. Finally, they split up, one pair continuing west, the other turning around and going back east. Gosh, but that was fun! So glad we were outside at that time!!! Sue -- John and Sue Gregoire Field Ornithologists Kestrel Haven Avian Migration Observatory 5373 Fitzgerald Road Burdett,NY 14818-9626 Website: http://www.empacc.net/~kestrelhaven/ "Conserve and Create Habitat" -- 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/[email protected]/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/ --
