Hello Tweeters,

I got a lot of responses on this one in personal email so I thought
I would respond to the list. Yes, they were Ravens. Well, the one
by my house was/is. I haven't gone and hunted the other one but I
think it was since it was making the same noises as the one I did
verify.

I went out the next day after seeing the big 'crows' harassing the
Hawk and the Bald Eagle and just sorta wandered around looking at a
lot of American Crows. After a while, a huge 'crow' and a little
one went flying past overhead, the huge one was soaring the whole
time I saw them (Raven ID feature) and the little one was flapping
its wings the whole time. The big one was also saying GRONK, which
is how my guide describes the noise a Raven makes. BTW, they did
seem to be having a conflict of some sort but went out of sight
before I saw it resolved. I saw the Raven again a little later
flying with another Raven.

I think that they have a nest near my house, which means, according
to my guide book, that they are permanent residents. :)

So thanks to all the people who responded and said that it was
probably Ravens and not crows. I knew these weren't your ordinary
crows. :) And I agree with the people who said, in personal email
that they didn't really care for crows but liked Ravens. The ones
that I'm watching are pretty cool! Particularly their erratic
flight patterns when trying to impress the chicks--bird joke, no PC
police please. They do a sort of sideways flying thing that looks
like a jet flying sideways down a canyon--I know what that looks
like cuz jets fly through the canyons here almost daily.

BTW, I had a Varied Thrush fly into my window this week, without a
Crow chasing it. My wife moved the dead body under our wisteria,
which is huge, so that my son wouldn't mess with it. It was still
there today (after 3 days) so I guess the 'house' cats that roam
these woods are too well fed for carrion. Something will eat it. I
like Varied Thrush, and even have a web page about them, but the
only thing I really feel bad about is putting the window there for
it to run into. :)

Brice Matson
Cinebar, Lewis County, WA
mailto:matson at myhome.net