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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Nevermore


Hiking along the west slope of Tortugas Mountain
As we started down out of the foothills this morning Becca and I heard a very distinctive bird call coming from the desert below.  As we approached we saw two huge black birds--a little too large to be crows.  One took off right away, but the other lingered at the top of a Torrey Yucca for quite some time.  To confirm my suspicion that these were Chihuahuan Ravens I checked the Cornell University bird website and listened to an audio recording of the raven's call.  Exactly the same as what Becca and I heard.
A view of the Franklin Mountains near El Paso, Texas

A Chihuahuan Raven

Raven at takeoff

Tortugas from the west

Becca and the new Centennial High School

3 comments:

Dr. K said...

Beautiful photos of those ravens, Packrat.

Scott said...

Looks like civilization is encroaching onto your own private desert wilderness, Packrat.

A Chihuahuan Raven would be an addition to my life list--lucky you!

packrat said...

You're right about encroachment, Scott, though this high school is pretty much in the boonies still.

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