Birding

[Turtle]

___I have an Eagle/work story to share later that you put me in mind of Cedars. Thanks!

___In the mean time I have another photo of the Northern Redshafted Flicker; this time the red moustache is clear (it's an adult male) as well as the very long tounge. These woodpeckers don't peck wood, but rather feed primarily on the ground eating ants. Without the suet, no Flickers. Besides the male, there is a female - beautiful deep grren almost black & covered with white dots reminiscent of a dress from the 50's - & an immature male that hasn't yet mastered how to land on the feeder. I hope to catch photos of all. :confused:

[Turtle]

___The Eagles story: I once worked for an all but humorlous boss on a demanding project that was set next to a broad ocean bay. Early on in the job I stopped work to comment on some Eagles down on the mudflats & the boss made it clear if I wanted to keep my job I better just do it. I wanted to eat so I kept the job for a year & only left when I completed my part of the work, but I took my way with the birds anyway. As I had to get up at 4:30 am, I started getting up 10 minutes earlier & going to work 10 minutes early. I brought a camera & binocculars everyday & at break & lunch I either ate on my own in view of the bay or turned the conversation to the birds etc. when I ate with the crew.

___I never came close enough to see exactly which shellfish the Eagles feasted on, but at low tide in early mornings I often saw as many as 5 or 6 Bald Eagles on the mud feeding together. :surprise:

[Turtle]

Now comes a little pair of birds I haven't seen in over a year; Dark-eyed "Oregon" Junco's - Junco hyemalis. :surprise:

[Cedars]

The pics of the robin eating the snake were cool. All your pics have been cool

 

Anyways, juncos showed up here a few days after you posted your pic. Owls were moving thru a bit too. I heard screech owls and another which I couldnt identify on the same night, everytime I woke some were calling. The one I couldnt identify was letting out 3 whoo calls. whoo whowho. I had planned on listening to some recordings to hopefully identify but was not able to make the time.

 

Still waiting for my first swans.

 

A pair of eagles who nest along my trip to work returned to their nest wednesday or thurs. No kids with them. They do this often and tend to stay near the nest as long as possible during the winter months. Kind of a treat for me to see them on cold winter days.

[Turtle]

The pics of the robin eating the snake were cool. All your pics have been cool

 

Anyways, juncos showed up here a few days after you posted your pic. Owls were moving thru a bit too. I heard screech owls and another which I couldnt identify on the same night, everytime I woke some were calling. The one I couldnt identify was letting out 3 whoo calls. whoo whowho. I had planned on listening to some recordings to hopefully identify but was not able to make the time.

 

Still waiting for my first swans.

 

A pair of eagles who nest along my trip to work returned to their nest wednesday or thurs. No kids with them. They do this often and tend to stay near the nest as long as possible during the winter months. Kind of a treat for me to see them on cold winter days.

___Thanks for the pics complement Cedars. I have built a weather-resistant box to hold the camera & power supply, but I spent so much intensity on it that my interest in using it has wained for the time being. When it returns, I will start flying it on my wire(s).

___I particularly enjoy your observations as they relate to past seasons & which birds pass when etc.. Besides having a memeory like a sieve, I haven't lived in this place long enough to forget to remember such nuances.

___I have my camera put away for now but I have seen some new birds to report. A Townsend's Warbler & an American Redstart caught my attention while I watched the Chickadees flying to eat their seed on a roost in a tall Douglas fir. As these 2 ively flitting birds feed on insects & stay at mid-level or higher in the fir, I have little hope of a clear photo unless or until I put a wire up high there. Nevertheless, I manged several observations with binoculars which satisfied me as to their ID.

___The distraction of watching birds is like eating milk chocolate.

[Turtle]

Just when it all seemed so common, a bird I've never seen appears & the camera scramble is on. I caught an image of a Varied Thrush as it scoured the fresh raked ground beneath my feeders.

http://hypography.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=563

___On further reading I find that it is rare to see an American Redstart West of the Cascades. The one I saw was Female & unmistakeable by its yellow wing bar(s) & distinct eye ring.

___Today also, a flock of European Starlings accompanied by several Blackbirds (either Red winged or Tri colored). Starling at suet image; bird in non-breeding Fall plumage with dark bill.

http://hypography.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=564&c=3

Another visitor last week; Mourning Doves

http://hypography.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=565&c=3

[Turtle]

___Now I have two of my housemates enthused about watching the birds. Ace got up before me this morning & with his better camera took a photo of the Townsend's Warbler & also a Red-breasted Sapsucker (which I hadn't even seen yet!)

http://hypography.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=568&c=3

http://hypography.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=567&c=3&userid=796

___I see now there is a little bit of a competitive flavor to twitching (British for birding says NKT). Nothing wrong with a touch of friendly rivalry. :)

[Turtle]

___I thought I mentioned the Chestnut-backed Chickadee, but in reviewing the thread I don't find it. Anyway, they hang with the Black-capped gang & Ace trumped me again with this most excellent photo:

http://hypography.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=569&c=3

:)

[Turtle]

___Back in post #87, I misidentified the Female Red-shafted Northern Flicker as an adolescent Male. I edited the post with a corrective addendum.

___I haven't spent much watching time the last few days, but our feeders continue to find popularity with the birds. I suspect we have as many - if not more - different as yet unidentified birds as we have identified. :hihi:

[Turtle]

___I have no new birds to report as I went off on other interests, but the regulars continue to visit. After a record period of rainfall at the first of the month, we now have a record dry period for the month underway! My house is just downstream of Bonneville dam at the throat of the Columbia River Gorge & the winds have continued to rip through these past days. Whether the birds have taken to hiding or left altogether I can't yet tell.

___The fall of leaves has now opened a view for me of the river itself which they previously obscured & I hope more birds see me as well. I have to take a look to see if I have some photos previously taken but not posted.

___How's the birding in your neck of the woods? :QuestionM

[Turtle]

___I have managed to stimulate an interest in my housemates (Ace particularly) for watching, feeding, identifying, & learning the habits of our avian friends. Now more often then not, it is Ace racing through the house to find me & show me a new bird or behavior he's seen.

___He has convinced me through web searches that one little flighty bird neither of us has managed to clearly photograph is a Vireo. Ace has also brought to my attention that the Towhees here are now properly termed 'Spotted Towhees' & only caleed 'Rufous-sided Towhees' in the East. As the colder weather settles in & food is getting more scarse, the normally ground forageing Spotted Towhees have started feeding at Ace's upper deck feeder which is some 20 feet off the ground.

___The Flicker pair is still here, the Song Sparrows, Chickadees, Steller's Jays, House Sparrows, Vireo?, Townsends Warbler, & of course Towhees.

___Happy Birthday today to Cedars! May you see birds youv'e never seen this season.

On The Watch,

Turtle

[Tarantism]

i have a grandfather who is very into birding, and when i told him abou this forum he seemed very interested, so turtle you may have a fellow birder in here yet. However, that is not the reason for this post. i wanted to tell turtle, and any other serious birders, that i learned of a book called "the big year". i cant recall the authors, but i do know that it is about three birders who challenged themselves and eachother to see the most rare birds that they could. there are over 9 thousand different species of birds, and i belive that nobody has seen them all, but that book may give you some good ideas.

 

also, i saw an old post asking why some gulls have white heads and some black, depending on where they were seen (florida-california). if you look around, many california gulls have dark heads as well, and its not a regional thing but rather a maturity change. when mature, a seagull's head turns white B) . also, you could be looking at two different species;) .

 

glad some people love birds too, B)

[Tarantism]

well, turtle, i have been paying attention.

 

i took a nice walk the other day and happened to pass by some wreeds. upon hearing a bit of "tweet"-ish things coming from inside, i stopped and payed attention for a minute.

 

three DIFFERENT kinds of blackbirds. (not the cream of the crop, but eh.)

 

1.common blackbird.

2.yellow-winged blackbird- for the first time!

3. red-winged blackbird.

 

be back soon-

(((tartanism)))

[Cedars]

I would agree its a vireo. Check your books for Huttons or Warbling vireo. They seem to be in your area.

 

Life has been keeping me very busy lately and I have neglected posting.

 

Cool sight on Turkey day. Road kill deer only about 5 feet in the ditch. A Rough legged hawk was feasting on it that day, standing right on top of the rib cage. Those are some big birds!

 

I did not get to see any swans this fall, but I heard a group pass by one night around 11 pm.

 

The local sports show did a segment on a wildlife area not far from me. The Sandhill Cranes came in and the numbers were the most seen since the wild life area was created. Estimates of around 8,000 birds.

 

Cold weather has moved in. The Bald eagles are still at their nest, but I have not seen their babies at all since September. I dont know how long the birds will be hanging around this year. The lakes are icing over fast.

 

Saw a young bald eagle today, about 3 miles from my house. He/she was about 100 feet off the road standing atop a dead elm trunk.

 

Still seeing a few Coopers hawks in the area.

 

I was given a new birding book and I find it very helpful and a good addition to my books. The Sibley Guide to Birds (near the bottom of the page). http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/nature/sibleyguides.html

 

Thanks for your birthday wishes to me!!

[Turtle]

Bitte schon Cedars. Hutton's Vireo is what Ace said too.

Now that the leaves have dropped, I can see the Columbia out the windows. The Osprey nest down there on the pier tops, & now I can see them wheeling around on the updrafts as my hillside warms. We have a family of buzzards (er...not the right name but on I go till it pops into mind) living nearby by the quarry.

 

I have to side track a bit Cedarsa, because I want to tell you about some Cedars we have out here. There is an island called Long Island, sitting in Willipa Bay, enclosed by North Beach Peninsula, on the SW coast of Washington State.

On this island is a stand of virgin Cedars that have individual now-today-living trees that are 2,500 years old. Also in the stand is stumpage evidentiarry of the stands existence for 4,000 years.

The island [Long Island] is about 6 miles long x 1 1/2 miles wide. This very bay [Willipa Bay] is where geologists first found conclusive evidence of past Great Quakes & the ensuing Tsunami. No fewer than 4 such events are recorded in the alternating layers of mud & sand.

Well, I do run on. The Swans come to this area sometimes too.

PS Does anyone feed the wild rice to the birds there?

[Queso]

by this one lake up on this one mountain-

i always see this beautiful white swan-like creature

always across the way

a bird graceful-

just waiting to mate or die

[Cedars]

i have a grandfather who is very into birding, and when i told him abou this forum he seemed very interested, so turtle you may have a fellow birder in here yet. However, that is not the reason for this post. i wanted to tell turtle, and any other serious birders, that i learned of a book called "the big year". i cant recall the authors, but i do know that it is about three birders who challenged themselves and eachother to see the most rare birds that they could. there are over 9 thousand different species of birds, and i belive that nobody has seen them all, but that book may give you some good ideas.

 

glad some people love birds too, :)

 

Someone told me about this book and it sounds like a fun read for anyone who has a need to see birds. I wish I had the kind of money it takes to embark on such an adventure.

 

Heres a review of the book:

 

http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/resources/big_year.aspx

 

My interest in birds was really sparked by an old farmer whos hayfield bordered our farm. I would go up and ride on his tractor when he cut hay and he told me stories about what our area was like and how it had changed. He had moved there in 1937. He told me about how the skys were darkened during the fall migration by the numbers of waterfowl moving thru. He told me of thousands of swans and cranes in the swamps around our area and how they began to disapear. As he described it, by the late 50s, the birds were gone. He told me the stories in the early 70s. He was a gentle and kind man.

 

A major motivation in my own bird feeding is my desire to give something back. We (people) have taken so much from all nature, displacing and disrupting the animals homes and food sources so much. Its a little bit I can do to help compensate for my disruption of their environment.

 

Its always good to find someone else who shares this enjoyment (your grandfather)