Date: 7/25/25 5:14 pm From: Susan Campbell <susan...> Subject: Re: Huge Kettle of Common Ravens (Not in Carolinas) and strange appearing Downy WP
Ok-- that woodpecker does look odd. Guess it is a Downy variant.....
Susan
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From: <carolinabirds-request...> <carolinabirds-request...> on behalf of David Campbell <carolinabirds...>
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2025 8:04:28 PM
To: Chris Snook <snookcf62...>
Cc: <carolinabirds...> <carolinabirds...>
Subject: Re: Huge Kettle of Common Ravens (Not in Carolinas) and strange appearing Downy WP
Both Downy and Hairy woodpeckers show appreciable geographic variation in the amount of black. Sibley and National Geographic guides illustrate some of the range, without full details of subspecies. The Ladder-backed consistently lives up to its name, with a ladder pattern on the back, so the photographed bird would be a Rocky Mountain morph Downy.
On Friday, July 25, 2025, Chris Snook <carolinabirds...><mailto:<carolinabirds...>> wrote:
I think that a group of Ravens is called an unkindness of ravens.
Chris Snook,
Charleston, SC.
On 7/25/2025 18:21, KEN LIPSHY (via carolinabirds Mailing List) wrote:
I apologize for this out of state Raven Behavior Question but this afternoon At the Audubon center in Santa Fe i counted well over 100 Common ravens in a kettle overhead.. … is that typical? I looked online to see but there is no mention of Raven Kettles that large.
Also there is a Downy WP photo on that page that looks quite different to me as well- welcome any input (I used to contact Ned Brinkley for out of state questions but sadly he is not with us)
