Chihuahuan Raven, Boulder County, Jan. 23

[Ted Floyd]

Ah. Chihuahuan Raven. I know. The most problematic bird ID in Colorado. It is thus with at least a slight bit of trepidation that I herewith submit a report of a detection today, Friday, Jan. 23, of a Chihuahuan Raven at Greenlee Preserve, Boulder County.

I heard it first, 3 or 4 of those rough, cawing, burry, quacking notes. Then I saw it flying straight over, and was struck by the snappy, relatively shallow wingbeats, the long-but-not-really-long wings and tail, and the modest heft of the tail. I saw no plumage details at all (what's there to see on a raven, anyhow??), and, despite being close enough to see the bill, could not make out any bill-feathering characters one way of the other. As the bird flew off to the southeast, it gave 4 or 5 more call notes.

As is so often the case, with these tricky IDs, Nathan Pieplow has superb coverage at his website:

http://earbirding.com/blog/archives/4736

Other birds at the preserve were a Cackling Goose eating snow, a singing Bushtit, a singing African Collared-Dove, and Eurasian Collared-Doves galore.

Here's a thought. When I moved to Boulder County, not all that long ago, Chihuahuan Ravens weren't yet on our radar screen, Bushtits were just beginning to colonize the foothills, Eurasian Collared-Doves were still a few years away, nobody had ever heard of an African Collared-Dove, and the Cackling Goose didn't even exist yet. Amazing how fast the birding world changes. Here are some thoughts on that:

http://blog.aba.org/2015/01/great-expectations.html

(Skip the boring article, and scroll down to the comments for the interesting Colorado content.)

Ted Floyd

Lafayette, Boulder County, Colorado