Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

As the countdown to the first snowfall begins in earnest, another flurry is happening in our skies every night. As the light leaves pastels of pink and purple along the horizon, American ( Corvus brachyrhynchos ) and Fish Crows ( C. ossifragus ) have started their nightly journeys across the sky. Here in Syracuse, you usually see them as you travel home from work while waiting for the lights to change. Huge crowds heading over route 690 to some place beyond where they spend the night in great roosts, clustered together amidst the encroaching city. Why they cluster together like this during the winter is a bit of a mystery. Some hypotheses suggest that it could be a means for crows to gather information about potential food sources in the surrounding areas, while others suspect it has something to do with safety in numbers. Either way, such a huge gathering of these black birds seems ominous and sinister. After all, throughout history, crows and their cousins, the ravens have always...

As another busy week looms, I'm hesitant to post anything long-winded, so instead I shall show you all the wonderful colors of peak fall here in New Jersey. A Cabbage White ( Pieris rapae ) rests on a burdock in New Hope, PA. Another Cabbage White resting on an aster (presumed). Unless a sweetgum has gone all fancy, I suppose this might be a Japanese Maple. A male flicker rests in the red bush outside the window. Leaves litter the ground as if sowing the comforter for the coming frosts and snow that would hope to comfort the ground in the coldest part of the year. Little though they are, it is their numbers that ultimately make the difference and transform the fall ground into a mosaic of fading color and stamped texture. Adding almost a christmasy feel to the lawn behind the house, the Honey Locust ( Gleditsia triacanthos ) seed pods resemble green beans and are, in fact, related to legumes such as peas, peanuts, and snap beans. Transitions from the bou...

To say that I'm a skeptic would be an accurate statement. And yet, I often catch myself looking to sources of inspiration within nature itself. If I wasn't so fastidious when it came to what and where sources of knowledge and accurate facts came from, I'd probably be more spiritually attuned to nature and what I perceived as being the messages and lessons I could derive from it. While I find watching birds to be physically and mentally uplifting, if I were to choose one as a representative totem, it would either be a crow or a raven. Crows and ravens have always had some mystery or dread applied to their blackness or raucous cries. They have always been seen as some sort of ancient deathly hallow or representative, but were also recognized for their intelligence. I see them almost as kinfolk. A species that because of its intellect and social structure mirrors certain behaviors that we would find to be anthropomorphic and almost human in nature and behavior. Recently I...

Just as it started snowing this afternoon, I noticed some corvid visitors poking around the front yard. See if you can notice one clearly digging for something. I know that dirt had been turned up by a gas line installation recently, but with many cold nights recently, I would think there would be nothing edible or even soft and chewy in the ground at this time of year. If anyone has any idea that they might be eating, please leave a comment below.

This blog entry will be shorter than most as I've injured my knee, thus preventing me from birding and updating the blog more regularly. I'll be better by next week and I hope to be able to provide a better feel for what's good for birding into the early fall. With that out of the way, I can explain the title. "Norn" is simply a corruption of the word "northern" and can be best heard through a Northern Irish accent. Therefore "Norn Flyers" refers to something northerly and with the ability to fly. While many "northern" breeding species are coming from the Arctic and northern Canada to migrate along the food rich coasts and store the vital supplies needed to migrate to their winter homes further south, the bird I'm speaking of is by no means a migrant, but does wander great distances to find food, shelter, or simply just to soar. The bird I'm referring to is the Common Raven ( Corvus corax ). Several have been spotted over Mi...