BS: Birdwatching 2009

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Janie
Date: 19 Jan 09 - 08:12 AM

Adding a brown creeper and a red-bellied woodpecker to the list.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: GUEST,Jonny Sunshine
Date: 19 Jan 09 - 06:44 AM

Been a really good week, with redwings and a fieldfare joining our regular blackbirds, and a very approachable goldcrest. I might just start a year list, for home/ garden. But do you count birds flying over?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: GUEST,Jim Martin
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 10:10 PM

Sounds like there's a good marketing opportunity for somebody here!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 10:33 AM

My neighbours over the (new) back fence are also cat owners but have developed a nifty way of getting feeders out of kitty reach.

They have a washing pole which has a pulley attached, at a height of about 15ft. Through this is threaded some washing line, which is attached to a clever feeder arrangment. A clear 'pipe' feeder with little perches and holes at the bottom is attached to a bracket which in turn is attached to a plank of wood. The whole contraption is lowered and raised with the washing line which is secured on the cleat at the bottom of the pole - as it would have been had it still been a washing line. The feeder is prevented from swinging around or blowing in the wind by two large U bolts top and bottom of the plank which go around the pole. The contraption slides up and down the pole easily, doesn't swing around in the wind and has a little shelf at the bottom for a pot that catches rainwater. There are a couple of suet fat balls hanging off the sides and it rests about 12ft above ground and a good 6ft farther up than any kitty, even sitting on the shed roof can manage. The pole is slender and metal so the kitties cannot climb it, and it's just far enough away from the trees that the branches will not support a cats' weight. I'll try and get a photograph of it and put it on Flickr with a link.. it's an ingenious thing, thought up by my neighbours' granddaughter!

I'm insanely jealous of it as we don't have a washing pole. I may adapt it to run up the back of the house but that will take some thinking and a very long ladder.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Janie
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 09:45 AM

Hi hg! Good to know you are still around.

After looking at many, many images, I think the bird was the very common female house finch whose coloration was a bit darker and toward the black/gray spectrum than most around these parts.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Bobert
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 08:14 AM

The best thing you can do about the cats is position your feeders in a manner where they are open... If they are next to a bushy shrub this gives kitty a big advantage 'cause the birds won't see kitty... I have ours mounted on a power pole.... It is up about 12 feet off the ground and hangs from an old sign bracket from nylon rope that goes tru pulleys so I can lower it tio fil it... The power pole doesn't have much around it and we have four kitties which are good hunters and, yeah, sniff, they do gst a bird now and then but not often 'cause the birds can see them...

I wish I could say that we had spotted soemthing unusual but we haven't... But we do have alot of birds... Like hundreds that either live here on the farm all year 'round or are seasonal... Right now we have nuthatches, chicodees, finches, red bellied woodpeckers, junkos, bluebirds, wrens, a few robins (1st year fir them in the winter, a pair of cardinals, crows and hawks... Not much else???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 07:46 AM

We joined the RSPB last autumn. Sometimes go to Hanningfield Reservoir and (don't laugh) Fingeringhoe Wick to look at the burdies, though not on the enthusiast's level.

No bird watching to speak of this year yet. There was a very pretty young asian woman in colorful sari hanging laundry in the back garden of our flats once. Does that count?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: maeve
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 07:24 AM

Regarding gulls inland- Adrien, we watch for the earthworm-hunting gulls that fly the 13 miles inland to our farm, because that tells us how severe the storms are offshore.

And gnu- The 'Dees we watch here tend to roam about in shifting bands of chickadees, nuthatches, brown creepers, and titmice (occasionally kinglets). The 'Dee flocklets gather together at times, and thus the enormous numbers you mention. Having said that, birders here in Maine are seeing many more this year than usual. Guess it's the Year of the Chickadee in our part of the world from NB to NH.

maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: gnu
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 06:54 AM

Pics? No, I didn't. I don't think pics of that many Chickadees would turn out, unless you could get the wee ones to line up and smile.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 01:04 AM

There are six national wildlife refuges in a two-county area north of Sacramento, a major stop on the Pacific Flyway. I took my wife birdwatching there today, and it was a perfect experience. This Google image search will give you an idea of what we saw, thousands and thousands of birds - snow geese, white-fronted geese, pintails, cinnamon teals, mallards, redwing blackbirds, coots, lots of redtail hawks, and two great horned owls.
With my binoculars, I looked across the water toward the Sutter Buttes, and the sky was completely full of geese.
We saw the two owls just at sunset - one in a tree, and one flying past right in front of us.
Reminds me how nice it is to live in California.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: GUEST,hg
Date: 18 Jan 09 - 12:44 AM

Black and white warbler, Janie. They're cool to see...harpgirl

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Beer
Date: 17 Jan 09 - 11:41 PM

Yea Gnu! where is the picture. Your one hell of a story teller. I saw a flock of seagulls once eating all the worms when the farmer was plowing his fields. They just don't look proper inland.
In all seriousness Gnu, that would have been a treat to see. I have never heard of such a thing.
Short story.
Last summer my son and his friend were fishing behind the house. I went to see how they were doing and squatted about 10 feet from them. They were both sitting on a log and casting out in the river. I noticed that they both had what looked like sawdust on their shoulders. Not much but enough to be noticed. I looked up and saw this Chickadee going into a small hole in a branch about 4 feet from where they were sitting and coming out and dropping a speck of wood on them. I pointed it out to them then asked them to move away. The bird then started to do the same thing to me. I guess the message it was trying to tell us was to get the hell away from my nesting area. It was fun to watch.
Adrien

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Janie
Date: 17 Jan 09 - 08:40 PM

Gnu,

Never! Ever! Didja get pictures?

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: gnu
Date: 17 Jan 09 - 08:34 PM

Didn't read the thread... sorry. Just had to post this. Yesterday, I saw sommat I have never seen. Anybody else ever see a flock of Chickadees that numbered over a hundred? I have been around these wonderfully entertaining birds all my life, but never any more than a few dozen in a flock, if even close to that! I was amazed, and entertained to no end. Never seen such a flock!

It was obvious that the flock was "divided". Some groups were moving alternate ways from other groups while feeding, but they were a flock... were they? Maybe it was a few flocks that happened to meet? Anyone see such a flock? Was it just a family reunion?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Janie
Date: 17 Jan 09 - 08:19 PM

Had a pine warbler today that kept visiting both the suet and the thistle feeder. Hadn't seen one of them here before. Had another bird at the thistle feeder that I still haven't keyed out. Black and white striped. Small. I was headed to the feeder to fill it, and the thing didn't fly until I was within 3 feet. (Neither did a couple of goldfinches.) The closest thing I can find in my field guide is a black-and-white warbler. I doubt it was - this is awfully far north for them to be this time of year, and the Cornell bird site indicates they are primarily carnivores.

The bluebirds were on the feeders today also, which I haven't observed before. It could be the exceptionally cold weather of the past couple of days has brought birds to the feeders that don't usually visit them. Alternately, it is rare that I am home during the day, even on weekends. Mayhap they just don't visit the feeders in the early mornings when I am usually here to observe, but are frequent afternoon visiters.

Upthread I said I had red-headed woodpeckers when I meant to say downy woodpeckers.

Watched a real dust-up between the woodpeckers and a white-breasted nuthatch today.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: EBarnacle
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 11:55 PM

Lady Hillary drew my attention to a Bald Eagle over the Raritan River today.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Janie
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 07:11 PM

Thanks for the reminder, maeve. Canada geese fly over nearly every day on their way to a small local lake.


Here is question about cat deterence that surely some of you have some solutions to offer. I did not realize how many cats there are running around this neighborhood until I got the birdfeeders set-up. There are nearly always at least 2 cats in the yard now, and I have counted a total of 5 different cats that are now drawn here by the bird activity.

The feeders have all been moved or elevated out of leaping cat range now, and I have stopped scattering seed for ground feeders, although they still go after the seed that falls on the ground under the birdfeeders. That is the best I can do for now.

I"m worried my birdbaths will prove lethal for the birds when I start filling them come spring, and I have no clue what I can do to keep the cats away.

There were not so many cats in my old neighborhood, and everyone on the block had feeders out, so it spread out the predators a bit. Here, I have the only birdfeeders in sight, and am surrounded by irresponsible pet owners. I have never had to deal with this problem before.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 06:17 PM

"White-breasted nuthatch"

So Kendall has been to visit then?!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: maeve
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 09:08 AM

Saw the Barred owls, Raptor, and heard the others. They like to hunt from our woodlot and the neighbor's hayfield. There's been a kerfuffle in Maine recently due to observers feeding owls with released mice; some say it's terrible to interfere with natural selection and to entice the owls closer for photos, others say at least it's food for starving owls moving down from La Belle Canada in their desperate search for food..

And I forgot to list :

Canada geese - one long string of late migrating critters
Red-breasted nuthatch
White-breasted nuthatch

maeve, little farm in Midcoast Maine...still

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 08:42 AM

Whilst wombling through the B&Q carpark (big DIY/hardware chain) I noticed that the number of crows seems to be increasing... or else it was just because the trees are bare that they were more noticeable, but they were huge big birds too....

Having finally last summer, managed to see the Hitchcock film, I'm getting worried...

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Janie
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 07:23 AM

Adding the following:

Red-breasted nuthatch
House finch
Goldfinch
Mockingbird
Bluejay
Turkey vulture
Sharp-shinned hawk
Red-tail Hawk
Common Crow

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Raptor
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 06:51 AM

You've seen 4 owls?
Thats great!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: maeve
Date: 15 Jan 09 - 05:43 AM

Last week the wild turkeys reappeared in our yard and across the road in the neighbor's field. Yesterday we had over 50 of them parading through the yard within six feet of the kitchen door.

So far we've seen/heard 19 species:

Wild turkeys
American robins
Ravens
Crows
Black-capped chickadees- more than ever before
Tufted titmouse
Downy woodpeckers
Hairy woodpeckers
Bald eagles
Sharp-shinned hawk
Dark-eyed juncos
Brown creepers
American goldfinches
Mourning doves
Blue jays
Cardinal, male and female
White-throated sparrows
Fox sparrows
Chipping sparrows
Great horned owls
Barred owls
Long earred owls
Saw-whet owl- male

Separate from this thread but of interest: In the fall I held and released a Black-billed cuckoo that hit a window. Such a lovely bird! We also have the yellow-billed cuckoo here. They are two of the very few native birds that eat the 'orrible gypsy moth caterpillars that make my eyes swell closed.

maeve, on a small farm in Midcoast Maine

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Escapee
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 09:11 PM

My backyard bird population has rebounded. I think 8 inches of snow have made feeders popular spots. Juncos, cardinals, downy woodpecker, nuthatch. Pretty much back to normal.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 07:13 AM

Huh... bloody cheeky robin... I put up the first fence panel, toddled down the garden to pick up the shovel and before I was even 4 paces away the robin was perched happy as you like on the new panel!

Now I have to go and buy a new fence post spike as I appear to have broken one, trying to get it out. To be fair, it was rusted to b*ggery and back!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 14 Jan 09 - 03:51 AM

They like the gammon worms... but it froze out there last week so they've not been able to get them out! There's another in the fridge - sunflower seeds and beef fat. That should be interesting.

They're all sulking at the moment because I've dug up the back fence and trimmed all their low level shrubbery cover back, to replace the fence. Still, the robin got within 5 feet of me yesterday whilst I was raking over old leaves, he liked the bugs that were appearing.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Raptor
Date: 13 Jan 09 - 03:13 PM

Blackbelt count at both but only during the time your address is at the house you are counting from.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work
Date: 07 Jan 09 - 09:48 AM

Made my own fat ball yesterday... it's been setting in the fridge overnight and I'll put it out when I get home. Full of fat, gammon rind (sliced to caterpillar size) and sunflower seeds, it'll give the robin and the blackbirds something to do.

Talking of the blackbird, I was standing within arms reach of the female yesterday afternoon - a magical moment. She just looked at me, flicked her tail and hopped off the fence with no sign of alarm.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: MartinRyan
Date: 06 Jan 09 - 12:46 PM

Blackbelt's story reminds me of emerging from a pub late one night in the Irish midlands and hearing what seemed to be an endless stream of whimbrel overhead, keeping in contact with low whistles as they headed north on migration. Such moments are, indeed magic.

I'll try to keep a "house list" this year for the thread - I promise!

Regards

p.s. In much of Ireland, whimbrel are still often known as "maybirds" as they are mainly spotted in late April, early May.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: EBarnacle
Date: 06 Jan 09 - 11:59 AM

Mention of Canadian Geese reminds me that I have forgotten to mention them here as there is a resident population of about 100 living in the pond just down the hill from our house. Arrogant birds, they are.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 06 Jan 09 - 07:39 AM

The mention of geese heard overhead reminds me that I was doing my Christmas shopping in Lancaster in the late afternoon of the 22nd (I think, it's all a blur now) of December. There was fog and suddenly heard the sound of geese flying over above the noise of the crowds and cars.
It was an almost magical experience to contrast the commercial christmas scene presented to the eyes with the hidden natural world that was above the fog. It brought you back to reality with a bump.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 06 Jan 09 - 06:42 AM

We do a weekly garden bird count for the BTO* (also record stag beetles via the same site) I don't know what our annual total is but our weekly total is between 16 and 20 species. Our oddest over the years have been an escaped African Grey parrot and a small flock of (presumabley escaped) zebra finches one year. Ring necked parakeets (escapeees from the 1950s**) are now common in the area.

RtS
*British Trust for Ornithology
** allegedly escaped from a Shepperton film set. Possible Sanders of the River or similar.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Jan 09 - 12:28 AM

Joybell, you are such a tease! All of your summery exotic birds on this list!

I had a garden outside my kitchen window so I didn't put up the bird feeder for a while (it was up there last year)--I didn't want the feeder seeds in the veggie bed, and frankly, the eggplants were too big to put the feeder in it's usual position. Now the frost has come and the feeder is up because I've cut back the eggplant to the roots (I don't know if they will come back in the spring--this is an experiment).

I have a lot of doves and sparrows, but today I had a black-capped chickadee. Only one, and kind of a loner, but a conspicuous vistor to my feeder (outside the kitchen window, about 8 feet from the house, sitting right beside the driveway pavement). I scattered some seed on the ground to aid in the "discovery" phase and it was quite a gathering.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Escapee
Date: 05 Jan 09 - 11:24 PM

The birds know I'm keeping track now. Since the year started I have seen 1 House Sparrow and 1 Mourning Dove in my backyard. Still hear Canada Geese late at though. They sound like a herd of dogs passing overhead. The rest of the birds must still be on vacation.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 05 Jan 09 - 07:44 AM

Well, I'd like to join in but we are in the process of gradually moving house (doing up the farmhouse before we move in) so do I count what I see at both houses?
More seriously, it will be interesting to see what turns up 1000' up in the pennines. I had seen pictures of fieldfares in bird books and it mentioned that it was possible to see flocks of them in winter but I had never seen more that one at a time. Yesterday there were over 80 of them in the next field!
Since 1st Jan we also have had flocks of starlings and black-headed gulls, a black backed gull(a lesser I think but nothing to compare size to), several crows and magpies, a blackbird, a robin and a wren.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: ragdall
Date: 05 Jan 09 - 04:56 AM

So far this year, in my garden, I've seen:

Black-capped Chickadee
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
House Sparrow
Common Redpoll
House Finches
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker (Yellow shafted)
Northern Flicker (Orange shafted)
Crow
Pine Grosbeak
Bohemian Waxwing

There are photos of a few here

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 05 Jan 09 - 04:40 AM

Oddly enough, my most popular feeder is only 15' away from the back of the house but the birds love it because it's suspended from an arch (well, more a sort of wood henge) and there is no way the cats can get to it except from above. The birds have plenty of high perches that the cats can't reach and they dangle quite happily off the feeder - although watching a robin trying to do it was hysterical and I wish I'd been able to capture the moment on film... at 4 times the weight of a blue tit, the robin just tipped the feeder over!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Janie
Date: 04 Jan 09 - 11:48 PM

Location. Location. Location.

I solved a mystery today regarding why a particular feeder was not much being used in spite of what I thought was my care in placing it relatively near to cover. I didn't think about the fact that I was also placing it near the front porch steps, which can not been seen from inside the house.

This morning I strolled out from the side of the house to see a cat crouched on the steps, eyes trained on the feeder. Had a bird failed to notice the feline, it would have been a very easy jump for the cat to the bottom perch of the feeder.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: EBarnacle
Date: 04 Jan 09 - 07:37 PM

Obviously, her karma and desire brought it to her. I have often found that when I relax, interesting birds fly right in front of me or, in the case of a very tired woodcock several years ago, land in front of me to be saved from a cat.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Cats
Date: 04 Jan 09 - 07:08 PM

There was an interesting article tonight on the local news. A bird watcher from here [Cornwall, UK] had gone all the way to the Arctic in an endeavour to see a rare Snow Bunting but after 2 weeks there was no sign. When she got back there were all these people camped out in her road with cameras and huge telephoto lenses. There was a Snow Bunting in her garden that had flown down from the Arctic.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Joybell
Date: 03 Jan 09 - 11:25 PM

I like playing here.
I'm in south-west Victoria, Australia. It's Summer and a few birds are into a second breeding.
Three baby New Holland Honey-eaters are trying to get nectar out of the long-handled brush that hangs in the tree beside the water dishes. It's the brush I use to clean them.
As well as New Holland Honey Eaters we have:

Australian Magpies
Australian Ravens
Boobook Owl
Wedge-tail Eagles -- part of their hunting range.
Mudlarks
Willie Wagtails -- with 3 babies at the moment
Yellow-rumped Thornbills
Brown Thornbills
Welcome Swallows
Nankeen Kestrels
Brown Falcons
Black and White Chats - visitors
Silvereyes -- visitors
White-faced Herons
Sacred Ibis
Black Swans -- with 7 young ones
Mountain Ducks
Crimson Rosellas -- visitors
Grass Parrots -- visitors
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos -- visitors
Corellas -- visitors
Shining Bronze Cuckoo

Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Janie
Date: 03 Jan 09 - 10:16 PM

Oh, I'm in the northeast Piedmont region of North Carolina, in a little town called Mebane.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Janie
Date: 03 Jan 09 - 10:12 PM

This doesn't count at all, but it was the thrill of lifetime for me, so I'm posting it. Just got back from a road trip that included a stop and walk along the Susquehanna River immediately below the Conowingo Dam, near Port Deposit. (just about 3 miles from Camp Ramblewood, where the Getaway used to be held.) I saw 4 Bald Eagles in the tops of trees along a 1/4 mile stretch of river trail. The first I have ever seen in the wild.

Thrilling.

I'm in for the bird count. Have just got feeders up at my new place and will be interested to see if I get different species. Got home late this afternoon for the first time in 2009. Saw a couple of bluebirds, a white-breasted nuthatch, a couple of white-throated sparrows, tufted titmouses, juncos, Carolina or Black-capped chickadees, cardinals, a female red-headed woodpecker, and a Carolina wren.

Raptor, I'm so glad you start us on these projects!

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: EBarnacle
Date: 03 Jan 09 - 07:46 PM

Basking Ridge, NJ.
Spotted a turkey vulture perched in a tree beside the Raritan River today.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: freda underhill
Date: 03 Jan 09 - 07:45 AM

I heard some galahs today, but didn't see them.

freda in Dungog

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: mrdux
Date: 03 Jan 09 - 01:36 AM

so far over the last couple days most of the usual winter suspects have made an appearance:

red breasted nuthatch
lots of juncos
song sparrows
english sparrows
chickadees -- chestnut backed and black capped
house finches
bush tits
the usual crows, scrub jays and starlings
robins
a flock of cedar waxwings
flicker
and one cooper's hawk in the apple tree right above one of the feeders in our urban backyard in portland, oregon.

michael

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Beer
Date: 02 Jan 09 - 11:34 PM

And where abouts are you located Barnacle?
Adrien

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: EBarnacle
Date: 02 Jan 09 - 10:57 PM

A couple of Blue Jays, 2 red tailed Hawks and a black headed vulture passed by on their way to appointments.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Beer
Date: 02 Jan 09 - 01:53 PM

What a difference a day makes. 5 degrees warmer and my feeders and surrounding area is just busy as hell.
Junco (lots)
Chickadee and American Finches (plenty)
Mourning Doves (4)
Cardinals (spotted 1 male and 2 Female)
Cow Birds and lots of Sparrows.

There are two p[air on White Breasted Nuthatches that hang around but not seen today.Adrien

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2009
From: Jeri
Date: 02 Jan 09 - 01:34 PM

So far, only:
1. Junco
2. Tufted titmouse
3. Chickadee
4. Cardinal
5. Hairy woodpecker
6. Mourning dove
7. Goldfinch

The first month isn't up yet though, and we're supposed to report monthly. I think I can 'collect' blue jays, crows, perhaps nuthatches and sparrows, but there are loads of juncos.

Haven't seen one of those no-winged bushy-tailed birds yet, but it's probably only a matter of time.