About Birds

[jal_ut]

Today, the ever present Magpie and House Sparrows. Also a robin Red-winged black bird, and Eu Dove.

[Taiji]

One bird that I have sorely missed this year is the Western Bluebird. Last year they were so abundant and feasted on the grasshoppers through the spring, summer and fall. They would sit on the garden fenceposts and swoop down to get some. This year have only seen maybe 2 or 3. Don't know what's going on.

Last year when I would mow the big field next to our house the grasshoppers would be everywhere (along with little bits of chopped up grasshoppers) and the bluebirds would simply swarm down in a feeding frenzy. This year they did not do that at all. The grasshoppers are as abundant as last year though.

[ElizabethB]

Hi All,

Without my huge oak tree I do not have the number of birds that I used to have.

The Blue Jays, Grackles and Mocking Birds are always around. I really enjoy listening to the Mocking birds. House Wrens nest under the patio cover. I have had a few Hummingbirds. Not the numbers that I had before. I have some volunteer Mexican Milkweed that the Monarch Butterflies have visited. I have yet to see the Cardinals but I hear them. Nor have I seen the Red Breasted Hawks. They do reside here year round but I only see them in the cooler months. The only time I see Robins is when I visit my Sister. She lives on 5 acres and has a 35 acre horse farm. They like the open spaces and do not show up in town.

We have lots of Mourning Doves. I scatter bird seed in the yard. The Doves show up early morning and late afternoon to feed. They show up by the dozen. I can tell which are wild Doves and which are neighborhood Doves. If I open the back door the wild Doves scatter. The neighborhood Doves ignore me and continue eating.

I had a great experience with my Doves this year.

We have a metal carport cover. Early this year a pair of Mourning Doves built a nest on the ledge of the front, outside corner of the carport cover. Our first concern was that they would startle when we started our vehicles. They just ignored us.

I did a little research. Mama Dove lays 2 white eggs. ! day one 1 day two. Daddy Dove sits on the nest during the day. Mama Dove sits at night. The eggs take about 12 days to hatch. Once hatched both parents feed the babies. If the babies have not flown the coup at 12 days the parents will stop feeding them.

Back to the nesting couple. Both eggs hatched. We saw the babies for a day or two after they left the nest. I don't know where they went from there.

A few weeks later Mama laid another pair of eggs. All was good until we had a tremendous lightning/thunder storm. The lightning was so close that the hair on my arms stood up. I was inside the house. The next morning I found the eggs on the ground.

A few weeks later Mama laid another pair of eggs. After 24 days (12 to hatch and 12 to get thrown out of the nest) we saw the young birds on the patio. They stayed on the patio for 2 or 3 weeks. I put out food and water. They spent a lot of time grooming themselves - plucking out the baby feathers. The parents visited 3 or 4 times a day. The young ones would rush to the parents and feed from their beaks. I thought that the parents were bringing insects or worms. Not so. They produce a fluid (milk) in their craw. That is what the young ones are feeding on.

Mama laid a 4th time. She only had one egg. This young one remained on the patio for a week or 2 like the previous pair.

It was so much fun watching nature at work. I am looking forward to next year. Mourning Doves frequently return to the previous year's nest.

[Gary350]

I love the birds. I see lots of birds that i don't know by name. I need a better camera. I have not used my old Nikon F or Nikon F2 in years. Robins arrive here in April and gone Sept. Wrens arrive late mid May and are gone by Sept. Doves arrive early May and gone by Sept. Red birds are here in April and gone late Sept. Birds all appear to be gone now.

[digitS']

Looks like you did dang good getting that picture, Gary!

I saw a Pileated Woodpecker, Thursday. It would have been impossible for me to get a picture of it. It was flying - I think it went through some trees on the bank and, right across a river.

Yeah. It was flying! Nobody ... uh, could have ... well, seems that some people can ... That's a real good picture, Gary.

Steve

[ButterflyLady29]

Lovely pictures Gary. That red-headed woodpecker shot is awesome!

I saw a whole flock of robins yesterday. They've been stuffing themselves on privet honeysuckle berries, the junk food of the berry world.

My suet feeder is now clean and ready to be filled and put outside. Yes, I should have cleaned it in the spring. Anyway, I need to find a good place to set it. I want to have it closer to the house so I can do some winter bird photography. My hobbies have been seriously neglected over the past few years and I'm ready to get back into it.

[jal_ut]

I put some seed out. I use a mixture of sunflower. cracked corn, and millet with a handful of catfood tossed in for the Magpies.

I am seeing about 50 English Sparrows, 2 Juncos, 2 House Finches, 25 Eu Doves, no magpies yet. Seems odd on the Juncos and House Finches. Used to get around 30 or more of each of those.

[jal_ut]

[Gary350]

James, We Brake for Birds, is funny. I usually honk my horn at birds and squirrels. I need to be careful honking at squirrels they get confused they run one direction then change their mind and run the opposite direction I have to hit the brakes to keep from getting squirrel road pizza. Vultures are not scared of the horn or the vehicle they walk off to one side of the road as the vehicles passes then they walk back to their road kill dinner. I bought a 30 lb bag of birds seed at Farmers Co-op yesterday $6.99 and another bag to give my Son for Christmas.

[tomf]

Gary I also have an old Nikon F that I do not use, I use a 200 now. I want a full frame camera although, but the cost for what I want makes it on the wish list and not on the own list.

[ButterflyLady29]

A couple days ago there was a hawk that swooped down on my little group at the feeder. I didn't see if it caught anything or not. I hope it catches a bunch of those pesky House Sparrows and leaves my little wrens alone.

[kayjay]

I'm a bit of an urban bird nerd.

Where I am now is an asphalt wasteland, and I typically only attract house sparrows to the feeder. I'll get robins in the yard when there are worms to be had, juncos (right now), mourning doves pop in, and I'll hear the odd blue jay and cardinal. There are dozens of seagulls in the middle of the parking lot at the garbage dumpsters. The juncos and sparrows seem to love my little mulberry tree. I'm not sure what they're picking at, or maybe they just like the shelter.

I need to move the feeder because I'm tired of weeding millet out of the veggie patch!

At my old house in another city, even though I was downtown, I was on a block with old trees so I saw more birds. I got downy woodpeckers at that feeder, and I used to like hanging out in the yard with a bag of unsalted in-shell peanuts and toss some to blue jays and cardinals. The jays and cards nested nearby and the fledglings hung out in my yard:

BlueJay1.jpg (91.75 KiB) Viewed 556 times

I had some really good shots of the cardinal fledgling and I think I lost them a few computers ago. I can't believe I didn't upload them somewhere, not even the birding forum I was on. PSA: back up your valuable files!

Most interesting bird I saw was a red-shouldered hawk, and it was funny, the morning I saw it, I had noticed that the yard was silent and devoid of (other) birds. I also got a hummingbird once, checking out my bright purple wave petunias. It scared the crap out of me because it was right beside me, and my instant reaction was that I thought it was a huge insect!! Never saw it again.

My parents lived way out in the woods North of Toronto, and they had all kinds of interesting birds - pileated woodpeckers, owls, and hummers in addition to the usual. There was a woodpecker that really enjoyed drumming on their satellite dish all day.

Fave bird I saw while traveling: egrets in Florida, I think just because I was surprised to see them. I was walking from Bright House Field in Clearwater back to my hotel, and there was sort of a swampy area, and there they were. I couldn't whip out my camera fast enough. Haha, I was all Canadian tourist, "OMG, the seagulls in America are HUGE!"

[applestar]

[Rose bloom]

Kayjay, I'll take your millet plants if you don't want them My rosella and doves would go crazy for them.

[pow wow]

Finally some warm Pacific air has swooped down from the Rocky Mountains! A week of above freezing temps. I just had to get on my bike and head down the hill to the river and fish hatchery. I remembered to bring some seeds for the hungry birds and the Chickadees and Woodpeckers were all over me. Surprised I was able to feed out of one hand while taking videos and pics with the other.

The river is mostly frozen over but the stream out of the fish hatchery stays thawed all winter and the ducks take advantage of that, not bothering to winter down south. So here's what I was up to on my bike ride yesterday.








Couple of videos of me hand feeding

http://vid899.photobucket.com/albums/ac ... ukrlaz.mp4

http://vid899.photobucket.com/albums/ac ... 2qtjig.mp4