BIRDS (and how to look at them)

[Tears of Lys]

Last week or so, a rose-breasted male Grosbeak graced my back deck with his presence!

Very distinctive and unusual looking bird.  I recognized him immediately from the shape of his beak.  

[Tears of Lys]

This morning a female Northern Flicker, a woodpecker kinda bird, was pecking in the dirt for insects.  

We lurves Flickers.  They're so colorful and distinctive, especially the males, of course.

 

Edit: Saw some Piping Plovers today.  They've been having a rough time of it lately with all the water encroaching on their nesting grounds.  We usually get a lot of them around us, fortunately.  

[Tears of Lys]

Lately, I've been watching cardinals eat my tomatoes.  Grrrrr!!

I like red birds, but I also like a juicy tomato.  They go hopping among the stems looking for a tomato that's just starting to redden, then peck away at it.  Some other birds, either Baltimore Orioles or Goldfinch, are also ruining my tomato crop.  

 

[lady narcissa]

On 6/17/2019 at 1:48 PM, Tears of Lys said:

Edit: Saw some Piping Plovers today.  They've been having a rough time of it lately with all the water encroaching on their nesting grounds.  We usually get a lot of them around us, fortunately.  

We are having the most delightful Plover experience this summer in Chicago.  A pair nested on Montrose Beach (on Lake Michigan) and have been named Monty and Rose.  They have had adventures with eggs and waves and a music fest needing to be moved and volunteers 24/7 to make sure they are not disturbed and now there are two little chicks running about for 2 weeks now.  (They sadly lost the 3rd.)  It's been so much fun to read the daily updates. 

[Tears of Lys]

4 minutes ago, lady narcissa said:

We are having the most delightful Plover experience this summer in Chicago.  A pair nested on Montrose Beach (on Lake Michigan) and have been named Monty and Rose.  They have had adventures with eggs and waves and a music fest needing to be moved and volunteers 24/7 to make sure they are not disturbed and now there are two little chicks running about for 2 weeks now.  (They sadly lost the 3rd.)  It's been so much fun to read the daily updates. 

Aren't they cute??  I love to see them running up and down a sandy ground.  

[A True Kaniggit]

While fishing this weekend I heard a Whip-poor-will. Couldn’t find it though. 

[The Winged Shadow]

Fucking magpie breeding season has started in Aus, I've been jumping at shadows all week

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-16/magpie-swooping-attack--man-dies-near-woonona/11515246

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/16/cyclist-dies-after-crashing-while-under-attack-by-swooping-magpie

edit: There is a nest in the park next to where i work. It's pretty visible from the footpath. You know you are in trouble when you can't see either of the parents in the nest. Cause one of those bastards are probably getting ready to swoop...

[Jen'ari]

I’ve noticed we have had some visitors in the garden today, mostly a couple of wood pigeons and a magpie annoying them.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Saw this article on The Guardian's website. Apparently a quarter of all birds in the U.S. and Canada have gone extinct since 1970:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2019/sep/19/us-canada-bird-population-losses

[Larry of the Lawn]

On 9/19/2019 at 6:06 PM, Tywin et al. said:

Saw this article on The Guardian's website. Apparently a quarter of all birds in the U.S. and Canada have gone extinct since 1970:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2019/sep/19/us-canada-bird-population-losses

It's almost like we're destroying the planet or something.  

[A True Kaniggit]

Well that's what happens when birds run afowl of humans.

[Larry of the Lawn]

Hoards and hoards of fishcrows in front of the house every morning, making their way south.   Other than they been mostly typical waterfowl here, local herons,eagles, cormorants and ospreys mostly.  

Saw brants up in the Adirondacks a few times this summer in backcountry streams and lakes.  That was a new one for me 

Heard a whip or will last couple nights.  Also have seen a few yellow billed cuckoo's this year mostly during dawn dog walks and dam if those fuckers aren't pretty rad.  We have a lot of tent caterpillars here this year so wondering if that's what's keeping them around 

 

[HexMachina]

On 9/17/2019 at 5:23 PM, Bittersweet Distractor said:

I’ve noticed we have had some visitors in the garden today, mostly a couple of wood pigeons and a magpie annoying them.

We’ve a couple of wood pigeons that sit on our back fence and “kiss.” Don’t know that they are actually kissing but thats what it looks like and its kind of cute.

Drives that dogs nuts to see them sitting on the fence though!

A seagull also somehow managed to get itself stuck in the tiny gap between our fence and the neighbours fence. This is an extremely narrow space so it couldnt open its wings to fly out. We took off several panels from our fence so it could hop out, but it was rather shaken and battered so couldnt fly off straight away. Spent an afternoon hopping around the garden eating worms and making failed efforts to fly away. A happy ending to this pointless tale though as it eventually managed to fly away

[Jen'ari]

10 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

We’ve a couple of wood pigeons that sit on our back fence and “kiss.” Don’t know that they are actually kissing but thats what it looks like and its kind of cute.

Drives that dogs nuts to see them sitting on the fence though!

A seagull also somehow managed to get itself stuck in the tiny gap between our fence and the neighbours fence. This is an extremely narrow space so it couldnt open its wings to fly out. We took off several panels from our fence so it could hop out, but it was rather shaken and battered so couldnt fly off straight away. Spent an afternoon hopping around the garden eating worms and making failed efforts to fly away. A happy ending to this pointless tale though as it eventually managed to fly away

Wood pigeons are kind of funny the way they waddle about, their coo ing at 5 am in the summer wears a bit thin though!.

[Junsner]

Lot of Kestrels round our way. last week I was sitting in my garden watching two compete with each other in hunting a Pidgeon. Local Pidgeon club have a rare old time. Beaitiful birds to watch.https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjyzP3n5OzkAhU4AGMBHew-CaUQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wildlifetrusts.org%2Fwildlife-explorer%2Fbirds%2Fbirds-prey%2Fkestrel&psig=AOvVaw3sKz0ngyxofIlliQerEidE&ust=1569528865330239

[A True Kaniggit]

Yo @Xray the Enforcer 

Quack quack.
 

I learned a new bird today. Little Stint. Thank you.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Oh shit I had forgotten this thread existed! Thank you @A True Kaniggit!!

For those who haven't read it in the other thread, Mr. X and I stumbled upon this "mega-rare for North America" bird called a Little Stint yesterday. It looks almost exactly like every other small sandpiper we have, and I would have never found it myself. We just happened to be standing next to these other birders when they found the damn thing, so we got to enjoy looking at it and chatting with the other birders before like half of the birding population in New Jersey, New York, and eastern Pennsylvania descended upon the site. Not the lifer I was expecting yesterday! 

 

[Fragile Bird]

I just got caught up in this thread and the comments about wood pigeons reminded me of Ireland last summer. I met up with two friends after Worldcon in Dublin and we drove around northwest Ireland for a few days before heading to Belfast for Eurocon/Titancon. The first morning at the B&B I had to ask the owner about the cooing birds and she told me they were wood pigeons. I thought they were lovely, though I can see how all that cooing could get annoying at 5:00 am. Trust me, though, that’s preferable to dozens of sparrows chattering outside your window at 5:00 am!

[Hereward]

I spent a few days birding in East Anglia this week. Day one, a sailing barge cruise down the River Colne with two birding experts to help with ID. Day two, the RSPB's Minsmere reserve, Day 3 the Norfolk Wildlife Trust's Cley reserve, and Day four, RSPB Titchwell in a bloody monsoon. A total of 87 species seen, which is a record week for me, including three lifers; Snow Buntings, Lapland Buntings and a Shore Lark. The last three places are famous for Bearded Tits, my nemesis, and I still didn't see one.

[Xray the Enforcer]

I had to visit my mom the other week (yes, it was stressful to have to travel during a pandemic but my mom's health was deteriorating and it was an informed calculated risk) so I made the most of it by birding almost every day. I need to check eBird but I think I saw ~95 species while out there, in a pretty limited range of habitats (just grassland, oak riparian corridors, and freshwater wetlands). Got one lifer! A Tricolored Blackbird, in amongst a mixed-species flock of 4,000 or 5,000 other blackbirds (Brewers, Red-winged, Bicolored*, and Yellow-headed). *Bicolored blackbirds are a California-specific subspecies of Red-winged Blackbird.

Also saw like 30,000 Snow Geese/Ross's Geese in one spot, which was WILD. And 2,000 Sandhill Cranes. I love fall migration.

But now I have to quarantine for 14 days and not being able to go out and bird, especially given the shitshow currently happening in the U.S., has me climbing the goddamned walls. I'm so anxious right now.