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The thread for birds and birding

Re: The thread for birds and birding

Spring is here. I am starting to see more of the migratory birds showing up. Had 2 Rose breasted grosbeaks partaking in some safflower. Today I had a hummingbird show up in my back yard (Ruby-throated) looking for food. Problem is I dont have a hummingbird feeder yet. He must have just heard from all other other birds that I have the greatest restaraunt in the area. haha. Will probably pick up a hummingbird feeder and make some sugar water sometime this week. Counting the hummingbird thats 27 species at the feeders since i put them up in January (that I have seen and know of).

Also wanted to post this. The Indiana DNR has worked with AEP (a power company) to place a nest box at the top of the 26 story AEP building in Fort Wayne, IN. There is a nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons using the nest and they have a cam up there so you can watch the nest. Looks like its not live per say but takes a photo every 15 seconds. Looks like they may be sitting on an egg...not sure. Here is the link: http://www.aep.com/environment/falconcam/
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

There is a loon in our pond right now. Not a usual visitor here in the suburbs, but our pond is one of the few open water spots around this year. Been quite a few of the usual buffle heads and similar migrating ducks but the loon is a little unusual here.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

I don't know if there is a website that does this, or if other cities have something similar. In the Boston Science Museum, they have an exhibit with lots of different kinds of birds in it (replicas not the real thing) and on a computer screen nearby you can pick one and play its call. It was quite instructive: I can hear maybe six or eight different kinds of bird calls where we live and to be able to associate the call with the bird making it is quite helpful.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

goldy_331 said:
There is a loon in our pond right now. Not a usual visitor here in the suburbs, but our pond is one of the few open water spots around this year. Been quite a few of the usual buffle heads and similar migrating ducks but the loon is a little unusual here.
Click to expand...


I would guess your larger urban lakes get them each year?

They stop here in Madison each spring. My wife works downtown and hears them in the morning, which she says is quite surreal as it's a sound she used to only associate with the North Woods.

I've gone down and shot photos a few times as you can get them right from shore or from the Monona Terrace. Here's the best one I've gotten...

Loon_zps060cb1f0.jpg



This fellow was about 40 yards from the Terrace.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Gurtholfin said:
I would guess your larger urban lakes get them each year?
Click to expand...

Correct. But this year the larger lakes are still ice locked. I should clarify that the pond we live on would be a lake in Wisconsin - it's about 5 acres and 'Sconny uses 1 acre as the cut-off. In MN it's a pond. ;)
 
FreshFish said:
I don't know if there is a website that does this, or if other cities have something similar. In the Boston Science Museum, they have an exhibit with lots of different kinds of birds in it (replicas not the real thing) and on a computer screen nearby you can pick one and play its call. It was quite instructive: I can hear maybe six or eight different kinds of bird calls where we live and to be able to associate the call with the bird making it is quite helpful.
Click to expand...
Try the Cornell lab of ornithology all about birds. Enter the bird you are looking for and yu will get all the info including the calls.
I would also recommend birding.aba.org. The site will provide you with a link to every states most recent bird sightings.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

So, driving in my neighborhood and come upon what appears to be a rabbit chasing a crow across a front lawn as it is taking off. As we get closer the crow becomes airborne and flies about 15 feet in front of us and we can clearly see the baby bunny in its beak. Mama rabbit was left on the lawn looking clueless as ever.

I'm the first to hate on the billion or so rabbits that are in our hood, but I didn't need to see that.


A few years ago a crow had a baby squirrel treed in our back yard and I chased it off. Didn't need to sit there and watch it dismember a baby squirrel. Plus, we have a certain simpatico with the squirrels in our yard.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

So I'm not really much into birding personally, but I saw something kinda interesting yesterday. There's a hummingbird in the back yard that we've seen off and on for a good while now, but I just noticed yesterday it had this odd pattern. It would stay still, hovering about 10-15 feet above the ground over a small tree or bush, making some soft chirping/peeping sounds, for probably about 10 seconds or so. Then it would fly pretty much straight up, I'd guess at least 100 feet, and then do this J shaped dive-bomb between our house and the neighbor's, stopping and hovering over the tree again. Somewhere from the bottom of the J to the hover point, it made a much louder, single chirp. It followed this pattern for at least a good 10 minutes, and that's just when I started watching.

The tree is actually in the neighbor's yard, and behind hedges, so we couldn't see what was in there. We were thinking maybe there was a squirrel, bird, or nest in the tree, and maybe there was some harassment going on one way or the other, but couldn't tell for sure. Anyway, I was just wondering if you guys had seen something like that before, or knew what it was doing?
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Gurt's post from earlier today reminded me of something spectacular that happened to us back in 1999 when we lived in the southwest corner of Wyoming. Usually, when we drove into Salt Lake City, we'd take I-80 the whole way. For this trip, though, we decided to take county roads through the mountains to get there instead.

We are driving along, listening to Chestnut Mare by The Byrds, while the section quoted below is playing, when we drive past the carcass of a dead mule deer, upon which an eagle is feeding. It starts flying along next to us, maybe 12 feet away, no further, at the same speed we are driving, about 8 feet off the ground, for maybe 250 feet or more.

We are all agog. The kids still remark on it 14 years later as one of the most amazing things in their life, having an eagle escort us (or us escort the eagle) for a stretch of roadway like that.


Talk about synchronicity! Music by the Byrds, lyrics about an eagle, as a wild eagle flies alongside us, keeping pace. :)



Well she takes off, runnin' up on to that ridge
Higher than I've ever been before
She's runnin' along just fine, till she stops
Something spooked her
It's a sidewinder, all coiled and ready to strike
She doesn't know what to do for a second
But then she jumps off the edge
Me holding on

Above the clouds
Higher than eagles were gliding
Suspended in the sky
Click to expand...
 
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Re: The thread for birds and birding

AKJD said:
So I'm not really much into birding personally, but I saw something kinda interesting yesterday. There's a hummingbird in the back yard that we've seen off and on for a good while now, but I just noticed yesterday it had this odd pattern. It would stay still, hovering about 10-15 feet above the ground over a small tree or bush, making some soft chirping/peeping sounds, for probably about 10 seconds or so. Then it would fly pretty much straight up, I'd guess at least 100 feet, and then do this J shaped dive-bomb between our house and the neighbor's, stopping and hovering over the tree again. Somewhere from the bottom of the J to the hover point, it made a much louder, single chirp. It followed this pattern for at least a good 10 minutes, and that's just when I started watching.

The tree is actually in the neighbor's yard, and behind hedges, so we couldn't see what was in there. We were thinking maybe there was a squirrel, bird, or nest in the tree, and maybe there was some harassment going on one way or the other, but couldn't tell for sure. Anyway, I was just wondering if you guys had seen something like that before, or knew what it was doing?
Click to expand...

It's a dive display. Likely defending/defining his territory.

On another note, I had species numbers 28 and 29 visit my feeders this morning. Some indigo buntings and a gray catbird.

My full list: Carolina wren, white breasted nuthatch, redbreasted nuthatch, cardinal, white thorated sparrow, white crowned sparrow, house sparrow, house finch, purple finch, goldfinch, tufted titmouse, red bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, dark eyed junco, bluejay, grackle, starling, red wing blackbird, brown headed cowbird, morning dove, eastern towhee, northern mockingbird, hairy woodpecker, brown thrasher, carolina chickadee, rose breasted grosbeak, ruby throated hummingbird, indigo bunting and gray catbird.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

My son is big into Birding and so during spring training this year we would go birding in the morning and a game in the afternoon. in 3 days we saw over 40 species. An arugula was one I had never heard of until then. Also saw a kingfisher for the first time, a really cool little bird.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

As I was making coffee this morning, I looked out and saw a female oriole on one of our patio chairs. She was looking at a bright orange squirt gun that was on the table, probably wondering if it was edible.

I've never seen an oriole here before, but they do spend the summer throughout Wisconsin.

I put an orange slice up on top of the playset. Hope she (and he) comes back.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Gurtholfin said:
As I was making coffee this morning, I looked out and saw a female oriole on one of our patio chairs. She was looking at a bright orange squirt gun that was on the table, probably wondering if it was edible.

I've never seen an oriole here before, but they do spend the summer throughout Wisconsin.

I put an orange slice up on top of the playset. Hope she (and he) comes back.
Click to expand...

We have several pairs of orioles every spring, and we have great luck feeding them grape jelly. We use this feeder http://www.amazon.com/Droll-Yankees-X1-Saver-Feeder/dp/B00004ZB4T/ref=pd_sim_sbs_indust_1 and put about half of one of the larger jars of jelly in it. They really go nuts for it.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Carter said:
We have several pairs of orioles every spring, and we have great luck feeding them grape jelly. We use this feeder http://www.amazon.com/Droll-Yankees-X1-Saver-Feeder/dp/B00004ZB4T/ref=pd_sim_sbs_indust_1 and put about half of one of the larger jars of jelly in it. They really go nuts for it.
Click to expand...


Seriously? Does the jelly attract bees & wasps?


Do the orioles stay or are the migrating?

I always thought that they migrate, but I read today that their summer territory is the whole state.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Gurtholfin said:
Seriously? Does the jelly attract bees & wasps?


Do the orioles stay or are the migrating?

I always thought that they migrate, but I read today that their summer territory is the whole state.
Click to expand...

Oh, absolutely seriously. Jelly is recommended in most bird books as food for orioles. They look pretty funny with goobers of it hanging from their beaks. We have an occasional bee around it, but that's about all. The house finches and purple finches may stop by to eat it too. Plus, it generally keeps until it's gone. I guess once in a while we pull it down when there's still some old ratty jelly in it for a cleaning and refill, but usually we wait until it's empty. The orioles are nesting on or around our property, but they show up a lot less frequently during the heart of summer. We always figured it was due to the richness of the natural foods becoming available.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Gurtholfin said:
As I was making coffee this morning, I looked out and saw a female oriole on one of our patio chairs. She was looking at a bright orange squirt gun that was on the table, probably wondering if it was edible.

I've never seen an oriole here before, but they do spend the summer throughout Wisconsin.

I put an orange slice up on top of the playset. Hope she (and he) comes back.
Click to expand...

My next door neighbor used to feed the orioles and we had one pair nest in our silver maple last summer. That neighbor has since moved away, maybe I should try to feed them now to see if they'll stick around.
 
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