Here goes. Will try to post in date and time order but there is a reason I was a failure as a file clerk:>) Also, I did not attempt to look up the links in various posts and restore them.



The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3691174
Posted By: maeve
05-Jan-15 - 07:59 AM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Raptor began this Mudcat tradition, and Janie hoped someone would start the New Year's thread for 2015, so here it is. Post about your yard bird list, tell us what you've seen away from home, ponder bird behavior, but do stop in when you can, and we can all enlarge our understanding of the feathered jewels of the natural world.

    Maeve

    PS Last year's birdwatching thread is here:Birdwatching 2014

    It began here: Birdwatching (First thread, 2002)


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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3691217
Posted By: Rapparee
05-Jan-15 - 09:17 AM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Does seeing a pterodactyl count? I think I saw one yesterday, but it might have been a raven.
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3691234
Posted By: maeve
05-Jan-15 - 10:11 AM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Was it a ravin' pterodactyl?

    Ever heard a Great Blue Heron's call echo across a northern lake? Quite pterodactylish.
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3691345
Posted By: Charmion
05-Jan-15 - 03:20 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Nothin' visible here in downtown Ottawa but crows, observed with great fascination by the cats.

    A large maple tree across the street accommodates a whole murder of the beasts, and at this time of year they huddle in its branches with their feathers fluffed against the wind and an unmistakable air of anticipation -- garbage day tomorrow!

    In fact, the neighbourhood crows are the reason for my tardy performance in putting out the garbage every week. Anything the least bit interesting that hits the street in a plastic bag is located and promptly hauled out with maximum mess.

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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3691479
Posted By: Janie
05-Jan-15 - 10:59 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Thanks for starting this, maeve.

    I need to figure out a good excuse to spring for the cost of a set of fair to middling binoculars. Not for going out into the field, just to make out enough detail for birds around the yard and at the feeders. I don't go birding, just watch what is in my yard, and between the permanent screens in my windows and the limits of corrective lenses at my age, even 30-40 ft away is too far to see with any detail for all the "little brownish/grayish birds" that are not particularly distinctive in their plumage and small details like eye rings are important to identify.

    In the scheme of things, a minor problem to be concerned about.


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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3691487
Posted By: maeve
05-Jan-15 - 11:40 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Janie, the reason you need some good binoculars or a scope is either one will give you pleasure. That's sufficient.

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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3695223
Posted By: Janie
18-Jan-15 - 08:34 AM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Just saw my first ever Red-Headed Woodpecker. A juvenile.
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3695364
Posted By: Steve Shaw
18-Jan-15 - 08:44 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    To Janie. Get yourself a pair of Olympus 8x25 PCI binoculars. They are cheap, have superb optics, won't quiver when hand-held and they'll fit in your pocket. Best thing I ever bought!

    We had a grey wagtail in our garden today, first ever sighting (in 28 years!) of one of those. Wrong location, wrong habitat, but don't tell the bird that!
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3695366
Posted By: Steve Shaw
18-Jan-15 - 08:48 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    I should have added that those bins are fantastic for spec-wearers (such as myself), or for non-spec-wearers equally. You either pull out the eye cups or push them in, as required. Bingo!

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he Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3695378
Posted By: GUEST,leeneia
18-Jan-15 - 11:13 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Last week we had an unusual siting - a Cooper's hawk, sunning itself in a redbud tree in the neighbor's yard. This is an uncommon bird, according to our bird book, but it is more than uncommon in the heart of the city, where I live.

    My husband got some good photos and sent them out in an e-mail to all the birdwatchers we know. If only it would settle down here and live off the pigeons...
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3695471
Posted By: Janie
19-Jan-15 - 06:53 AM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Thanks, Steve.

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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3695542
Posted By: GUEST,gillymor
19-Jan-15 - 10:57 AM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Kayaking in Carl Johnson State Park SW FL this weekend inside a gulf coast barrier island:
    Double Crested Cormorant
    Several Great White Heron (and a blue morph)
    Night Heron and a Green Heron
    Several Osprey
    Black and Turkey Vultures riding the wind.
    Numerous Terns and a few Brown Pelicans fishing.

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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3695875
Posted By: Rapparee
20-Jan-15 - 10:28 AM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    A Northern Harrier has been hanging about, watching the squirrels, hoping they let their guard down.
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3695970
Posted By: maeve
20-Jan-15 - 03:15 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Mostly American Goldfinches in droves, many Black-capped chickadees of course, Hairy and Downy woodpeckers, both red (I grew up calling them rosy) and common nuthatches...

    And a pair of ravens wheeling, circling, loving the updraft over our orchard.

    Janie- I have no bins recommendation 'cause I can't afford any, but Steve's sounds good! Amazon had a used/refurbished pair at about half price. I'd love to see one of your red-headed woodpeckers!

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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3696853
Posted By: GUEST,Arkie
23-Jan-15 - 05:22 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    The Cornell bird cam now showing is on an owl nesting in Georgia. The owl has two eggs which should hatch in about two weeks. Have to admit not much happening right now. Just an owl in a tree top protecting her eggs from wind and rain. Still I enjoy checking on her now and then. There is a pretty strong wind blowing at this moment and the tree has a lot of movement.

    Owl Nest
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3696985
Posted By: maeve
24-Jan-15 - 09:39 AM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Some bird watchers here might find the Feather Atlas interesting and useful.
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3699967
Posted By: GUEST,Arkie
03-Feb-15 - 12:55 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    There was a small pip or crack on one Mrs. Owl's eggs this morning. She is still sitting on the nest so it will be hard to get a peek.

    Bird Cam
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3700109
Posted By: GUEST,gillymor
03-Feb-15 - 07:45 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Thanks for the link Maeve, fascinating.
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3700123
Posted By: GUEST,Arkie
03-Feb-15 - 08:52 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    There is now a little owl in the nest.
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3700280
Posted By: OldNicKilby
04-Feb-15 - 09:31 AM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    We are in the U K Midlands about 90 miles North of London. In the last week we have had in the garden: _
    Wrens, Sparrows, Robins,Bull Finch's Chaffinch's, Long Tail Tits Blackbirds, Thrush's, Wood Pecker's Field Fare's, Red wing's, Magpie's,
    Gold Finch's. Dove's Pigeon's '
    Then as "Fly overs" Heron, Cormorant's Geese Swan's
    Thankfully no bloody Starling's
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3700454
Posted By: Joe Offer
04-Feb-15 - 11:45 PM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    My wife and I got a great start on our birdwatching this year. We went to Florida January 10-20, and spent almost a week in the Everglades. My best photos are here (click).

    I went to the Everglades once before, during summer and just at the end of a drought, and I was thoroughly unimpressed. But in January, the birds were amazing. I think the most amazing sight was plain old American coots, thousands of them, gathered in a lake in Everglades National Park. Coots don't fly very well, but it sure was fun watching them try.

    -Joe-
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The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3700583
Posted By: GUEST,Jon
05-Feb-15 - 09:54 AM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    The starling is a bird I have never seen in my part (near Cromer) of North Norfolk.
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he Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156504   Message #3700587
Posted By: Steve Shaw
05-Feb-15 - 10:08 AM
Thread Name: BS: Birdwatching 2015
Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2015

    Somebody up there must have been listening: just seen me first long-tailed tit of the season! Mr Woodpecker and a bloody squirrel (one of those grey foreigners, of course, though I'm not a racist) have also been around today. Starlings? We get a few on the feeders and on the ground, but the big flocks tend to stay in the fields around us. They are very smart birds, imitating other birds expertly (once thought I'd heard a curlew on me nut feeder!), and they quickly learn how to use the feeders. They're a vulnerable species too, don't forget. I love starlings!