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The thread for birds and birding

Re: The thread for birds and birding

St. Clown said:
Go down to a local landfill, they will often live close to those places as rats will live in them. There's a landfill in Burnsville, just south of the Minnesota River is where the landfill is located. Along the southern side of the landfill is a bald eagle haven. The eagles can be seen soaring some 100 ft above the mounds, and then swooping down every so often.
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Normally if I want to see bald eagles I'll look at Garrison Dam in western ND. They tend to soar the tail waters there.

However, the most recent one I've seen was near a bridge over the Red River on the south edge of Fargo. I've also seen one soaring over I-29 about where the two branches of the Elm River cross it (south of Hillsboro) in the last year or so.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Saturday morning I saw a bald eagle in Apponaug, RI. First one I've seen here since I moved in June.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

If you don't already check it out. Head over to allaboutbirds.org (it's the Cornell bird page) and check out all the "cams" available right now. A few are set up looking at feeders all day and night. One is set up on a great horned owl nest in Georgia and they just hatched out 2 owlets last week. There should be more cams coming online in the near future too.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

With all this snow I am seeing birds regularly at my feeder that I had only seen once or twice before- house and marsh wrens, the red breasted nuthatch, yellow bellies, downies and hairy wood peckers. I have ground feeders perching- juncos- that I have never seen on the feeder before.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

theprofromdover said:
Saturday morning I saw a bald eagle in Apponaug, RI. First one I've seen here since I moved in June.
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There was a story in the local paper last week saying that this is eagle season in New England. They even have bird-watching tours on the Connecticut River.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Our back yard borders on a pond (~5 acres) which connects to a bunch of other ponds and a lake in the neighborhood. We have lots of ducks and geese on these ponds, many nest in the area. I've tried putting up a wood duck house several times in past years. Near the water, up high enough, predator guard on the pole, etc. Never had any luck getting woodies to nest in it. I finally read that the wood ducks won't provide nesting material and it needs to be there for them to start. This year I bought some cedar shavings at the pet store (enough shavings for, oh about 300 wood duck houses :o). Had a pair of woodies hanging around this weekend - on top of the house and all around. Now the drake is cruising back and forth on the pond or walking around on the ground nearby. I assume the hen is inside laying a brood. Very excited to see baby wood ducks falling out of the house shortly.

Eagle flew by this morning making dad very nervous as he was on his patrol. :eek:
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

One really nice thing about this time of year is the confluence between mating season and the timing of sunrise as it corresponds to my personal schedule.

I am leaving the house just before sunrise, in the pre-dawn light. The robins and some other birds which I do not recognize by their call are all in full-throated chorus at that time of the morning. It's almost like a serenade. :)
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

goldy_331 said:
Our back yard borders on a pond (~5 acres) which connects to a bunch of other ponds and a lake in the neighborhood. We have lots of ducks and geese on these ponds, many nest in the area. I've tried putting up a wood duck house several times in past years. Near the water, up high enough, predator guard on the pole, etc. Never had any luck getting woodies to nest in it. I finally read that the wood ducks won't provide nesting material and it needs to be there for them to start. This year I bought some cedar shavings at the pet store (enough shavings for, oh about 300 wood duck houses :o). Had a pair of woodies hanging around this weekend - on top of the house and all around. Now the drake is cruising back and forth on the pond or walking around on the ground nearby. I assume the hen is inside laying a brood. Very excited to see baby wood ducks falling out of the house shortly.

Eagle flew by this morning making dad very nervous as he was on his patrol. :eek:
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Cool!
We had a pair in the tree in our front yard. No water within 150yds. No idea what they did other than seeing them take turns being on guard outside the hole in the tree. Never saw them leave.

This same hole has housed a mama raccoon and her babies and a large honey bee hive.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Had a momma and babies of Hooded Mergansers out by our dock the other day. We have them visit in spring and fall during migration but have never seen them on the pond during hatching season. I wonder if they were hatched in our Wood Duck house we put up. I read they often will share nesting cavities with other moms or Wood Duck hens. We also had a momma Wood Duck and just three babies near our dock yesterday. Both families were really young (first or second day from hatch) when we saw them. I may have to go open our house and see what kind of egg shells we have in there. Weird to see such a small brood of Woddies, they will clutch upwards of 20 eggs at times.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

I was in a Home Depot the other day and heard a bird chirping persistently. It seems like one was nesting in the rafters somewhere.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

FreshFish said:
I was in a Home Depot the other day and heard a bird chirping persistently. It seems like one was nesting in the rafters somewhere.
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I've come across that in a few hardware stores around here. I don't know about out east, but they keep open doors between the main store and the lumberyards and greenhouses around here. It's inevitable to happen with setups like that.
 
St. Clown said:
I've come across that in a few hardware stores around here. I don't know about out east, but they keep open doors between the main store and the lumberyards and greenhouses around here. It's inevitable to happen with setups like that.
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It happens everywhere. I saw a news story out of Chicago where some birds nested in the rafters of a Home Depot. They actually figured out how to fly in front of the sensor so the doors would open. At night when they closed up the store the birds would swoop around whoever was locking the door until they would unlock it so they could fly back in for the night.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Saw a northern flicker for the first time today. Now I understand why the mulch on the paths in the garden gets so tossed about!

Was able to watch through a window as the flicker tore into an anthill along the edge of a newly-established garden bed.




Also, it looks like some catbirds are building a nest in the bush outside the kitchen window.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

We have a large rhododendron bush outside our kitchen window. A catbird built her nest within a foot of the house, it is a little more than waist high from the kitchen floor. We can see the bird sitting on the eggs (usually keep the curtain closed to keep from frightening her). It will be fun to watch the family grow after the eggs hatch. Amazing close-up view.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Not really about birds but not sure where else it would belong....

Saw an interesting sight the other evening, about three dozen dragonflies circling over a field at dusk, apparently feeding on some swarm of bugs that had just been emerging from pupa form en masse. Really cool.


Most of the dragonflies around here are about 4" long. Saw an enormous one the other day though, about 7" long.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

FreshFish said:
Not really about birds but not sure where else it would belong....

Saw an interesting sight the other evening, about three dozen dragonflies circling over a field at dusk, apparently feeding on some swarm of bugs that had just been emerging from pupa form en masse. Really cool.


Most of the dragonflies around here are about 4" long. Saw an enormous one the other day though, about 7" long.
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When in the UP a few summers ago, we stopped for a break on a ridge/small cliff and were about 30 feet in the air, which was midway up the pines that were growing at the cliff's base.

A swarm of gnats was flying around about 10 feet from us at eye level over the open space and we watched as the dragonflies picked them off one by one. They were lit by the sun, so were easy to see until -POOF- they were gone.
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

Was in the backyard the other day and looked up to see two sandies waltzing through the yard. They're pretty common these days out in the fields or on the edge of town.

That's the first I've seen of them in a neighborhood like mine...




white upper class. :p:D
 
Re: The thread for birds and birding

So it has been suggested to me by more than one person that I might enjoy birding. What's the best way to get started?
 
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