Spent a couple of hours in the strip fields today hoping to add birds to the count week CBC list. I had a group of four ravens. The cool thing was they were kiting in the strong wind about 6 feet off the ground.  It is always hard to tell how big a bird is without reference and ravens always appeared large before but set against the background of a 1000 acres of grass, I could never truly appreciate their size. A harrier flew in and was kiting above them by about 10 feet. They are a big bird! Longer winged than the harrier and a much bulkier body. These four birds at rest had a deep chocolate brown flight feathers and no hackles. Both things indicate they are likely hatch year birds and may even be the family group from the not too distant nest in Belmont County. At any rate, a great count week bird that needs to hang out two more days for our CBC.
There was not much Christmas spirit in the struggle for survival. A second year bald eagle was harassed by two rough-legged hawks, who were replaced by six mobbing crows and finally an adult eagle attempted to get the bird to release the prey it had in its mouth or the one in its talons. After expending more energy than could possibly be present in the rodents, the adult pulled away and strafed the ravens setting off a cacophony of panicked maws.  
Scott Pendleton

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