Sandtrap wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:34 am
Wonderful pictures!
Thanks for posting them.
Thanks, all. The ones of robins got uploaded in lower res than I would have liked - but they are pretty common anyway.
Here's a Great Blue Heron fishing the neighborhood creek, for your enjoyment.
These big fellas cruise up and down the large stream that runs along and on our acreage. Very graceful.
They congregate in the pastures as well. All you see are the heads and necks. Horses get upset.
Never seen them up close.
Thanks for the great pics.
j
JAZZISCOOL wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:39 am
Oh dear! I wouldn't have the heart to do that..... There are probably other options.
House Sparrows are invasive. They kill bluebirds in the box, adults and chicks. Some people shoot them with bird shot as an alternative.
During normal (colder winters) they seem to disappear because we only use sunflower and safflower in our feeder and they really prefer junk food like millet.
With a little luck, the hawks will get them.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
Voltaire2.0 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:16 pm
Robins, repeatedly flying straight into my windows and bouncing off.
we get that in the winter when they are drunk.
Not far from here is a Robin roost. At the right time of year, if you go down just before dawn and wait, they will come pouring out of the small woods headed out to look for feeding places. Some years we have estimated as many as 80,000 flying out of the woods.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
I'm not a true birdwatcher, and my ex-GF ended up with my copy of the National Audubon Society field book which I haven't replaced yet, but I do enjoy watching birds.
Though I can't often see them, I've been *hearing* both the electronic-sounding warbles and the louder monkey-like calls of the pileated woodpeckers that like the quiet woods and wetlands behind the house.
"Discipline matters more than allocation.” |—| "In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind." ─William Bernstein
We have a birdfeeder outside our kitchen and this year we attracted bluebirds - 6 at feeder at one time was the most. We have fed them mealworms which the robins also feast on.
Others are - Cardinals, Blue Jays, House finch, sparrows, chicodees, Tufted Titmouse, today had first yellow Goldfinch today (color change).
JAZZISCOOL wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:39 am
Oh dear! I wouldn't have the heart to do that..... There are probably other options.
House Sparrows are invasive. They kill bluebirds in the box, adults and chicks. Some people shoot them with bird shot as an alternative.
During normal (colder winters) they seem to disappear because we only use sunflower and safflower in our feeder and they really prefer junk food like millet.
With a little luck, the hawks will get them.
Point taken. I see Cooper's Hawks frequently go after the smaller birds. Don't see many House Sparrows luckily.
Vulcan wrote: ↑Sat Mar 28, 2020 5:44 pm
My wife spotted a hummingbird's nest in our front yard a few years back.
The best experiences you can't buy.
That's wonderful. Out of curiosity, what equipment did you use? Those are some really high quality images
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Now that we are in the Mid-west, the bird I would love to see is a red-headed woodpecker. Just a very stunning bird.
I personally like cardinals. Before we moved last year, I was fortunate to be able to observe one of the cardinal family that roamed the apartment complex where we lived (suburban Philly). I was later able to observe another fledgling in the back yard of the house where we currently reside. Too bad that before I was able to take any pictures, a flock of wild turkeys scared it away. Though that said, lately I had to resort to wearing earplugs as the neighborhood cardinals have crowing way before 6:30.
Also, does anyone know what the fledgling might be nibbling on in that last photo? I saw the fledgling pluck it off of a branch, but I have no idea if it's plant matter or something else
Vulcan wrote: ↑Sat Mar 28, 2020 5:44 pm
My wife spotted a hummingbird's nest in our front yard a few years back.
The best experiences you can't buy.
That's wonderful. Out of curiosity, what equipment did you use? Those are some really high quality images
Thanks!
My gear is pretty basic: a Nikon D90 with a 55-200mm VR lens, both are over 10 years old.
Some of the lousier-looking closeups were shot with a cellphone camera.
I guess, in photography, as in life, I am also a boglehead
Nice pictures of cardinals!
Last edited by Vulcan on Mon Mar 30, 2020 5:44 pm, edited 3 times in total.
If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything. ~Ronald Coase
InvisibleAerobar wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 5:12 pm
Also, does anyone know what the fledgling might be nibbling on in that last photo? I saw the fledgling pluck it off of a branch, but I have no idea if it's plant matter or something else
It looks like some kind of berry that grows on trees. We had one grow in our backyars as a weed that had similar looking berries, and before we cut it down it was feeding all kinds of creatures, from birds to squirrels.
If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything. ~Ronald Coase
Sheepdog wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:02 pm
2. Only once in these years, about 20 years ago, did a pileated woodpecker visit for a couple of days. This year, a big one, is feeding on the suet feeders and he has been around for over 2 weeks. He is a BIG beautiful red headed guy.
This is a special visitor. We will occasionally (maybe once or twice a year) catch a glimpse of one in the woods near our house where we like to walk, but never have had one visit the yard. They are an impressive sight!
Vulcan wrote: ↑Sat Mar 28, 2020 5:44 pm
My wife spotted a hummingbird's nest in our front yard a few years back.
The best experiences you can't buy.
That's wonderful. Out of curiosity, what equipment did you use? Those are some really high quality images
Thanks!
My gear is pretty basic: a Nikon D90 with a 55-200mm VR lens, both are over 10 years old.
Some of the lousier-looking closeups were shot with a cellphone camera.
I guess, in photography, as in life, I am also a boglehead
Nice pictures of cardinals!
InvisibleAerobar wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 5:12 pm
Also, does anyone know what the fledgling might be nibbling on in that last photo? I saw the fledgling pluck it off of a branch, but I have no idea if it's plant matter or something else
It looks like some kind of berry that grows on trees. We had one grow in our backyars as a weed that had similar looking berries, and before we cut it down it was feeding all kinds of creatures, from birds to squirrels.
Interesting; thank you. I thought it might potentially be a worm/caterpillar.
Also, very nice that you are able to get shots of the hummingbirds with a 200 mm lens, and I hope you get to capture more interesting images this year . Gives me hope that maybe a standard 300 mm lens that come standard equipment on some of the Nikons SLR sets would suffice my need of photographing the birds in the back yard. I once saw a hummingbird (I think ruby-throated, as I was in NJ at the time), and my superzoom just couldn't focus on it. The only time I saw indigo buntings with that camera, it managed to capture a rather "impressionistic" shot.
I was very pleasantly surprised to find this Virginia Rail that was flushed from the cattails while we were conducting a prescribed fire in a wetland fen in northern Indiana (22 March 20). This bird is on the state endangered list in Indiana.
You'll have to click to open the photo... these are all stills I took from the video. Fortunately, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time with the smartphone running!
A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise. -Aldo Leopold's Golden Rule of Ecology
papito23 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 31, 2020 10:51 am
I was very pleasantly surprised to find this Virginia Rail that was flushed from the cattails while we were conducting a prescribed fire in a wetland fen in northern Indiana (22 March 20). This bird is on the state endangered list in Indiana.
You'll have to click to open the photo... these are all stills I took from the video. Fortunately, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time with the smartphone running!
Oh wow! I hope more of them got out before the fires....
With everything else that's going on in the world, I woke up this morning to see snowflakes dropping down, and then saw a large bird standing on the ground and eating from one of my bird feeders. I thought it was just a wild turkey, but people I shared a video with said it was a bronze heritage turkey.
Have also seen black-capped chickadees, Eastern goldfinches, assorted wrens and sparrows, mourning doves, downy and hairy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches, a couple of Cooper's Hawks, and that darned red squirrel that loves to eat the peanut butter suet.
pahkcah wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 5:35 pm
With everything else that's going on in the world, I woke up this morning to see snowflakes dropping down, and then saw a large bird standing on the ground and eating from one of my bird feeders. I thought it was just a wild turkey, but people I shared a video with said it was a bronze heritage turkey.
Have also seen black-capped chickadees, Eastern goldfinches, assorted wrens and sparrows, mourning doves, downy and hairy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches, a couple of Cooper's Hawks, and that darned red squirrel that loves to eat the peanut butter suet.
Spring is a fun time to watch birds.
I looked up a Bronze (Heritage) Turkey; it appears to be a domesticated breed:
I've had a pileated wood pecker working along with me as I split firewood. He's up in an insect infested oak working around. These guys are big and powerful. Last year, I heard one over the hill behind me and thought someone was banging on a tree with a hammer. I walked up there to see who it was. He's about a foot long. The pecking is not like the little guys, machine gun style. They're bam....bam....bam.
The wife and I took our walk and walked my property border trail into a flock of 17 turkeys. I've seen them before but they seem to be gaining new members. Was only a dozen a week ago.
Jack FFR1846 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:15 pm
I've had a pileated wood pecker working along with me as I split firewood. He's up in an insect infested oak working around. These guys are big and powerful. Last year, I heard one over the hill behind me and thought someone was banging on a tree with a hammer. I walked up there to see who it was. He's about a foot long. The pecking is not like the little guys, machine gun style. They're bam....bam....bam.
The wife and I took our walk and walked my property border trail into a flock of 17 turkeys. I've seen them before but they seem to be gaining new members. Was only a dozen a week ago.
We don't get pileated woodpeckers in my state but I hope to see one eventually
First full year on a lake in Lake County IL. We have an annual 3 week visit by commarants and this year we have 25-30 of them...swimming in concert, diving down and then popping up 20 yards away. Really enjoy watching them.
Fun fact- the only "water bird" whose feathers are not water proof... they must dry out before flying to the next lake on their migratory path.
Sheepdog wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:02 pm
2. Only once in these years, about 20 years ago, did a pileated woodpecker visit for a couple of days. This year, a big one, is feeding on the suet feeders and he has been around for over 2 weeks. He is a BIG beautiful red headed guy.
This is a special visitor. We will occasionally (maybe once or twice a year) catch a glimpse of one in the woods near our house where we like to walk, but never have had one visit the yard. They are an impressive sight!
Just saw two today! Pecking at a tree stump along a (normally) well-traveled road. Definitely large birds, big as crows.
Sheepdog wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:02 pm
2. Only once in these years, about 20 years ago, did a pileated woodpecker visit for a couple of days. This year, a big one, is feeding on the suet feeders and he has been around for over 2 weeks. He is a BIG beautiful red headed guy.
This is a special visitor. We will occasionally (maybe once or twice a year) catch a glimpse of one in the woods near our house where we like to walk, but never have had one visit the yard. They are an impressive sight!
Just saw two today! Pecking at a tree stump along a (normally) well-traveled road. Definitely large birds, big as crows.
South Florida here - lots of quaker parrots and cherry-cheeked parrots, fighting with blue jays, grackles and cardinals.
And we are being taken over by peacocks. Yes, they are gorgeous . . .
but . . . they
parade through our yards and neighborhoods in groups of 3-6 with the haughty attitude they own the place, "outta my way homeowner," and they roost (and mate) on our roofs, and poop and screech all night and day
ps - no, I didn't take the photo and the articles are not my neighbood, but close enough - I chase peacocks away from my flowers & plants every week, then they fly onto my roof and glare down at me
Mallard ducks landed on the garage roof and sunned themselves. The turkey who lives near the Best Buy parking lot is still around. A hawk from local nature center made a brief appearance. I sporadically hear a woodpecker every few days.
Blue Jays have trained us to feed them peanuts. They come in the morning and go elsewhere for rest of the day.
With sports seasons being canceled, many people are turning to bird watching as a substitute. In fact, I read about an individual who has began to count the number of worms he sees pulled by birds from his lawn. At the time of his post it was 5-3 with the blue jays leading the cardinals.
Presintense wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:41 pm
With sports seasons being canceled, many people are turning to bird watching as a substitute. In fact, I read about an individual who has began to count the number of worms he sees pulled by birds from his lawn. At the time of his post it was 5-3 with the blue jays leading the cardinals.
Interesting, I'd have thought that robins would easily lead both
Dottie57 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 7:17 pm
Mallard ducks landed on the garage roof and sunned themselves. The turkey who lives near the Best Buy parking lot is still around. A hawk from local nature center made a brief appearance. I sporadically hear a woodpecker every few days.
Blue Jays have trained us to feed them peanuts. They come in the morning and go elsewhere for rest of the day.
Presintense wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:41 pm
With sports seasons being canceled, many people are turning to bird watching as a substitute. In fact, I read about an individual who has began to count the number of worms he sees pulled by birds from his lawn. At the time of his post it was 5-3 with the blue jays leading the cardinals.
Interesting, I'd have thought that robins would easily lead both
Dottie57 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 7:17 pm
Mallard ducks landed on the garage roof and sunned themselves. The turkey who lives near the Best Buy parking lot is still around. A hawk from local nature center made a brief appearance. I sporadically hear a woodpecker every few days.
Blue Jays have trained us to feed them peanuts. They come in the morning and go elsewhere for rest of the day.
Feed, As in hand-feed?
No. We throw peanuts 4 to 5 feet out into the yard. The swoop in from the telephone line , pick up the peanut and fly away.
I see geese, doves, robins, blue-jays, cardinals, crows, hawks, eagles, sparrows, and finches of many makes. Soon humming birds will appear from far away winter grounds. Kites also, and sparrow hawks. I hear quail at times. They don't seem to like it when it's windy. Quail like the quiet still to mate in. The sounds they make attract attention. And I see coyotes at night when I look outside. Then ran up and down the sidewalks, and my home is at a funnel point to the grass fields, they call home. And yes some have lost their doggy to coyotes, but they also clean up cats. The cats prey on quail for sports, and without the coyotes, the quail would go away. Nature is such a wonderful balance. Gone are the prairie chickens that my father and I hunted. Kansas still has pockets with the native birds, both lesser in the west of Kansas, and the greater in the north and east. More cougar sighting than ever. Game cams catch this at nights along trails the game and cattle use. Cougars eat cats also, as was evidenced in the gut contents of a dead road kill near Pratt Kansas several years also. Kansas fish and game made that call. I personally have watched turkeys near out city lake also. And turkeys are hard on quail populations also. Interesting times for nature, with global warming and all. Magpies are often seen in parking lots around here. They like parking lots. Seagulls with all the lakes we have around us.
Ducks, gosh darn, I good go on and on with this. I've got to darn much time on my hands folks. Oh, I forgot the crane in my back yard with a broken wing in early February. About 4 foot tall, but a storm during the night and he broke his wing. I last saw him eating and walking down the street like all was cool.
Even educators need education. And some can be hard headed to the point of needing time out.
Presintense wrote: ↑Thu Apr 02, 2020 1:41 pm
With sports seasons being canceled, many people are turning to bird watching as a substitute. In fact, I read about an individual who has began to count the number of worms he sees pulled by birds from his lawn. At the time of his post it was 5-3 with the blue jays leading the cardinals.
LOL! That's an interesting change!
I have noticed a lot of worms coming out and providing the spring birds with lots of food lately.
InvisibleAerobar wrote: ↑Fri Apr 03, 2020 1:49 pmThat is way cool. I wish i could hand feed a bird. How did you manage?
Special story: That was way way way north of Prince George, BC in the middle of nowhere. We came across a couple living off the grid. They had trained a family of Steller's jays to do this. So the jays rarely saw anyone except these 2 humans and their young fledglings just assumed it was normal to fly onto someone's hand.
We've had pet birds at home, so I am very comfortable with birds landing on my head, shoulders, hands, and hopping around. I know from my guests that most people freak out and scream when that happens. One has to remain calm if they want birds to land on them. I think Alfred Hitchcock would have agreed with that.
This signature message sponsored by sscritic: Learn to fish.
InvisibleAerobar wrote: ↑Fri Apr 03, 2020 1:49 pmThat is way cool. I wish i could hand feed a bird. How did you manage?
Special story: That was way way way north of Prince George, BC in the middle of nowhere. We came across a couple living off the grid. They had trained a family of Steller's jays to do this. So the jays rarely saw anyone except these 2 humans and their young fledglings just assumed it was normal to fly onto someone's hand.
We've had pet birds at home, so I am very comfortable with birds landing on my head, shoulders, hands, and hopping around. I know from my guests that most people freak out and scream when that happens. One has to remain calm if they want birds to land on them. I think Alfred Hitchcock would have agreed with that.