Chihuahuan Raven: Bird #12 on Braden’s ABA Life List Countdown, April 10th, 2026

In the past few months, Braden has been on a roll finding his last couple of dozen Lower 48 ABA life birds. Today, he takes a deep dive into a bird few of us know much about and even fewer of us encounter. Remember, FatherSonBirding is written and photographed by REAL PEOPLE. If you want to support our work, please consider buying some of Sneed’s books by clicking on images to the right. Better yet, invite one or both of us to headline your next birding festival! While you’re at it, be sure to check out Sneed’s new-and-improved website at www.sneedbcollardiii.com. Thanks!

It had been years since I’d watched a pair of ravens for so long. I’d just finished birding Hanover Road, a dusty track through a habitat I’d never seen before; dry grasslands covered in large cholla cacti. Hanover Road hosted a few strange migrants, including Rock Wrens and Sage Thrashers, but I hadn’t seen either of my main targets for the area, Cassin’s Sparrow or Chihuahuan Raven. Then, just before I was about to pull onto the main highway heading back west towards Colorado Springs, I spotted them: two large, black corvids investigating a smushed prairie dog on the road. I parked my car, got my camera out, and started snapping pictures.

**The “raven neighborhood” on my recent trip through Colorado.**

This certainly wasn’t the first time I’d attempted to see Chihuahuan Ravens. On every birding trip I’d taken to Arizona I had spent increasingly more and more time looking for the large, dark birds out in the desert. Most recently, in August of 2025, I’d pulled over to look at every raven in the vicinity of the Chiricahua Mountains, coming up short over and over as I realized each and every one was a Common. Finding Chihuahuan Ravens in Texas is far easier, for no Commons occur there, but on my dad’s and my one trip to South Texas we hadn’t seen a single corvid.

**On recent trips through the Southwest, I had been frustrated several times in my search for Chihuahuan Ravens.**

The bird hadn’t even been particularly on my radar for this road trip home. After bidding the Gunnison Sage-grouse goodbye (click here) earlier that morning, I’d routed east, over the continental divide and out into the open prairie. I knew that southeastern Colorado had desert habitat, or at least desert-adjacent habitat, and had several species that I wanted to find. So, upon my arrival in the Colorado Springs area, I started driving roads through neighborhoods where my target birds had been reported. Curve-billed Thrasher and Canyon Towhee I found with ease. Finding Scaled Quail took significantly more effort, but eventually I lucked into one perched in someone’s driveway, calling loudly and attempting to jump onto a nearby truck. None of these birds were lifers but I’d never seen them in this context before, and the towhee and thrasher were new subspecies and did look notably different from the ones I’d seen in Arizona.

**While I searched for CHRAs with few expectations, I was fortunate to stumble upon a Scaled Quail.**

After texting a few friends about my finds, it dawned on me: here were species native to the Chihuahuan Desert, species I’d seen in southeast Arizona. So, if Scaled Quail, Curve-billed Thrasher and Canyon Towhee lived here, what about Chihuahuan Raven? I jumped on eBird and quickly learned the answer—this marked the northern edge of the ravens’ range, and a few individuals had been reported in the area recently. So, I kept my eyes peeled as I drove further out into the cholla-covered grassland. Sure enough, an hour later, here I was, staring down two ravens.

**Cholla cactuses were part of the interesting ecology of this unusual southern Colorado landscape—but would ravens be here?**

In all my time hunting down this species, I’d learned a lot about the identification of ravens. For one, Chihuahuan Ravens generally had longer nasal bristles, meaning that feathers covered more than half of the upper bill. The birds poking the dead prairie dog definitely had long nasal bristles compared to a Common Raven. Unfortunately, this field mark can be quite variable, so I had to look harder. Another feature of Chihuahuans is the flat head with its peak near the crown, unlike that of a Common which has a peak near the front. Again, these birds were looking more like Chihuahuans in this regard, but this field mark also could be quite variable, especially in the wind. And the wind was definitely blowing!

However, that was great news for me, because the wind gave me access to the largest, most reliable field mark—the raven’s neck feathers. Common Ravens have a gray color at the base of their neck feathers. Chihuahuans, meanwhile, have white. Thanks to the gusts rocketing over the desert landscape, the neck feathers on each bird were exposed every thirty seconds or so. After snapping some pictures and zooming in, I could clearly see that the birds in front of me had white neck feathers!

**Thanks to the gusty wind, I was able to see the most reliable ID features of the Chihuahuan Ravens—the white base of the neck feathers (the “star” shape on the bird in the above photo).**

Besides being a life bird, my experience with the pair of Chihuahuan Ravens in Colorado taught me something. These days, sometimes it feels like birding is focused on maximizing species and numbers. Birders across the US submit thousands of eBird checklists per day, and the competitiveness can be overwhelming—everyone is always trying to see just one species to add to their list. So seldom, it seems, are birders focused on just watching the birds. My quest to identify those two ravens turned into just that: I got to watch these two animals for half an hour. They flew from telephone pole to telephone pole; they hopped around on the ground; they called, foraged, shifted their weight and interacted with the world around them. Slowing down to be with these two creatures was an important reminder that birds are not numbers on lists, but real, wild animals with personalities and habits. We should all slow down and watch ravens more often.

**My time with the Chihuahuan Ravens offered an important reminder to slow down and really pay attention to the wonderful world and creatures around us.**

For more information on corvids, or the crow family of birds, check out Sneed’s recent Montana Outdoors cover story, “Corvids to Crow Over.”

How Flowers Made Our World (FSB Book Review)

Wings Across the Big Sky 2026 (FSB Festival Recap)

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It’s been a furious month for the Collard Clan. Last week, Braden wrapped up two solid weeks of escorting birding friends around western and central Montana. Before that, we did a Birdathon fundraiser with our good friends Susan and Eli to raise money for Five Valleys Audubon. Then, Friday, Braden and I took off to lead trips at Wings Across the Big Sky 2026.

One special thing about WABS is that it moves to different locations in Montana every year, and this year Kalispell played host. Our very first WABS actually was in Kalispell eight years ago, when we got our lifer Harlequin Ducks in Glacier National Park. Since then, I’ve keynoted the festival and, most recently, Braden and I both attended the event in Helena two years ago. This year, one of the festival’s organizers, Darcy Thomas, asked if we would lead field trips to Tally Lake and the CSKT Bison Range. We, of course, said yes and decided to use the drive up on Friday for a bit ‘o exploration.

We began Friday by hitting one of our favorite refuges, Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge. We didn’t see as many birds as we expected, but did find the most photogenic Short-eared Owl in the history of the universe!

**Could a Short-eared Owl strike a better pose? Not likely!**

We followed that up by checking out a nearby road that supposedly had Bobolinks. Before finding them, however, we stopped at a delightful little forest spot with both Red-eyed and (Western) Warbling Vireos. It’s rare to get a really good look at the former, so we stood oohing and ahing when one came out onto a branch for a full minute of posing. Just down the road, we were treated to at least five Bobolinks and later found more near the town of Creston—along with the most adorable family of baby skunks ever!

**Like Short-eared Owls, Bobolinks require a mandatory stop for photos—and just to appreciate these beautiful, lively songbirds.**

Braden and I felt especially excited to lead the trip to Tally Lake on Saturday because it was a place we had never been. I couldn’t have done the place justice without Braden, because it was a heavy “ear birding” location, full of warblers, vireos, sparrows, and other secretive songbirds. Still, most of the species put in at least one appearance and our friendly birding group ate it up. Braden helped everyone “get on” the various songs and calls, too, so it was a real learning experience.

**We had plenty of time after birding Tally Lake, so our group decided to head out to Kalispell’s West Valley Ponds for some waterfowl fun.**

Top Tally Lake honors went to Rufous Hummingbirds, who struck exceptional poses out in the open with the sun glinting off of their stunning orange-brown feathers. I didn’t realize how fierce these guys look until I studied my photos later. Other crowd favorites included a Common Loon, Willow Flycatcher, and for me especially, a Fox Sparrow.

**Rufous Hummingbirds grabbed top honors at Tally Lake for best bird views. I didn’t realize how fierce these birds can look till I took this photo!**

Exhausted from two straight mornings of rising at 3:30 a.m., Braden and I skipped Saturday evening’s workshops to spend with our friends Erica and Larry Wirtala, who hosted us and are also members of Flathead Audubon—the hosts of this year’s festival. We needed the break since Sunday promised another marathon day!

Our trip to the CSKT Bison Range began with a two-hour drive south from Kalispell, during which our caravan enjoyed stunning scenery along Flathead Lake and in the Mission Valley—and I narrowly missed colliding with a deer. Braden and I really didn’t know what to expect bird-wise at the Bison Range because it had been years since we’d birded it, but we’re so glad we got to lead this trip!

We began our exploration by taking the group to the riparian area just below the visitor’s center. There, we were treated to our best Willow Flycatcher experience ever. These plain-looking “empids” seemed to vocalize from every perch with their quick FITZ-pew songs. The group also got a welcome look at Pileated Woodpeckers and raucous Yellow-headed Blackbirds, too—but it was up on the long, two-hour driving loop that we got our biggest surprises.

**At the CSKT Bison Range, Willow Flycatchers especially put on an audio showcase with their almost nonstop FITZ-pew songs!**

I remembered the loop as mostly very dry grasslands topped by conifer forests, so imagine our delight to discover an excellent riparian zone early on in the drive. Here, we got our group onto Bullock’s Orioles, Lazuli Buntings, and even a Lewis’s Woodpecker. At one point a Golden Eagle gave us an outstanding look while flying right over the car.

Higher up we caught a glimpse of a mama black bear and cub on a ridge before stopping at the #5 marker. Surprises continued as we scooped up another Pileated, a juvie Hairy Woodpecker, Cassin’s Finches, and a Common Nighthawk that was calling while perched in a tree—something we’d never experienced.

**Is there anything more adorable than a juvenile Hairy Woodpecker? Maybe a baby bison? Keep reading to compare.**

We ate lunch at the summit overlooking the spectacular Mission Valley. Our group got excellent looks at Lewis’s Woodpeckers, Red Crossbills, and Pine Siskins, but traffic had begun to build, so we began making our way down the far side of the mountain. All this time, we asked ourselves, “Where are the bison?” Supposedly hundreds of the animals occupied the reserve, but we’d only seen three or four far down below us.

Finally, on the last stretch of road at the end of the road, we encountered a dozen or so adult bison with their bright tan calves. We, of course, pulled over to admire these remarkable critters—even if they were mammals.

**So what do you think? Woodpecker fledgling or bison? Don’t let your mammalian bias influence you!**

As before, Braden and I felt grateful we got to participate in Wings Across the Big Sky, and we highly recommend it to those of you who have always longed to bird in Montana. The trips are always fantastic, and are punctuated by informative workshops and keynotes. This year’s keynote was given Steve Hoffman, founder of HawkWatch International, who opened our eyes to the amazing raptor migrations and counting efforts taking place in the West. (We also felt honored to have Steve on our Tally Lake trip.) Next year’s festival will be in Billings and promises to be a good one. Not only does the Billings area offer outstanding grassland and sagebrush birding, but excellent riparian zones as well. I don’t know about you, but I am already trying to figure out how to attend!

Our Tally Lake eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S356850809

Our Bison Range eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S357543551

**Our Bison Range crew hopes you will be at next year’s Wings Across Big Sky fest in Billings!**

Seabirds as Sentinels (FSB Book Review)

Gunnison Sage-grouse: Bird #13 on Braden’s ABA Life List Countdown, April 10th, 2026

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Today, Braden shares the latest installment of his series counting down the remaining ABA Life Birds he has been attempting to see. It’s just like listening to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 Countdown—but better, because it’s about BIRDS! To catch up on his other recent life bird adventures, click on these previous posts:

Black-chinned Sparrow: Bird #14 on Braden’s ABA Life List Countdown

Fulvous Whistling-Duck: Bird #15 on Braden’s ABA Life List Countdown

Lower 48 Life List Countdown: Crissal Thrasher (Bird #16)

The sun still hadn’t woken up when I pulled over behind the half dozen or so other cars parked along the side of the road. I rolled down my window as a local game biologist approached.

“Are you here for the grouse?”

“Yes,” I answered quietly as a Horned Lark began singing somewhere in the darkness.

“And where are you from?”

“Montana, though I’m en route from California.”

She marked a few things off on her clipboard, then returned to her car. Through the gray pre-dawn darkness, I could make out a huge field of sagebrush, the foreground for Ponderosa-covered hills rising in the distance. In other words, my car was parked on a dirt road surrounded by a typical landscape of the American West. Even the birds were similar to those found in Montana: a winnowing Wilson’s Snipe, calling Red-winged Blackbirds, the husky chirps of a singing Mountain Bluebird. And yet, in Gunnison County, Colorado, there lives a bird that has never lived in Montana. Me and the other birders, silhouetted through their car windows, had driven from various corners of the country to see it: The Gunnison Sage-grouse.

**The Gunnison Sage-grouse birder “lek” watching the actual Gunnison Sage-grouse lek in the distance at sunrise.**

Superficially, Gunnison Sage-grouse and Greater Sage-grouse aren’t all that different. Both species require expansive sagebrush habitats like the plain that stretched out before me in the rising light. The Greater is larger (hence the name), and, during the breeding season, Gunnisons have much longer filoplumes adorning the males’ heads. While Greater Sage-grouse are found across much of the West, Gunnisons occupy only a small area in Colorado and western Utah. The ranges of the two birds do not overlap.

**Many of the birds I saw while driving through Colorado reminded me of my home in Montana—complete with meadowlarks on signs!**

Sage-grouse breeding displays are some of North America’s most famous avian experiences. Males and females gather in breeding groups in early spring. Both the breeding groups and their display grounds are commonly referred to as leks. While lekking, the males, decked out in the most ridiculous plumage of any North American bird, pump their chests to the viewing amusement of nearby females. Although I’d seen Greater Sage-grouse a few times in my life, I’d never been able to experience one of these leks. And while there are several sites across the country where one might watch a Greater Sage-grouse lek, there is only a single public Gunnison Sage-grouse lek, a spot about fifteen miles east of Waunita Watchable Wildlife Area. Because of their small population and increasing threats to the habitats they’re found in, the grouse are endangered, and so the public lek is open for viewing only during certain weeks of the year. I had arrived on April 10th, the last day the lek would be open for another two weeks.

About half an hour before dawn, another birder’s car alarm went off. I could see everyone in their cars wince—Gunnison Sage-grouse are quite sensitive to disturbance, and this could have been enough to send them scampering away. Thankfully, the birds (which were about ¾ of a mile away from the road), didn’t seem bothered, and about ten minutes later, I began to hear the popping sounds of their displays. I eventually located them, distant black dots, even through my binoculars. Fifteen minutes later, with the permission of the biologist, we started getting out of our cars to set up spotting scopes.

Though our “birder lek” stood too far away from the Gunnison Sage-grouse to get photos, their behavior is very similar to lekking Sharp-tailed Grouse, captured here by my dad at Benton Lake NWR a couple of years ago (see post “The Best Prairie Day Ever: Benton Lake NWR.”)

Through the scope my viewing experience was marginally better. I could make out the males, with their furry white chests and black heads, pumping their shoulders at each other. Occasionally, a female would scamper through my view. Though far away, lekking sage-grouse had been on my bucket list for years and taking them in as the sun peeked above the horizon could only be described as a magical experience. Fog escaped my lips every time I took a breath, and a few nearby Sage Thrashers began singing across the road from us. Soon my fellow birders were beginning to whisper to each other, and I learned just how far people had come to see these birds. The man in the car whose alarm had gone off had driven through the night from Oregon en route to a bird point-count job in Oklahoma, stopping here just for this species. Another man had come here from a few hours away.

**As my dad pointed out in his recent post “Colorado’s Ute Mountain Mesa Verde Birding Festival,” numbers of Spotted Towhees in Colorado are CRAZY!**

“My kid loves it, birding,” he said to me. “The last year especially, he’s really gotten into it. He wanted to see these grouse, so here we are.” I couldn’t help but see the similarities between that father and son and my birding experiences with my own dad.

After about four minutes of the grouse lekking, a group of birders stormed out of the blind that was set up beside the cars. I’d run into this group last night and learned they were doing a “chicken run.” Colorado is known for having almost every grouse species in the US and tour groups often target all of them during weeks in March and April. One of the birders asked if I knew any nearby spots for White-tailed Ptarmigan before the four of them noisily piled into their car and drove away. So much for staying quiet while the grouse were displaying! Either way, the birds didn’t seem to mind.

**I was especially excited to see Pinyon Jays in Colorado, since they can be a challenge to find back home.**

Beyond seeing these endangered birds, I had been enjoying seeing more and more landscapes that reminded me of home as I neared the middle of my road trip back to Montana. On my drives through Arizona and Colorado I watched the desert transition into mountainous valleys, complete with juniper and sagebrush-covered canyons, rushing streams with permanent water, and the snowcapped peaks of the San Juans and other mountain ranges. Of course, my trip was nowhere near over. I’d be visiting several more new habitats before that happened. In fact, one of those habitats would be later in the day, where I might just manage to see another life bird! Stay tuned to see what comes next . . .