BIRDS

[Mooseherder]

A spoonbill looking for breakfast.

Spoonbill - YouTube

[Mooseherder]

The spoonbill came back today.
Spoonbill fishing. - YouTube

[firefighter ontheside]

I often see eagles flying above our house and sitting in trees near the river, but occasionally I will see them no where near water, like this morning.  This guy was sitting in a tree in someone's front yard not far from my house.  This is about 5 miles from a river, but there are some small lakes closer.  I drove past and saw him and then backed up to take a pic.  He was not concerned at all.  Not bad for pictures taken thru my windshield with a cellphone.


 

[SwampDonkey]

Nice picture of the eagle.

Flock of geese flew over the yard this morning, west to east, came from the direction of a corn field cut yesterday. I think most geese up this way have gone south by now. Dec 1st tomorrow.

[Texas Ranger]

ffontheside.  Critters have certainly come back since I was a kid.  Remember seeing my first and only turkey as a teenager there at St. Claire, never saw another one till some 30 years later and the walmart in Jefferson City was feeding a flock of 20 or more beside the store in a wooded area. 

[firefighter ontheside]

Speaking of St Clair, there is an eagle nest visible from Hwy 30 right at the Meramec River just before you get to St Clair.  I see eagles there often.  Yesterday I drove thru there and saw an immature eagle.

[WV Sawmiller]

   What do you guys know about bluebirds winter habits?

    My wife and I were just watching the bluebird box in front of the house. It looked like a whole family of bluebirds stopped by and several were going in and out of the box, lighting on top of the box and the fence and weeds/limbs nearby. There were at least 4 of them flitting around. I would not be surprised if it is a family that raised there earlier. We had 2 clutches raise in it last summer and 2-3 clutches each summer for the last 3 years it has been there. I can't imagine them setting up a nest and raising young this time of year. I don't know if the bluebirds migrate south or over-winter here.

[Chuck White]

The same thing happens in this area.

I have 12-15 Bluebird/Tree Swallow houses up around the yard and it seems that late in the fall it's like a huge Bluebird family reunion in the backyard.

They'll hang around the area a few days, up to a week then all of a sudden one day, they're gone!

I believe they return to their previous nesting box each year, and the young come along in search of a home of their own.

[Old Dog]

Here in the Champlain Valley we see a lesser number of bluebirds right though the winter.  Usually on our gravel drive or boulders we have scattered about.  I have been unable to attract them to our feeders - those mealworms blow right out of the tray (and cost a small fortune).  I'm guessing that like their cousins the robins, some birds will migrate one year but not the next.

Must have been a good breeding year for them - there have been good numbers of them around.

[SwampDonkey]

Same here, they leave the boxes, come back early fall and then off they go until April or May. I've read or have seen video on them doing this. This fall was 70 degrees the first week of November, but they was gone by first part of October. I'm way north of you guys.

They started a second brood here this summer but abandoned the nest. Maybe the female got eaten with all the neighbor's cats around here. Not in the nest but on the ground. I have critter deterrent on the post, a prickly mess screen nailed on.

[WV Sawmiller]

  I was wondering if they have a Bluebird BNB listing somewhere that tells them where they can stop over for a few days on their travels south. :D We are glad to have them. I love my bluebirds.

[KEC]

Last winter there were bluebirds all over my area. I see them year round. In winter a good place to see them is around stands of Staghorn Sumac, the seeds of which are an important cold weather food source for many birds. The seed clusters are up out of the snow. I've seen turkeys during harsh winter conditions up in the sumac eating the seeds, spindly  branches swaying. The smarter turkeys were on the ground eating the seeds that fell down. Adult bluebirds will return to nest where they nested successfully the following year. Usually, young birds disperse and do not return to where they were hatched. I once banded a female and the following year she nested in the same box. They also eat a lot of wild grapes and other fruit in winter. It's a little pricey for me but stores sell suet bricks which, I think, have corn and peanut butter mixed in that bluebirds really go for, according to my son and his wife.

[KEC]

A few days ago 6 female Evening Grosbeaks came into my feeding area for sunflower seeds. This was a common thing in the 70's and 80's; much less common in recent years. The arctic breeder Canada Geese have been moving through and yesterday a flock of about 250 Snow Geese went over. A sure sign that winter is about to lower it's boom. This is a time to keep an ear to the air; you might even see/hear Sandhill Cranes, which are at the Eastern edge of their range. 

[Ianab]

Out on the mail run today. 



 

We had turfed out the nest a couple of times, but those starlings were persistent. There is about 5 chicks in there now. Fortunately the address has two mail boxes, so we are just chucking stuff in the other one. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Maybe they want to go "Air Mail" :D'.

[firefighter ontheside]

This one was even closer to home.  Stopped on the bridge over the river to get this shot.  As I was taking the pic another eagle flew by.  I was hoping it would land in the  tree too, but it continued on down the river.


 

[red]

Very Majestic

[WV Sawmiller]

FFOTS,

   Around here the eagles are starting to lay their eggs. The chicks will hatch in January and February per my understanding.

[firefighter ontheside]

Interesting. I thought they hatched in later winter.  As far as I know, the nearest nest to here is about 15 miles away as the eagle flies.

[beenthere]

Bald Eagle Eggs: Appearance, Egg-Laying, Incubation, and Egg-Hatching - Avian Report

[firefighter ontheside]

Thanks Beenthere, I found that same article when I searched about it.  It doesn't list Missouri or anywhere close in the list of times that they hatch.  I guess they don't think eagles nest in MO.  I found a different article which suggests that eagles in MO don't lay eggs until March or April.  If incubation time is about 35 days, hatching in MO should be April-May.

[WV Sawmiller]

    We have a nest in a big sycamore tree here locally on the tip of an island in the New River along route 20. It is right below a scenic overlook and you can pull off and look down into the nest and see the adult birds head sticking up. When the chick(s) hatches you can look down and see when it/them reach up for food. My wife set up one day there with her camera and tripod several years back and got a neat shot of dad flying home with a 4-5 ft long snake it dropped in the nest. Often you will see the adults sitting on nearby limbs.

[KEC]

WV, That's great to have that view at a public overlook. Did you know that New York did a Bald Eagle restoration program in the 1970's ? They got eagle nestlings from nests in Alaska, put them in artificial nests (cages on tall poles), fed them without imprinting on humans, then released them at the appropriate age. Fish were put out for them after release until they were hunting on their own. There was no net loss of eagles in Alaska because most nests would start out with 2 eggs/2nestlings, but usually only one lived to leave the nest. Taking one actually meant more food for the other. Win-win.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I knew they have "Eagle cams" around the world and sometimes school classes log on to watch them in science class and such. All is great while the adults bring in fish or rats or snakes but when the eagles bring in a cute baby rabbit or even worse, a fluffy kitten, the grammar school kids can be very traumatized. ;) 

[Hilltop366]

Had some crows harassing a eagle yesterday.