BS: Birdwatching 2012

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 01 Jan 13 - 12:46 PM

Nice one, Arkie!   Thanks for giving the info about location and habitat around your yard.

Oops. I have two more to add that I somehow left off my list. Ruby-throated Humingbird and Northern Mockingbird.

Eager to learn what the rest of you have spied from your yard or chosen observation place over the course of the past year.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Arkie
Date: 01 Jan 13 - 12:01 PM

Here's a list from the southern tip of the Ozarks and north Central Arkansas, about 100 miles north of Little Rock and a 100 miles below the Missouri border. Situated on the outskirts of a small town with quite a bit of open space on one side of the house and hardwoods and pine on the other. Fortunate also to have close neighbors with stock ponds. Wish I could be more specific about the blackbird. Brewer's, I think, but not really sure. The Piliated Woodpecker only dropped by for one day, but hung around long enough for me to get a few pictures.

Blackbird
Bluebird
Blue Heron
Blue Jay
Canadian Goose
Brown Thrasher
Cardinal
Carolina Wren
Carolina Chickadee
Cowbird
Crow
Dove, Eurasian Collared
Dove, Mourning
Dove, White Winged
Eastern Wood PeeWee
Finch, House
Finch, Purple
Flycatcher, Scissor-tailed
Goldfinch
Hawk, Cooper's
Grackle
Grosbeak, Blue
Grosbeak, Rose Breasted
Hummingbird, Ruby Throated
Indigo Bunting
Junco
Junco Hybrid
Killdeer
Mockingbird
Northern Parula
Nuthatch, Brown-headed
Nuthatch, Red-Breasted
Nuthatch, White Breasted
Pine Siskin
Pine Warbler
Purple Martin
Sparrow, Chipping
Sparrow, House
Sparrow, White Crowned
Sparrow, White Throated
Redwing Blackbird
Robin
Starling
Tufted Titmouse
Turkey Buzzard
Yellow Shafted Flicker
Yellow Warbler
Woodpecker, Downy
Woodpecker, Hairy
Woodpecker, Piliated
Woodpecker, Red-Bellied

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: ragdall
Date: 01 Jan 13 - 07:28 AM

Wow, Janie! That's a very impressive list.

gnu, cute joke. I think those crows have east coast accents?

I was thrilled to see my first Common Redpoll of this winter eating millet outside my window this afternoon. It just barely made it onto my 2012 list. I will try to sort out the list in a couple of days, after my son and his family leave for home.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 31 Dec 12 - 09:08 AM

Here's my 2012 list. I'm on the northeast Piedmont of North Carolina. A fairly large lot in a pretty small town. Lots of trees, but not much shrubbery or trees with berries or drupes. No ponds or waterways, and not situated between ponds or waterways so I don't get to see waterbirds passing overhead from my yard. 7 bird feeders and I feed black oil sunflower seed, nyjer seed, suet cakes and suet nuggets. this year, the finches have almost completely ignored the nyjer for some reason and I also saw a lot fewer goldfinches and a lot fewer juncos.

Janie's 2012 Backyard Bird List.

American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Robin
Barred Owl
Black Vulture
Bluejay
Brown Thrasher
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Chickadee
Chipping Sparrow
common grackle
Cowbird
Dark-eyed Junco
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Bluebird
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Hairy Woodpecker
House Wren
House Finch
Mourning Dove
Myrtle Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Northern Flicker
Northern Harrier
Pine Warbler
Purple Finch
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-shouldered hawk
Screech Owl
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Song Sparrow
Tufted Titmouse
Turkey Vulture
White-breasted nuthatch
White-throated sparrow

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: gnu
Date: 22 Dec 12 - 07:25 PM

OH rags! That is SO sad.

Maybe this might cheer a bit, tho I can't see that it would under such dire straights.

Anyway...

I heard they found about 200 dead crows near Moncton, and there was concern they may have died from Avian Flu.

They had a Bird Pathologist examine the remains of all the crows, and he confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu, to everyone's relief. However, he determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, and only 2% were killed by an impact with a car.

The Province then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine the disproportionate percentages for truck versus car kill.

The Ornithological Behaviorist determined the cause in short order.
When crows eat road kill, they always set-up a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of impending danger. His conclusion was that the lookout crow could say "Caw" but he could not say "Truck."

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: ragdall
Date: 22 Dec 12 - 07:08 PM

Wow, gnu, lucky you! We have -24 C windchill and the lawn is so far below snow that nobody can find it.

The snow pack has been a huge problem for the displaced Snowy Owls who moved down here from the Arctic, hoping to find something to eat. People have been finding them dead or too weak to fly and dying.   I'm guessing that the numbers that are being turned into the the gov't wildlife office are just a fraction of how many dead owls are out there where people won't find them.

It's a very sad situation to see these beautiful birds dying, they've bred too successfully and overpopulated themselves out of food.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: gnu
Date: 22 Dec 12 - 03:37 PM

I watched a robin haul a worm outta my back lawn today! 22 December! He didn't need to have his parka on needer! D'ya spose winter in NB, Canada is over?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 01 Dec 12 - 05:25 PM

duh..... the link.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2012
From: Janie
Date: 01 Dec 12 - 04:54 PM

Was looking for recipes for adding my own hot pepper to suet nuggets when I stumbled across this injunction to not use it. Can't find the hot pepper version of the nuggets locally anymore.

Had no idea capsaicin is harmful to bees, which would be an issue if using hot pepper sprays to deter deer.

I think I'll continue to use hot pepper suet cakes, and when I can find them, the hot pepper nuggets. I certainly have never noticed any problems with the birds avoiding them or behaving in a distressed manner while or after feeding.

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.

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: gnu
Date: 19 Nov 12 - 04:44 PM

Yet another beautiful pic, rags. Thanks.

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: 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: 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 - 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: 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: Raptor
Date: 26 Oct 12 - 07:54 PM

I got about 60 pine siskins today

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: 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: Janie
Date: 20 Oct 12 - 10:21 AM

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

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 - 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Raptor
Date: 17 Jun 12 - 03:33 PM

Arkie looks like a phoebe to me.

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

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