Ed Forum birdwatching 2008

[Michelle Lyon]

Red tailed hawks!

Red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) spotted at CSU Bakersfield today. A pair in a tree, arguing over a hunted squirrel. Other students have reported seeing the hawks all month but this is the first that I've seen.

We also have Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) at the feeder in the art lab. A whole flock of them.

House finches and mourning doves have made nests in the same art lab, up in the rafters.

House finches, house sparrows, mourning doves, hummingbirds (still have not identified what type) and mocking birds are nesting in my apartment complex in Oildale, a suburb of Bakersfield. Busy busy trees!

All are naturally occuring species, not introduced.

I don't know at this time where the ringneck parakeets are nesting.

 

[bruto]

Red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) spotted at CSU Bakersfield today. A pair in a tree, arguing over a hunted squirrel. Other students have reported seeing the hawks all month but this is the first that I've seen.

We also have Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) at the feeder in the art lab. A whole flock of them.

House finches and mourning doves have made nests in the same art lab, up in the rafters.

House finches, house sparrows, mourning doves, hummingbirds (still have not identified what type) and mocking birds are nesting in my apartment complex in Oildale, a suburb of Bakersfield. Busy busy trees!

All are naturally occuring species, not introduced.

I don't know at this time where the ringneck parakeets are nesting.

If you have house sparrows, they're introduced; for that reason, along with starlings, they're the only songbirds you can legally shoot in the US.

 

[EHocking]

aha - the race is on for the first UK swift of the year methinks.1st of May and no cuckoos heard.Although a quick Google shows me that there are more UK APRIL traditions about cuckoo than the only one I've heard.

Woohoo!

Swifts arrived this morning in NE London.

Summer is officially here.

 

[Elizabeth I]

If you have house sparrows, they're introduced; for that reason, along with starlings, they're the only songbirds you can legally shoot in the US.

Starlings are SONGBIRDS?

Question: I got a new hummingbird feeder, filled it with the prescribed hummingbird nectar and hung it outside on a tree. So far (ten days later) it has been ignored. Anybody have any hints on how to get the hummingbirds to pay attention? Street signs? Google Map? Neon "EATS" sign?

Seriously, until I moved to this house I never had any trouble - as soon as I put out a feeder, I had hummingbirds.

 

[chillzero]

I twisted my ankle, so no driving out to see the egrets this weekend either.

*sulks*

 

[EHocking]

A few more additions.

3rd May - Isle of Sheppey, England.
Red-legged Partridge Alectoris rufa
Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta
Lapwing Vanellus vanellus
Little Egret Egretta garzetta
Shelduck Tadorna tadorna
(kotatusu your Swedish one spelled with two Ls in list)
Gadwal Anas strepera
Northern Pintail Anas acuta
Pheasant Phasianus colchicus
Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus
Ruff Philomachus pugnax
Redshank Tringa totanus
Common Tern Sterna hirundo
Water Pipit Anthus spinoletta
Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava (flavissima s.species)
Linnet Carduelis cannabina
Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella

Dover, England
Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis
Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
Northern Gannet Morus bassanus

I'll get this one in for London, obviously not a first for the UK.
2nd May
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea

 

[Kotatsu]

(kotatusu your Swedish one spelled with two Ls in list)

I'll correct that tonight.

Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava (flavissima s.species)

That reminds me, the first flava I reported was actually subspecies flava, but this Friday, I had both flava and thunbergi. I'll add that later as well, but my girlfriend wants us to go out in the sun again^^. Raven, grey heron, greater whitethroat and a golden plover today.

 

[EHocking]

I'll correct that tonight.

...and when I stop tourist guiding our Aussie guests around, I'll get around to rejigging the list and webpages.

Yesterday - forgot the Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis, the reason we were so sure about the Water Pipit.

Today, Sandy, Bedfordshire, England.

Common Whitethroat Sylvia communis
Blackcap (male) Sylvia atricapilla
European Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus

(now this worked the other night for Swifts, so I'm going to mention Cuckoos, 'cos we'll be out in the countryside again tomorrow)

 

[Kestrel]

Four new species spotted this morning near Boulder, Colorado.

Tachycineta bicolor Tree Swallow
Contopus sordidulus Western Wood-Pewee
Tyrannus tyrannus Eastern Kingbird
Limnodromus scolopaceus Long-billed Dowitcher

 

[sphenisc]

Aviemore Area, Scotland

Capercailzie Tetrao urogallus
Crested Tit Parus cristatus now Lophophanes cristatus?
Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus
Common Gull Larus canus
Red-breasted meganser Mergus serrator
Cuckoo Cuculus canorus
Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus

Shame about the egrets, CZ ... and your ankle.

 

[Kotatsu]

Well, I am off to Northern Sweden to do some louse-collection at Umedeltats Bird Observatory for the rest of the week. There, I likely will not have regular access to the Internet, and if I do, I doubt there will be much time to use it. However, continue to report your sightings, and I will add everything when I come home.

For me, I am hoping to see quite a lot of new species for the list, but as I have never been that far north, I don't really know what to expect. The last few days have had Caspian Tern, Snow Bunting, Long-tailed Tit, Merlin, and a lot of more common species. Good luck, everyone, and have a nice week!

 

[EHocking]

(now this worked the other night for Swifts, so I'm going to mention Cuckoos, 'cos we'll be out in the countryside again tomorrow)

Hmmm that seemed to work for sphenisc instead of me.

 

[sphenisc]

Heads up on an UPLAND SANDPIPER at Loch of Strathbeg.

[I may have to take the day off work tomorrow...]

 

[sphenisc]

(now this worked the other night for Swifts, so I'm going to mention Cuckoos, 'cos we'll be out in the countryside again tomorrow)

Hmmm that seemed to work for sphenisc instead of me.

That's because I'm a meme parasite.

 

[EHocking]

Well, I haven't got anything as thrilling as the Sandpiper to look forward to, but at least I "got" my early May Cuckoo.

5th May, Essex, England.
Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus

 

[EHocking]

Webpage has been updated, along with quite a number of photographs in the Gallery section. Thanks for adding content to the pages goes to sphenisc, mummymonkey, kestrel and kotatsu.

Don't hesitate to PM or post corrections/errors to the webpages.
If you have photos to contribute email is : ehocking @ yahoo . co . uk (remove the spaces)

Current species stats are:

Order Total : 19
Family Total : 77
Species Total : 366
Total Sightings : 703

 

[Jeff Corey]

Spotted nesting piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) in the protected beach area in S. Jamesport, LI, NY, today.

 

[Fiona]

I have just been on holiday in Ireland. We don't seem to have a bit for them though you might have included them in the UK I suppose. Anyway they are a separate country so for what it is worth I saw between 27/4/08 and 9/5/08:

hooded crows
crows
jackdaws
starlings
curlews
shelduck
oystercatchers
mute swans
great tits
robins
pied wagtails
cormorants
chaffinches
missel thrush
blackbirds
house sparrows
swallows
house martins
herring gulls
black backed gulls
gannets
herons

sorry there were not more but it is a start

 

[chillzero]

I have just been on holiday in Ireland. We don't seem to have a bit for them though you might have included them in the UK I suppose.

Only if you were in Northern Ireland, surely.

 

[Fiona]

No but I wondered if the Irish birds had been put there because I could not see a listing for them