BS: Birdwatching 2014

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: MartinRyan
Date: 02 May 14 - 05:31 PM

HI GUESTEliza,

The Youtube clip was just the handiest sample I could find - there may well be two birds involved. In the hotel, there seemed to be several both in the main building and in a second, stable-block building. Fortunately, the call is quite soothing, ultimately, so we learned to live with it.

Regards

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: Jeri
Date: 20 May 14 - 03:30 PM

The damned yellow warbler alarm-clock bird is back (heard but not seen). There are a pair of phoebes in a pre-owned nest above a window, and...
a whole entire pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks. I was watching the female in the birdfeeder from the porch, which is only about 015' away. She was in there until a catbird flew in and scared her off.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 20 May 14 - 05:36 PM

Hurray! Heard two cuckoos yesterday morning at dawn, and one today. They've decreased in numbers by about 50% in the last ten years, and ornithologists don't know why. The one this morning sounded very close to our house, but even though I ran out in my dressing gown, I couldn't catch a glimpse of it. (Neighbours are quite accustomed to the mad woman next door creeping around inappropriately clad, breaking up cat-fights or looking for birds.) A number of Norfolk cuckoos were ringed recently and tracked on their migration to Africa. Amazingly, they took widely different routes, but ended up in Congo within five miles of eachother!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 20 May 14 - 06:06 PM

A couple of years back we had a treecreeper stun itself by hitting our sliding doors. I managed to get a picture as my mother released it.

New to me this year here has been a yellow hammer in the field/veg plot. There are also a pair of mallards nesting in that area.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: Jeri
Date: 23 May 14 - 02:24 PM

Add Indigo Bunting
I looked at my feeder, and was trying to figure out if it was a catbird, but it was a little too small, and then it turned a little, and it was obviously blue. It was a very dark blue, but it's a dark, cloudy day, and we have no other birds with that much blue on them.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: Janie
Date: 21 Nov 14 - 09:41 PM

Saw my first Juncos last weekend. They may have arrived earlier, but this time of year only home in daylight on the weekends. Saw white-throated sparrows in quantity the weekend before.

Found a suet cage last summer that the outer cage is large enough to really keep the suet in the inner cage out of reach of starlings and grackles. However, the inner cage that holds the suet blocks holds 3 blocks. Too deep. The smaller birds that can get into the outer cage can't reach all the suet through the wire of the inner cage. So essentially a poor design. I think I'll measure and saw off a suet-cake sized block of wood to insert in the middle to support two outer suet cakes against the wire so the birds can get to all of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 21 Nov 14 - 10:46 PM

Saw the first Juncos of the year this week here in the Arkansas Ozarks. Same date as last year. They arrived about the same time as the big snow.

Also a big flock of Robins arrived yesterday. We have Robins all year round. I suspect these are migrating. We do usually see big flocks about this time of year.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: Janie
Date: 02 Dec 14 - 12:17 AM

Arkie, you and I may be "the last men standing" so to speak, regarding birding threads on Mudcat. I think you know a bunch more than I do, so am asking for your thoughts on something.

This past weekend I sadly had to have a lot of trees removed. I'm not as concerned about the narrow wind-row/thicket near the rear of the house that provided cover plus lots of bird-cherries - I can pretty quickly grow a variety of other shrubs that will provide cover and food within a few years without being so tall they threaten the house when ice-storms hit.

I am most concerned about how to compensate for the 3 maples that were taken down. One was nearly dead. The other two had extensive dead tops, which I did not realize until big parts of those tops came down in a late ice storm last spring. I have a lot of bluebirds, downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers who come to the feeders in my yard and when I examined the trees after they came down, there is no doubt they were prime nesting spots. I had thought until that ice storm the birds were nesting somewhere in the area but were in my yard only because of the feeders. Do you have any experience with woodpecker boxes? If so, just how high up to they have to be placed to be attractive to nesting pairs? I have a long extension ladder but am a bit phobic about height. From what I read, however, I question whether I could place them high enough on the trunks of the oaks and remaining maples using a tall step ladder. Any thoughts?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,maeve
Date: 02 Dec 14 - 06:11 AM

Janie, I'm here! I'm sure Arkie will respond.

In the meantime, here's a link we used when siting flicker nest box l year or so ago. We had at least two, and likely more, flicker families raised in or near the nest box this year. .. so quite successful. Be sure to pack the box with wood chips so your local birds can excavate.

Ours were set about 15 feet high, but note that the suggested range is 8-20 feet...you have some flexibility so can evaluate clear flight zones, etc. and you will want the option to check and clear out the box yearly, refilling with about 4" fresh wood chips.

Maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 02 Dec 14 - 11:25 AM

Janie, sorry you lost so many trees. They, no doubt provided cover and nesting sites for song birds. I am afraid that I know very little about natural cover and nesting habits so I can be of little help here. I have quite a few downy woodpeckers and suspect they nest in the area since at various times of the year I see adults and juveniles at the feeders. I do not provide any nesting for them. I also see red-bellied woodpeckers frequently at the feeders. I do not see hairy woodpeckers that often any longer. A significant loss of cover may result in some loss of bird population, but if you still have standing trees you may not notice a loss. I hope you are able to keep the birds who have made your yard their home.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: maeve
Date: 02 Dec 14 - 02:29 PM

This morning we watched an adult Bald eagle fly along the treetops to a perch in a tall White pine. We were trying to get a couple of clear photos through our south windows when ravens began calling. As I pressed the shutter button a pair of ravens glided in toward the eagle, one landing on the pine as the eagle shrugged and departed toward the river. The ravens cheered before also gliding away north to their usual roosts by the hayfield.

Janie, if any of the cut trees' stumps or big branches are still there, they can be fine bird feeding stations.
Maeve

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: gnu
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 02:30 PM

Yeah... ravens don't put up with eagles or many large birds of prey except owls. I was WAY back in the bush one spring when a HUGE eagle lit on a tall pine on the edge of a BIG bog. A lone raven circled it (female back on the nest?). The eagle ignored the raven. The raven went up to about 200' and began to call. There had to be at least 20 big* ravens arrive in less than 5 minutes. Not only did the eagle leave but they kicked his ass on the way out. Feathers were had!

* What I call "bog ravens". The ravens along the back roads? Tiny compared to the ravens that have the choice nesting grounds way back in the bog country. I've seen a half dozen of them work together to kill large rabbits that wander out to eat blueberries. They take turns eating the rabbits. Dominant female first and then her mate and they leave enough for the others and those eat in turn. It's gruesome but somehow "understandable", for lack of a better term.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 05:32 PM

I would like to get in on the eagle spotting. We have them in this area but seeing them here is very rare. I did see a Pileated Woodpecker this morning. It has been several years since seeing the last one. Or maybe this was the same one I saw a couple of years ago. A little Pine Warbler came calling at the feeder yesterday and today. I have not seen it for a while.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: Janie
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 07:10 PM

Oh maeve, so happy to see you here! And you also, gnu!

That link to the NWF page is perfect. I've looked at a few links but the information on the NWF is the most complete I've seen. Have bookmarked it. I read somewhere else about packing the box with wood chips for the woodpeckers to excavate. On the NWF site it says to fill with about 4" of shavings as nesting material. I'm a little confused about whether the box should be filled with wood chips to the top for the birds to excavate to their desired depth, or if adding 4 inches of wood shavings is considered packing the box. Can you clarify?

I do see flickers in my yard, usually in early spring when the ant colonies get active. Had not considered I could put nesting boxes out for them also.

I'd have to go out birding to see eagles on regional lakes. Doubt I'll ever see one from my yard, which is where all my birding takes place. Would be a thrill, though. One New Year's a few years ago, coming back from New York, we detoured and stopped to take a walk along the Susquehanna River just below the Conowingo Dam, near Port Deposit. It was unseasonably warm. There was some sort of fish run or swarm just below the dam, and there were Bald Eagles everywhere! The only time I have ever seen them in the wild. Several were wheeling over the water, and others roosted on low branches along the path so we could observe them quite closely. It is a popular path and these birds were obviously pretty acclimated to gawking hikers.

Did you get your picture, maeve?

Arkie, this past spring I saw the first Pileated Woodpecker I have seen on the NC Piedmont where I live since I moved to this area 28 years ago. Sitting at my computer, saw movement out the window and there was a male, clinging to a tree trunk about 10 feet away. They were common, and one of my very favorite birds in the hills of WV where I hail from and I have missed seeing them flash through the woods, and the sound of their calls. Figured he was just passing through, and probably he was. Then, this past Saturday morning, sitting on my carport with my second cuppa I heard a woodpecker drumming on the oak behind me, turned to look, expecting a red-belly or a downy, and to my delight, saw it was a Pileated. Turned my head back when I saw something moving in the woodlot across the road, and there was another one! Watched both of them for about 20 minutes. It was great.

I don't usually see pine warblers at the feeder until January or early Feb. I'm guessing that is when it either gets cold enough or the winter foraging gets scarce enough that they come down to the suet.

We don't have ravens here. I think they may have them in the NC Mountains, but am not sure. Have never seen one of them in the wild either.

I did see seagulls flying overhead this weekend. They come inland around shopping malls and I've seen them a few miles away, but never flying overhead here before. Don't know what species.

So happy to be talking and hearing about all y'all's birds here. These bird threads have long been some of my favorite on Mudcat.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: maeve
Date: 03 Dec 14 - 07:33 PM

Quick reply, Janie- If you have enough shavings/chips fill the box. Four inches is considered a minimum for nesting. When the birds have to excavate they seem to feel more ownership.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 10:08 AM

This time of the year is one when you sometimes see birds that are not uncommon round here but don't often come into our garden to try to get food. The woodpecker in particular is a very rare sight to me. A couple of shots from my window:

Here is a cropped one of a (Eurasian) jay who's picked up a couple of peanuts.

Here is a Great spotted woodpecker

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: gnu
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 03:59 PM

Eagles are cool. I had a camp on Salmon River, Kent Co., NB.ca. I used to sit between two huge pines with large "crag" braches sticking out over the river. Eagles would perch on them (one at a time) waiting for fish and ducks. They were about twenty feet over me and, staying still, they didn't see me. Quite a show. Even more so were the ospreys that never lit.

The best was "Beaker". A peregrine falcon who would perch on my upper deck railing. I was below in a screened in porch or sitting on the lower deck railing. It was unperturbed by my presence after we became friends. I watched it go after mice for hours and hours. Quite a show.

Then, there were the Moose Birds, the owls and many others... even the whippoorwills (which I never saw as they were out only at night... good thing because when you keep up a man that owns a 12 gauge shotgun up half the night, yer pokin the dragon eh?). I miss my camp.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: Janie
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 07:23 PM

Wow, gnu. I can see why.

Thanks for the bird pics, guest. A treat to see photos from catters of birds in the backyards of folks across the pond. Guessing from the URL on the photos you are our old friend Jon? Hope you are doing well.

Thanks maeve. Will do so.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 07:53 PM

Sorry Janie. I didn't mean to go anon. It is that Jon on one of his rare visits...

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 08:33 PM

We've had an incredibly warm autumn and the bushes are laden with berries. The redwings and fieldfares have had the luxury of not having to hurry south. Two fieldfares under the apple trees this morning, first sighting of the winter. The bird feeders are swarming at the moment, the little buggers eating me out of house and home. No long- tailed tits yet, but they won't be long.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: Janie
Date: 04 Dec 14 - 10:22 PM

Well don't be so rare, Jon, at least on the bird threads, which I think you might find quite tolerable! Very good to have you chime in.

Those are a couple of pretty thrushes, Steve. Is the long-tailed tit as tiny a bird as it looks in the photographs I googled?

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: Rumncoke
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 08:00 PM

The tits full name is titmice - they are not large

I see great tits - which are small birds, blue tits and coal tits in the garden around the compost bins after insects.

We also have house sparrows, goldfinches, robins, blackbirds, thrushes, swifts, wood pigeons, ringdoves, siskins, black headed gulls and thrushes - just what I can remember seeing from the
kitchen window.

I'm on the south coast of England, close to the sea.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Dec 14 - 08:24 PM

Long-tailed tits are one of the tiniest British birds. As I understand it they are not especially closely-related to the other tits.

I'm north Cornwall,near Bude, Rumncoke.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: Janie
Date: 08 Dec 14 - 09:05 PM

All we have here is the
tufted-titmouse (east coast USA.) My Peterson's Fieldguide (Eastern USA)has drawings of Great Tits and Blue Tits as accidentals from Europe or Asia (probably up north and east coast of Canada. Our tufted titmouse is apparently not related to Tits.

Is the tufted titmouse I linked to the same bird you call titmouse, Rumncoke? If not, I wonder if they are related? (if my typos are worse than usual, please forgive. Am having to type one-handed for week or so.) I know from previous bird threads that what we call goldfinch over here on the east coast usa is a separate but related species to what you call goldfinches. Love learning about backyard birds across the pond. Common to you, but quite exotic to me!

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 08 Dec 14 - 11:09 PM

Janie, these Wikipedia articles may help.

Tits (Paridae)

Long tailed tits (Aegithalidae)

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,driving-rain-maeve without cookie
Date: 10 Dec 14 - 02:48 PM

I was delighted yesterday to see a (three year) Bald eagle fly directly over the yurt thrice yesterday, allowing me to do a visual confirmation of very mottled underwing coloration/colouration, indicating age of about three years. Many birds (and now planes and helicoptors) have been using our yurt as a visual flight marker, something we never observed in the pre-fire house.

Also, Redpolls visited today, landing in the nearest cherry tree in driving rain. They snarled , "No food here and it's still raining and freezing!" before departing just as suddenly.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: ragdall
Date: 11 Dec 14 - 04:44 AM

Today I saw the first Redpolls in my yard since two winters ago. A flock of at least 40 arrived just as I was leaving for an appointment so I wasn't able to get photos. I hope that they'll stay here this winter.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 03:34 PM

Saw something three days ago, that I have not seen before. A crow was at one of the hanging feeders. It has been there three days in row. We have lots of crows and many are frequently visitors to my yard and they feed on the ground beneath the feeders.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2014
From: maeve
Date: 18 Dec 14 - 03:49 PM

Crows are indeed intelligent and innovative- always finding something new to try!

We conducted a feeder watch for the Christmas Bird Count in our area. Besides the expected Black-capped chickadees, goldfinches, Blue jays, crows, ravens, Hairy woodpecker etc, the compilers were pleased we saw one or more Pileated woodpeckers and heard two Great Horned owls.

Subject: RE: BS: Birdwatching 2021
From: EBarnacle
Date: 25 Jan 21 - 09:21 PM

I was sitting in the van today while Lady Hillary was shopping. A bald Eagle flew by with some sort of small animal [it looked like a rat] in its talons. As I had not heard of any of them establishing a nest in the neighborhood this may be an expansion of the eagles' coverage.
There was a report a few days ago of a young Baldy attacking a nest being brooded by a mated pair. He was driven off with no harm to the egg.