BIRDS

[Larry]

If you want a meal at Larry's place you better tweet in a reservation a day ahead as the line can get quite long for a good perch. 






It's like this from 6 AM until nearly 8 PM.  I operate a identical feeder about 30 feet away that always has a perch or two. 

Going through a bit more than a quart a day....amazing.

[doc henderson]

fun to watch.

[KEC]

I'm letting some "weeds" grow in front of the house for the birds and the bees: a Pin Cherry tree, Canada Thistle, Bull Thistle , Pokeweed and some others. The American Goldfinches are eating thistle seeds and Gray Catbirds and 6 Eastern Bluebirds are eating the Pin Cherries. Bees and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds work the flowers on the thistle and others. This is a juvenile bluebird.

[Chuck White]

Well, it's getting about that time of year again, the Tree Swallows and Barn Swallows are suddenly gone and the Blackbirds are flocking so they'll be gone soon.

We still have a few Ruby Throated Hummingbirds hanging around, but I think some of them have gone.

[beenthere]

Eagle refueling in flight, picking up live fish
Bald Eagle catches and eats fish midair - Mark Smith Photography - YouTube

[Magicman]

Amazing video of an amazing event.  That certainly was not his first rodeo.

[Peter Drouin]

My place was like that this summer Larry. I have only 2 or 3 at the house now and 2 at the mill. Yes, I have a feeder at the mill too. :D ;)

[aigheadish]

It felt like our hummingbirds were late this year, and we've never had them like Larry up there. Ours seem to fight to have a feeder to themselves. They are very skittish and very rarely would I see any sharing a feeder. 

This year seemed especially heavy on what I think is a black cherry tree? The tiny little cherries on it were plentiful and lots of birds loved chomping them down and making a mess of the back yard. I don't recall the birds going to town nearly as much as they did this year. May it have something to do with dying honey locust nearby, not sucking up all the water? I don't know!

[SwampDonkey]

Although my bluebirds returned to the nest box, laid more eggs, they abandoned them again. I saw a male bird several times since, around the box and trees. Have not seen any this month though.

[WhitePineJunky]

Although my bluebirds returned to the nest box, laid more eggs, they abandoned them again. I saw a male bird several times since, around the box and trees. Have not seen any this month though.

I seen my first eastern bluebird today never seen them around here before 

[Hilltop366]

 

 

They are around but apparently not plentiful you don't see them often.

[SwampDonkey]

We've had them here for about 10 years. Never saw one before that. My uncle saw some years ago when visiting the Mnt Carleton provincial park. They had nest boxes up. And near there in Nictau , Bill Miller had some. But Bill said he has not seen them for a few years. He passed away a year ago. He made canoes, but it was his father that started the canoe business. I have one of the canoes. They are cedar ribbed and canvas backed.

[Magicman]

We have a few Hummers but nothing like we have had in previous years.  At least those are getting a sip.

[Chuck White]

Yesterday, I never saw a single Hummingbird, and none at the feeders yet this morning!

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 

 
I went out to deliver some catfish fillets to a few neighbors and as I pulled out of my drive I saw a half grown possum had decided to get himself run over near my mailbox. When I returned I found our local turkey black vultures had discovered the same thing. The odd part was one vulture has been tagged. You can see the red tags on both wings. I did not zoom in close enough to see any numbers assigned.

 That got me thinking - how low on the totem pole at the DNR office does a new wildlife biologist have to be to get assigned the duty of catching and tagging vultures? If he tagged him I assume he/she collected some other information such as age, sex, weight, etc. Does this same person have to recapture this same vulture in the future and check for updates? Does the agent have to collect a stool sample to look for parasites? :

[KEC]

WV, those are actually Black Vultures. In flight they show less dihedral (uptilting of the wings), the wings are shorter and wider than TVs and there is a light colored patch at the wing tips. Also, they are black; TVs are brown, though they look black at a distance. The BVs have a dark head and neck and no red on the bill. BVs are uncommon up here, though in recent years they seem to be getting more common. I think vultures are cool. TVs seem to be capable of using wind, thermals and updrafts to avoid flapping their wings to the point of gliding into a headwind without flapping.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Thanks for the correction.

   I'm betting this is a federal program. Your tax dollars at work. :D

[KEC]

Someone got some grant money. If you can get a good photos of those wing markers and read the numbers, you can report it to the state wildlife agency or the USFWS banding lab.

[Ianab]

I think vultures are cool. TVs seem to be capable of using wind, thermals and updrafts to avoid flapping their wings to the point of gliding into a headwind without flapping.

Birds have certainly got aerodynamics sorted well before humans ever did. 

Not vultures, but I've watched albatross "slope soar" on open ocean waves. We were on a FPSO platform off the coast, and the weather cut up a bit rough. Not serious storm, maybe 30 knots, but a big swell from the South. Anyway the FPSO was rolling to much for the chopper to pick us up that afternoon, so we were stuck there for the night.

I went upstairs, because being able to see the horizon is a good way of avoiding seasickness.  So you could see albatross skimming the top of the big swells, getting lift from the wind hitting them. They would run about 1/4 mile, then soar up and glide down onto the next swell. There was no visible wing movement during any of this. I'm sure the bird was subtly adjusting trim all the time, especially in the swoop manoeuvre, but it never had to actually flap it's wings. 

[WV Sawmiller]

    I remember on a trip to southern Africa we were on Etosha Game Reserve in Namibia and our guide pointed out the vultures and various eagles were sitting on the treetops early in the morning. He said they were waiting for warmer weather when the winds and thermals would pick up so they could soar on them and use less energy. If they had tried to fly then they could certainly do so but they would have had to do  lot more work to stay aloft. We see the black vultures, bald eagles and ospreys at our local COE lake soaring gracefully over the lakes looking for a dead fish on the bank or one to catch for the raptors.

[WV Sawmiller]

 

 

 
My wife looked out the bedroom window and spotted this hawk sitting on our yard fence. I assume it is Coopers Hawk as I don't see a red tail and I assume it is a young one due to the mottled feathers on its chest. I suspect it is the same one I saw yesterday when I went to the barn to feed the horse. One flew over me then that looked a lot like this one.

   I saw a big red-tailed hawk last week from my lower shooting house. The squirrels suddenly started raising sand and I looked up to see the RT hawk light in a tree nearby, wait a while then change trees then flew off. It left before I could get a picture.

[KEC]

I think you're right as to immature Coopers' Hawk. Looks too big for a Sharp-shinned and the white, unstreaked lower belly favors coopers'.

[KEC]

I put eggshells in my gravel driveway for the birds, especially in Spring when female birds need calcium to make eggs. I suspect crows take some, maybe because of some egg whites in the shells. I've wondered why lately the shells go fast and I've suspected rodents. Today I went up in the rafters of the garage to get something and found some eggshells up there, no doubt the work of mice and/or Red Squirrels. My inquiring mind now is still trying to fiqure out  if they are after calcium or egg white residue. Hoping to get some insight from some of my comrads/scholars on the FF.

[doc henderson]

nature is funny.  children who are anemic chew on inanimate objects, and often crave ice to chew on.  called Pica.  This is why poor kids especially chewed on lead paint chips and got toxicity.  To explain why they might want it, would be referred to as a teleological argument.  I.e. stating "this is why animals do a certain thing.  It might be inbred stuff like a hunting dog retrieving.  It is often stated as though nature has a mind and can plan things out.  It may be the smell of the shell.  egg has protein and most animals crave that.  the calcium in the shell would be good for you, although I cringe when I get a good chunk of shell in my eggs.  I hope that was all academic enough for you, but the short answer is "I do not know"!

[aigheadish]

Not sure why, and I hadn't seen but a couple all year long before this, but Christmas morning I went out and sat on the front porch at around 830 or so and proceeded to see 6 pileated woodpeckers flapping about. It was weird.

Also, we get thousands and thousands of what I assume are grackles or starlings from October through at least now. It's interesting to open the door and their squawking is almost deafening, then you'll hear a WHOOSH and they fly away. I'm pretty fascinated with the noise that flying birds make. I sit in the shop occasionally and there'll be a group of 20-30 birds and I can clearly hear the noise their wings or bodies make as they zoom by.