Bird Watching

[Shooby]

  Yesterday i had a black and white warbler at my window sill.  First time i have ever really seen one.  So far in my bird watching travels i have seen:

male and female cardinals
male and female bluejays
Junco - male and female
White breasted nuthatch
Brown headed cowbird male and female
Chickadee
mourning doves
Kill deer ( I even watched one doing the "broken wing" act).
rose breasted Grossbeak
Red winged blackbird
Grackle
sparrows
tuffed titmouse


What birds have you seen?

[mmhmm]

We have so many here the list would be pretty long, I'm afraid.  So many over-winter.  My late husband enjoyed watching the birds and got a marvelous Audubon book with pictures and information on them.  He followed their ins and outs in the neighborhood and set up our bird feeding system.  The cats continue his mission to keep track of them.

All seen in both genders:

cardinals

woodpeckers

flickers

nuthatches

chickadees

thrashers

starlings

grackles

juncos

finches

wrens

warblers

crows

ravens

mockingbirds

redwing blackbirds

sparrows

titmice

doves

hawks

ducks

geese

bluejays

robins

kingfishers

[Artemis Windsong]

The birds are coming.  The birds are coming back.

[thyme4change]

There is a roadrunner in my neighborhood.

Beep Beep

[kittensaver]

I live on the West Coast, and the bird variety here is astounding. My favorites are the bright blue scrub jay, and the mourning doves .

[Artemis Windsong]

The mourning doves have returned just in time for a blizzard.  They do have a huge pine to protect them.

[Shooby]

Last year i was up close and personal with a pileated woodpecker.  Those are big birds!

[The Captain]

We've seen bald eagles and had an osprey nesting in one of our trees.  The osprey is not commonly seen around here according to the folks at wild birds inc.

We've also had a great horned owl nest in one of our tree hollows and I've seen a short eared owl.

We live near a nature preserve so we see a lot of different birds including many birds of prey.

I'm looking at my bird feeder right now and see male and female cardinals, mourning doves, goldfinches (in winter colors) a downy woodpecker and a dark-eyed junco.

There's one other I can't identify and need to get my bird book out to see if it's what I think it is.

[mmhmm]

Mar 5, 2013 7:33:48 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Last year i was up close and personal with a pileated woodpecker.  Those are big birds!

They certainly are!  They can make a major hole in a tree, too!

[Shooby]

  We have bald eagles at our local dam/park.   They nest there and you can see them flying overhead sometimes.  I have never really seen an owl, maybe once that i can recall.  I just find birds to be amazing and beautiful creatures.  When went to Orlando we went to several bird shows.  One at Disney, one at Seaworld and another at Discovery Cove.  They had some amazing and beautiful tropical birds.

[mmhmm]

They are beautiful, Shooby.  We enjoyed aviaries all over the world and saw many unusual birds.  We've got barn owls in the forest behind us.  Don't ask me why they're not in a barn somewhere, but my SIL said they're barn owls and they sure look like the picture of a barn owl in my "bird book".  We have bald eagles here, as well; albeit, not a lot of them.  There are more nearer the coast.  We even have the rare golden eagles, but I've never actually seen one, except at zoos.  


Had quite a long conversation with a harpy eagle at the zoo in Sydney, Australia.  Drew quite a crowd, I'm afraid, and embarrassed my husband nearly to tears.  They were re-doing the eagle's habitat and had placed the bird in a relatively small cage across from the habitat while the renovations were being done.  There was a large tree branch for the bird to sit on, but the cage wasn't really big enough for the huge creature to actually fly about.  We stopped to look for a moment and my husband crossed the path to look at the regular habitat (I was furious because the bird was in such a cramped place (it wasn't tiny but the bird was huge!)  The eagle, who had  been sitting quietly on the big branch, said "squawk".  I squawked back.  Bird cocked its head and looked at me a bit askance, then hopped down from the branch and marched over to stand in front of me.  "Squawk squawk", it said.  I answered.  A couple of people stopped to watch the show.  I'm hunkered down in front of the eagle, squawking my head off.  The eagle continued to squawk back.  Once he'd had his say (and too many people had gathered for his liking), he returned to his branch and turned his back on the whole mess.  We got quite a laugh out of that memory for many years.  They did finish the habitat soon after we visited, thankfully.  What a beautiful creature he was!

[jackthelad]

I had to give up bird watching, at my age it isn't good for you, especially watching the Marilyn Monroe types. Better for the heart if you take up fishing, then again, maybe not, especially if you get a big one on the end of your line.  

[mmhmm]

ROFL, jack!  You might want to try watching the small, feathered sort of birds ... you know, the ones that fly around in the sky.  They're a lot easier on the ol' ticker. 

[genericname]

I'm not a bird watcher per-se, but I enjoy watching the birds around when I am running. The best things I've seen this season are a beautiful bald eagle soaring and a pheasant that scared up and took flight on the side of the trail I was running. They are both beautiful animals.

[Deleted]

They are coming



www.hummingbirds.net/map.html

[Peace Of Mind]

LOL Jackthelad!   

cardinals

woodpeckers

nuthatches

chickadees

thrashers

grackles

finches

wrens

crows

mockingbirds

redwing blackbirds

sparrows

titmice

doves

hawks

ducks

geese - now and then

bluejays used to but haven't seen him lately

Eagles
Sandhill Cranes
Wood Storks
Blue and White Herons (and about 3 other kinds I can't think of right now)
Ibis
Osprey
Killdeer

kingfishers
Quail and Wild turkeys (now and then)
Humming Birds...

We live on a good size pond and we also feed them so we see many kinds often.

[mmhmm]

The cardinals have chosen the holly tree in front of my dining room window as the perfect place to raise a family, I'm afraid.  They're flinging themselves at my dining room window and chirping half the darned night!  Bird watching, eh?  I wonder if cardinal stew would be tasty .....

[Artemis Windsong]

This is very sad.

bismarcktribune.com/lifestyles/outdoors/the-great-warbler-fallout/article_d060144e-e41c-11e2-b34e-0019bb2963f4.html

[Artemis Windsong]

It is the deep dark dead of winter here and I saw a dove.  Actually twice.  One was carrying a piece of holly.

Is there an Holiday Bird Count in your area?

[Deleted]

Hummingbirds are still here. I almost didn't refill the feeders as I had not heard or seen them in a couple days.

I did fill it and saw one today. I will miss them but wish they'd get going. It was pretty cold last night.

[NoNamePerson]

Feb 27, 2013 16:51:33 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

There is a roadrunner in my neighborhood.

Beep Beep

I saw my first roadrunner when I was in Austin. Ran across the road and I pulled over to watch it running across a field. One of my favorite cartoon characters.  Hey, I'm easily amused