Forum Birdwatching 2010

Nothing like 2' of snow to bring birds to the feeder. A few new sightings to finish out what has been an extraordinarily poor year for me.

American tree sparrow - Spizella arborea
Carolina wren - Thryothorus ludovicianus
White-throated sparrow - Zonotrichia albicollis

I'd never seen a Carolina wren at a bird feeder before, maybe I've been missing something or maybe bad weather is forcing them out of their normal routine.
 
I've seen two Red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) in the neighborhood over the last couple of months. I don't recall seeing them before.
 
PetersCreek said:
I've seen two Red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) in the neighborhood over the last couple of months. I don't recall seeing them before.
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According to the falconer at work, the ret-tails up here are usually the harlan variant (B. j. harlani) and are called harlan hawks.

- David
 
I thought I posted this already but I guess I didn't or it vanished into the ether, but it's been a pretty quiet season here. It seems the birds that usually head south from here did so, but the mild winter has kept the ones that usually come down from the north away, so no robins or bluebirds, and no rough-legged hawks yet either. They usually seem to push the red-tails off for a while, but not this year.

I did see an unexpected small flock of flickers in the yard yesterday. Are they back, or did they never leave, I wonder.
 
Another new to me and the area..
Red Breasted Sapsucker.
 

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Heard it on the news today! They even hope for more chicks!

In other news, the fat-ball feeder I had that trapped a starling last year (which I found promptly and released uninjured) trapped another yesterday, in much the same way. This time a magpie was just starting to attack the trapped starling when I saw what was going on. The starling was distressed, and had some blood in its mouth, but it was squawking loudly and struggling strongly, and immediately flew away very strongly when I released it. Hopefully, it wasn't seriously injured.

The fat-ball feeder is now in the bin.

Rolfe.
 
I didn't know that mallards had a mating dance. Alas mallard sex at my local pond is pretty disgusting by human standards. One to four males chase and harass a female until one or more does the deed.

What I didn't know is that mallards also engage in a mating dance that is quite touching by human standards. The pair start bobbing their heads up and down mostly out of sync. The bobbing continues until the head bobbing is synchronized and then the male gently mounts the female.

I think female mallards have some mechanism for preventing insemination by males not of their choosing so maybe this head bobbing thing is part of the way that females can select for more trustworthy males.
 
Yesterday was Thermal Day in the Antelope Valley.
The ravens in particular were having a ball..
This noisy couple f'rinstance... :p
 

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NoahFence said:
Wow! What a great thread!

I'll have to go through the whole thing at some point....
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It's been great fun, and for some of us not accustomed to getting serious about birds, it's been a spur to looking more carefully at them, and learning some new things. I've slacked off in the last few months as nothing new has flown by, but it's definitely a worthwhile thread.

About the only new thing I've seen recently was a little flock of Coots on Lake Thurmond in Georgia a couple of weeks ago. It took a while to figure them out, since I kept looking in the Duck section of the bird book.
 
I had a visit from a nosy blue-tit the other day.

Outside my main, full length window is a safety rail - well my flat is on the second floor. About 5 in the afternoon along comes a plump little blue-tit and perches on the rail and looks directly into the room. Then shuffles along the rail to look into the back half of the room at an angle; and shuffles to the other end of the room to look into the other half of the room.

Finally, looked at me and flew off. Obviously not impressed by my decor! :)

ETA picture, in case the bird has another name outside the UK.
 
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OK, this is not in my backyard, I was in Nicaragua recently and was able to get a few shots of the local bird life. This is a Caracara taken at La Flor beach in the south, pacific side, wildlife sanctuary.
 
The Cactus Wren..Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus nests -inside- the cholla cactus.
Bring your bare skin close to one of those devil plants, and the spines LEAP off and burrow into your skin!
Never kick a piece of one of these cacti that has fallen on the ground. The spines embed themselves in your shoe, and getcha later when you take your shoe off!
How the bird gets inside one of these things is one of Ma Nature's miracles! :)
 

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Little bugger just outside my house - Sharpie I think.


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Taken at a wildlife sanctuary nearby - Long Eared Owl

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House Sparrows, very common, but I managed to get two in flight, which is always cool.
 
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Here's a couple more from Nica... A tiger heron and a type of jay.

The shot of the sharpie is awesome by the way!
 

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EHocking said:
I don't even care if that was in an aviary (out of curiosity, was it?), but that is one handsome bird.
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No, these birds are fairly common in the south, La Flor beach is a major nesting spot for turtles so it attracts scavengers of all kinds. I interrupted this fellow from a dug up nest that he had taken over from a trio of vultures. As soon as I moved off he was back at it.
 
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