Jump to content

BIRDS (and how to look at them)


Lily Valley

Recommended Posts

12 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

I'm not asking this to be crass, but does being a bird watcher make it hard for you to eat.....birds? I don't think I could ever give up eating chicken. 

No way man!  Birds are good for everything!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

I'm not asking this to be crass, but does being a bird watcher make it hard for you to eat.....birds? 

We have literally spent a morning birding and then gone to have fried chicken for lunch.

 

So that's a "no."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

damn now I want fried chicken

I was just discussing the challenge of frying chicken on an electric stove.  Two burners I think, still not a great solution.  If it comes out like garbage I'll see if the crows want it.

IN BURD NEWS:

The jays and mockingbirds have been on FIRE this week.  I saw a mockingbird go after a crow and I was shocked that the mockingbird lived.  I also saw some huge bird fly over last night that looked like a keg of beer with big penguin wings.  Had a call I've never heard before and it was BIG.  Right at dusk.  Going to look at my books.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting. The reason why I asked is because I used to love fishing, but after spending several weeks in the Caribbean swimming with the most beautiful fish I've ever seen, I've lost a lot of interest in it (or at least skinning and deboning the fish myself). 

23 hours ago, Hereward said:

Nope. One of my favourite bird watching sights is seeing a bird of prey take out some cute little finch or sparrow. I find birds fascinating, but I don’t want to take them home and cuddle them!

You'd love my parents backyard then. They've got six feeders that draw in a ton of birds and squirrels, and it's pretty common to see some big hawks swoop in and nab one. It's crazy when they get them while they're in flight. Sometimes you see a poof of feathers and you know exactly what just happened. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Interesting. The reason why I asked is because I used to love fishing, but after spending several weeks in the Caribbean swimming with the most beautiful fish I've ever seen, I've lost a lot of interest in it (or at least skinning and deboning the fish myself). 

 

I haven't been able to eat duck since I got to know some personally either.  Funny how that is, huh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Lily Valley said:

  I saw a mockingbird go after a crow and I was shocked that the mockingbird lived.  .

I have seen a Indian Mynah bird which is much smaller than a crow chase a away a crow, the thing is usually a crow will ignore a Indian  Mynah even if it swoops at them because they can tell it is all bluster. Perhaps crows are not aggressive if there is no food around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've seen crows (or perhaps jackdaws) chasing gulls. But that is when they have young around so that makes sense. I've also seen gulls harassing a stork, probably for the same reason since the gulls were breeding on the roofs around there.

The local black-headed gulls are slowly all getting into their breading plumage.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/23/2018 at 7:56 AM, Lily Valley said:

I also saw some huge bird fly over last night that looked like a keg of beer with big penguin wings.  Had a call I've never heard before and it was BIG.  Right at dusk.  Going to look at my books.

ya can't leave us hanging like this @Lily Valley!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Woo hoo. Burding upstate has begun. There was a big hawk (I think it was a red tailed hawk because it had a shortish tail and I think they are relatively common up there) in a tree right in the front yard. It was totally hanging out despite the efforts of some determined crows to shift it. It would move one tree over, kinda lazy like and look at them mockingly. So yay!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

ya can't leave us hanging like this @Lily Valley!

NO idea what it was!  Definitely a BIG shore bird with a short tail.  Wings more raptor like than gull like.  Big, but for some reason shape made me think penguin.  I can't recall the call but it was loud and non-repeating.  Dusk, so no color information!  :cries:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Woo hoo. Burding upstate has begun. There was a big hawk (I think it was a red tailed hawk because it had a shortish tail and I think they are relatively common up there) in a tree right in the front yard. It was totally hanging out despite the efforts of some determined crows to shift it. It would move one tree over, kinda lazy like and look at them mockingly. So yay!!

The best ID for a Red-tailed Hawk when you can't get a good look at the tail is to find the dark speckled "belly band" http://www.illinoisraptorcenter.org/images/bellyband.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

56 minutes ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

The best ID for a Red-tailed Hawk when you can't get a good look at the tail is to find the dark speckled "belly band" http://www.illinoisraptorcenter.org/images/bellyband.jpg

Oooh. Thanks. (S)he was backlit, so hard to tell. It was pretty big and had a short tail so I don’t think Coopers or Sharp Shinned. We are going to paragon tomorrow because girls need sports gear and are going to get some more binocs. Lila wants a journal to record what we see so we are also going to B and N. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Xray the Enforcer said:

Bird was bigger than any duck and body was bigger than the first bird!  I'm not by my guide right now, but will post the shape I think it was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Paton webcams consistently deliver, especially the suet feeder cam. I've seen Pyrrhuloxia, Lesser Goldfinch, White-winged Dove, Northern Cardinal, and House Finches on the feeders, but 100 percent bonus goes to the covey of Gambel's Quail that were running around on the ground. Love me some quail.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...