Forum Birdwatching 2012

[EHocking]

I have a question hopefully one of you knowledgable birders might be able to answer.

The other day I was walking with my partner along a trail in the hills behind our house. Close by is a little creek and a pond. About 20 metres from the pond, on the trail, lay a Mallard duck. The way it was positioned, it looked dead. No movement whatsoever. It was on its stomach, its neck and head lying on the ground straight in front of it, if you get my meaning.
I approached it with the intention of taking it off the path, then, when I was about a metre from it, it suddenly flew away, much to both of our surprise.

My question is - is this normal behaviour? I thought perhaps it was in shock from flying into a tree or something? Or was some instinct reaction to spotting a predator? (hawks and buzzards in the area)

The duck seems fine, its taken up residence in the pond with a female. (assumming its the same duck of course)

Anting perhaps?

Can't recall seeing ducks do this, but certainly seen common Passerines doing it.

 

[Rolfe]

I had a male pheasant in my garden last week. Does that count?

Rolfe.

 

[philkensebben]

Anting perhaps?

Can't recall seeing ducks do this, but certainly seen common Passerines doing it.

Its possible I guess? Even if it wasnt 'Anting' thanks for the theory/link - learn something every day

 

[jj]

Juvenile Bald Eagle? Turkey Vulture?

Too big and wrong shape, respectively.

 

[GeeMack]

There's one I would love to add but I have no, repeat NO idea what it was. Huge raptor-style bird, hawk-style wing ends, but way, way too big to be a red-tail, more eagle-sized. Long, pointy wings. Dunno. Dark against the sky, lots of help that is, eh?

Juvenile Bald Eagle? Turkey Vulture?

Too big and wrong shape, respectively.

Not a lot of choices in size between a Red-Tailed Hawk and Bald Eagle. Maybe a Great Blue Heron or an Osprey?

 

[EHocking]

...There's one I would love to add but I have no, repeat NO idea what it was. Huge raptor-style bird, hawk-style wing ends, but way, way too big to be a red-tail, more eagle-sized. Long, pointy wings. Dunno. Dark against the sky, lots of help that is, eh?

Hawk-style and long, pointy wings suggests a Harrier to me.

 

[bruto]

Hawk-style and long, pointy wings suggests a Harrier to me.

I don't know what's out Washington way, but here in the Northeast the harriers would not be bigger than a big redtail. Perhaps an osprey? Again, depending on what's common out there, there are other buteos, such as rough legged hawks, that get quite big. I've often had to do a double take to make sure a big rough legged hawk is not an eagle.

Don't forget, too, that a juvenile bald eagle can be as big as an adult. They can be really huge, but they're pretty easy to distinguish because they're all brown.

Meanwhile, not much to report from Vermont, except that all the birds except, perhaps, for the swallows, came back unusually early. A new record for vultures, I think, which started showing up at the beginning of march. REd wing blackbirds also quite early. The starlings never left, and neither did all the robins. The usual exchange of hawks, where rough legged hawks come south and push the red tails further down, was almost nonexistent this year also, and we saw no interesting northern owls this winter either.

We did see one bald eagle high up over the hills a few days ago, our first since last year.

Anyway, I'm glad this thread has begun, and hope to see and report something more interesting this year than last. Right now, we're visiting Georgia, so perhaps we'll see something unusual down here.

So far the only interesting things here have been mockingbirds, which are pretty exotic to us northerners. They certainly are fun to listen to.

 

[Kotatsu]

Nice combo today at Hornborgasjön, Sweden:
Mute Swan Cygnus olor
Tundra Swan Cygnus columbianus
Whooper Swan Cygnus cygnus
Canada Goose Branta canadensis
Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis
Greylag Goose Anser anser
Bean Goose Anser fabalis
White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons
Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus
Pink-footed Goose Anser brachyrhynchus

That is, all swans and geese of Europe except the Brent Goose Branta bernicla and the Red-breasted Goose Branta ruficollis. Also lots of grebes, ducks, Kingfisher, adder, two foxes, a mink, and an unidentified trilobite.

 

[Kotatsu]

Small trip this morning:
Bittern Botaurus stellatus
Green Woodpecker Picus viridis
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos minor
Woodcock Scolopax rusticola
Grey wagtail Motacilla cinerea
Tawny Owl Strix aluco -- five singing at simultaneously!
Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita

I forgot to mention: we also has a quite likely, but never properly identified, Little Bunting Emberiza pusilla yesterday... extremely small, with the correct head and back patterns, and a very short bill. Why didn't we identify it properly? Because a sudden snow storm had piled up a lot of snow on all our binoculars, and they were all wet and horrible...

 

[Tricky]

Spooooooon!

 

[davefoc]

wow

 

[Kotatsu]

One very nice observation yesterday:
Great Grey Owl Strix nebulosa
Apparently second record in this part of Sweden ever. Was sitting on a moor just east of town, and is likely still there.

 

[EHocking]

<envy> </envy>
Nice one.

Good to see you back at the forum and congrats on your paper!!

 

[Kotatsu]

<envy> </envy>
Nice one.

There's plenty of them around here at the moment (well, in Southern Sweden), so if you just take a few days off from bird watching in Nigeria, St. Lucia, and every other warm and nice place and come up here, we could go find some^^.

Good to see you back at the forum and congrats on your paper!!

Thank you. Maybe you'll be interested to know that I've been offered a Post-doc at the University of Utah, but I know no details so far... working with lice of passerines (mainly) for 1-1.5 years. Really hope I'll be able to go.

 

[Kestrel]

A photo from last week. It must be spring, the Cormorant's are back in the Denver area:

Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus

 

[dasmiller]

Don't have the energy to compile the full list, but I was at the Shaw Nature Reserve near Gray Summit, Missouri on March 25th, and saw a few birds. One notable bird was this Brown Creeper Certia americana:

This was an unsually difficult bird to photograph (hence the dubious picture quality) because it wouldn't hold still. If you haven't seen one in action, it hops up the trunk of a tree, looking for edible things in the bark. I watched this one run up several trees, spending maybe 10 or 15 seconds per tree. The movement wasn't smooth enough to track, and it never paused long enough for me to stabilize the camera, so I have a lot of blurred pictures of this bird despite the fact that I was reasonably close.

ETA: Same trip, a Brown Thrasher Toxosoma rufum (I'd posted this in the pictures thread a few days ago)

or on Flickr

In marked contrast to the brown creeper, the thrasher was quite obliging and held still in plain view (and in direct sunlight!) while I took several pictures.

 

[portlandatheist]

This is my first year birding so I'm a total noob. I have a few birds I have yet to identify to add to this list once I figure it out. Maybe I can post them later and get some input. I apologize for the poor formatting. These were all spotted in Oregon, mostly near Portland

Date Species Location Photo?
2/19/2012 American Coot Crystal Springs yes
2/19/2012 American Crow Backyard no
3/11/2012 American Kestrel Prescott Beach Park Yes
2/24/2012 American Robin Sauive Island Yes
2/19/2012 American Wigeon Crystal Springs Yes
3/3/2012 Anna's Hummingbird Reed College No
2/24/2012 Bald Eagle Sauive Island Yes
2/19/2012 Black-Capped chickadee Oaks Bottom Yes
3/9/2012 Bufflehead Fort Stevens Yes
2/24/2012 Canadian Goose Sauive Island Yes
2/25/2012 Dark-eyed Junco Oaks Bottom Yes
2/19/2012 Double-Crested Cormorant Crystal Springs Yes
2/19/2012 Downy Woodpecker Oaks Bottom Yes
3/10/2012 European Starlin Seaside, OR Yes
2/19/2012 Glaucous-Winged Gull Crystal Springs Yes
2/24/2012 Great blue Heron Sauive Island Yes
2/24/2012 Great Egret Sauive Island Yes
2/19/2012 Mallard Crystal Springs Yes
2/12/2012 Northern Flicker Backyard Yes
2/19/2012 Pied-Billed Grebe Crystal Springs Yes
2/24/2012 Red-tailed Hawk Sauive Island Yes
3/11/2012 Red-Winged Blackbird Prescott Beach Park Yes
2/25/2012 Rock Pigeon Crystal Springs Yes
2/19/2012 Song Sparrow Backyard Yes
2/19/2012 Steller's Jay Backyard No
3/11/2012 Tundra Swan Prescott Beach Park No
3/11/2012 Violet-Green Swallow Prescott Beach Park Yes
3/10/2012 Western Gull Fort Steven Yes
2/28/2012 Western Scrub Jay Backyard Yes
2/19/2012 Wood Duck Crystal Springs Yes

 

[Tricky]

Immature Little Blue Heron in flight on Jefferson Island, Louisiana. Still in color change.

 

[Tricky]

Laughing Gull. Common as dirt, I know, but they're in full mating colors right now. Look how red his beak is on the inside.
(He was asking for more pizza, saying "Mine, mine, mine.)

 

[Tricky]

Also lots of grebes, ducks, Kingfisher, adder, two foxes, a mink, and an unidentified trilobite.

Live???!!!!