BS: Birdwatching 2012

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Beer
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 06:56 AM

Arkie,
That is very interesting. The word "evolution" comes to mind. Are you say maeve that as the bird matures the red spot would move down? Could be I guess.
Ad.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Beer
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 07:06 AM

The "Acorn Woodpecker" come close.
We are having fun watching two new nester's. The House Wren is a treat and the Great Crested Flycatcher decided to take up residency.
ad.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: maeve
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 07:51 AM

Yes, Adrien. The placement of the red spot changes as the Downy matures and grows adult plumage. It's common for young birds to have quite different plumage from the adults- think of ducklings and chicks in comparison to mature ducks and chickens.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: My guru always said
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 10:41 AM

Suddenly this morning, a young male Sparrowhawk landed in our birdbath with one of our Great Tits in his claws. He looked around smugly for a while, long enough for me to note his features for later identification, and then flew off carrying his prey. Gobsmacked!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Arkie
Date: 07 Jun 12 - 11:35 AM

Thanks for comments. Looks like maeve nailed it. I suspected as much but have had hybrid juncos and who knows what else. In the link below it looks like the red cap has moved a bit to the back.

Father and son

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: ragdall
Date: 10 Jun 12 - 09:22 PM

Arkie,
Your woodpecker looks like a Downy to me.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Arkie
Date: 10 Jun 12 - 11:40 PM

I am now convinced that the woodpecker is a juvenile Downy. There have been several juveniles at the feeder the past couple of weeks.

I have had more than 20 house sparrows devouring all my sunflower seeds and suet this summer. They empty the feeders in less than a day and eat a cake of suet every day. I finally quit putting out sunflower seed. I had read that house sparrows do not eat sunflower seed, by apparently these Ozark sparrows can't read. I have started to use a mixture of nuts, seed, and fruit and all the other birds except for the house finches and house sparrows don't mind the change. I am now putting out a lot less food. The woodpeckers that enjoyed the suet are fine with the new seed mixture so we will see how it goes. Now if the house sparrows would just move on to someone else's yard that would be even better. I have been removing their nest from the bluebird boxes and raised a family of bluebirds this spring. I still have some house sparrows in the gourds I put up for Purple Martins and there are some nesting along with Martins in the Martin house.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Arkie
Date: 17 Jun 12 - 10:07 AM

Another bird I cannot identify. Not all that unusual which makes ID a little harder. This bird is not a regular in my yard.   Hope someone here can help.

Unidentified

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Bettynh
Date: 17 Jun 12 - 12:29 PM

A mockingbird has been singing for the last week or so around the clock. Fortunately, he's about a block away. When he chose to sing from my roof, it was hard to sleep.

The Juneberries are ripening - the bush has a constant flow of robins and catbirds. A bird will settle, carefully move to the end of a branch (berries hang off very slim branches) and grab a berry, hopefully before the next arrives to cause a commotion. There are at least two pair of each. I think the catbirds, being slighter, have a bit of advantage. I like the berries ripe, but the birds are harvesting them red. I doubt I'll even find one for a taste, but the entertainment is worth it.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: maeve
Date: 17 Jun 12 - 12:53 PM

Arkie- Looks flycatcher-ish. What flycatchers are in your area?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Raptor
Date: 17 Jun 12 - 03:33 PM

Arkie looks like a phoebe to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 17 Jun 12 - 04:54 PM

Saw a Little Egret today in Lyng (Norfolk UK) down at the watermill. White bird like a miniature heron. They aren't from here but I believe now breed quite a bit in this area. Elegant bird!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 17 Jun 12 - 09:17 PM

It is a female dark-eyed Junco. Possibly a juvenile female, but juveniles are usually a bit duller. Notice the eyes, the shape of the head, and the color and shape of the beak. Phoebes and flycatchers have dark, narrow beaks.

Saw a house wren digging in a planter this weekend. First one I have seen here.

The starlings and grackles are attacking the suet and nuggets with a vengance. I've tried to keep using them because the woodpeckers and bluebirds like them so well, but I'm gonna have to stop, at least for the time being. If I leave them empty for a few days the starlings go away, but within 2 days of filling them, they are back.

I tried one of those suet feeders in a cage that supposedly larger birds can't get at. Other than the Carolina Wrens, the smaller birds wouldn't go through the wire to get to the suet, and the cage isn't enough distance from the suet cake to keep the starlings and grackles from poking their heads through to get at it. And everybody loves the nugget feeders.

There was a terrible ruckus all morning long as juvenile starlings quarreled among themselves over whose turn it was, with a grackle family occasionally coming along to up the ante. The red-bellied woodpeckers were at the nugget feeder early, but were out-competed by the the others, and went elsewhere for the rest of the day.

Yard full of crows this morning, pecking and digging at something on the ground. Not sure if ants were on the move or if they are going after cicadas that are just starting to emerge from the ground.

The housefinches are outcompeting most other birds at most of my sunflower feeders.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Jun 12 - 09:47 PM

The Grey Catbirds are back. I think they're in cahoots with the squirrels and chipmunks, and maybe the mourning doves. The get into the dinner bell feeder and fling seed out until they find something good or give up.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Arkie
Date: 18 Jun 12 - 06:53 PM

Maeve, Raptor, and Janie, thanks for your suggestions. I think I may have come up with an ID which would not have happened without your direction. I think that the bird is a type of flycatcher. We have Scissor-tails in this area and I frequently see one near where I live. I also see another bird I thought to be some type of flycatcher in that area that I have not previously identified. This I believe to be an Eastern Wood-Peewee. The PeeWee has a dark upper bill but lighter lower bill. Also has a little hook on the end of the bill which my visitor seems to have. The bird does look a lot like a junco but is a little longer in the body which does not show up that well in the photo. Also the juncos left this area in March. The bird also resembles a female Purple Martin which I have nesting in in gourds and in a house in my yard. Have seen juveniles sitting on the fence, but never an adult. I have picked up a few juveniles and set them in trees or in a box I put up for that purpose. Once saw a juvenile Martin flutter and climb from the ground to a ring in the fence several inches above the ground. After a bit of rest, it fluttered and climbed a few inches higher. After about 30 minutes it reached the top of the fence and flew off. Thanks again for your help.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 18 Jun 12 - 10:13 PM

Arkie,

You are the person actually seeing the birds, and are the best person to judge. You also get species that I don't see here in the East and that are not in my Peterson's or Audubon field guides. However, all the Peedees, Flycatchers and Pheobes that I have seen or seen in my field guides have dark, beaks, shaped much differently from what I see in your photo. I also realize there is a lot of light reflecting off the beak in the photo, it perhaps is not as light as it appears in the photograph, and the angle may make the beak appear shorter, broader and more wedge-shaped than it is in actuality. (One of the reasons I prefer the Peterson guides, whether it be birds or plants, to the Audubon guides or other guides that use photographs rather than high quality drawings.)

Based solely on the photo, though, I still vote for a slate-colored/dark-eyed junco.

Terrific photos, btw. You and ragdall both take wonderful pictures.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: maeve
Date: 19 Jun 12 - 05:34 AM

I can see why Janie is favoring the female Dark-eyed Junco ID,with its broad pink bill, gray throat and lack of wing bars but the white throat, wing bars, lighter lower/hooked dark upper mandibles, and the migration pattern for juncoes, clinch it for me as an Eastern Wood Pewee.

Both species are very familiar to us here, and online image searches are very helpful in terms of showing multiple individuals of each species, which I personally find of more use than books alone.

Thanks, Arkie.

We have nesting Baltimore Orioles on our land for the first time since we moved here; quite a delight to watch as they remove fecal sacs and bring in tidbits. The nest is in one of the tall Black Cherry trees in the apple orchard. There's also a Red-Shouldered Hawk nesting in the edge of the woods near a seasonal brook, and nesting pair of Bald Eagles has moved into the area (since the power company got permission to remove the years-of-active-nesting Osprey nests) in addition to the usual suspects.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 20 Jun 12 - 05:32 AM

Duh. Gray throat. It is obvious the bird doesn't have the gray throat and upper breast of a junco. Boy, do I feel silly.

Good lesson on "seeing."

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: maeve
Date: 20 Jun 12 - 06:13 AM

We can all use a "lesson in seeing", Janie. No need to feel foolish as far as I can see. I really appreciate it when a person tells how she came to a conclusion; I always learn from it whether I reach the same conclusion or not!

We're putting out extra nectar and oranges this morning as a bird buffet on two scorchingly hot days. In addition to the hummers and orioles, both Downy and Hairy woodpeckers have been sipping at the feeder in recent days. I put the orange slices high up, since the chipmunk and the red squirrels both crave them -I'd rather the birds got the tasty fruit.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Arkie
Date: 20 Jun 12 - 09:40 AM

I asked for observations and opinions and did not provide a very good example, and am grateful for those who made an effort to help. And the suggestions offered were based upon good reasons. No need for anyone to feel silly. While I am still not 100 per cent sure what this little bird is, the suggestions made here have helped me to "see" things I have missed. After listening, reading, and seeing I am now wondering if the bird in question might be a juvenile, which can make identification just a bit more difficult. One reason for the "juvenile theory" is that the bird was sitting on my fence. Adults of this species have never visited my backyard before. The adults that I have seem who resemble this bird have been on fences and wires next to big open hay fields. One bit I read on the phoebe indicated adults have no wing bars but juveniles do have them. Since this bird does not have the oversized head like many flycatchers, I am now wondering if it may be juvenile eastern phoebe, but am wavering between the phoebe, pewee, and something yet unknown.

While it would have been nice to have a consensus of all in agreement as to the the bird's identity, the variety of suggestions has led me on an interesting journey and I do appreciate the offer of help from all of you.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: maeve
Date: 20 Jun 12 - 09:46 AM

Well said, Arkie. I enjoy the looking, the wondering...the journey.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 20 Jun 12 - 10:08 PM

I don't mind feeling silly.

Good object lesson, applicable to much more than bird watching.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 20 Jun 12 - 10:17 PM

Having now studied the bird very carefully, studied the bird guides on my bookshelf and on-line, I am absolutely certain of it's identity.

I am absolutely, 100% I have identified the bird in Arkie's photograph.

It is....drum roll......

A Pretty Bird!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: maeve
Date: 21 Jun 12 - 05:24 AM

Love your sense of humor, Janie! I am in full agreement- it is a Pretty Bird!

Bohemian Waxwings are here looking for berries. We saw an osprey overhead yesterday; we miss the daily flyabouts when Osprey had a nest in the area.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Arkie
Date: 27 Jun 12 - 10:40 PM

I have been having to refill my hummingbird feeder every other day. That seems excessive. Now I know why.

Thief

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: ranger1
Date: 27 Jun 12 - 11:31 PM

Maeve, you can always come visit Wolfe's Neck for your osprey fix. Of our three nesting pairs, one had nest failure (I suspect a mother raccoon to be the culprit), the pair on the island have three robust looking chicks, and the ones by the river have something in the nest, we just don't have the right angle to view them at.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: maeve
Date: 28 Jun 12 - 07:11 AM

Arkie, we've been seeing the same thing with our Downy Woodpeckers and the hummer feeder! The Baltimore Oriole nesting pair should be back sipping once the young'uns fledge.

Thanks, ranger1. We've had a single Osprey visitor here this week, a couple of hours after the nesting eagle pair wheeled over.

March Wrens galore, Ravens, Red-Shouldered Hawks still nesting somewhere nearby, a multiplicity of warblers, flickers, Cardinals, waxwings, Goldfinches, Wood Thrushes, Tufted Titmouse, American Robins, Black-Capped Chickadees, many sparrows, Bobolinks, Killdeer, Crows, Eastern Wood Pewee, Eastern Phoebe...bird haven here.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: maeve
Date: 04 Jul 12 - 03:59 PM

Red-shouldered Hawk nestlings have fledged. American Robins are chasing and cursing one of the good-sized young'uns who is calling for Mama from its perch in a birch near the seasonal brook...just inside the woodland.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: EBarnacle
Date: 25 Jul 12 - 09:30 AM

This Sunday, Lady Hillary and I were at a friend's party. A hummingbird hovered briefly over his garden. Then, on Monday, a similar hummingbird made free with our blossoming hibiscus bushes. As the colors were not bold, I have to assume that both were female ruby throated, especially as they are the only type which seems to be geographically correct.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Arkie
Date: 25 Jul 12 - 03:09 PM

While I wish we had a greater variety of hummingbirds here in the Ozarks, the little Ruby Throats keep me amused and busy filling their feeders. For some reason they have been very active and in a feeding frenzy just before sunset for the past three evenings. Last night all four ports were occupied on the deck feeder, two hummers were waiting their turn and another was hovering at the glass door where I was standing. I though it said they needed another feeder.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 25 Jul 12 - 11:05 PM

This season's batch of juvenile squirrels are proving very inventive and resourceful at the bird feeders. The arrangements that have worked for the past two years (for me and the birds, anyway), are going to have to be revisited.

This has been a remarkably successful breeding and rearing spring and summer for both squirrels and birds in these parts. Continues to be interesting to watch.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 Jul 12 - 06:15 AM

Saw 8 Black Throated Divers (Loons) on our wee loch last week. never seen so many together at once before.
Also a Meadow Pipit has taken to visiting one of our bird tables.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: ranger1
Date: 26 Jul 12 - 08:32 AM

Two of the young osprey started flying last week, waiting for the third any day now. Those are the ones on the island. The mainland nest near the salt marsh didn't fare well this year - something got them shortly after they hatched, probably the female raccoon with a den and little ones in a tree about 100 feet away from the nest. In the meantime, we've discovered two more nests, one on the river side of the park, and a fourth in a wooded, hilly area between two trails. Both are active nests, but we have no way of knowing how many young ones without getting close enough to disturb them.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 10 Aug 12 - 07:27 PM

For the past 10 days have been observing a female cardinal with a completely bald head. She otherwise looks and seems healthy and active. I've never seen this before, but apparently it is not entirely uncommon, especially with Northern Cardinals and Blue Jays. Found one interesting article. http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~insrisg/nature/nw98/baldbirds.html . Haven't yet followed the couple of links to other articles at the end of the one posted.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Joybell
Date: 11 Aug 12 - 05:57 PM

I've been away doing things but birds always catch my attention.
Down on our Shipwreck Coast, in Victoria, Australia, I just saw my first Rufus Bristlebird. Drably clad but with a wild ginger toupee. Heard my first baby Magpie for the season. The adults have been courting all night for a month.
Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 11 Aug 12 - 09:42 PM

I see so much more (and so many more birds and other wildlife) on those weekends I have time to sit out on the carport during the day. The feeders are great to observe, and all but one are positioned so that I can see them from inside the house - the front of the house since all the back windows are bedroom or bath windows. The carport, which I use as a covered patio, is on the back of the house. From there I can observe the neighbors yards and the woods across the road - just slightly different habitats, but what a difference "slightly different" can make!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Aug 12 - 10:25 PM

I had a nice chat with my dad this evening. My dad was born in 1919, same year as Pete Seeger. We were talking birds, and my dad said he's been seeing a bald eagle this year, near his home in Sarasota, Florida. We remembered the biggest birdwatching event of my childhood, seeing a snowy owl on the neighbor's television antenna on Wind Point in Racine, Wisconsin - about 1960. I think that's what started my lifelong enjoyment of birdwatching.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: ranger1
Date: 12 Aug 12 - 12:14 AM

While setting up for today's nature program, I was startled to hear a splash from about 30 feet away. One of the juvenile ospreys was trying her hand at fishing for the first time. She dove five or six times - no fish, but she's getting the hang of the whole soar/hover/dive thing. Maybe she'll have better luck tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 20 Oct 12 - 10:21 AM

The white-throated sparrows are back. No juncos yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Raptor
Date: 21 Oct 12 - 06:15 AM

My dark eyed juncos have been back for about two weeks.(Ontario )
Raptor

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Arkie
Date: 26 Oct 12 - 07:51 PM

First dark eyed juncos of the season sighted today in the Arkansas Ozarks. First freeze of this winter predicted for tonight. What timing.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Raptor
Date: 26 Oct 12 - 07:54 PM

I got about 60 pine siskins today

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 26 Oct 12 - 08:04 PM

I only really get to see "who" is here on the weekends. Gonna be cool and rainy so should be a good weekend to watch the feeders.

I cleaned and sanitized all the feeders last weekend. Seems the woodpeckers prefer them gunky and moldy. Suet/nugget feeders haven't been touched since.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: gnu
Date: 18 Nov 12 - 03:45 PM

It was almost dark last night and there was a bird on the pave ahead of me. When I got close, it lifted and flew into a pine. A woodcock! In the city! In November! Unheard of on both counts! I stood in amazement staring at the pine tree for nearly a minute and then walked toward the pine in hope it might flush again but it didn't (not that it would, of course, unless I rustled the pine and then it have exited on the opposite side... of course). I told one of my buddies today and he asked if I was losing it. I really don't think he believed me.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: maeve
Date: 18 Nov 12 - 05:09 PM

Gnu- That's wonderful. I'm so glad you saw the woodcock. Lots of folks wouldn't have known what it was.

We have a second Great Blue Heron spending time here. It lands in our drive and then lifts and swings down to the stream. Great Horned Owl has moved in closer than it's been in the last many years. Coyotes have been keeping the night air full of music. Canada Geese and ducks wheel by several times a week, and Evening Grosbeaks have graced our feeders this week as well, in addition to the usual suspects.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: gnu
Date: 18 Nov 12 - 08:30 PM

Herons are fascinating. I miss getting out to my buddy's place to watch them. MANY, as he lives on the shore just east of Shediac, NB. Any day, upwards of 100.

Minds me of the shore when I was a boy. Out to the wharf after supper in late August to get ready to fish smelt and mackerel. Tommy cod were plentiful and good practice for a lad of about ten. Catch em and feed em to a young gull... until it ate so much it couldn't fly when the tide came in.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: ragdall
Date: 18 Nov 12 - 10:36 PM

gnu and maeve, I envy both of you.   

maeve, your visitors must be a source of great enjoyment. If two herons are staying around, there must be a plentiful food source in your stream? Evening Grosbeaks are so beautiful. The few I had seem to have moved on. The sunflower seed feeder seldom needs a refill these days.

gnu, What a wonderful sighting, a less observant person would have assumed it was a more common bird. I wonder if Sandy forced the Woodcock to move north, either the storm itself, or the damage to formerly suitable wintering grounds along the US East Coast? It will be interesting to see if other "unusual" birds will show up in your area this season.

We've had an unusually high number of Snowy Owls in North central BC, many appear to be this year's birds. Last Wednesday I was able to get out for a drive with my little camera to photograph this one. http://www.flickr.com/photos/diffuse/8186908324/

rags

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: gnu
Date: 19 Nov 12 - 04:44 PM

Yet another beautiful pic, rags. Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: bubblyrat
Date: 20 Nov 12 - 05:42 AM

Lots of waterfowl , not surprisingly ,here at the confluence of the rivers Severn and Avon ; plenty of Mallard ,of course, and a good many hybrids with interesting ( and sometimes bizarre ) plumage ,body-sizes ,etc. Swans, naturally,which sometimes do a "fly by " below the level of our sitting-room window ; great to see and hear !
            Moorhens occasionally paddle by fussilly,but I haven't seen any Coots or Canada Geese (thankfully !) yet.A pair of Kingfishers have flown by,too , and there are plenty of Gulls ; large flocks of the common ones ,and screaming,noisy,quarrelsome Terns when the "Duck-bread" appears on the water.Cormorants seem to like this area also,being regularly seen fluttering ( it's the only way I can describe their precarious flight ) overhead . And lots of Crows in the water meadows,of course , especially where the Sheepen have grazed.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 01 Dec 12 - 01:37 PM

Finally, the dark-eyed juncos are back.

Well - at least one is.