BS: Birdwatching 2013

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

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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:

---

Threads combined - mod

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

Here we go again.

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

Good birding

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: maeve
Date: 01 Feb 13 - 05:20 PM

We have 2 threads again.

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: 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: 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: 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 - 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: JHW
Date: 03 Feb 13 - 07:22 AM

I've spotted two Birdwatching threads

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: 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: 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: Ed T
Date: 03 Feb 13 - 10:33 AM

Why don't birds fall off their perches when they sleep?

Now that this question is answered, the next one: Why does Rap open a parallel thread. I suspect he is up to something, possibly intending a different meaning to birding:?
:)

Deep inside of a parallel universe
It's getting harder and harder
To tell what came first

Under water where thoughts can breathe Easily

Far away you were made in a sea
Just like me

Chorus
Christ I'm a sidewinder I'm a
California King
I swear it's everywhere
It's everything

Staring straight up into the sky
Oh my my a solar system that fits
In your eye Microcosm


(Red Hot Chili Peppers - Parallel Universe)

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: ragdall
Date: 04 Feb 13 - 05:17 AM

I've been mesmerized by flocks of hundreds of Bohemian Waxwings that swirl overhead, land in the tall trees in my backyard and take off again with little warning. Photographing them can be challenging. I think this is the best photo I've taken of B. waxwings this year.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: ragdall
Date: 04 Feb 13 - 05:18 AM

Sorry, I messed up the link. Try this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/diffuse/8440642344/

rags

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 04 Feb 13 - 11:49 AM

Great photo. Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Feb 13 - 04:13 PM

Bohemian rhapsody

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 04 Feb 13 - 08:53 PM

I don't think Raptor is on Mudcat frequently. Have pm'd someone who I understand is a personal friend and asked them if they can easily call him and as him to check in. If no response with the next 48 hours, I propose we shut the earlier thread, which had already been combined, down and go with this thread.

Would that suit folks? Be nice to keep the conversation and observations on one thread without having to do a lot of chasing.

I'll make a similar post to the other thread by the same title.

---

Threads combined. -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Ron Davies
Date: 04 Feb 13 - 09:04 PM

For some reason this year we have a yellow-bellied sapsucker as a regular feeder visitor.   Could that be related to global warming--a northerly bird which is now ranging further south?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: maeve
Date: 05 Feb 13 - 05:40 AM

Janie- Yep!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 05 Feb 13 - 06:46 AM

You are right on the edge of their summer/winter range, which abut one another.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: GUEST,999
Date: 05 Feb 13 - 07:00 AM

Four chickadees, two cardinals (male and female), two blue jays, a gang of sparrows, hairy woodpecker, red-breasted/chested(?) woodpecker, two snow geese (they never left or they're real late leaving).

Ormstown in southern Quebec.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 05 Feb 13 - 07:15 AM

I saw a bird this morning.

Dave H

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 10 Feb 13 - 12:16 PM

Fresh nyjer seed did the trick. The finches are back on the thistle.

Watching a Pine Warbler and Carolina Wren face off at one of the suet feeders.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 10 Feb 13 - 05:50 PM

hmmmm. Post did not take. Although starlings are common in my yard during the day, big flocks are rare. It is still not quite twilight, so "everybody" might move on before dark, but right now, the woods across the road and the trees in my yard are full of vultures on the middle third of branches and a large flock of cacophonous starlings in the upper branches.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 12 Feb 13 - 01:04 AM

Both flocks - the vultures and the starlings, were gone by dark. Could not have gone far, and I wonder where.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: maeve
Date: 17 Feb 13 - 05:42 PM

Some who follow this thread are quite likely to find this New Hampshire Public Television Network program interesting:

Saving Songbirds

I also posted this in the "Gems" thread at the request of a friend.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 17 Feb 13 - 11:44 PM

A gem it is indeed, maeve. Thanks so much for posting the link.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: JHW
Date: 18 Feb 13 - 08:56 AM

Help needed. Yet again a bird that's not in my books.
Sat 17 Feb 2013 out walking in grass fields by the River Eden just upstream of Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria. A female mallard I'm thinking comes flying upstream though looking a bit slim for a mallard but flying like a duck or goose, head outstretched and wing beat like a duck rather than heron. But the head was too long and the bill even more so for a duck. Then it LANDED from flight on to the wooden fence rail of the footbridge next to me and perched there securely a few seconds turning its head round and looking at me perhaps to assess a sandwich opportunity then flew on upstream. When perched it was tall like a heron or cormorant but brown mallard duck colours. Never thought to look at its feet at the time.
?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: GUEST,999
Date: 18 Feb 13 - 07:23 PM

Spoon-billed sandpiper? Give a look in Google images.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: maeve
Date: 18 Feb 13 - 08:02 PM

JHW- Have you seen this UK Bird identifier? http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdidentifier/form.aspx
Using my understanding of your bird's description resulted in the following possibilities for your part of the world:
        
Bar-tailed godwit (winter), Black-tailed godwit (winter), Curlew,
Greenshank, Red-breasted merganser (female), Whimbrel

You may want to give it a try to see if any of the results fit your sighting. Good luck!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: maeve
Date: 18 Feb 13 - 08:29 PM

Also, JHW- I wonder if the tiny bird you thought might be a Goldcrest might have been the endangered Firecrest? Have a look and see what you think:http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/f/firecrest/index.aspx Just a thought.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Jeri
Date: 18 Feb 13 - 08:57 PM

I had a pair of Red Bellied Woodpeckers show up last winter, and they're still around. Lovely large birds.

Sometime last night when the wind was fierce, my dinner bell feeder blew off the hook and flipped upside down, in a way that made the seed land in the top. I put it back up tonight. It's still a little windy, but not nearly as bad. The birds were flying forward yesterday, and blowing sideways.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: Janie
Date: 18 Feb 13 - 11:20 PM

Wish I could count the birds the I see on my drive to and from work. Large flock of wild turkey in a field of winter wheat? rye? on the way home this evening. (The field was sown about a month ago and now is a lush green of a grass/grain, standing about 6 inches tall. I think it is a dual cover/spring harvest crop of some grain.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: JHW
Date: 20 Feb 13 - 07:57 AM

999 and maeve thanks for ideas. Not spotted that RSPB page before. Body of bird too vertical ie like heron, shag, cormorant when perched for suggestions. Cormorant nearest on that aspect; brown immature in flight in one book looks reasonable but Kirkby Stephen is smack halfway from E or W coast

Goldcrest I reckoned from google images where some shown spherical as mine. Bird book pictures hopeless as shown bird shaped like a warbler. Firecrest should be out of area for River Tees acc to my books though I know things do get about more.
(First Egret I saw was on the Axe, south coast but supposedly continental. Now they're regular at Saltholme by the Tees Estuary.)

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 20 Feb 13 - 07:15 PM

Need some help identifying a bird that has been at my feeder for the past two days. Wish I had a better image, but hopefully this is good enough for one more experienced than I. Certain it is not a goldfinch and I have been to several sites in hope of finding a match but nothing certain yet.

Mystery Bird

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2013
From: GUEST,999
Date: 20 Feb 13 - 07:35 PM

Arkie, we think it's a Flycatcher. Check out that group of birds. It looks like a Western Flycatcher. Check Google Images maybe.