Tannery Raven
Today we dragged the baseline: nine species. Thirty-six degrees, overcast with a very low ceiling, spitting rain. At 7:16, the faintest of robins.
So few birds I notice more the variation in human-produced sounds. For example, there isn’t just “highway noise.” Right in front, we’ve got accelerations up the steep on-ramp to I-99, and behind, decelerations to the off-ramp. SUV; sedan; quarry truck; Dodge Ram; Cheetos truck: each distinct. In the middle, the roar of through vehicles. And then the trains: today, one rumbling Norfolk Southern after another, every quarter-hour. The ones from the east first appear whistling the Plummer’s Hollow crossing, then some seconds later, the Tyrone crossing.
Through all this, the delicate but insistent calls of at least two waking Black-capped Chickadees. I suppose they can’t hear any of what I’m hearing, but they must feel it?!
Pigeons over Brush
Weather like this seems to encourage anomalous behavior. My first clue was a flock of 30 commuting Rock Pigeons over Sapsucker Ridge on Brush Mountain, at my 1 o’clock. I can’t recall ever seeing a commuter group leave Tyrone on this side of the Gap, even though a fair number of pigeons roost in the brick buildings and under the interstate in the general vicinity of the tannery raven, right under Sapsucker Ridge. They always seem to cross over my head in singles and pairs and join up with the main flocks downtown, then head east through the Gap on the Bald Eagle Mountain side.
At 7:42, seventeen more pigeons exit town over Brush Mountain, disappearing into the clouds.
Starlings don’t show up until 7:53, and they’re in a tight formation: no looping, no singles or pairs, no sitting on light posts. One group after another, straight from the Gap and into town, out of sight, no noise, no song. It’s barely raining, but they remain invisible. Why such behavior today, when I’ve seen them active early in heavier precipitation and more clouds?
Only around 8 AM do a few more species sound off: a single House Sparrow chirp, a singe House Finch, and the one encouraging song of the day: some ‘chew-chew-chew’ notes from a Northern Cardinal over by the drive-through bank. Then a ‘peek’ or two from the Downy Woodpecker.
Raven Encounter
Today, we finally get a closer look at our winter raven. My photos suggest it’s not only active but vocal, but in truth, it never makes a sound I could hear, though it is only eighty yards away. All of a sudden, there it was (7:39 AM), hopping onto a black willow branch, appearing to wrestle with something in its beak, rubbing and poking its head on the trunk. I never could see any food. A few minutes later it flew a few branches to the left, walked around a bit, ruffing out its throat feathers considerably. It’s hard to tell from my digital zoom, but through my binoculars I could clearly see the iridescent green and blue on its nape.
Then, it pivots to stare right at me, opening its beak wide then shutting it, repeatedly. No sound. Finally, at 7:48, it flies away left, then croaks from out of sight minutes later.
This isn’t an encounter I’ve had in over 200 dawn sits. I had the distinct impression it was not only aware of me but in some way interacting.
**NOTE: I use a Nikon Coolpix P 1000 camera for documentation purposes (3000mm zoom); my binoculars are Meopta MeoPros (9x35), an excellent Czech brand. My landscape and non-bird photos in general are from my Samsung phone.