Forum birdwatching 2009

[Rolfe]

The swift/swallow picture seems to be traceable back to a tattoo. Calum showed me a tattoo he has had for a long time, which I think dates back to when he was in the Navy. He thinks it is of a swift, and I imagine he asked for a swift and was told it was a swift, but it is in fact of a swallow.

I don't know why he wanted a swift tattoo. I think he's catching on to the fact that it's a swallow though - I hate to spoil it for him.

Rolfe.

 

[Kestrel]

Spotted in the western suburbs of Denver, Colorado, USA on 3 June 2009:

Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto

 

[bruto]

Regarding birds of prey at feeders, we get sharp-shinned hawks around here from time to time (or did when we ran a feeder, which we stopped a couple of years ago because bears and rats and other critters were getting fond of it).

We've been watching a nesting family of mourning doves right outside the window here, but hadn't seen any babies, and the other day, my wife said the nest had disappeared. We had had a strong wind, and think maybe the nest blew away. We were quite unhappily hunting around the yard for signs of the nest, when we saw a fledgling mourning dove on top of my car. A big baby bird he was. The parents were coming down to feed it, and encouraging it to fly. They'd come down, regurgitate a little treat, and then go back up into the trees and coo at it. Finally, it gathered up its courage, and flew up into a tree, and a voluble mourning-dove conversation ensued. So I guess it all ended up OK, at least for one chick. By the way, mourning doves squeak when they fly, sounding as if their wing hinges need oiling.

 

[bruto]

We went out to Mount Horrid to see if there were any peregrine falcons out, which there were not, but were treated to a new bird anyway:

A chestnut-Sided Warbler, dendroica pennsylvanica.

Which reminds me that I never got around to listing a few other new birds I saw in Rhode Island (mostly in the Westerly/Misquamicut area) last month:

To begin with, we got American Oystercatchers, haematopus palliatus, which look a bit like ducks as they fly by until you see the long pointy bills.

Also, Least Terns.sterna antilarum. We were actually looking for piping plovers at a piping plover nesting site, but what we saw were these guys instead. They hover a bit like harriers, then dive straight down into the water. Quite impressive.

We did later see some Piping Plovers, charadrius melodus. They're considered endangered, but there are some nice little reserves in RI where they seem to be gaining a bit.

Also, lots of Snowy Egrets, Egretta thula, which I don't think I've reported this year. They like the salt marshes and ponds.

Also, a number of Mute Swans, cygnus olor, which have become quite common in the area.

That's about all the confirmed ones.

 

[billw]

We were wondering if anyone could help identify these guys, who are currently nesting under the eaves of our house in Southern California:

 

[manofthesea]

. We had had a strong wind, and think maybe the nest blew away. We were quite unhappily hunting around the yard for signs of the nest, when we saw a fledgling mourning dove on top of my car.
.

Sorry to be so distracting. But I picked up a couple of free, old birdcages and whenever I find a chick blown out of a tree with its nest destroyed I just put the chick(s) in a cage and hang the cage on a tree out front. The parents almost always relocate to the cage and continue raising their young until they can fly away. An interesting process to see. I've had pairs of large chinese doves raise their young, down to little species. Unfortunately, once the humane society came and closed the cage door and a chick perished. Now they know what I do and don't bother any cage.

The above look like what we call papaya birds in Hawaii. Or linnets.

 

[I Ratant]

We were wondering if anyone could help identify these guys, who are currently nesting under the eaves of our house in Southern California:

.
I see those here too.
I don't see them in my bird book.

 

[Tricky]

We were wondering if anyone could help identify these guys, who are currently nesting under the eaves of our house in Southern California:

House finches. There's a yellow (or orangish) variant too.

 

[billw]

Thank you! They have had 2 batches of chicks so far this Spring. I found one chick from the first batch at the base of the wall where the nest is - I scooped him up with a big leaf, and put him back in the nest without touching him. He had definite yellow coloration on his chest.

Is the male's coloration considered to be red or rufous?

 

[billw]

It wasn't clear from the OP if only 2009 sightings are allowed, so my apologies in advance if so.

Left: California Quail (Callipepla californica), Southern slope of Mt. Lukens (chaparral zone), latitude 34.25 longitude -118.25, May 1, 2008


Right: A juvenile Galapagos Hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) harassing his banded parent, Isabela, Galapagos, Ecuador, August 14, 2008

 

[GeeMack]

Spotted in the western suburbs of Denver, Colorado, USA on 3 June 2009:

Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto

Just saw a pair of these for the first time today. They were along the shore of the Illinois River near Henry, Illinois, in the central part of the state.

 

[Kotatsu]

Honey Buzzard Pernis apivorus seen 6/6 in Ängelholm, Scania. Also a suspected Red Kite Milvus milvus, but it disappeared behind a house too quickly...

 

[Rolfe]

Remember my redpolls? And someone asked if they might actually have been linnets? I didn't think so, but now something that I think might be a linnet has shown up, and I'm not so sure.

The original birds stayed on the ground, scavenging what others had dropped from the bird feeder. The new arrival has been perching on the feeder and was seen feeding from the nyjer seed feeder. I think in fact they are not the same birds, but I can't be sure. Any guidelines on how to tell the difference?

(Remember, it took me a while to realise that some of my "yellowhammers" were siskins, Now, I see that the place is crawling with siskins and the yellowhammers only show up occasionally. So that's the level I need the explanation pitched at.)

Rolfe.

 

[sphenisc]

Where's this article from? (2)

Mazgajski T.D. 2003. Nesting interaction between woodpeckers and starlings - delayed commensalism, competition for nest sites or cavity kleptoparasitism? Pages: 133–138. In: P. Pechacek & W. D'Oleire-Oltmanns: International Woodpecker Symposium. Proceedings. Forschungsbericht 48, Nationalparkverwaltung Berchtesgaden.

(2) Also: I had totally forgotten to send you your prize since last year.....

No problem. I'd put it down to the British postal service.

 

[Rolfe]

Hey, Sphensic, what was your opinion on the "swifts" photo?

Rolfe.

 

[Jeff Corey]

May 28, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Nesting bald eagle.

 

[Delvo]

Last December in the Olympic Peninsula, I took this picture of the landscape, and it had this bird in it. The first attachment is the whole thing, shrunk for uploading. The second attachment is the part with the bird, cut out and kept at 100% size. The bird is a tiny part of the picture and there's a bunch of blurring and noise pixels, so that's as clear as it gets. What kind of bird is it?

My first thought was bald eagle, but the white strip in the back seems to run up the back of the wing, not just the tail, and I don't know of any bird like that.

 

[sphenisc]

Hey, Sphensic, what was your opinion on the "swifts" photo?

Rolfe.

Great picture! Nicely catches the action. And what the hell, a rose by any other name is still as sweet!

 

[sphenisc]

Remember my redpolls? And someone asked if they might actually have been linnets? I didn't think so, but now something that I think might be a linnet has shown up, and I'm not so sure.

The original birds stayed on the ground, scavenging what others had dropped from the bird feeder. The new arrival has been perching on the feeder and was seen feeding from the nyjer seed feeder. I think in fact they are not the same birds, but I can't be sure. Any guidelines on how to tell the difference?

(Remember, it took me a while to realise that some of my "yellowhammers" were siskins, Now, I see that the place is crawling with siskins and the yellowhammers only show up occasionally. So that's the level I need the explanation pitched at.)

Rolfe.

Pictures of both here. See "2 illustrations" and "Similar birds". Lesser redpoll is the redpoll species most likely to be seen in Scotland.

Other than specific plumage features, they are quite different in jizz. Linnet is chaffinch size, a bird of more open country, gorse bushes and field margins. If it's in a tree it's usually just sitting only casually feeding from the mid-sized twigs.
Redpolls are much more blue tit-like, found near the extremity of branches actively gleaning around buds and on leaves, usually in small parties sometimes mixed in with tits. They're far more acrobatic than linnets. They will also spend time on bushes etc. but I've rarely seen them feed directly on the ground, though a birdfeeder will persuade birds to do some odd things!

 

[Rolfe]

Hmmm. I'm not sure. Might have had both.

The first lot seen were almost a small flock, on the paving under the bird feeder picking up the bits the coal tits drop. About half of these had the red cap on their head but I saw no red breast feathers at all. They were small - certainly no bigger than the coal tits. These were the ones I thought were redpolls. Unfortunately due to poor light the pictures I took were poor quality.

The picture of a linnet in my bird book looked quite different because the bird pictured is craning its neck making it look taller and thinner. Also, I didn't realise linnets were so small until I read the measurements - not much bigger than the redpoll's measurements. So I thought I'd been seeing redpolls.

I have more recently noticed very similar birds, but just one or two, with the red cap but also with some red breast feathers. They might be a little bigger but I'm not sure. They have been perching on the bird feeder and I saw one feeding on the nyger seed. These look more like linnets to me.

The main difference in looks is the red feathering on the breast. Is that a reliable indicator?

Rolfe.