Bird Watching

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The grackle.

I wish I could say I was in love with his bird, but I can't. I like them, but not so many at the same time..

The starling..

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blocked due to malware/_oGFgeKVGoXg/SoYAg0lZ2EI/AAAAAAAAEP8/jrC9BM21Ky0/s400/Red-Crested+Cardinal.jpg[/img] The exotic red-crested cardinal..

The exotic pigeon. Now that is not a bad looking pigeon at all.

Both species are native to Hawaii.

[Artemis Windsong]

Great pix. Thanks. Our black sunflower feeders are going down as fast as McD's sells hamburgers. Maybe faster. The evening grossbeak is back. DH said an oriole had eaten some seeds and was looking for a nectar feeder.

The bird bath needs to be filled more often. I leave some dirt in the bottom so the little birds can see it.

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Rose-breasted Grosbeak

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Oriole

[moxie]

Excuse me...can you direct me to the squirrel watching thread?

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May 19, 2012 17:29:54 GMT -5 @moxie said:

Excuse me...can you direct me to the squirrel watching thread?

Have no idea..

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Obviously this is a rendition (I didn't have my phone at the ready), but I saw a blue jay and a cardinal perching, not only on the same tree, but on the same branch.

Mind you, it was morning so I could have been seeing things, but no.

Just beautiful.

[busymom]

Xmascookie, I think I may know what your mystery bird is. Your description of that repetitive high & lower note that sounds like "cuckoo" MIGHT be a chickadee. We've got them around here, and they like to sing in the morning, and late in the day.

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The Chickadee

Obviously this is a rendition (I didn't have my phone at the ready), but I saw a blue jay and a cardinal perching, not only on the same tree, but on the same branch.Mind you, it was morning so I could have been seeing things, but no.

Just beautiful.

Robert.. Two of my favorites. The cardinal & the blue jay..

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to

Yes, they are beautiful and it seemed so strange, but so perfectly right.

[moxie]

I am fascinated by woodpeckers...only when they are pecking at trees, NOT my cedar siding!

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May 19, 2012 18:15:21 GMT -5 busymom said:

Xmascookie, I think I may know what your mystery bird is. Your description of that repetitive high & lower note that sounds like "cuckoo" MIGHT be a chickadee. We've got them around here, and they like to sing in the morning, and late in the day.

Thanks busymom, maybe it is a chickadee. We have lots of those and I have given up on spotting it now that the trees are all leafed out.
A chickadee took over the bluebird house we put up and I was determined to kick her out before she laid eggs because I really want to attract the bluebirds. Until I opened the box and saw the sweetest little nest, lined with fur (rabbit, maybe)and anyway so soft, could not get rid of it so she had her little family in there.

A pair of cardinals had a nest in our giant lilac bush. Two babies. One came out over a week ago and I did not hear any peeps from the nest all day after it came out and did not see the parents going back to it so I had my husband look and there was a dead baby in there. He got rid of the nest a couple days later.
The baby that came out could not fly and was on the ground for two whole days. Parents were very protective of it while I chased the neighborhood cats away.
Today I saw the pair back in the lilac and I was feeling bad that we took away the whole nest but it looks like they are building a new one.

I bought an oriole feeder today too. Hope they find it!

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May 20, 2012 18:10:20 GMT -5 Robert not Bobby said:

to

Yes, they are beautiful and it seemed so strange, but so perfectly right.

Maybe a little bit of opposite attraction going on?

May 20, 2012 18:36:36 GMT -5 @moxie said:

I am fascinated by woodpeckers...only when they are pecking at trees, NOT my cedar siding!

Moxie, I don't blame you. They can do a lot of damage.

I have an annual woodpecker who comes carving out the same tree every year.. He has been for the past 12 years or so. This year I used the opening as a planter for the bright orange Impatiens.. The contrasting colors against the bark is kinda pretty.



The Woodpecker

[ktunes]

finally got some photos... ;D





i'll try to get some clearer ones...i can hear them outside right now...

[Deleted]

Ktunes. What kind of bird is it? I want to say eaglet maybe?

Cool pictures. I think they are pretty good takes being you were able to get that close.

[ktunes]

those are our resident hawks....according to what i read, they are blackish in color for the first year...so those are the recent hatch-lings...

[Artemis Windsong]

Ktunes - my guess is a female Northern Harrier if it's 18 - 22". My 2nd guess would be a female Merlin 10-12". The white on the tip of the square tail leans more toward the (f) merlin.

I have learned my lesson and usually say there's a hawk.

[Artemis Windsong]

I had an unusual periferal vision sighting of what appeared to be a small scissor-tail fly catcher feasting on a freshly killed squirrell. It was the size of and colored like a female house finch. A bit more rounded body. The scissor-tail fly catcher's range is not this far north.

I knew I needed to invest in some fancy facial recognition software for the bird world!

[ktunes]

those are the new borns...i an trying to get a picture of the mom but she is much more elusive...if i had a zoom or telephoto lens i could get some good shots...

i've watched the mom thru binoculars...she is quite a bit larger and is more redish, rust colored...

[busymom]

I just spotted a red-headed woodpecker in our neighborhood this week! (I've heard them pecking away, so I was thrilled to finally see one.)


We've got another nest in our bluebird house. (And yes, the bluebirds own the nest.)

[Artemis Windsong]

You have two bluebirds in one nest site?

I will try to get the hybrid sharptail grouse/sage grouse photo to show up. If not, here's the link.

bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/bismarcktribune.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/8a/f8a29d92-a46c-11e0-9404-001cc4c03286/4e0eadebb47e2.preview-300.jpg

[jemima]

Ok, I need some help with a bird sound. Which bird sings a sweet song that sounds like ''koo koo yousaf koo''? I would appreciate it if anyone knew the name of that bird.

[busymom]

I didn't state that well. I've got one pair of bluebirds and one nest. I'm just excited because they've actually fought off other birds to get their bluebird house. We seem to be getting the same family every year (or their babies come back). In the fall, it's really cool to watch, because however many babies they raise every year come back to the bluebird house every fall & hang around our yard for a day in a group. It's almost like the parents are telling them "remember this is home", and then they fly off in a group, and I don't see any bluebirds again until spring. Part of a migration ritual, maybe? They usually raise 2 batches of babies in the nest. One year when there was a drought in the summer, and some babies died, they had a 3rd batch of babies. They're fun to watch.

[Artemis Windsong]

That sounds like a mourning dove.

www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/song.html

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I did a lot of bird watching over the weekend. All of them were spectacular. I am getting better at recognition and picking out identifying markers to look up. DH is also getting faster at identifying.

[Deleted]

Busymom.. Loved reading your little bluebird account.

For you..

[Deleted]

Oh, Ktunes.. I just realized you'd gotten back to me. I hope you are able to capture that elusive mama hawk so we can see her too..

[busymom]

Thank you for the bluebird picture heart2heart!


There are lots of goldfinches at our feeder this morning. Looks like they were dieting this weekend, & are making up for it now!

[Artemis Windsong]

I am flabbergasted that there is actually a television show about bird watching. Today they did owl species in Botswanna. I only caught about 5 minutes of the show. One of the owls sounds like a pig. Africa is another one of those "put the different animals here". Like Australia.

[Artemis Windsong]

From the library, I checked out The Big Year movie about competitive bird watching. It was supposed to be a comedy but I found it more a life-long passion for birds and integrity in actually seeing the bird. The magazine Birding publishes a list of the life listers, and how they placed that calendar year. I found out some things and places about birds that I didn't know. At the end, the photos of some 750 birds are shown.