Clara, I was a wildlife science major at Cornell from 1968-1972. I spent much time outside birding, hunting, fishing and taking courses all over the southern tier of upstate NY. I do not recall seeing a raven anywhere in the southern tier during my tenure at Cornell. I probably saw or heard ravens in the Adirondacks but do not affirmatively remember.
I spent my career working as a fish and wildlife biologist consulting to the utility industry, for the most part. As an aside, the company I worked for initially, Ichthyological Associates, Inc. (and ultimately retired from a successor to IA), was started by Dr. Edward C. Raney, who mostly hired his students to staff projects around the eastern US. Many, many years later, in the fall of 2004, I was on a project at a proposed wind power site near Hornby NY, about half way between Corning and Watkins Glen. We had been hired to monitor raptor, songbird and waterfowl migration as part of the permitting and impact assessment process for a utility scale wind energy project. I spent many days looking at a mostly empty field where the monitoring site was located. I recall that I did not see a single migrating raptor during many days of observation. However I did observe resident red-tailed hawks, northern harriers and common ravens on a daily basis. One day I was watching an adult harrier coursing over the fields hunting. I was enjoying the harrier show when a single raven showed up and took up an aerial position behind and slightly higher than the harrier. The raven mimicked every move that the harrier made until the harrier turned over in the air and struck at the raven with its talons. The raven hopped up in the air, dropped back a few feet as the harrier righted itself and continued flying low over the field. As soon as the harrier resumed hunting, the raven resumed its mimicking flight until again the harrier struck at the raven. This process continued for about 20 min. I could usually see the birds naked eye but I also had binoculars and a scope. I watched in amazement as the aerial show went on for about 20 minutes. Finally the raven moved off and the harrier flew to another field. I speculated then, and now, as to why the raven mimicked the harrier. Was it planning to steal a mouse from the harrier? Was it simply demonstrating its flying prowess to the harrier and itself? Was it playing? I like to believe that the behavior was play with the potential benefit of a stolen meal. One thing for certain is that the raven was every bit as light in the air and accomplished a flyer as was the harrier. And we all know that harriers appear magical in the way that they soar, flutter, kite and drop to the ground on wings a buoyant as a helium-filled balloon. Rob Blye Robert W. Blye 300 Sanatoga Road Pottstown, PA 19465-7985 rwblye at comcast dot net 610 327-2010 610 213-2413 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Asher Hockett" <[email protected]> To: "Ray Zimmerman" <[email protected]> Cc: "cayugabirds-l" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2014 11:35:23 AM Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Raven inquiry In my neighborhood on S Danby Rd, we have a fair number of Ravens. More often than not we hear them but do not see them, and the range of sounds they produce is truly staggering. This year I have heard at least 4 vocalizations which were new to me. On Thu, Dec 11, 2014 at 11:19 AM, Ray Zimmerman < [email protected] > wrote: Speaking of ravens, few days ago while waiting for the bus along Snyder Hill Rd. two ravens flew by. I noticed them when one vocalized, making a sound my neighbor described as a Star Wars light saber sort of sound, before reverting to the normal raven croaking. Sorry I don’t have a better description, but I was wondering if that is one of their known vocalizations? I don’t remember ever hearing it before. Ray <blockquote> On Dec 9, 2014, at 7:47 PM, Clara MacCarald < [email protected] > wrote: Hi all, I'm looking for raven stories for an article in the Finger Lakes Community Newspapers. I had a nice conversation with Kevin McGowan about the local population, but I'd like to include some anecdotes from other birders. If you'd like to tell me about ravens, please contact me off list. Any help is appreciated. Even if you only ever see crows and hear ravens, that would be interesting. Or if you found Kevin's video, Caw vs. Croak, helpful. Thanks in advance, Clara MacCarald -- ______________________________________________ Clara MacCarald Trumansburg, NY (607) 229-5789 [email protected] -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird ! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird ! -- </blockquote> -- asher -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics Rules and Information Subscribe, Configuration and Leave Archives: The Mail Archive Surfbirds BirdingOnThe.Net Please submit your observations to eBird ! -- -- 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/ --
