BIRDS

[SwampDonkey]

I see red winged black birds and crackles this morning.

No sign  of bluebirds here yet.

[aigheadish]

We had a few bluebirds show up a few days ago, Sunday or Monday, I think. They are neat.

[KEC]

Yesterday evening, I went out back of the house to look to see if the woodcock are back. Saw 4 deer, 3 Canada Geese, 1 woodcock, and heard a Great-horned Owl, an Eastern Screech-Owl and some coyotes. It was worth missing "Jeopardy!"

[SwampDonkey]

Robins are getting more plentiful here now. I saw two ravens flying with nest building materials.

[aigheadish]

Ravens are the big ones right? Crows are generally smaller? We have a bunch of the big ones around all the time, though mostly at work, not in my yard. 

[SwampDonkey]

Raven calls

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Raven/sounds

[aigheadish]

Great Blue Heron hanging out by the pond!

We get them pretty frequently. I busted through the front door to see it just hanging out. I sat on the porch and watched it for a while, then when I got up to go back inside it flapped to the other side of the pond and hung out. Usually, they are much more skittish and will take off.

[SwampDonkey]

I saw geese last week. They left late last fall, like around Christmas.  We have some of them transplanted dumb ones I call them, could have been those.  Normally geese do not nest here in this region, but them transplanted ones do.

[Ianab]

A lady up North looked out to find 2 kiwi birds having a disagreement on her back lawn. Unusual as they are generally nocturnal. She was able to video them, and it's quite comical. 

https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/04/02/daylight-brawl-between-kiwi-spills-into-bay-of-islands-backyard/

[thecfarm]

fighting with your arms behind your back is funny!!!!
She has a nice looking yard too.

[SwampDonkey]

Built a couple bird houses today with the white cedar from earlier. I replaced one old one, I think the other one is fine for this year. But I have one for spare and ready when needed.  I've always had success with this design, so why change it.



They should be here in a couple weeks. 

[Old Greenhorn]

On my way out of the woodlot today I drove past the swamp pond and saw a single duck. Strange and pretty head, floated low. I thought it might be a wood duck but thought they float higher than this one. I saw a pair there a month ago, then the cold returned and the ice. Now it's all cleared out, maybe in the coming week I will see some more and the Heron will return. I am not very good on duck id's.

[Ianab]

More kiwi news today. Rounding up some birds in the local fenced reserve, to be relocated to other areas that now have enough predator control to enable them to breed. Adult kiwi can fight off small predators (even with their arms tied behind their back), but new hatched chicks are smaller / weaker and more vulnerable. Kiwi only lay one or two eggs, and the chick hatches as a fully fledged smaller kiwi, and is able to go out and forage for itself. But it will always loose a fight with a ferret or stoat. So if those pest predators are in an area, 94% of the chicks get killed, and the population gradually dies out. With intensive pest control, survival is more like 60%, so numbers can gradually build up. In the fenced reserve they have more like a 90% survival rate, and the numbers soon increase, to the point where they get overcrowded, and territory / food becomes a problem (limiting breeding). So they have a "muster" from time to time, remove maybe 50 birds to boost the population in some of the un-fenced (but intensively trapped) areas. The reserve can support 2-300 birds, and with a population that could grow by 50 a year.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360621923/along-ride-annual-taranaki-kiwi-muster

[WV Sawmiller]

    My daughter and her family came up for the weekend and she spotted a bird exiting the box in front of my house so we checked it with the 8and 6 y/o grandkids today and found it has 5 bluebird eggs it. That has been a very dependable nest box and started the first clutch 2 days after I put it out 3-4 years ago and has raised as many as 3 hatches per year in some cases. We love to sit in the LR and watch them come and go especially when the chicks hatch. I will check these again in a few weeks after they have had time to hatch.

[SwampDonkey]

I see killdeer around here now. The snow buntings are still around to.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Killdeer/sounds

[Chuck White]

Haven't seen any Killdeer yet, but it shouldn't be long before they show up!

I've noticed that the Goldfinches are changing out of their green plumage, and back into their yellow for the Summer!

[Onthesauk]

We've got a small fir of some type just off the front porch.  Have had white-crowned sparrows nest there for 5 or 6 years as the tree got big enough.  This year they are back again, nest in the upper third of the tree.  Have a pair of house sparrows now building a nest at mid level and have been watching a towhee coming and going from the bottom.  Like a condo project.

[KEC]

A couple days ago I came out of the local supermarket and there was a Fish Crow on a street lamp in the parking lot. They look very much like American Crows only slightly smaller. What allows you to pick them out is that they sound different. They've established a local population by Onondaga Lake and around Syracuse, NY.

[aigheadish]

I caught a Brown Thrasher, I think, on the Merlin app yesterday. It was off in the trees in the woods, so I couldn't see it but it was certainly making the noise.

[SwampDonkey]

I should see (mostly hear) the brown thrashers here next month. We don't have more than one nesting pair in the yard a year. Sometimes they just pass bye, but will sing once in awhile.

[SwampDonkey]

I'm hearing the little song sparrows this morning for the first time this year. Sounds like they are in the dogwood thicket along the ditch of the road. They like that entangled mess. :D

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Song_Sparrow/sounds

[ron barnes]

We are seeing several male hummingbirds.  Have not seen a female yet.  Wonder why?  

[Chuck White]

I've been hearing a Yellow-Bellied Sap Sucker tapping out his "love message" on the tin roof of my storage shed in the back yard! 

[doc henderson]

Is it working Chuck?  

[SwampDonkey]

No flickers her yet, no bluebirds. Next week I think. Cold today, was 36° this morning and still is.  Saw a bunch of turkeys this morning, and two herds of deer near here. Herds as in 7 in one bunch and 3 in another.    Did see the first northern harrier this morning floating over the grassy fields. Osprey are here this week.