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Forum birdwatching 2009

Kotatsu said:
Looking back, I'm not quite sure that that Intermediate Egret above is not a Great Egret after all, in which case it would seem I have no pictures of the Intermediate. It looks quite small, and it doesn't have the obscene twist of the neck the Great has, but it could be a young Great...
Click to expand...

In my, admittedly limited, experience of Intermediate I think the upper "arc" of the neck above the kink is usually smaller than the lower "arc", in Great they're of approximately equal size. Also Intermediate's bill is usually a cool lemon yellow, whereas Great frequently veer towards a slightly orangey yellow. Also Intermediates seem to lose the kink when they stretch the neck, whereas Greats never seem to lose it completely.

Personal Obs. for what it's worth.
 
Kotatsu, thank you very much indeed for the linnet pics, and the discussion re redpolls.

I'm fairly sure that the birds I'm currently seeing on the feeder are linnets. I saw an amasing series of squabbles round the nyjer seed feeder involving these, siskins and goldfinches. There are four feeding stations on that feeder, but they're quite close, and it's relatively rare to see all four being used simultaneously in peace and harmony. (This morning I watched four goldfinches, the same number of siskins, a couple of coal tits, a chaffinch and a sparrow come and go while I ate my own breakfast.)

I still think the original small flock I saw on the ground were redpolls. It's just that the sequence of events was suspect.

Rolfe: I've seen these little brown birds with red caps on the ground below the bird feeder, what could they be?
Sphensic: Could be redpolls.
Rolfe, after looking up redpolls in the book: Thanks, looks like that's what they were.
Mummymonkey: Are you sure they weren't linnets?
Rolfe: No, they really matched the pics of redpolls I looked at.
Rolfe suddenly starts to see linnets on the bird feeder.

I'm still unsure though, as Sphensic's description indicates that the redpolls are the more acrobatic species, so my sighting of them on the ground rather than on the feeder itself would seem uncharacteristic.

Rolfe.
 
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Rolfe said:
Kotatsu, thank you very much indeed for the linnet pics, and the discussion re redpolls.

I'm fairly sure that the birds I'm currently seeing on the feeder are linnets. I saw an amasing series of squabbles round the nyjer seed feeder involving these, siskins and goldfinches. There are four feeding stations on that feeder, but they're quite close, and it's relatively rare to see all four being used simultaneously in peace and harmony. (This morning I watched four goldfinches, the same number of siskins, a couple of coal tits, a chaffinch and a sparrow come and go while I ate my own breakfast.)

I still think the original small flock I saw on the ground were redpolls. It's just that the sequence of events was suspect.

Rolfe: I've seen these little brown birds with red caps on the ground below the bird feeder, what could they be?
Sphensic: Could be redpolls.
Rolfe, after looking up redpolls in the book: Thanks, looks like that's what they were.
Mummymonkey: Are you sure they weren't linnets?
Rolfe: No, they really matched the pics of redpolls I looked at.
Rolfe suddenly starts to see linnets on the bird feeder.

I'm still unsure though, as Sphensic's description indicates that the redpolls are the more acrobatic species, so my sighting of them on the ground rather than on the feeder itself would seem uncharacteristic.

Rolfe.
Click to expand...

Any chance of some photos?

I think in 'real life' redpolls prefer to feed off the ground, but round a bird feeder they're likely to be bullied off it and may well feed on the ground. As an identification guide this should rank way down after plumage/shape.
 
01/06/09 Luxor, Egypt

House Sparrow - Passer domesticus
Hoopoe - Upupa epops
Cattle Egret - Bubulcus ibis
Laughing Dove - Streptopelia senegalensis
Nile Valley Sunbird - Anthreptes metallicus
Hooded Crow - Corvus cornix pallescens
Spur-winged Plover - Hoplopterus spinosus
Barn Swallow - Hirundo rustica savignii + rustica
Little Egret - Egretta garzetta
Great Reed Warbler - Acrocephalus arundinaceus
Moorhen - Gallinula chloropus
Pied Kingfisher - Ceryle rudis
Black-crowned Night Heron - Nycticorax nycticorax
Black Kite - Milvus (migrans) aegyptius aegyptius
Glossy Ibis - Plegadis falcinellus
Squacco heron - Ardeola ralloides
Common Bulbul - Pycnonotus barbatus
Common Swift- Apus apus
Purple Heron - Ardea purpurea

02/06/09 Luxor, Egypt
Zitting Cisticola - Cisticola juncidis
Striated Heron - Butorides striata
Graceful Prinia - Prinia gracilis
Common Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus
European Bee-eater - Merops apiaster

03/06/09 Luxor, Egypt
Black-winged Kite - Elanus caeruleus
Clamorous Reed Warbler - Acrocephalus stentoreus
Little Bittern - Ixobrychus minutus
Blue-Cheeked Bee-eater - Merops persicus
Purple Gallinule - Porphyrio porphyrio madagascariensis
Turtle Dove - Streptopelia turtur
Little Green Bee-eater - Merops orientalis
Thekla Lark - Galerida theklae ????? –still checking this
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler - Hippolias pallida
Senegal Thick-knee - Burhinus senegalensis

05/06/09 Luxor, Egypt
Grey Heron - Ardea cinerea
Red Avadavat - Amandava amandava
Crested Lark - Galerida cristata

07/06/09 Luxor – Hurghada – Luxor, Egypt
Spotted Sandgrouse - Pterocles senegallus
Brown-necked Raven - Corvus ruficollis
Southern Grey Shrike - Lanius meridionalis elegans
Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin=Rufous Bush Chat - Cercotrichas galactotes
Booted Eagle - Aquila pennata
Rock Martin - Ptyonoprogne fuligula
White-cheeked Tern - Sterna repressa
Lesser Crested Tern - Thalasseus bengalensis bengalensis
Caspian Tern - Hydroprogne caspia
Sooty Gull - Ichthyaetus hemprichii
White-eyed Gull - Ichthyaetus leucophthalmus
Great Black-headed Gull - Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus probable

08/06/09 Luxor, Egypt
Western Reef Heron - Egretta gularis
Sooty Falcon - Falco concolor
Black-winged Stilt - Himantopus himantopus
 
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sphenisc said:
Any chance of some photos?

I think in 'real life' redpolls prefer to feed off the ground, but round a bird feeder they're likely to be bullied off it and may well feed on the ground. As an identification guide this should rank way down after plumage/shape.
Click to expand...


I took several photos which were absolutely terrible due to poor light. I'm not sure I kept any of them but I'll look - I might have kept the least bad one or two. I haven't seen them within the past few weeks though. Unless of course what I'm now thinking are linnets are the same thing, only having learned to use the feeder and having more red on the breasts.

By the way, I saw what I think are linnets holding their own in the bullying stakes recently.

Rolfe.
 
Well, I went to my new house in Macedonia, OH, US to do some work before my wife and kids move in and kept my eye out for any birds while I was there. I saw the following on 6-17.

American robin
Blue jay
Common grackle
Great blue heron
House sparrow
Killdeer
Mourning dove
Pigeon
Red winged blackbird
Ring billed gull (I'm terrible at identifying gulls but this one sat next to my car in a parking lot hoping for a handout long enough for me to get a postive ID. :) )
White-breasted nuthatch

I heard chickadees constantly but never saw them while I was working.

I was excited to see that we have at least one (hopefully a nesting pair) of red headed woodpeckers in the area. (Melanerpes erythrocephalus, I think it's new to the list.) I have a number of dead trees on my property and for me it's always a battle between keeping them as habitat and getting rid of them for appearance and safety reasons.

I also got a front seat viewing of a battle between gray, black, and fox squirrels while cleaning the gutters and a white tailed deer and I startled each other... It was a busy day. No pictures, I was roofing, repairing plumbing, and repairing joists for 3 days.
 
well, another week goes by and another excuse for not updating the web pages. This time entirely my own fault for biting off more than I can chew and getting all "trick" with APS, XML and other such rubbish.

So in the meantime, here are the latest version of the stats as at a week ago.

List Statistics - 2008
Total Individual Sightings - 2540
Number of Forum Contributors - 57
Order Count - 25
Family Count - 117
Species Count (includes subspecies) - 821
SubSpecies Count - 39

List Statistics - 2009 (June)
Total Individual Sightings - 1054
Number of Forum Contributors - 30
Order Count - 20
Family Count - 76
Species Count (includes subspecies) - 414
SubSpecies Count - 12
 
I don't know if this contributes to this thread, but a couple of years ago I saw a hawk (or falcon). It's noteworthy to me because it was spotted perched atop a telephone pole on a busy street in the middle of Philadelphia. It stayed there for about a half hour, then flew off. I had taken a picture of it, and if I find it I'll post it.
 
ugot2bekidding said:
I don't know if this contributes to this thread, but a couple of years ago I saw a hawk (or falcon). It's noteworthy to me because it was spotted perched atop a telephone pole on a busy street in the middle of Philadelphia. It stayed there for about a half hour, then flew off. I had taken a picture of it, and if I find it I'll post it.
Click to expand...
Apparently, peregrine falcons have adapted pretty well to city life, nesting on skyscrapers and picking off the starlings and pigeons that abound in cities.

Here's a link to one famous Manhattan pair.

http://www.55water.com/falcons/
 
A sad and scary thing happened last week. I was going out to refill the bird feeders and I heard a raucous noise from the feeder behind me. I turned around and there was a Red-bellied Woodpecker caught in the wires that I hang the feeders with. I can't use cord. Squirrels chew right through it, so I wrap about three loops of baling wire around a tree limb and through the handle on the feeder. Well the wire kind of spreads out, and this poor woodpecker had gotten his head wedged between two of the strands. He was squawking loudly, and his breast was bloodied. I ran inside and got the wire clippers and quickly cut the whole thing down, but he was still trapped, And lying on the ground. I carefully (that bill of theirs is sharp) clipped the wires right next to his head. I was afraid he would be mortally wounded, but he jumped up and flew away immediately and without "wobbling". I hope he is ok.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to re-hang my feeders without either enabling the squirrels or endangering the birds.
 
I told earlier in the thread of the starling I found trapped in a highly improbable position in my empty fat-ball feeder. Fortunately he wasn't injured at all, and I found him early enough that when I released him he was able to fly away without any ill effects.

I still wish I'd taken time to photograph that one!

Rolfe.
 
Tricky said:
A sad and scary thing happened last week. I was going out to refill the bird feeders and I heard a raucous noise from the feeder behind me. I turned around and there was a Red-bellied Woodpecker caught in the wires that I hang the feeders with. I can't use cord. Squirrels chew right through it, so I wrap about three loops of baling wire around a tree limb and through the handle on the feeder. Well the wire kind of spreads out, and this poor woodpecker had gotten his head wedged between two of the strands. He was squawking loudly, and his breast was bloodied. I ran inside and got the wire clippers and quickly cut the whole thing down, but he was still trapped, And lying on the ground. I carefully (that bill of theirs is sharp) clipped the wires right next to his head. I was afraid he would be mortally wounded, but he jumped up and flew away immediately and without "wobbling". I hope he is ok.

I'm still trying to figure out a way to re-hang my feeders without either enabling the squirrels or endangering the birds.
Click to expand...
We hang our feeders and houses with coat hanger wire. As an alternative you can use similar gauge welding rod, which comes in three foot lengths. It's strong enough to hang from a hook at each end without requiring twisting, and gives the squirrels less purchase than chain.
 
Larks. Do they sing on the ground as well as in the air?

I was walking in the Pentlands a week ago, and noted some very charming birdsong apparently coming from the heather - often the side of a hill. I did wonder about larks, but I thought they sang on the wing and I didn't see anything hovering. Then on Sunday evening I joined in a short church hike to an outdoor service commemorating some Covenanting battle or other, and noticed the same thing only more so. I asked one of the others in the group, and was told "larks".

So was she right?

Rolfe.
 
Seen on the Big Island, Hawaii, USA between June 18 and June 22.

Common Myna Acridotheres tristis
Rock Dove Columba livia
Zebra Dove Geopelia straita
Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
House Sparrow Passer domesticus
House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus
Hawaiian Coot Fulica alai
Nene Branta sandvicentis


Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis
Yellow-billed Cardinal Paroaria capitata
Kalij Pheasant Lophura leucomelanos
Hawame Garrulax canorus
Java Sparrow Padda oryzivora
Saffron Finch Sicalis flaveola
'Apapane Himatione sanguinea


'Amakihi Hemignathus virens
'I'iwi Vestiaria coccinea
Erckel's Francolin Francolinus erckelli


White-tailed Tropicbird Phaethon lepturus
Nutmeg Mannikin Lonchura punctulata
Japanese White-eye Zosterops japonicus
 
Seen on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, USA June 24 to 26:

Common Myna Acridotheres tristis
House Sparrow Passer domesticus
Zebra Dove Zenaida macroura
Cattle Egret Bubulcus ibis
Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens



Red-tailed Tropicbird Phaethon rubricauda
Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis
Red-footed Booby Sula sula




Nene Branta sandvicensis
Red-crested Cardinal Paroaria coronata
Wedge-tailed Shearwater Puffinus pacificus
Hawaiian Moorhen Gallinula chloropus sandvicensis



Chestnut Munia Lonchura atricapilla

 
Kotatsu, the pictures of the birds held in hand all strike me as showing the birds to be calm. Is that actualy the case? I would expect a bird to be quite worried about being held, yet they seem to be at ease in the photos.

Am I anthropomorphizing an expression onto their faces or in their eyes or do they realy calm down when held as depicted?
 
Thought you twitchers might get a kick out this Close Encounter ;)

Tried to post this up in the thread about the previous " where did the birds go " but ehMac is being a total pain.

This guy - red tail...

Picture140-1.jpg


I'm sitting working at my desk with the window open where I take those photos from - there is a double set in the middle of which one opens....

I hear this BANG behind my right shoulder

I swivel my chair and look right into the eyes of a large hawk with a starling dangling from his talons.
Red tails have a wingspan close to 5 feet so with his wings partially flared he filled a good chunk of the window.

...I knew if I moved he leave so I had my serious look - damn he looked big and fierce that close -
I tried to reach behind for my camera but then he thrashed his way out of the cherry tree dinner in claw....

:eek:

THAT was once in a lifetime.....I've seen hawks at my wing tip when sailplaning - maybe 15 ' away but never ever expected to see the end of a strike in a tree from 6' away.......

He was clinging with one claw right where that wilted branch is hanging down - wings partially flared and looking me straight in the eye-

Picture137-1.jpg


What commotion in the tree where there were other starlings feasting on cherries.....

Guess I know why they departed last time.....what a fastastic thing to happen on an otherwise totally dull day....
I'm 4' from the window and the tree branch he was clinging to is 2' from the open part of the window so you can imagine the bang as he crashed into the branches and grabbed the starling......

Red in tooth and claw indeed......up close.....:clap: made my day.....
Close encounter of an unusual kind....

As a twitcher I've seen a few strikes from a distance - usually while driving but nothing like this....
 
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