Tracking Birdwatchers and Canada Geese Interactions

[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.

 

[Redbelly98]

Hmmm, we always have something at our feeders. Even if it's just mourning doves sometimes.

I really need to put those hummingbird feeders away for the winter.

 

[Ouabache]

From today's PF Chat, i am reposting for others to enjoy too; here again is the Loon (with baby on mama's back). and here are a couple of their songs.

 

[lisab]

From today's PF Chat, i am reposting for others to enjoy too; here again is the Loon (with baby on mama's back). and here are a couple of their songs.

Wonderful!

They sit so low in the water, to me it seems like they're about to sink.

 

[Redbelly98]

The hummingbirds have returned! Been feeding one at my back porch for nearly 2 weeks now.

 

[Moonbear]

Yep, I've had a hummingbird for a few weeks now too. As soon as I spotted it feeding on the flowers of one plant the day I planted it, I ran out and got a hummingbird feeder.

When I first moved in, I was having trouble with ants invading the house by climbing the deck and carpenter bees feasting on my deck, so after treating the deck and plugging up all the bee holes, I decided on a natural approach to deterring the return of the bees and ants...I put bird feeders and a bird bath on the deck posts the bees had been using. That seems to have made them rethink their housing choice.

 

[Redbelly98]

Yep, I've had a hummingbird for a few weeks now too. As soon as I spotted it feeding on the flowers of one plant the day I planted it, I ran out and got a hummingbird feeder.

Cool! Have you fed them before? You can just mix water and sugar, 4:1 by volume. I don't bother with the store-bought red hummer mix, many consider it a rip-off.

 

[Moonbear]

Cool! Have you fed them before? You can just mix water and sugar, 4:1 by volume. I don't bother with the store-bought red hummer mix, many consider it a rip-off.

I haven't fed them before, but I did know the sugar water recipe and to avoid the store-bought stuff with food coloring. I only think I have one hummingbird so far, so only put out a little syrup at a time so I don't waste a lot. I figure if they start to finish it off between cleanings, I'll start adding more.

I have two decks, and the upper one has no stairs to the ground...more like a balcony. So, Ember gets to sit out on the deck whenever she wants (it's too high for her to jump off). She enjoys watching the birds too. Actually, I haven't seen her try to chase any, but she does like sitting in the chair closest to the feeder to watch. I think the birds have already realized she's a big wimp when it comes to catching anything, and are learning to ignore her.

 

[Gokul43201]

Help needed: can anyone tell me what this bird is? The picture was taken in June, in the White Mountains of NH, at an elevation of ~ 4400 ft.

Profile:
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/6854/img0658z.jpg

Front View (somewhat blurred):
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/6465/img0656r.jpg

Hind View:
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/402/img0655c.jpg

Looks like a Gray Jay, but I could use a second opinion.

 

[Redbelly98]

Looks like a Gray Jay, but I could use a second opinion.

I concur. Though I'm not familiar with these, it looks a lot like the one pictured in my Peterson Field Guide. Plus the guide's description -- suggestive of a "huge overgrown chickadee" (the bird I thought of when I saw your first photo) -- pretty much clinches it for me.

 

[turbo]

In Maine, we call these Canada Jays. They are the most easily-tamed mid-sized birds around, and will hand-feed with little prompting. I hand-tame chickadees and nuthatches, and both learn from observing others of their species feeding from humans. Canada Jays are even more gregarious with humans than many of the smaller birds.