A NEW RAVEN

I stopped at the Ravens nest on the way home from work today. The female was not on the nest and I noticed that things looked different. The soft material that formed the cup of the nest had all been pushed to the front. "That's strange", I thought to myself as I looked things over. Had there been a problem? Did a predator somehow manage to get to the inaccessible location? Where was the female?

My imagination was running wild at this point.

After a while I got the answer I was looking for. One of the eggs had hatched! The nestling was already instinctively begging for food and the female must have been out searching for some. She finally returned, spotted me and I knew it was time to leave. Hopefully there will be more pink beaks pointing towards the sky in the days to come.

On the way home I spotted a Cooper's Hawk in the town of Berne.

Very brazen, just hanging out by the side of the road. Judging by the size it is probably a female.

Wilson's Snipe have returned to the fields at the Papscanee Preserve. Their cryptic coloring makes it hard to spot them until you look closely. I took these photos yesterday on the way home.

They can be found there each spring during migration.

The birds took to the air when one of the high-speed Amtrac trains went by. It made for some interesting photos as they circled around and returned to the field.