BS: Birdwatching 2012

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 - 05:25 PM

duh..... the link.

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: 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 - 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.