Tracking Birdwatchers and Canada Geese Interactions

[Redbelly98]

I don't know how many birdwatchers we have in here, but here is a thread for our hobby.

Kayakers and canoeists are welcome to report on their run-ins with Canada geese as well.

 

[Redbelly98]

So, to get this topic up and running, I'll ask: who here has seen a bald eagle in the wild? And, in what area did you see it?

I saw one once in central New Jersey. And my wife and I took several trips to the upper Delaware River to watch them (NY/PA border). Just awesome, huge birds.

 

[turbo]

If you spend time in Maine's river-valleys you can see bald eagles every day. They are not as common as ospreys, but if you're looking for them you'll see them. It's a far cry from the 60's when they were almost impossible to find (and yes, I was birding back then).

 

[binzing]

I've seen multiple Bald eagles in the wild, around here (NW NM and the Southwest) and in the Northwest, same with Ospreys.

Oh, infact I do have a story as a kayaker with Canada Geese. I was on a Boy Scout river trip on a local river and a flock of geese flew over, and proceded to bomb us with crap.

 

[lisab]

I see bald eagles all the time - I live in the Pacific Northwest of the US. They ride the thermals right over my office.

Last Thursday, I went to see Willie Nelson. Between the opening act and Willie, a large V-formation of Canada geese flew over...the crowd applauded. A few minutes later a little brown bad flittered over the crowd and I clapped...but apparently I was the only bat enthusiast in the crowd.

Oh by the way, that's a really good way to embarrass your teenage daughter .

One semester in college, I was short on credits, so I took a one-credit ornithology field class that met on Saturdays. I ended up taking that class as many times as was allowed, then I would just tag along for fun. That's what got me started.

The one bird I haven't seen that I really want to: a common roadrunner. They've always eluded me! Binzing, you probably see them all the time!

Birding is a great hobby!

 

[binzing]

Hell, I've never seen one in the wild...Wait, maybe once, in CA...

 

[wildman]

On the Skagit River in Washington State I have seen as many as 35 without moving my feet. A Bald Eagle is a sea eagle. They eat fish (mostly). In the Skagit many salmon some to spawn and die and the eagles feast on the fish. In Alaska, I understand, there are rivers where one can see hundreds of Eagles without moving.

 

[lisab]

On the Skagit River in Washington State I have seen as many as 35 without moving my feet. A Bald Eagle is a sea eagle. They eat fish (mostly). In the Skagit many salmon some to spawn and die and the eagles feast on the fish. In Alaska, I understand, there are rivers where one can see hundreds of Eagles without moving.

Yep, I lived in Alaska and that's true...up there, they're as ubiquitous as crows - but not nearly as clever .

 

[wildman]

The one bird I haven't seen that I really want to: a common roadrunner. They've always eluded me! Binzing, you probably see them all the time!

Birding is a great hobby!

Come to Arizona and you will see lots of roadrunners. We have also just had a Sinaloa Wren turn up (that is a little brown jobby from Mexico). I was tromping all over the swampy ground in Patagonia looking for the sucker. Never did see it or hear it, but of course the next day it turned up again.

 

[hypatia]

I was so excited to see the population of Bald Eagles in northern Michigan return. Once on the lake I was watching a butterfly, which fluttered over the water. With in a few seconds, a trout arched up out of the water and ate it. Just as it did, a eagle swooped down and nabbed the trout.
It was picture perfect,lol except my camera was in the cabin.

 

[Redbelly98]

I see bald eagles all the time - I live in the Pacific Northwest of the US. They ride the thermals right over my office.

I am so-o-o-o-o jealous.

... Oh by the way, that's a really good way to embarrass your teenage daughter .

 

[larkspur]

We have bald eagles around here too(East Tennessee, USA) but not nearly as plentiful as what the others describe. http://www.dollywood.com/company-info/american_eagle.aspx" operates an American Eagle Foundation breeding facility so we are starting to see bald eagles more often.
I am interested in birding for photography purposes. Just hearing and seeing from a far is not good enough for me. When the weather cools down and the leaves fall I plan on sitting in a blind to get photos of the more skittish birds.

 

[Astronuc]

We have many birds in our backyard, e.g. chickadees, titmice, a variety of finches, nuthatches, cardinals, jays, a variety of woodpeckers, including a redbelly, mourning doves, . . . . We have a neighborhood pileated woodpecker who periodically visits our trees or tree stumps. I've cut down a few sick or dead trees and layed them out to compost. The pileated will sometimes land on one and chop on it. It's amazing how much wood it can remove in one chop.

We have various hawks and falcons that pop in now and then. There is a neighbor pair of red tailed hawks, which we occasionally find sitting in one of the nearby trees.

We have a variety of owls, but they are active at night, and we hear them usually between 0200 and 0400, but sometimes starting around mid night. A couple of hears ago, I heard what seemed to be several owls along the ridge behind our house. I went out to investigate and stood quietly in the dark and waited for them to call. There was one about 20 feet in front of me, which I was able to spot (with a flash light) when he or she hooted. Unfortunately, I couldn't take it's picture in the dark. There were others further away.

And we have crows.

I did see what was probably a great horned owl fly through our back yard with something in its talons. It must have picked off a squirrel. I caught it out of the corner of my eye as I was walking uphill toward the back of the property. I didn't have my camera, and it wouldn't have mattered since he was gone in a few seconds.

I've had peregrine falcons drop in pursuit of doves. One brought down a dove about 15 feet from me. That was something to see. Somewhere I have pictures (slides) since I didn't have a digital camera at the time.

As for bald eagles, I've seen some on the Snake River in Wyoming, near the Tetons, and elsewhere. We have them and ospreys along the Hudson River. As for the river, we see lots of gulls, and shore birds. I took the train to the city recently, we saw a number of great blue herons, many ducks and geese, and a number of cormorants.

Oh, and we have hummingbirds periodically.

We also have bats, usually in the fall. I haven't seen as many bats this year. There seems to be a fungus that has been spreading among the bats. I don't know if that is the reason.

Here's a redbelly. Unfortunately, I had to shoot through a screen, so the focus is a bit off.

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/3821/redbelliedwoodpeckersmani8.jpg​

[/URL]

 

[Redbelly98]

Nice pic Astronuc!

Not quite sure why, but for some strange reason I feel an attachment to the bird in your photo ...

 

[Astronuc]

Nice pic Astronuc!

Not quite sure why, but for some strange reason I feel an attachment to the bird in your photo ...

I thought you might have an affinity for such an elegant bird. I've got some better pics that I'll post later.

 

[tribdog]

Last Thursday, I went to see Willie Nelson. Between the opening act and Willie, a large V-formation of Canada geese flew over...the crowd applauded. A few minutes later a little brown bad flittered over the crowd and I clapped...but apparently I was the only bat enthusiast in the crowd.

Oh by the way, that's a really good way to embarrass your teenage daughter .

So is taking her to a Willie Nelson concert.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I am on friendly terms with 5 crows in my neighborhood and a couple of crows on campus. I keep peanuts in my purse and toss them a few when I see them. I've also met one of the campus ravens. He was quite impressive - twice as big as a crow.

I live near a marina so I get to see all kinds of neat seabirds. We have pelicans and egrets and cormorans, and of course plenty of seagulls.

 

[tribdog]

I had a hummingbird try to chase me off my front porch today. Okay, that's a lie. I HAD a hummingbird chase me off my porch today.

 

[Astronuc]

I forgot to mention that we have wild turkeys in our area, and occasionally, we'll see one to several hens with chicks in our yard or next door. I have a few pics.

Also, I was visiting a local horse ranch a couple of months ago, and as I was just about to turn into the driveway, I saw a pheasant. It is such a beautiful bird with bright colours that look like it's painted. It looked something like -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Phasianus_colchicus_2_tom_(Lukasz_Lukasik).jpg

 

[turbo]

I forgot to mention that we have wild turkeys in our area, and occasionally, we'll see one to several hens with chicks in our yard or next door. I have a few pics.

We have them, too, and they are breaking my chili plants to take only a few bites of of a pepper or two. I have to keep an eye on the garden and harvest any chilies that they have knocked off and from any branches that they have broken. I never seem to catch them in the act, but I'm pretty sure it's them, because rabbits and groundhogs wouldn't be eating jalapenos. Here are a few walking on the deep snow in front of the house last spring. I took this shot through the upper half of the upper pane of the window behind my PC monitor. The shaded right edge was from the window frame - I was hiding myself as well as I could because turkeys are very wary.

 

[Astronuc]

Apparently birds are not affected by capsaicin, but mammals are! We put 'squirrel proof' (powdered hot pepper) in the bird feeders, and the birds don't mind or they love it, but it does discourge squirrels.

I occasionally hear a tom turkey over the hill. Last year, while driving past a local farm, I saw about 7 toms standing in a field and all were displaying their fanned tails. It was quite a site! Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I saw a tanager (at least I think it was) back around June. It was an orange bird with dark wings - something like - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Piranga_olivacea.jpg - but it moved so quickly in the canopy that I didn't get a good look or picture. It was either a scarlet or summer tanager.


Also in our backyard, we occasionally get bluebirds (with babies), grosbeaks, and orioles, although the orioles are kind of rare.


And where is Evo's Notagoshawk?

 

[binzing]

Speaking of turkeys...On a summer trip to OR my dad, cousin and I had camped of a side of a side road in the Blue Mountains in Oregon, and as we were leaving in the morning came across a group of around 40 wild turkeys.

 

[Redbelly98]

One day I went into work on a weekend. The building had mirrored windows that reached almost to the ground. Three turkeys were hanging around next to the building, and one of them was aggressively attacking his mirror image. Of course, the image was every bit as aggressive in attacking back!

 

[tribdog]

I love watching animals in the mirror. I used to put my dog's dish in front of a mirror and he would think some other dog was going after his food. Messed him up pretty bad. I think that's why he hung himself.

 

[Moonbear]

I had a hummingbird try to chase me off my front porch today. Okay, that's a lie. I HAD a hummingbird chase me off my porch today.

I have two hummingbirds that have been showing up together. I'm guessing this means there will be more hummingbirds for next year. Though, yeah, everytime they show up, they seem to startle me if I'm sitting outside. They just zoom in so fast and buzz so loudly it takes me a few moments to realize they are just hummingbirds flitting around and not some giant insect about to attack me, and by then, they're gone again.

I'm just thrilled because this is the first place I've lived that gets hummingbirds. Once in a while, they even pause long enough at a flower for me to get a good look at them...really pretty. Usually, though, they just zoom around so fast that I can't make out much more than a buzzing blur!

 

[turbo]

Moonie, if they are in the mating mood, the male will wait until the female is at a feeder or tending to some blossoms, and he will fly figure-8 patterns back and forth in front of her while hovering. Pretty impressive. If your birds come though very fast one after another (especially if there is some high-pitched "chit chit chit" vocalizations) you're probably seeing a territorial dispute. There are alpha males and alpha females around our feeders, and they are quite aggressive about driving off potential rivals.

 

[binzing]

Messed him up pretty bad. I think that's why he hung himself.

Uh, okay...

 

[binzing]

Oh, and we've got loads of quail around my house, they're so funny.

 

[Astronuc]

Oh, and we've got loads of quail around my house, they're so funny.

And roadrunners?

Back when I was in JHS, my parents would take us (family of 6) out west in a VW bus for a family summer vacation. We were driving along one the highways near Socorro, and we saw a roadrunner running along side of us. Those guys are fast, and I think it was more than 15 mph which is supposedly their top speed. It was a good sized one of between 2 and 3 feet in length.

 

[binzing]

No! lol, lisab asked the same thing.

 

[turbo]

I'd love to see a roadrunner - one of the few animals that prey on rattlesnakes. I've spent a little time in west Texas, but never did get to see one.

Years back, a bunch of biker buddies from south of Boston was up here visiting and tenting out, and I pointed out some bald eagles soaring overhead. A couple of the ladies were just screaming in excitement, and one turned to her husband and said "we've got to move to Maine". I laughed at that, but they bought an old farmhouse a few miles from here, sold their place in Brockton, and never looked back. They have bird feeders and bird-baths all over their place, and binoculars near the front door for when they want to sit on the porch and watch the critters. It's pretty neat. They're raising pigs and Guinea fowl and have a big garden, and doing a good job of it. Damned city-kids!

 

[Chi Meson]

My closest encounter with a great bird was during a bicycle ride in North Stonington, CT. While on a secluded road, covered by leaf canopy, a pileated woodpecker flew out of the woods and stayed right in front of me for about 200 yards. I was catching up with it and was as close as about 10 feet behind it when it finally flew to the side. I nearly turned off the road to follow it.

 

[larkspur]

This was the closest I ever got to a bald eagle:
It is a juvenile

 

[Astronuc]

My closest encounter with a great bird was during a bicycle ride in North Stonington, CT. While on a secluded road, covered by leaf canopy, a pileated woodpecker flew out of the woods and stayed right in front of me for about 200 yards. I was catching up with it and was as close as about 10 feet behind it when it finally flew to the side. I nearly turned off the road to follow it.

I had two pileated swoop in front of my car a few months ago. It looked like one was chasing the other. Probably competing over territory.

Nice pic larkspur. I love watching these birds.

Yesterday, I watch our neighborhood redtailed hawk ride the wind while circling over the ridge across the road and creek from us. It would turn into the wind and just hover, then would do a tight turn and let the wind carry it westward during which time it did a wide 180 and slowly turn back into the wind. Meanwhile it was calling.

 

[tribdog]

I see roadrunners all the time. At my parents old house they used to jump up on the brickwall and run along it. I've never seen one eating a snake, but they catch lizards pretty easily.

 

[Redbelly98]

Haven't done this in some years, but I used to enjoy watching double-crested cormorants on the lake in our town. A few times I was lucky enough to watch them eating a fish through my monocular. Pretty cool to see one surface, and juggle the fish around in its beak to get it where it could swallow the fish head first.

April 2000. Good view showing the bird's turquoise eye color. The purple fringing is an optical artifact of the camera+monocular combination I used.

April 2000, about 10 or 11 p.m. Cormorants sleeping in a tree by the lake. The sky has been "photoshopped" to change the color to a warmer hue (it was a sickly dark orange in the original).

 

[lisab]

I love seeing Cormorants, especially as they perch with their wings open to dry their feathers. Lots of them around here!

 

[Redbelly98]

I actually like cormorants better than red-bellied woodpeckers. But "Redbelly" makes for a much better online alias.

The tree in the picture I took leans out over a lake. In the daytime when they're all awake -- about 40 to 50 of them -- you can see poop dropping to the water every 5 or 10 seconds.

 

[lisab]

I actually like cormorants better than red-bellied woodpeckers. But "Redbelly" makes for a much better online alias.

The tree in the picture I took leans out over a lake. In the daytime when they're all awake -- about 40 to 50 of them -- you can see poop dropping to the water every 5 or 10 seconds.

ha - stinks like rotten fish, I imagine (but would rather not!)...

 

[Redbelly98]

Don't remember any smell. But when I've gone by there in my kayak I've avoided passing directly under that tree.

 

[Ouabache]

I've been having fun not only viewing birds, but learning to recognize them by song.. The easier ones I've heard are the bobwhite quail, eastern pheobe, whipporwill, mourning dove and great-horned owl. I have been hoping to find a hermit thrush and finally heard one while hiking a hill in Turbo-1's neck of the country, in Arcadia Park (along the Maine coast).

 

[tribdog]

I think what I hear every night is a mockingbird. That's what I've been told. It'll argue with you if you go out and whistle at it. I don't know if it copies other birds songs, but it seems to have a huge vocabulary.

 

[Chi Meson]

I think what I hear every night is a mockingbird. That's what I've been told. It'll argue with you if you go out and whistle at it. I don't know if it copies other birds songs, but it seems to have a huge vocabulary.

If it repeats each phrase (A-A, B-B, C-C, D-D, E-E, F-F, etc) it's a mockingbird.

If it does not repeat each phrase (A, B, C, D, E, F, etc.) then it's probably a catbird. Catbirds will often sing into the night. It's fun for the first hour.

 

[tribdog]

you know, I think it is a mockingbird. I'll have to pay more attention more attention

 

[Redbelly98]

It's that time of year: every time I see a hummingbird, I wonder if it's the last time till next spring. Saw one this morning at our feeder, after a 3 or 4 day absence.

 

[turbo]

It's that time of year: every time I see a hummingbird, I wonder if it's the last time till next spring. Saw one this morning at our feeder, after a 3 or 4 day absence.

Same here. I filled my hummingbird feeders a few days ago because they were being visited constantly (by juveniles and females - the adult males have already left) and the sugar-water has hardly been touched. It seems like the females and juveniles were building up the energy to start their migration and they have already left. Now, I see a hummingbird maybe once a day - stragglers from farther north who are moving through, I assume.

 

[larkspur]

If it repeats each phrase (A-A, B-B, C-C, D-D, E-E, F-F, etc) it's a mockingbird.

If it does not repeat each phrase (A, B, C, D, E, F, etc.) then it's probably a catbird. Catbirds will often sing into the night. It's fun for the first hour.

Catbirds also have a distinctive cat sound hence the name catbird. You can here it a couple of times in this sound clip.
http://www.naturesound.com/birds/audio/catbrd.ram"

Mocking birds repeat each phrase three or more times. It is fun to try to pick out what they are copying. The one's around my house are quite good at mocking Blue Jays and Cardinals
http://www.learnbirdsongs.com/birdsong.php?id=4"

 

[wildman]

It's that time of year: every time I see a hummingbird, I wonder if it's the last time till next spring. Saw one this morning at our feeder, after a 3 or 4 day absence.

Around here we get hummers all year. It is just different species in the Winter (Anna's and Costas) than in the summer (Violet capped, Magnificent, Broad Bills, Broad Tails, Violet Chinned, etc) and during migrations (Rufus, Allens, etc).

 

[Redbelly98]

Cool! I'm in the northeast US, we just get the ruby throated variety.

 

[turbo]

I have not had a bird at my seed feeder for a couple of weeks. The finches were raiding it like crazy, tanking up for the migration. Now they are gone, and the boreal birds (chickadee, tufted titmouse, nuthatch, slate junco, etc) that winter here have not yet returned. My father is in the same situation, ~20 miles north of here.

Usually there is some overlap - this gap seems strange.