BIRDS

[KEC]

It is unusual to see 6 Pileated Woodpeckers at one time except maybe just after the young leave the nest. As to the big flock of "blackbirds" on this date, they're probably all or mostly starlings. Look for the short tail and they move about in those big murmurations, moving and turning like a big single organism. They will descend on a lawn like little soldiers. They eat a lot of cutworms and insect larvae, including winter cutworms, which are active even in cold weather. I saw a bunch today and there were some Brown-headed Cowbirds with them.

[Old Greenhorn]

That IS weird. We have a bunch of them around here in the spring and summer, some are real damaging pests and hammer ALL of our utility poles with beep holes. But even during 'the season' seeing that many in even a given hour is weird.
They come and go and change their favorite areas. I had a big one working down by the mill in the summer of '22, but didn't see one there all this summer. I heard them though. That one we had in '22 came dangerously close to getting blown off a tree or more likely a pole, he was hitting them all with 6" deep holes. But he moved on before I went nuclear.

[JD Guy]

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.

We are seeing the grackles in large flocks here right now, my guess is that they migrate but someone else will probably know for sure. Sometimes there will be brown headed cowbirds mixed in with them. We only see these flocks certain times of the year.

[KEC]

Yes, Common Grackles, Red-wing Blackbirds, Rusty Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds migrate. Starlings will winter up here in the glaciated north. Especially in the fall you will see mixed flocks. I'm not certain about how much starlings go southward. In winter they move about in big flocks.

[Mooseherder]

A Roseate Spoonbill has been visiting us the last 3 days snapping up some fish.
Roseate Spoonbill snapping up fish. - YouTube

[SwampDonkey]

Today was the first day I've seen a flock of snow buntings around. Also, I see just now the juncos are feeding on seeds in the weeds along the field. The starlings are around here all winter. I think they roost in sheds and barns over at the neighbors place. And probably 40 pigeons around here, so you can't feed the little birds or you will be taken over by pigeons and poo. :D

[Old saw fixer]

I walked out to the well last night to make sure the light bulb was burning and hear the owls talking to one another.  It was a pleasant thing to hear.

[DDW_OR]

..........so you can't feed the little birds or you will be taken over by pigeons and poo. :D

a thought
two small satellite dishes. one as a lid and the other as the feeder
then 2x4 wire around the outside edge to let the small birds in and keep larger birds out

so
dish on bottom, with stand used to hold dish
wire for the wall
other dish as a lid

or something like that to prevent larger birds from getting to the feed
maybe smaller wire fencing to keep squirrels out

[Ianab]

or something like that to prevent larger birds from getting to the feed
maybe smaller wire fencing to keep squirrels out

They have that sort of system at the local native bird reserve. There are 3 species of Honeyeater in NZ. One is the Tui, which is a large a feisty bird, not endangered, and we see them in the garden all the time. Another is the Hihi which is a much smaller bird, and is endangered, due to introduced predators, and was down to living on one offshore Island. It's since been reintroduced to 2 more Islands and about 4 fenced reserves, and about 3,000 birds. I'm not sure if they have a breeding population at Rotokare yet, but to encourage them they have nectar feeding stations to keep them well fed, and hopefully able to breed. They are in these little "houses" with bars that only a Hihi can get through. The rest if the box is fine mesh so they birds can see in / out. Otherwise the Tui would hog all the food, and chase the smaller birds away.

But it says something about the efforts of the volunteers that run the sanctuary, that they get trusted with endangered species like that.

[SwampDonkey]

The little birds spill seed on the ground and the pigeons feed on the spill over. They will sit on your roof and poo all day long. And I've yet to see a squirrel proof feeder. If a chickadee can get in, so can a red squirrel. I have those feeders here. I laughed the first day I put one up and there was mister red squirrel inside helping himself. :D :D

[DDW_OR]

yep, squirrels are the locksmiths of the animal world

[Treeflea24]

I had a recent bird sighting that I wanted to describe for yall and see if anyone else has ever seen or heard of this happening:
There is a 3-4 week old deer carcass in an area that I hike past, and I check in on it occasionally. Yesterday there was a large (redtail?) hawk there, and it was acting strange - in a way that I'd never seen before. Rather than flying off at the first sight and sound of me being there, it stayed put on the ground and spread its wings. Its head was turned towards me and tracking me, but its body was quartered away and wasnt tracking.
After doing a quick mental rehearsal of which of my body parts I would try to protect and what kind of defensive position I would adopt in the case things got lively, I went in closer to take some pics and see what was going on.
The bird didnt seem obviously injured, it wasnt limping of favoring a wing or showing any asymmetry like you might expect. It was "sitting" upright on its rear, or I guess on its tailfeathers. That (along with my inexperience) is why I couldnt be sure it this was a redtail. Its feet werent supporting its weight. You can see this in the photo. I spent about 2-3 minutes near this bird trying to figure out what was going on with it. During that time it slowly went from this upright seated position to a sort-of reclined position, and then eventually to flat on its back. Its head and eyes tracked me the entire time, and its wings remained spread. All of its motions were slow and lethargic. As I got up to leave, it was able to come off of its back and was standing with its feet under it for the first time in this interaction. I came back about an hour later and the bird was gone. Checked again the next day just to be sure, and there is no sign of it.
Has anyone seen or heard of something similar? I wonder if the bird had eaten so much from the deer carcass that it was temporarily disabled or in some kind of stupor? Let me know your thoughts. I have the photos laid out below in order of the sequence that they were taken.

[beenthere]

Think it was dying and another hawk or owl or critter ate the hawk. It looks sick in the pics as well as acted sick as you describe. May have also limped off in that hour you were gone.

[aigheadish]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned bird watching apps in here? I haven't read through everything in a while. Someone told me about the Merlin app by Cornell Labs, it is pretty cool, and better than Audobon from what I remember. It has a Shazam style listening function that seems to work pretty well, you hit record and it'll listen for birds, while producing a wave form that you can scroll through to find the bird call you were listening to and it'll highlight that bird out of the others it hears at the same time. For me it's an excellent way to learn more about the birds around me. It was neat as I sat on the front porch looking at a bird singing and this app told me what kind of bird it was, basically instantly hearing the noise, showing the bird so I can compare, then saving it if I wanted to check out more. 

[Ron Scott]

I've been using the Merlin App and the Cornell University Lab information for the last couple years. I find it very helpful with bird identification.

[KEC]

My late mentor used to say to attach yourself to the shirtail of an experienced field birder to learn the birds. The merlin app is helpful, but they tell users that it does not always get it right. I've been doing Ebird for several years and there are instances where people ID birds soley by what Merlin says. Ebird cautions against this and says to confirm with a visual or by ear.

[Ianab]

Meanwhile in Australia. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_white_ibis

I remember visiting Sydney maybe 14 years ago. We visited the large Taronga Zoo, it was a ferry trip across the harbour. So we were eating lunch at the outdoor cafe, and there is this huge Ibis just standing a few feet away. Wasn't sure if it was a free roaming zoo critter, or a wild bird. Turns out there isn't any difference. The zoo originally had some Ibis that were free to wander around, and it seems wild birds have started joining them, and have also lost their instinctive fear of humans, and spread out around the rest of the city (and country).

So if you think pigeons or seagulls are a problem, a "Bin Chicken" stands about 3ft tall, weighs 4 or 5 lb, and eats anything. They have basically adapted their behaviour to survive in an urban environment. This makes them both a hero and pest at the same time to the Aussies.  They may have a soft spot for them and it's a native animal that's not actively trying to kill them, just steal their lunch? 

[KEC]

treeflea, Your bird is a Red-tailed Hawk, a juvenile, I think. Yes, its' behavior suggests that it might be sick or hurt. But also, sometimes hawks just don't want to give up a meal and don't fly away. We are entering the time of year when rodent numbers are at their seasonal low and maybe he was hungry and possessive of his find. He may have "recovered" and flew off.

[SwampDonkey]

I've seen one cardinal this winter. Picking gravel off the road. But there's lots of buntings and juncos around.

[KEC]

I was outside today and heard Snow Geese. Looked up and a huge skein passed over headed Northeast; I estimated 1400.

[SwampDonkey]

Been ducks here on the creek all winter. Never froze down through the fastest current, just shoreline and then not where small creeks dump in. But that's been the case for years as far as ice on that creek. It's got to be really cold to freeze up smaller creeks, usually a 2 or 3 day warm spell they open up because the ice is thin. I know what was iced over last week in small creeks is now all open. Head pond water here is frozen, dead water.

[SwampDonkey]

Blue jays and crows are always around for a handout. Probably as many as 10 crows around the yard at times. I only see a couple ravens around, they don't come to the yard. Crows chase them off anyway. All you have to do is rattle a dish and them crows are doing the swoopty swoo around the yard. :D

[thecfarm]

I was outside today and heard Snow Geese. Looked up and a huge skein passed over headed Northeast; I estimated 1400.

1400!!!! 
I have never seen that many geese. I see the Canadian geese and see 100 and that's a lot.

[KEC]

thecfarm, you may be a bit East of the fight path of the numbers of Snow Geese. I think a lot of them overwinter in the Delmarva Pinninsula and they come past here headed to or from Canada. You might have to see it to believe or appreciate it, but I've estimated 2 or 3 thousand going over here in a day in migration. At Derby Hill, a great place to witness spring migration by Lake Ontario, we once looked in the distance in a clear sky and it looked like a haze of white clouds. Those "clouds" was a massive wave of Snow Geese. They have "counters", people who are paid to count the migrating birds passing over, especially hawks, eagles, vultures, etc. IIRC they estimated 5-10 thousand Snow Geese that day.

[Ianab]

At a guess there would be a "main highway" they migrate down, where the individual smaller flocks travelling in the same direction all link up? 

If you are bored, this is a webcam of an Albatross nest down in the South Island. I've only seen the birds a couple of times when I was working offshore on the rigs. They generally stay out in the open ocean, and regularly circle the globe  if they are not breeding. 

Time zone will be GMT +13, so not much to see at night. If it's dark, check back later.  Or they have 12 hours on the video feed, so you can slide back a few hours if it's dark here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqLu2QuyPPE