[obol] Jackson Bottom: migrant ravens?

[MARCIA CUTLER]

A while back (6-10 years or so) I saw about 15-20 large black birds circling 
in a thermal near where Llewellyn Rd. intersects with Bellfountain Rd. in 
Benton Co.  I was very surprised when I determined that they were all Ravens 
and not the TVs I had quickly assumed that they would be.  I think this was 
towards the end of summer.  Since then, I've noticed that you can usually 
find some Ravens in the fields off 99W between the Airport and Finley.  I 
suspect that the Ravens, like Crows, roost in the hillsides and 'commute' to 
their daytime haunts.

Marcia F. Cutler
Corvallis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Gillson" <greg at thebirdguide.com>
To: "OBOL" <obol at lists.oregonstate.edu>
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 12:58 PM
Subject: [obol] Jackson Bottom: migrant ravens?


>I spent this unexpectedly sunny morning photographing birds at Jackson
> Bottom Wetlands in Hillsboro. I was going to complain how poor the birding
> was there, with lots of habitats off-limits, but then I see I did spot 61
> species in two-and-a-half hours concentrating only on photography. See
> http://BirdNotes.net
>
> In case anyone is listening, I am disappointed with the arrangements for
> "viewing blinds," especially relative to photography. They are stuck out 
> in
> the open, so that you frighten all the birds away walking to them. Willows
> have grown up between them and the ponds--the blinds are too far from the
> pond and not raised enough, and usually not viewing the parts of the ponds
> the birds frequent. Then they often face into the sun. The viewing slits 
> are
> not large enough to stick photographic lens hoods through. Complain,
> complain. No one wants to hear it. Jackson Bottom Wetlands and the 
> Education
> Center http://www.jacksonbottom.org/ is a wonderful teaching tool for the
> community, and an amazing restoration of wetlands. It is designed too much
> for the web-footed birds, and not enough on other wetland and riparian 
> bird
> species, in my opinion. Perhaps it is designed more to view geese and 
> herons
> and big wetland birds later in the day by the general public, with less
> emphasis on getting good photographic angles by placement of trails 
> relative
> to sun position at dawn--probably something that was never considered.
>
> Anyway... I saw a group of 20 COMMON RAVEN in a thermal over Jackson 
> Bottom.
> This is rather a rare bird in the area. One might expect a roving pair to
> fly over, perhaps at the nearby dump in winter, but not a large group. 
> Eight
> of the ravens peeled off and continued migrating towards Portland. The
> others dispersed south and west individually after circling high. I've 
> never
> seen any evidence of migratory behavior in the Willamette Valley. This
> concentration/behavior seems not documented for western Oregon. Anyone 
> care
> to comment?
>
> Greg Gillson
> The Bird Guide, Inc.
> greg at thebirdguide.com
> http://thebirdguide.com
>
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