Common Raven

As I climbed the sandy hills at Fort Funston in San Francisco this past May 23, I heard the gurgling croak of a Common  Raven.  I found it first, hiding up in a pine bough, then followed it when flew off to an open branch.

I was surprised to see quite a few Ravens there and on the beach.

The pair above, shot from the beach looking back up at the sandy cliff, appear to be putting together a nest, but the materials are very strange. Normally, Common Ravens make their nest from branches, so perhaps this is something else, but as can be seen in the bottom image, they definitely were gathering items at this spot.

Later, I came upon a small flock of Ravens rooting around in the sand. This one in particular didn't seem to mind having its picture taken. 

An interesting behavior I noticed was their tendency to hop. A bird this large typically walks, and they did do that most of the time, but every once in a while they would move about with a couple quick hoops.  It didn't seem quite right. :-)

Common Raven

The first bird I saw when I started exploring around Timberline Lodge this past Saturday was a Common Raven calling from the rooftop of the lodge. I was up hill (mountain?) from it as it flew over me and landed at the top of a dead tree not far from where I was standing. It was rather trusting, I suppose it is used to people being around, and hung out for a while posing for me.

It then flew across the path to where a lodge pickup was parked and where another Raven was scavenging on the ground.

Near the pickup was some trash from someone's fast food lunch. For some reason, the Raven found the plastic bag more interesting than the piece of bread next to it. Unfortunately it snapped a piece off with its large beak and then proceeded to swallow it down. Hopefully it will just pass through, but if the piece where big enough, I suppose it could get caught in its digestive tract.

Common Raven

Today I went on a field trip with some birders from the local Audubon Society in Albuquerque. We made our way up the Sandia Mountains, ultimately reaching the top at Sandia Crest and the Crest House. There we hiked trails in the hope to see a Three-toed Woodpecker. These birds are hard to find, but there had been recent reports of sightings in this area.
Unfortunately, we did not get any confirmed sightings, though a couple in our group thought they might have gotten a glimpse. All was not lost, however, as the scenery was beautiful and we did see and hear many birds. Most, however, were at a distance so I did not get many good photos, but I did a reasonable shot of a Hermit Thrush that I will post soon. The Hermit Thrush is a new bird for me and it has a beautiful, almost haunting song!
Another new bird, at least from a photography standpoint, was the Raven in the image above. This was taken along the highway on our way back from the field trip. I road back with local Audubon Society president Beth Hurst-Waitz and she was kind enough to stop and let me get out of her car and take a few pictures of the Raven. It had an interesting guttural call.