Birders Unite

[Escarlata]

Starting our Bird Watching thread again.

The baby cardinals are now adolescents, still trying to get Mom & Dad to feed them but with less and less success. I thought for a while they would all be females but that was proven otherwise today. I'm sure he'll be as beautiful as his father when he finishes molting but, for now at least, he is the motliest cardinal I've ever seen. No pictures as no one would sit still. Everyone is a little nervous with the storm that's brewing.

[DeadBishop]

Yeah....I'm a closet birder.  We usually have cardinals around this time of year, but I've been surprised with the amount of bluejays in the area.  Have been seeing a lot of baby canadian geese, which means baby mallards can't be too far behind.  Haven't been out to the bird sanctuaries lately, and I'm really itching to try my newish telephoto lens out for some good spotting and shooting.

[Lady Nicolette]

We had a nest of robins at my front porch holly bush successfully reared this spring and a pair of cardinals are making a nest outside of Aeron's window (not sure if these are returning to the same spot or not from last year).  The wrens (my favorites) are starting to build their nests in the crooks of my drainpipes.  Love all of the beautiful birds here.

[Lady L]

We have a screech owl in our wood duck house again. YAY! They are interesting birds.
Put up an oriole feeder and have seen the male oriole at it. He also was trying the hummingbird feeder and not having much luck with it. We have seen hummingbirds, but I think it might be a little too cool for them yet. Goldfinches, house finches, chickadees, wrens, cardinals, nuthatches, a pair of mallard ducks, heard a catbird, saw vultures circling in the area, ruby crowned kinglets by the pond, white throated sparrows, chipping sparrows, morning doves, crows were all spotted in our yard.

[Escarlata]

We've got a new hawk in the area, but I've not been able to get a good enough view of him to get an identification. His call almost sounds like what I expect to hear from a Coot, kind of strange.

The young cardinals have almost finished molting, the male is going to be beautiful. But none of them are too bright yet, they don't seem to have their spatial sense all worked out as far as how close they can come to things and how small a twig they can settle on. I get to see them misjudge and almost fall pretty much all day. They keep me chuckling but I know they'll be gone soon.

I've had one thrush coming to the feeder for a long time, this morning I noticed a second. I don't know if it was a mating flight or a territorial fight maneuver they were doing, but they're are beautiful to watch.

Anyway, time  for me to leave the office window and get ready to go, have quite a few errands to run today and an article to write.

[Baron Doune]

Have noticed the hummingbird feeder is half empty...yet still to see one.

Did get a new pair of Nikon Binoculars...just no time to use them.

[Tremayne]

I have mainly mockingbirds and robins, though there's a catbird (first I've ever seen) down in the brushy area off the bank and I was happy to see a flicker waft overhead this evening. I had a rare few moments of just being able to sit for a bit on the steps of my back porch and saw some interesting behavior from a mockingbird. It was obviously hunting. It would hop a few hops, stop and open it's wings over the ground in three quick stages. A little bit, a little bit more, and then completely, while watching the ground intently. More the sort of thing you'd see in a mating ritual but it was clearly using this as a technique to either see or rustle up dinner.

[Escarlata]

We've had a catbird and a cowbird this year at the feeder, plus a good number of house finches. We also get the tufted titmice, black capped chickadees, and bluejays. But our most frequent visitors have always been the cardinals, especially the old male who only has one leg.

The Northern Flicker comes regularly to the suet cage, always taking his bites from the middle of the block and opening a hole that looks like the beginning of an entrance to somewhere.

These days,  I'm trying to find a gentle way to dissuade the squirrels from taking over the feeder. I'm not sure that beating the pole with a broom handle qualifies as "gentle" but that seems to be the practice that is working at the moment. Where ever they move to, tree limb, electric pole, fence, etc, gets a whack also. Finally they decide that our yard is not the place to be any longer that day. Sorry, Amras, I don't mind sharing some of the seed with them and will usually let them enjoy a snack. But when they come in pairs and sit on both sides, daring the birds to come in for a meal, I draw the line.

[Amras Elfwine]

I had a raven fighting a squirrel over a piece of suet block last week...the raven kicked the squirrels furry little backside!

No need to apologise, lass...I'm a birder as well, and have only limited luck with thel baffles below my feeders...of course, I have actual squirrel feeders, as well, away from the bird feeders, stocked with ears of seed corn. The squirrels get round to them...eventually...

[Escarlata]

Attention Blue Jays and Poppa Cardinal. You guys are in charge for the weekend. If you don't keep the squirrels away from the feeder, you'll go hungry till I get back Sunday evening. There's enough for them to have a little bit but don't let them line their nests for winter. Alright, back to your regularly scheduled mischief.

[Tremayne]

I'm suffering from a cowbird infestation 

[Sir William Marcus]

Yep, we are birders here at the fortress as well.  We have had three new visitors this year to our surprise. One being from a rose breasted grosbeak, some yellow warblers and indigo buntings which are still hanging out with us to this day.

[Baron Doune]

Is a cowbird the same as a raven?  Just wondering.  I know I should look it up.

Thinking of maybe going to Jabs (nature preserve, swamp) this weekend...

And Esc cardinals....do they migrate?  Does one leg always come back?  And does he scream his song at 4:30 in the morning, right outside the damn window?!!!!

[jmkhalfmoon]

Our baby wrens.

[Tremayne]

Is a cowbird the same as a raven?  Just wondering.  I know I should look it up.

Cowbird/blackbird/starling. They strike me as pest-bird cousins (crop-eaters and not congenial toward other birds). Cowbirds, though, are the biggest of the three. I should look these invaders up myself though. I don't think they have the purplish/brownish heads of cowbirds I've seen before. Maybe it's a case of mistaken identity. Can't at the moment but will soon--bird book is not far--and will report what I find.

Indeed, had it wrong, common grackle.