Birding Buffalo Calf, Part II

We first saw ravens way out west.  Photo courtesy of Wikipedia No, the first day of hunting season is not a state holiday in West Virginia–but it was a time for celebrating when the Lord provided two deer for us. As Monday drew to a close I had another cause for thanksgiving too–a variety of birds enlivened the vicinity of my tree stand and reminded me of the times birds are mentioned in Scripture. One bird that flew over was a bird I had identified only recently. In the past it was natural for us to pass it off for a crow. Then it struck me one day that the bird’s call was not crow-like at all, rather a rolling ‘k-r-r-r-o-c-k’, the call of a Raven. While hunting I had the chance to verify a second field mark: it’s long tail. A double-check with Peterson’s field guide provided a few more clues: mountain forests, expanding range southward. . . . There were more identification marks to look for such as it’s flight pattern and wing shape so I’ll look forward to making many more observations on a bird that I should have noticed before now!

2 Comments

  1. Michael Staddon November 26, 2009 at 8:09 pm #

    I wonder how long they’ve been around here. They sure make some strange sounds, which I don’t think I heard here (or at least didn’t hear them very much) until the last year or two.

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  1. StaddonFamily.com » Blog Archive » Birding Buffalo Calf, Part IV: Arrivals and Departures - May 9, 2011

    […] in all, it appears that the Raven, Barred Owl and Field Sparrow are year-round residents—as well as the good old woodpeckers of […]

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