[birding] birds eat birds

[Karan and Jim Fairchild]

Not everyone's favorite bird, but nonetheless smart, one of our local COMMON RAVEN pair flew overhead carrying a very large light brown egg.  As we'd recently found a turkey nest with young skittering away and remnant eggshells of the same size, shape and color, we're pretty certain we were watching our local TURKEY recruitment being reduced by one.

We waited a bit to watch for the Raven to return for more.  This we'd seen last year as a Raven pair systematically relieved a Steller's Jay nest of its young one at a time, with all the attendant squawking and screeching you'd expect of jays, young and old.

Anecdotally, the influx of breeding turkeys hasn't been accompanied by fewer mountain and valley quail, but we no longer have any Ruffed Grouse this year.

good birding,
Jim Fairchild
6 mi SW of Philomath, Benton County
foothills of the Coast Range



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