Forum birdwatching 2009

[beachnut]

From the large white patch on the wings, I would say it's a Bullock's Oriole Icterus bullockii.

Thanks. It looks like it.

 

[I Ratant]

Gambel's Quail pair...
And a Yellow-headed Blackbird....Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus

 

[sphenisc]

Atcherly, our PM room technician has just pointed out to me that the family of swifts which nests every year in the anteroom to the PM room has been back for over 10 days. They're building a new nest this year, at the other end of the beam which hosted the old one.

He has a great pic from a couple of years ago of the mother bird coming in to feed a line of fledgelings on the wing. If he emails it to me as he promised, I'll post it.

I have another pic to post tonight if I can find the right USB lead.

Rolfe.

That's very early for swifts to be nesting in Scotland - could they be swallows?

 

[Rolfe]

No, definitely not swallows. We do have pics from earlier years, though I have to say I've just seen the occasional blur this time. I'm sure they're the same birds though.

Do you think I'm right about the female siskin pictured above?

Rolfe.

 

[sphenisc]

No, definitely not swallows. We do have pics from earlier years, though I have to say I've just seen the occasional blur this time. I'm sure they're the same birds though.

Do you think I'm right about the female siskin pictured above?

Rolfe.

Yep, definitely a female siskin.

 

[Rolfe]

Thanks. As the supply of avian goodies attracts more and more of the feathered blighters, I'm still learning which one's which. It took me a while to realise that some of the yellowhammers were actually siskins.

Rolfe.

 

[Kestrel]

Two new species for the list spotted today in the foothills SW of Denver:

Western Scrub-Jay Aphelocoma californica
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea

 

[EHocking]

Red-winged Starling, Onychognathus morio
(and gulls that may or may not be black-headed)

Cape Town, South Africa

 

[Kestrel]

Seen today near Boulder, Colorado.

Western Meadowlark Sturnella neglecta

I have been hearing this species for months, but never managed to spot one until today.

 

[davefoc]

Could anybody offer any suggestions as to what this bird might have been?

It was about 50% longer than a house sparrow. I had binoculars but didn't get a great look at its beak but it seemed roughly house sparrow like. It was a little stockier than a house sparrow. It's coloration was non-descript mostly. It was mostly just grayish. I thought there might have been some color either on its back or underparts but I didn't get a good look.

The interesting thing was that the bird ran like a road runner. It seemed very comfortable running on the ground. I noticed it scratching at the ground a bit, perhaps it was trying to stir up bugs on the ground. It was very definitely not a road runner. Sorry I can't give a better description. Maybe I'll see it again tonight.

 

[Kestrel]

Today's new birds from just South of Denver, Colorado.

Cassin's Kingbird Tyrannus vociferans
House Wren Troglodytes aedon
Yellow-breasted Chat Icteria virens
Green-tailed Towhee Pipilo chlorurus

 

[davefoc]

It was getting dark so the image isn't very good but this bird ran along the ground and seemed similar to the one I asked about in the post above. Any ideas? I suspect it's a very common bird for my area (Orange County, CA) but I spent awhile looking at various possibilities and I didn't see one that looked quite right to me. Thanks



I came across this guy a few days ago.

[imgw=150]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/BuboVirginianus_2789.JPG[/imgw]


It is almost the first time I have ever seen an owl in the wild. When I saw this guy I had a better understanding why. The bird's markings are extremely effective camouflage. I never would have seen this guy if I hadn't happened on him flying into the tree. When he turned his head or closed his eyes he blended almost perfectly into the background of old pine branches that he had landed in. Fortunately, he was as curious as I was of him and he watched me for several minutes as I took a few pictures of him.

ETA: A few other observations about the owl:
This was a big bird. I suspect something in the range of two feet high. It completely dwarfed a humming bird that flitted by while I was watching it.
Unlike every other bird that I have observed over the last few months this bird seemed to be completely unafraid of me. All other birds even when they are fairly high in the trees seemed to get nervous when somebody is standing or walking near them and fly away. This bird seemed to be completely capable of understanding that I was no threat to it and it observed me as I was observing it with a kind of calm apparent curiosity.
Those talons are big. There are a great many rabbits and squirrels around. I imagine that the owl is not having difficulty finding a meal.

ETA2:
Bubo virginianus - great horned owl 15 May 2009
Icterus bullockii - Bullock's Oriole 16 May 2009

Orioles are yellow, what do you know. I had assumed since the Baltimore Oriole logo bird is red that a Baltimore Oriole was red also.

 

[Kestrel]

It was getting dark so the image isn't very good but this bird ran along the ground and seemed similar to the one I asked about in the post above. Any ideas? I suspect it's a very common bird for my area (Orange County, CA) but I spent awhile looking at various possibilities and I didn't see one that looked quite right to me. Thanks

[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/thum_5664a0fbb9ff3498.jpg[/qimg]

With the yellow eyes, wing bars and black legs, I would say it's a Northern Mockingbird.

BTW - Nice owl photo.

 

[Kestrel]

Spotted yesterday (May 16) in the Wild Basin area of RMNP in Colorado:

Steller's Jay Cyanocitta stelleri

 

[EHocking]

Cape Town and surrounds, 17 May;
Dabchick, Tachybaptus ruficollis
Whitebreasted Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo
Cape Cormorant, Phalacrocorax capensis
Bank Cormorant, Phalacrocorax neglectus
Reed Cormorant, Phalacrocorax africanus
Grey Heron, Ardea cinera
Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis
Hadeda Ibis, Bostrychia hagedash
Sacred Ibis, Threskiornis aethiopicus
Helmeted Guineafowl, Numida meleagris
Redknobbed Coot, Fulica cristata
Moorhen, Gallinula chloropus
Blackwinged Stilt, Himantopus himantopus
Blacksmith Plover, Vanellus armatus
Kelp Gull, Larus dominicanus
Rock Pigeon, Columba guinea
Cape Turtle Dove, Streptopelia capicola
Laughing Dove, Streptopelia senegalensis
Black Swift, Apus barbatus
Pied Crow, Corvus albus
Black Crow, Corvus capensis
Capped Wheatear, Oenanthe pileata
Cape Wagtail, Motacila capensis
Fiscal Shrike, Lanius colaris
Lesser Doublecollared Sunbird, Nectarinia chalybea
Cape Sparrow, Passer melanurus
House Sparrow, Passer domesticus
Blackheaded Canary, Serinus alario
Cape Bunting, Emberiza capensis

 

[davefoc]

With the yellow eyes, wing bars and black legs, I would say it's a Northern Mockingbird.

Thanks, that seems exactly right. I had a big assumption going that made it difficult to figure out. I assumed it wasn't a mockingbird because I assumed I would recognize a mockingbird (they are very common here, I see them flying all the time) and because I hadn't seen mockingbirds running around the ground before (because of assumption one that the birds I saw running on the ground weren't mockingbirds).

Still, I'm not sure that the bird I described in the first post above was a mockingbird Since I started looking for them after I saw the first one I've noticed similar birds running out of bushes. I need to get a better look at some of them to convince myself that they are mockingbirds.

BTW - Nice owl photo.

Thank you.

ETA: Thanks for the stellar jay picture. That head detail seems to mark it as substantially different than the scrub jays that I think are the blue jay type birds we have around here.

 

[Kestrel]

Thanks for the stellar jay picture. That head detail seems to mark it as substantially different than the scrub jays that I think are the blue jay type birds we have around here.

We have Western Scrub-Jays in this area. Here is one I photographed a few days ago.




The Western Scrub-Jay doesn't have a crest or patterning on the wings like the Blue Jay and Seller's Jay.

 

[EHocking]

Cape Point NP, South Africa 18 May

Cape Bunting, Emeriza capensis
Cape Canary, Serinus canicollis
Familiar Chat, Cercomela familiaris

 

[sphenisc]

Crail, Scotland 17/05/09

Collared Flycatcher Ficedula albicollis
Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita
Bue Tit Cyanistes caeruleus
Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus
Blackbird Turdus merula
Song Thrush Turdus philomelos
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica

Eden Estuary, Scotland 18/05/09

White-winged Black Tern Chlidonias leucopterus
Greenshank Tringa nebularia

 

[Rolfe]

That's very early for swifts to be nesting in Scotland - could they be swallows?

I recant. Good call Sphensic. They're swallows.

This morning I was about to start dissecting a lamb that had had the bad judgement to drop dead when my assistant said something about a bird over by the window. I thought at first he was telling me there was an avian PM in but it transpired he was drawing my attention to a dazed bird that was trying to fly through a small side window. He said it had flown into the window (from inside the PM room) so hard that the bang had startled him.

The bird was undoubtedly a swallow.

I picked it up and walked to the door, but it refused to fly away and clung to my fingers. I went to a nearby patch of grass and laid it down, and it immediately overbalanced forward on to its beak. I checked wings and legs and so on were unbroken, and set it upright again. It just seemed dazed so I hoped it would be OK. It just sat there, so I went off to sort out the lamb.

A little later my assistant pointed out another swallow in the room, now flying at a sealed skylight at the top of a light well. He remarked that the original swallow was now gone from the grass and suggested it might be the same idiotic bird come back for another go. This time the bird flew lower again of its own accord and was persuaded back into the anteroom by the pair of us flapping our arms.

We shut the door after that.

We never had this trouble with the swifts, or the resident robin. Brainless birds.

Rolfe.