Birding at Priest Lake, Idaho, USA

[Michael W]

Hello,
My family and I got to go up to a friend's cabin for the weekend. On Sunday (August 31) I went out to see what birds I could find. For most of the time, I was in the midst of a flock of woodland birds.

Here is what I saw:

Golden-crowned Kinglet: 10
Chestnut-backed Chickadee: 6
Black-capped Chickadee: 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch: 1
Red-naped Sapsucker: 2
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon subspecies): 1
Swainson's Thrush: 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler: 2
Common Raven: 1

Good Birding,

Michael

[Tero]

Did the raven make any sounds? I found some ravens in Canada, and they made almost human type screams, not the sounds I usually hear from crows, for instance.

[Michael W]

Tero,
The raven was making sounds, but they didn't sound like screams. I've heard Black-billed Magpies make all kinds of noises, including screams.

Michael

[Michael Frankis]

Ravens have a really lovely deep sonorous bark PRRRUKK, PRRRUKK. Best listened to echoing against a high, forbidding black cliff - really eerie, and tremendously atmospheric. Absolutely superb.

My Danish Viking roots coming out here :t: Ravens are sacred to Odin (Chief of the Gods, God of War, Wisdom and Wednesdays), who has two Ravens, Huginn ('thought') and Muninn ('memory'), who fly over the world every day, gathering information which they report back to their master each evening.

Ravens can talk, but they won't reveal their secrets to most people - if they do to you, you're very lucky.

Michael

[Beverlybaynes]

Sounds like you had a nice day, Michael -- but any day I can see a Red-breasted Nuthatch is a good one, in my book! We only get them with any regularity in irruption years.

And I'd love to see a Chestnut-backed Chickadee -- that'd be a lifer!

My only ravens have been the ones I saw at the Tower of London, so they wouldn't count on anyone's list. It's another bird I long to see (and hear, if I'm very, very lucky!). Now if I could just find some dark, forbidding cliffs around here!