BS: Birdwatching 2013

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: GUEST,999
Date: 03 Feb 13 - 10:12 AM

Just saw four chickadees, one male cardinal, the usual sparrows (about a dozen) one red-bellied woodpecker and a hairy woodpecker. I'm in Ormstown, Quebec, Canada.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: maeve
Date: 03 Feb 13 - 10:06 AM

Titmice is generally accepted, although the root isn't English the meaning carries.

"I just sent a pm to Raptor to ask if he minds if the thread he just started is also combined. I expect he just didn't realize....but it really should be his honor as he is who started this tradition. In the event it does matter to him I will request this thread be closed so that we can continue to share our observations together through the year without confusion or perhaps missing the observations and comments of bird watchers and birders. " (Janie)

Hey, Raptor; Do you mind having the 2 threads combined?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: maeve
Date: 03 Feb 13 - 10:04 AM

Yes; we're hoping Raptor is agreeable to having them combined..again.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: JHW
Date: 03 Feb 13 - 07:22 AM

I've spotted two Birdwatching threads

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 02 Feb 13 - 08:56 PM

Was interesting to observe the feeders stayed vacant for quite some time after that, and the numerous gray squirrels that are usually under and attempting to get at the feeders stayed away also. At least 20 minutes. Until then they had been so busy (yesterday and today were quite cold by our standards,) that I was actually filling them for a second time. Usually they hold enough among them to last at least 24 hours, and I had filled them last night after dark. The wrens were the first back, soon followed by the chickadees and tufted titmouses (titmice?)   After 45 minutes all the usual suspects were back.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: maeve
Date: 02 Feb 13 - 02:44 PM

Nice experience, Janie! We recently watched a Sharpie circling around and through the cherry tree just outside our south windows... with American goldfinches and Redpolls vanishing in seconds but Black-capped chickadees jeering, teasing, and hopping from branch to branch the whole time.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 02 Feb 13 - 01:59 PM

Whoa, talk about close encounters!

Just went out to fill the feeders. When I stepped out onto the carport a goldfinch flew up off the concrete. It could fly, but obviously with difficulty, unable to gain more than 5 feet of altitude, swooping up and down. It literally followed me to the feeders and as I was filling one feeder, it landed on a second feeder only 2 1/2 feet away ate a few seeds then fluttered down to ground within 3 feet of me. The bird didn't look injured, but obviously was. A sharp-shinned hawk must have been on a near branch (and was probably responsible for injuring the other bird to begin with.) It swooped down, grabbed the finch, and wheeled away, so close to my face I felt the wind from his wingbeats. I almost could have kissed it's butt!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 08:51 PM

Nyjer seed is apparently irradiated before being imported to decrease the odds it (and other stray seed) will germinate and invade. Some websites talk about it "going bad" but I suspect that means the high heat exposure means it goes stale more quickly than, say, sunflower seed. And birds do not like stale seed.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 07:33 PM

I just sent a pm to Raptor to ask if he minds if the thread he just started is also combined. I expect he just didn't realize....but it really should be his honor as he is who started this tradition. In the event it does matter to him I will request this thread be closed so that we can continue to share our observations together through the year without confusion or perhaps missing the observations and comments of bird watchers and birders.

In the meantime, I think I finally found out why the finches have been ignoring the nyjer feeder for lo these many moons. It seems that nyjer seed goes bad and rather quickly. I bought an unusally large bag of it quite some time ago, and the birds have ignored it from the start. I suspect it was old and bad from the gitgo, but I also won't make the mistake again of buying it large bags. I thought it was generally sold in smaller bags because it was so expensive, but that may not be the case.

Gonna chuck out what I have and try again this weekend.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: maeve
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 05:20 PM

We have 2 threads again.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: GUEST,JHW
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 04:56 PM

Yesterday beside the River Tees a tiny spherical bird I've never seen before. Algae green top, pale green to buff below. Size of a golf ball, no real head, just a beak with a strong red stripe above, bouncing around on mud and leaves and pecking stuff too small to see what. Very tame but didn't fancy my 9 seed organic bar. Goldcrest I reckon. Wonderful.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Raptor
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 04:38 PM

Good birding

Subject: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Raptor
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 04:37 PM

Here we go again.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 26 Jan 13 - 10:30 AM

Blue-faced honeyeaters sure beats the song thrushes I saw earlier this week here in Staffordshire.

We get the usual in the garden every day: hedge sparrows, blue tits, great tits, goldfinches, blackbirds, the robin, pigeons and doves. Planty of seagulls patrolling the canal at this time of year (there's fish in there). Haven't seen any of the herons for a while but Judi says she saw a sparrowhawk take a small bird (unidentified) off the honeysuckle above the feeder two weeks ago. We're in Penkridge, which is surrounded by open countryside, so plenty of buzzards wheeling high over the houses, calling to each other.

The two song thrushes were here for two days, never seen them before and now they've gone. Probably attracted by the food we put out (fat balls and seed).

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: JennieG
Date: 26 Jan 13 - 06:37 AM

Apart form the usual eastern rosellas, rainbow lorikeets, galahs, sulphur crested cockatoos, noisy miners, magpies (Aussie magpies are different to northern hemisphere magpies), peewees, willy wagtails, apostle birds, noisy friar birds, kookaburras, crested pigeons, brown treecreepers and the occasional wedge-tailed eagle - all Aussie natives - we have of late been visited by a flock of blue-faced honeyeaters.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 25 Jan 13 - 03:56 PM

Home very early due to sleet and freezing rain. With the cold nasty weather the birds are hard at the feeders, plus I scatter seed on the ground when the weather is bad. No new species but am getting better and longer looks at a few species I see occasionally but only fleetingly. I may have seen my first sparrow/junco hybrid, but dark-eyed juncos are pretty variable, so I'm not entirely sure.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Arkie
Date: 19 Jan 13 - 02:38 PM

I usually see about 15 different birds during the day, but since the first of the year have been regularly spotting a red breasted nuthatch and a brown headed nuthatch. These little birds fly in, grab something and fly away so you have to be at the window at just the right time to see them. Have also had regular visits from Carolina Wrens. One day there were three at the feeder at the same time. The Tufted Titmouse, Goldfinch, White Breasted Nuthatch, and Juncos are daily visitors. Dark greenish blue:

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Threads combined - mod

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 19 Jan 13 - 02:09 PM

A color treat on this chilly sunny day - Cardinals and Bluebirds at the same time.

(still hoping a mud elf will combine threads.)

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 17 Jan 13 - 09:06 PM

Hurray, Raptor!

Would it be OK with you if a clone combines the the two threads?

(I was impatient.)

Subject: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Raptor
Date: 17 Jan 13 - 07:09 PM

I'm just at 13 spiecies yet.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 09:07 AM

I just finished googling those birds, Yvonne, to see what they looked like. Wow, what colors and patterns!

In the USA we refer to various vulture species as buzzards, but I'm thinking in the UK the term is often applied to buteos/hawks. A google search led me to a buteo species whose comon name is Common Buzzard. Was that the buzzard you saw?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: GUEST,Yvonne
Date: 06 Jan 13 - 06:47 AM

Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Blackbird, Robin. Magpie, Starlings, Tufted Ducks on the Manchester Ship canal that is situated at the bottom of the garden and a Buzzard in Cheshire this morning. In truth the Buzzard flew very low along the edge of my garden..but still counts I hope.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: gnu
Date: 05 Jan 13 - 07:05 PM

I saw a crow try to catch a sparrow today. Never saw that ever! Never saw a sparrow fly out of a maple and bury itself halfway in snow, either. That is what caught my eye... what a strange thing for the sparrow to do??? It seemed to be having a hard time to get out of the snow. It was odd because it was 3" off fluffy snow... it's like the sparrow was goading the crow into thinking it could catch it but it lifted with ease when the crow came after it. A game?

I fed a whack of birds today with suet from a smoked ham as I was making a boiled dinner. Didn't put out any cabbage from the pot... do sparrows fart? I have never heard a sparrow fart. Maybe they only fart during the dark hours? Maybe my hearing is on the wane. Maybe if I fed them cabbage. Maybe I could ask Environment Canada for a grant to study this? If it got published, I could apply for a grant to assess chickadee farts but I assune that would require VERY sensitive equipment.

Happy birding in 2013.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 05 Jan 13 - 06:59 PM

While there are the usual common suspects visiting my feeders, I note today a phenomena which happens for a couple of months every late winter, for reasons unknown to me.

Both Turkey and Black Vultures are common here and I see them overhead throughout the year. Sometimes, however, Black Vultures will tend to congregate for a few weeks at a time in and over the small wooded area across the street from my house. They will move in and out of the trees all day long and as evening approaches, more and more of them will glide in. Often, they will congregate directly across the road in two or three trees. From all appearances, they are roosting for the night. Then, just before dark, they begin to stir and move and over the course of 10-15 minutes, will relocate within 100 yards of the first place they appeared to settle. I see this happen sporadically from January until the trees begin to leaf out in April. Never see them roost here or congregate here in large numbers except for winter to very early spring.

Subject: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 05 Jan 13 - 06:40 PM

Had hoped Raptor would start this, since that ain't happened yet, I'll go ahead and do it.

Paraphrasing the historical parameters set by Raptor - Starting 1/1/2013, count species that you see (or hear and can conclusively identify from their call) at your house or yard. See how many you get in 2012. Only from your house or a 100 foot radius from your property.
Who's in?

I know Facebook and other networking sites have really diluted participation in threads such as this on Mudcat, but for those of us who still spend a lot of time on Mudcat, I'd love to keep this going. I, for one, get a lot of enjoyment and information from reading your posts over the course of the year.

Would also love to see more of your bird lists for 2012 posted to
Birdwatching 2012