Another day of drama on the desert this morning.

The male curve-billed thrasher that mistook me for a mate wasn't around, but yesterday he appeared behind me, singing and bringing nest sticks, so I hurried past his territory.

The last curve-billed fledgling was still at the nest tree cholla cactus halfway up the desert ravine, but its parents were no longer around. It was flying down to forage close to the cactus and returning to it.

I kept hiking up the ravine, but suddenly all the sagebrush thickets started making the curve-billed thrasher greeting of "Wit! Wit!"
I stood still, confused. I couldn't see any birds.
Were white-tailed antelope squirrels making that sound?

Suddenly, the sagebrush bushes exploded with male thrashers streaking out and attacking each other..zooming at full speed around the foliage, and ME, grappling each other to the ground, or even fighting high in the air.

Birds were screaming "WIT!! WIT!!" as they fought.

I finally realized that single thrasher males were trying to take the territories of established thrasher couples, which had just finished raising their first clutches of the season.

The battles erupted three or four times, then just as quickly, everything would become quiet again.

Suddenly, I saw the Chihuahuan raven, Corvus cryptoleucus, that had tried to pass me the hunk of animal carcass a few days ago, flying up the valley toward me again.

I remembered how I'd hurt the raven's feelings last time by jerking away when she tried to pass food to me, so stood my ground this time until she was very close.
Luckily, she wasn't bearing gifts today.

But she apparently remembered my negative reaction and passed on over me at a higher angle, but turned her head to make little knocking, clicking noises at me, that sounded like Bushman click language.
She did it several more times, slowing down, and looking me in the eyes.

I googled until I found an audio recording of the same sounds, and one article said that ravens make clicking-knocking noises to mates and family members.

Link to audio of raven sounds, the first one listed is the clicking/knocking sound I heard..
[www3.macaulaylibrary.org]

Photo is of the fledgling curve-billed thrasher, hunting food under the tree cholla cactus tree where it was hatched.