We observed quite an impressive gathering of ravens in Dillon this weekend. 40 - 50 ravens had marked up an entire snowy hill near the north east arm of the lake . . . They were snow-bathing, jumping, rolling, sledding, and copulating. There are lots of cute videos of a couple ravens rolling down a snowy roof or car windshield, but nothing suggesting this level of gathering. We didn't have any optics, but there was a nice wide shoulder to pull off to watch briefly. I'd not heard of such gatherings at specific places in the state. Anyone know if this is a regular occurrence? Lots of links talk about names like 'unkindness', 'conspiracy' of ravens and whether those terms every really got used or are just antiquated trivia , but I didn't find anything on how such a gathering works, is it organized or is there a pattern birds follow? Is there a hierarchy? It seemed much more complex than a typical chicken lek. Quite interesting to watch. In the video, there are 5 - 6 birds center of the shot doing some tumbling, and about 18 - 20 far left of center just sitting in the deep snow as others flew in and out. Pretty clear though, that every mark on that hill was made by ravens! https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bd9xEHSV8AdRn9b66
Skot Latona
Littleton, CO
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