BS: Birdwatching

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,madwaff probably as guest
Date: 20 Dec 02 - 10:56 PM

there's also the RSPB 'Big Garden Birdwatch' on 25/26 Jan weekend. Record the max number of each species you see in an hours' worth, try the RSPB website to submit results!
(On my brother's computer,damn the cookie!)
Madwaff

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: ballpienhammer
Date: 20 Dec 02 - 09:49 PM

You may enter "Christmas Bird Count" and get a flock of site choices.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 20 Dec 02 - 12:27 AM

I was planning to get involved but my schedule got in the way. The easiest way to get involved is to use your search engine to bring up the Audubon society and go from there.

Dress warmly and enjoy!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: Raptor
Date: 19 Dec 02 - 02:39 PM

Is anyone participating in a Christmass Bird Count this year and where is it?

Raptor

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,vl
Date: 17 Dec 02 - 02:28 AM

Hear, hear!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 15 Dec 02 - 09:26 AM

Coco, I was kidding.
VL, the point I was making about the cormorants is that we (so called humans) seem to attack any organism that attempts to compete with us, no matter how trivial the competition is. It would be a very good thing if homo sap would demonstrate his sapience and learn to coexist.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,HENRY
Date: 15 Dec 02 - 08:46 AM

I WOULD LOVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE WATERBIRDS I SEE ALL THE TIME.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: BusbitterfraeScotland
Date: 14 Dec 02 - 08:24 PM

Where I come from I can see from my window pigeons (wood and the other type) segulls, starlings, sometimes Robins, diffferent speices of tit and sometimes I can hear a cockoo as well.
The reason for this is because I live close to the country.
Tam

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,van lingle
Date: 14 Dec 02 - 01:31 PM

Charming story, JennyO. I saw my first rainbow lorrikeet (in a cage, in an apartment) the other day here in Florida. Up until then I didn't know they existed and yeah, they are gorgeous.vl

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,JennyO
Date: 14 Dec 02 - 10:13 AM

I'm not really a birdwatcher but I noticed that there was very little about Australian birds, so I thought I'd mention some of my favourites here around Sydney. Apart from the kookaburras, there are many that come around that I love. The rainbow lorrikeets are gorgeous - every colour of the rainbow, there are sulphur-crested cockatoos(yellow and white), Galahs(pink and grey), as well as some very noisy customers - currawongs, magpies(both black and white and quite large) Indian mynahs and crows. In fact, I think we must have some of the noisiest birds in the world(not sure how they compare in noise/weight ratio though). Many years ago when my husband(at the time) and I were building a house, we lived in magpie territory (they are very territorial, especially in mating season) and the fights with the neighbouring kookaburras were fearful to behold. When they had a baby, the magpies brought it around for us to check out, it seemed. They totally accepted us and were always hanging around the building site. When the babies got quite big, they actually looked bigger than the parents because their feathers were not so smooth and they were more grey-looking where the parents were black, and they were the noisiest of all, going "yark yark" all the time while the parents tried to push them away and give them the hint to grow up. They were very slow to take the hint, too. We referred to them as yark yark birds. One of the parents we actually named. We called him George (not my idea). A couple of years later when I had my son, Mike wanted to call HIM George, and of course he got his way, which might give you some idea why we are not married any more. Now George (my son, not the bird) likes to tell people that he was named after a bird.

                           Jenny

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: greg stephens
Date: 14 Dec 02 - 07:23 AM

I'm not a serious birdwatcher, but I must say the best fun I've had for years was sitting at the back of Bobert's house in the W Virginia woods, drinking beer and looking at American birds for the first time in my life. I spent a lot of time there and it just got better and better. And I am at the moment copying Bobert's ideas for squirrel-proof bird-feeders, as I seriously resent going to the effort and expense of putting out food for our wonderful Stoke birds (even of there arent any cardinals or pileated woodpeckers) and watching it all get eaten by tree-rats.
   Boating is the best thing for birwatching, whether pottering round Scottish islands warching gannets fishing, or chugging along the Trent and Mersey canal in the middle of Stoke looking out for kinfishers,.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,van lingle
Date: 14 Dec 02 - 07:09 AM

Hey Barnacle, I can see where fisherman might not be fans of cormorants because they are such industrious fishers. That's precisely the reason I admire them so much, they never come round looking for a handout but work hard for their fish with their submarine tatics. As far as I know they've never interfered with my catch. Regards,vl

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,COCO
Date: 14 Dec 02 - 05:10 AM

The fist two answers were from me, the big breasted one and the others are from a friend who had acsess to my computer,also I didn't realise you had to log off. Hope it didn't offended anyone.......

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,Coco
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 07:39 PM

it wasn't me but a friend of mine who was using my computer.
Honest

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 03:18 PM

We're in a small town that has designated itself as a bird sanctuary, and since my property abuts the creek there are lots of birds. We have tall trees, brush, open lawn, which provide a surprising number of birds something they need for a visit. Haven't started feeding them, they seem content with all of the berries in the bushes and whatever they're finding to peck at in the lawn.

My Dad lived on the beach at Puget Sound, and like everyone on the waterfront, the were the ubiquitous telescope and pair of binoculars in the front window. We would find ourselves, during casual conversations, to have drifted to the window and stand gazing out over the waterfront as we talked. The conversation would be peppered with "there's a cormorant" or "the sea lions are on the beach," and "where'd that duck/grebe go?" after one dove and didn't seem to return to the surface again.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: TIA
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 02:08 PM

This thread has officially degenerated...so I'll jump right in.
Have you ever been to Florida to watch the Roseate Hipshakers?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 01:20 PM

coco, you talk about big breasts and then cite someone else for being sexist? Huh?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: coco
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 04:16 AM

That Kinky Donkey, is a bit much of a sexist aren't they?

I think that people who send these messages are a bit silly

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: coco
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 04:14 AM

the last one was from Kinky donkey and not me

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: coco
Date: 13 Dec 02 - 04:10 AM

I also like looking a burds, I like the ones with big breasts like Pelicans and robins and other big breasted burds.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Dec 02 - 01:41 PM

"has a square head,a large beak,brownish in colour and has a call like a loud laughter.... sound like anyone you know? " Gracious, Guest Coco, have you been peeking in my window?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,COCO
Date: 12 Dec 02 - 12:03 PM

AN APOLOGY IS NEEDED MY HUGE MISTAKE THE WEIGHT OF THE KOOKABURRA IS ABOUT .5KG=1POUND I RE-READ MY LETTER AND NOTICED I HAD PUT 5KG=11POUNDS. IT WOULD BE SOME SIZE AT 5 KGS SORRY EVERYONE........

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,COCO
Date: 12 Dec 02 - 09:14 AM

Iwouldn't call myself a birdwatcher, but I'm fortunate enough to get out and about giving me a chance to see lots of birds. No I do not keep a list.Numbers? Well I only notice if there's a small amount or a lot off them. Feeding? Yes,I enjoy feeding them,as it also gives me the opportunity to see their behaviour during this fun time. Favourite bird? Well I have so many,I guess....Small bird must be {WILLIE WAGTAILS} there cute fluttery and their tails are fasinating. Another favorite of mines is the {KOOKABURRA} Which is about 18 ins long,weighs around 11pounds-5kg,has a square head,a large beak,brownish in colour and has a call like a loud laughter.... sound like anyone you know? The times and places I've seen the Kookaburra is in Australia WA: mainly at JOHN FORREST NATIONAL PARK or WOODLAND and BUSHLAND areas. I'm telling you this because the Kookaburra is the worlds biggest {KINGFISHER} not that I've seen any fish in the forrests,I'd be worried if I did. Anyway uf your visiting or staying in PERTH WA you mustn't miss the chance of seeing all the bush birds at THE BOTANIC GARDENS AT KINGS PARK... Walking distance from the city or a short drive. There are a lot of beautiful and fasinating birds everywhere in the world if only more people took a few minuites from their normal daily life and just look and listen. Enjoy one of the many natures of the world.....

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: TIA
Date: 11 Dec 02 - 10:01 PM

Honestly, it's not me... "Doc, I have this friend who has a problem..."

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 11 Dec 02 - 02:22 PM

Of course it counts, unless you are that relative or his ilk.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: TIA
Date: 11 Dec 02 - 01:27 PM

A twitcher is someone who actively (and usually obsessively) seeks out new birds to put on their lifelist. I have a relative who got a phone call and drove 300 miles (well above the speed limit) in an attempt to "grip" a hawk owl. He got there and it was gone. This is called "dipping out". Do we all need to get a life, or does this count?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Dec 02 - 01:13 PM

I wondered too, Guest/Don. In horse talk, a 'twitch' is a come-along, a cord tied around the muzzle- a fairly inhumane method of persuasion, but justified, I suppose, in times of emergency. That meaning seems the wrong one in this context!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,Don
Date: 11 Dec 02 - 12:30 PM

There is a term, that has shown up in quite a few of the responses to this thread, that I have never heard before. I can probably make an educated guess from context, but I would really like to have someone give me a explicit definition:

What is a "twitcher"? What is "twitching"?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: madwaff
Date: 11 Dec 02 - 11:43 AM

Lifelong birder - gave up twitching about 10 years ago (now it's more a nervous 'tic'!) - now I tend to be more into watching birds' behaviour, keeping the feeders full, and getting up at unearthly hours to count the waders and wildfowl every month on my local reserve. Trying to keep track of 38,000 geese tends to concentrate the mind wonderfully in an icy north wind straight from the Pole off the North Sea! North-east Scotland - there's nowhere quite like it!Guess I have a life list somewhere, gave up keeping count when I hit 300. Favorite bird? Love Ravens, rather fond of sparrows! (they're decreasing in number dramatically, like starlings!)
Oddest garden bird - cormorant!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 11 Dec 02 - 11:33 AM

Although I am a fan of the double crested cormorant, a k a mudlark, many fishermen hate him, as they believe he is competing with them for fish. There are those who go around shooting them down. There have been news reports about this in the Great Lakes.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,Van Lingle
Date: 10 Dec 02 - 10:43 PM

I watch mostly when the fish aren't biting down in the Everglades and along the SW coast of Florida through the Ten Thousand Islands. We've got skimmers, several types of heron, eagles, hawks, pelicans, ibises, anhingas, wood storks, ospreys, egrets and my favorite, the double crested cormorant, along with quite a few others.vl

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: Bobert
Date: 10 Dec 02 - 08:56 PM

I love this. Here we have folks in the US talkin' about their birds, then ya' got the UK'ers talking about their birds.

Reminds me of this past summer when Greg Stevens came to visit with his lovely lady Kate and fir the first two days just couldn't get over the Amercian birds. Especially the cardinals, which they don't even have anything close to in the UK...

But what the hey, they'll all birds and birds are cool! (Except the wrens, of course... Ahh, jus' funnin"...)

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,Peter from Essex
Date: 10 Dec 02 - 06:10 PM

I always take some time at Whitby to watch the fulmers, one nested on hte cliff outside the Spa last year. One of these days I must take some extra time off and go up to the Farne Islands again after the festival.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: lamarca
Date: 10 Dec 02 - 05:52 PM

Actually, Bobert, I do have three birdhouses - all wren houses! I love watching the little guy building his "love nests" and yelling his little head off advertising them. In a good year, he'll have a brood in each one (I'm assuming it's the same male, although one house is in front and two are in back).

One year, I had wrens in one house and chickadees in the other. When I went to clean the houses out in the fall, what a difference! The wren nest was all twigs, with a few feathers in the depression, while the chickadee nest was woven from smaller twigs and lined with bits of moss and soft, white fur. Turns out they'd taken bits of Siamese cat fur that I would leave out on the deck after cleaning my cat's brush and lined their nest with it!

I love the marsh wrens at Bombay Hook NWR, popping in and out of the reeds to sing. They're loud, too. And the Carolina wrens come to my suet in the winter, and "sing lustily and with good courage." Not that I'd want to do the little buggers in, but I also like wrenning songs like "The Cutty Wren" (especially Les Barker's wicked parody) and "Please to See the King".

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: Raptor
Date: 10 Dec 02 - 09:41 AM

Actualy the frog Spring peeper is the loudest Decibles to weight I believe! If a peeper was my size 6'3" and 230lbs you could hear him in New York city and I'm 2 hours north of Toronto!

The Wrens clog all of the bird houses its not useing with sticks to detur other males from nesting in its range but clogs only houses that suit the wrens, not other bird boxes such as the bluebird house.

Thats pretty smart!

Raptor

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: TIA
Date: 10 Dec 02 - 09:31 AM

Nothing I know of is louder than a wren. They might have the greatest decibels-to-weight ratio of anything on the planet. Come to think of it, I believe I've read of another tiny bird (Australia maybe?) that is incredibly loud. Anyway, Bobert's right -- had a wren build a nest in my clog on the back porch one afternoon.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: Bobert
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 02:31 PM

lamarca: You obviously don't have bird houses or you might not like the wrens as much. As cute as they are the males can be a pain in the butt with the bird houses. They think the way to attrack a female is to find a nice bird house, fill the entire thing with twigs and with no semblace of being a nest and expect the gals to line up at the door! (Hey, some men are like that, too, I guess...) Sure do make a big mess, that's fir sure.

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: lamarca
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 01:41 PM

I'm a lifelong birder - my dad was a Biology professor, and used to take me out on nature walks to find birds and bugs and frogs and such starting when I was 4 or 5 years old! I keep notes in my National Geo bird guide about when and where I've seen certain birds - leafing through the guide brings back memories of the places and good times I've had when I saw that particular bird. I've got the new Sibley, but it's too heavy to carry out in the field - I leave it in the car and check it later.

I've been taking bird ID classes through the Audubon Naturalist Society (a DC area environmental organization that Rachel Carson belonged to), and have lately enjoyed trying to learn how to tell shorebirds apart - all the little brown "peeps" and the big,spectacular avocets, phalaropes and stilts. I've also gotten involved with the local butterfly watcher's club - watching butterflies has the advantage that they don't get active until the sun is well up and it's warm (I'm NOT a morning person - the dawn chorus is a hypothetical event for me...)

I feed our backyard birds from our deck - I have a "caged" hanging feeder for the small birds that keeps off the squirrels, and a platform feeder on the deck specifically for the squirrels - I call them my "four-footed furry birds". I feed mostly black oil, with some peanuts and safflower mixed in, and millet and corn mixed in for the platform. I also have an upside-down suet feeder, and we have two pairs of downy woodpeckers that are regulars. My new cats enjoy watching them from the sun-porch - Raffi stares at the squirrels for hours, quivering (the cats aren't allowed outside to indulge their avian appetites...).

My favorite birds are wrens and the downies - tiny packages of chutzpah and noise, that provide entertaining feeder antics and eat nasty insect pests.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: EBarnacle1
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 12:28 PM

I believe that this is going to be a cold winter. If so, I might just put out a feeder for the first time. Fortunately, here in the tall concrete, rats and squirrels [tree rats] are not as much of an issue as they are for my rural friends.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: Raptor
Date: 09 Dec 02 - 09:27 AM

Don't forget to clean your feeders with bleach regulairly to help stop samonellaosis and other avian dieseases.

Raptor

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: Yvonne
Date: 07 Dec 02 - 08:17 AM

Norfolk--around Cley has to be my favorite birding paradise!No people --lots of birds--heaven!
A Red Backed Shrike is the rarest bird I have ever seen. Birding combined with walking is the best stress buster ever!
Just wish I had the time to go more often--sigh.
Diz

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 11:54 PM

The birds here (just east of the Rockies) go through seed almost by the ton. I buy black oil and the big striped mixed, as the birds and squirrels have preferences. Peanuts also go quickly. I let my neighbors feed the English sparrows (they like the small seeds) and feed the chickadees and others that prefer sunflower seeds.
My daughter is closer to the mountains, in the foothills of the Rockies. She gets a big variety- bluebirds, hummingbirds, sapsuckers and woodpeckers and damn near all the birds that go through this province. Not a real birder, but like to watch them. I like the intelligence of the much maligned magpie and bluejays.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,daylia
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 11:06 PM

Some of the best moments of my life were spent with the Bald Eagles out on Vancouver Island ...

And with the family of Ravens in Aguasabon Canyon north of Lake Superior.

I've had traumatic experiences involving the Canadian Wildlife Ecology Service, university students and Surf Scoter ducks ...

I was lucky enough to spot a scarlet tanager right here in Midhurst a couple years ago.

Sometimes I meet up with flocks of wild turkeys on the hiking trails here, and I always enjoy the chickadees and bluejays and woodpeckers and cardinals.

Oh yes, and I've heard talk of a particularly wild species of Raptor in the area lately, so look out all you Hummingbirds!

- daylia

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: GUEST,daylia
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 09:22 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: raredance
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 08:22 PM

Been looking at birds since I was a kid. Have been an officer in the loca Audubon Society Chapter and been on quite a few Christmas bird counts.

Some favorite moments and sights:

At the cottage in western Ontario - the sounds of competing loons on a quiet night - a flock of white pelicans wheeling and soaring in a bright blue sky - a pair of bald eagles rolling and going talon to talon - observing what seemed to be unending ines of double crested cormorants come over the treeetops and land in a bay where I was fishing, it was particularly erie because cormorants are essentially mute

elsewhere - watching a northern shrike chase a brown creeper around and around a tree trunk. The creeper was still ahead when I left the scene - seeing an american bittern pump out its very odd song - the puffins of Nova Scotia - the wave of migrant warblers every May .

Sure would love to see a great gray owl.

rich r

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: bazza
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 04:53 PM

I have always been interested in birds ,both types started like Bill Oddie collecting eggs as a lad .I did manage to see a Golden Eagle in the Lakes last year.Ilive in Surrey and we are plagued with Ring Necked Parakeets,I agree with TIA about the crows I once watched one spear a toad with his bill but could not rip it apart to eat so he put it into a pile of grass cuttings to heat up and rot ,very clever.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: Raptor
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 03:14 PM

I think Crows And Ravens are brilliant!

Raptor

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: TIA
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 10:41 AM

I gave up on trying to fight the &%#$#ing squirrels several years ago. I realized that I have to go off to my regular job, while their regular job is outwitting me. It's not that they're smarter than me, they just have more time to devote...honestly.

Crows on the other hand could be smarter than me. They have been shown unequivocally to not just use tools, but make them (from sticks, bits of wire, etc.) That puts them right up there with us and chimps.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: ballpienhammer
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 09:40 AM

I have been a birder for about 30 yrs. Got my interest at Sapsucker Woods Cornell U. Bird Lab. In my present locale we see lots of chickadees, jays, titmice, juncos, cardinals and sparrows this time of year. With our snow yesterday, the feeders are well populated this AM.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching
From: Raptor
Date: 06 Dec 02 - 09:04 AM

I have found (believe it or not) the way to defeat squirrels.

We put our feederd on 8 foot poles and at 5 feet we have attached stovepipe by drilling a hole through the pole and using tiewire!

Not a new idea but it works!

Up here in Ontario Canada we have squirrels that moonlight as rocket scientists. They have figured out that if they stick thier leg into the seed hopper of the feeder before they step on the weighted perch they can keep the squirrelproof feeder open to raid!

Not that I have anything against squirrels but I spend $40 a month on Blackoil sunflower seed, Niger seed, And peanuts!

Raptor