Ed Forum birdwatching 2008

From San Antonio, Texas (sorry about not being a truly methodical or scientific birder):

All the time from November to March/April:
Little grackles (the migratory ones)

All the time, period:
Big grackles (which unfortunately don't migrate, but instead "congregate in such numbers as to cause a nuisance")

In constantly growing numbers:
The urban pigeon (see above about "congregating" and "nuisances")

However, on the good side:
Mallard duck pairs on the San Antonio River (they know a good thing when they see one) - about a week ago

Herons and egrets on the San Antonio River - all the time (there is also some species of egret that nests in great numbers in and around the San Antonio Zoo - not a captive species, but a wild one - I will try to get the correct info when they return to nest)

Vulture (buzzard) - all the time

I know it doesn't count, but just so you don't think all I see are boring birds:
Magazine, Arkansas, December 23-27
Goldfinch
Purple finch
Nuthatch
Tufted titmouse
White-crowned sparrow
Blue jay
Cardinal (male and female)
Chickadee
Roadrunner
Snowbird
 
Not much identifiable today - locks of various little birds, likely sparrows and finches. A couple of mourning doves, which are very common here, some plain old pigeons, which I hesitate to count even. Every farm has a bunch of them. And wild turkeys. We have a small flock of 5 that does daily rounds through our back yard.
 
CurtC said:
Yesterday (01/02/2008) I saw a small bird on the windowscreen next to where I was sitting. I thought at first that it was a brown creeper, but I just checked and those have whitish undersides. The bird I saw was speckled grayish brown all over, small, about the size of a wren, but with a fairly short tail. Pics I see of the Winter Wren look a lot like what I saw, but the maps don't show those around Texas. Any ideas?
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My fieldguide (Nat.Geog.Soc 2nd ed) puts the winter distribution of the Winter Wren right across the NE corner of Texas continuing across just above central texas running west. The House Wren is resident all year in Texas. Hope this helps.
 
2007-12-27: My father and my son both saw a green woodpecker (Picus viridis) in Kent, UK

Does this count?
 
ruby-crowned kinglet (Regulus calendula); northern Nevada USA 1/6/08
 
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Today's additions (out and about in central Vermont), A very nice osprey, a pair of black ducks, and a somewhat unusual daytime sighting of a barred owl. Barred owls are pretty common around here, but we don't usually get to see them, only to hear them.
 
Haven't managed to get out and about yet but some mute swans, cygnus olor flew over when I was washing the car today.
 
Big grackles (which unfortunately don't migrate, but instead "congregate in such numbers as to cause a nuisance")
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Such a nuisance apparently someone recently poisoned a bunch of grackles with Avitrol
where I live in Staten Island. The state wildlife authorities are looking for the perps. Avitrol has been outlawed in NYC by former Gov. Pataki.
 
Spotted Jan. 6, 2008 in Jefferson county, Colorado, USA:

Carduelis pinus - Pine Siskin.
Circus cyaneus - Northern Harrier.
Spizella arborea - American Tree Sparrow.
 
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Elizabeth I said:
From San Antonio, Texas (sorry about not being a truly methodical or scientific birder):
Click to expand...

No problem. The important thing is participation!

Elizabeth I said:
All the time from November to March/April:
Little grackles (the migratory ones)

All the time, period:
Big grackles (which unfortunately don't migrate, but instead "congregate in such numbers as to cause a nuisance")
Click to expand...

Have you seen these species since New Year's?

Elizabeth I said:
I know it doesn't count, but just so you don't think all I see are boring birds:
Magazine, Arkansas, December 23-27
Goldfinch
Purple finch
Nuthatch
Tufted titmouse
White-crowned sparrow
Blue jay
Cardinal (male and female)
Chickadee
Roadrunner
Snowbird
Click to expand...

Well, you had me jealous at "grackle". I had no idea what that was, even!

jimbob said:
2007-12-27: My father and my son both saw a green woodpecker (Picus viridis) in Kent, UK

Does this count?
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It would have, I guess, if it had been in 2008^^.

I am only able to add Greater Black-backed gull Larus marinus which I saw on my way to work today. I was supposed to be out all weekend, but a visitor from Germany/Norway and a bad stomach prevented me from doing so...

This takes us to 82 species, pending Elisabeth's answer on the grackles. I'll post a complete list sometime during the week.

For contrast, I believe I had seen about 100 species alone last year at this time, which just goes to show how much you can actually see if you out some effort into it (which I certainly haven't done this year!).
 
EHocking said:
My fieldguide (Nat.Geog.Soc 2nd ed) puts the winter distribution of the Winter Wren right across the NE corner of Texas continuing across just above central texas running west. The House Wren is resident all year in Texas. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

The House Wren's tail is way too long for what I saw - I was less than one meter away so I got a pretty good look. The Winter Wren has to be it, and with the distribution map on this page I'm ready to declare that the bird I saw.

Yesterday I saw an American Goldfinch, which three or four years ago would feed at our feeders but they don't anymore.

Elizabeth I said:
All the time from November to March/April:
Little grackles (the migratory ones)
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what you mean by "Little Grackles." The big ones are Great-Tailed Grackles, and Kotatsu can have all of them he wants. For the little ones, are you thinking of European Starlings? They often hang out with Grackles and are a similar nuisance, and there seem to be more of them in the winter. The one cool thing about them is that when they fly in huge numbers the flocks look really cool from a distance, like in this video:

 
Spotted on the way to work this morning:

Pica hudsonia - Black-billed Magpie - Jan 7, 2008 - Colorado, USA
 
I saw a few Crows today......

and a bluebird.

Cripple Creek, CO

p.s. most of the birds are south
 
Kotatsu said:
No problem. The important thing is participation!

Have you seen these species [Great-tailed Grackle and what was described as "little grackles] since New Year's?
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Unfortunately, yes! They're practically pandemic.

Kotatsu said:
Well, you had me jealous at "grackle". I had no idea what that was, even!
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Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus). Ugly bird. There are places in San Antonio during the winter where you have to take an umbrella to walk around, even if it's not raining. :mad:

Kotatsu said:
This takes us to 82 species, pending Elisabeth's answer on the grackles. I'll post a complete list sometime during the week.

For contrast, I believe I had seen about 100 species alone last year at this time, which just goes to show how much you can actually see if you out some effort into it (which I certainly haven't done this year!).
Click to expand...

CurtC said:
I'm not sure what you mean by "Little Grackles." The big ones are Great-Tailed Grackles, and Kotatsu can have all of them he wants. For the little ones, are you thinking of European Starlings? They often hang out with Grackles and are a similar nuisance, and there seem to be more of them in the winter. The one cool thing about them is that when they fly in huge numbers the flocks look really cool from a distance
Click to expand...

CurtC is right - the other birds I was describing as "little grackles" are European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). The reason I thought they were "little grackles" is that I have heard grackles described as migratory, and ours definitely are not (worse luck), so when I noticed these other birds moving in every winter and hanging out with the grackles, I assumed they were the migratory ones. At least the starlings mostly go away in the spring.

Add to the list:

Northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) - San Antonio, Texas, January 5, 2008
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) - Bulverde, Texas, January 6, 2008

Could we request, respectfully, that Europeans keep your birds at home in the future? :o ;) European starlings and house sparrows were both introduced into North America and we didn't really need them. They've become the bird version of the rabbits in Australia, or kudzu vine in Georgia.

If there's anything we sent over there that you didn't want, I'm sure we'd be glad to take them back in exchange for your coming to get these birds.
 
Elizabeth I said:
Could we request, respectfully, that Europeans keep your birds at home in the future? :o ;) European starlings and house sparrows were both introduced into North America and we didn't really need them. They've become the bird version of the rabbits in Australia, or kudzu vine in Georgia.

If there's anything we sent over there that you didn't want, I'm sure we'd be glad to take them back in exchange for your coming to get these birds.
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I suppose you may know this already, but we cannot blame the Europeans for the starling, since it was an American who brought the little ****s in. As I recall, it was a fellow named Scheiffelin who thought it would be cool to have all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare at Central Park. The impressive ability of starlings both to lay eggs and to fly apparently did not register.

An old friend of my family, and one of my Sunday School teachers 50 or so years ago was a descendant of the culprit, and found it both annoying and embarrassing to be reminded of the incident, as people always somehow seemed to imply that it was her responsibility.
 
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