Sunday, March 30th, 2008
During the past few weeks, I have been observing a nesting pair of ravens at West
Rock Ridge State Park in Westville, CT. The female has been incubating a clutch of eggs since March 11 and the male has been dutifully bringing her food from various sources, one of them being Katz’s restaurant dumpster in Westville near the entrance to Rt. 15. Today, up on the ridge, Steve Broker and I observed the male cache food in a tree not far from the nest. He covered up the food with some wood and a rock. He also devoured some food from that location and brought some to the female. He visited her nest twice while we were there but the female did not appear. He also took a drink from the tree hole behind our observation spot.
I managed to do some sketching and take a few photographs while the male was in
his sentinel tree. Stay tuned for these.
April 24:
Up on the ridge today. The eggs have hatched and the female is on the nest.(Day 14) The male is still bringing in food after washing it off in the nearby runoff site.
Today, he chased off a turkey vulture and a red-tailed hawk before returning to the nest. We found a curious mound of bones and hair on a branch near the sentinel
tree. It could have been a rabbit or a squirrel partially eaten by the raven and left
on the tree. ( contents vertebrate bones and hair )
Also great views of the peregrine falcons on nearby ridge and also 2 pairs of black vultures. The female peregrine is about to lay her eggs and is desperately searching
for a proper scrape on which to nest. There are 2 males hanging around. Not sure which one is the designated male. One male brought in a kill, looking like a cowbird.
He took it to the female.
June 18, 2008 Ravens: Four fledglings successfully hatched and healthy
Peregrine falcons: Female failed to incubate clutch of four eggs. New mate was chosen at last minute, chosen over mate of previous years.
Posted in Observations/ Birds
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