No, these are not ravens or crows, but, according to Wikipedia, the bird is called cuervo (Spanish for "raven") in parts of Mexico where there are no real crows. These three clowns (Heckle and Jeckle types--though not Magpies) are Great-tailed Grackles, and they are part-time residents here on the grounds at COC. They spent much of this morning and afternoon in the top of a dead Century Plant yacking and screeching at each other for no good reason. They spent a lot of time looking straight up into the sky--perhaps watching for predators, I speculated. But I learned from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ that this behavior is an aggressive male territorial behavior, so I guess the yacking and screeching was meaningful after all. Grackles seem to be pretty aggressive in general. If other birds (doves, Curve-billed Thrashers, etc.) are drinking at the watering hole when Grackles approach, the non-Grackles move aside.
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