Ornithology

[Late]

Outside of my window right now are:

• juncos

• a Townsend warbler

• a kinglet (male; flew away just now)

• two chickadees

• one thrush

Curious to hear if there are other fans of birds here, and what's outside your window!

[Jim R]

I'm kind of a casual birder (rarely take out the binoculars, but I do keep my eyes open for unusual birds).

Around our house, we have house finches; mourning doves; robins; blue jays; mockingbirds; cedar waxswings; the occasional red tailed hawk; and a very annoying gang of crows. At certain times of the year, we're visited by a few downy woodpeckers (that's when I get out the binoculars). I've seen a few other interesting birds on occasion, but I usually have a hard time figuring out what I saw.

It's been years, but I remember occasionally seeing spectacular examples of the western tanager; and the bullock's oriole.

When I take my bike out to the creek trail and up to the nearest reservoir, I regularly see snowy egrets, great blue herons, and a new favorite- the black crowned night heron. Saw a belted kingfisher not long ago as well.

Btw, Late, my brother up in Lebanon is always sending me photos of the wonderful variety of birds that visit the feeders on his deck.

[Late]

Around our house, we have ... a very annoying gang of crows.

Btw, Late, my brother up in Lebanon is always sending me photos of the wonderful variety of birds that visit the feeders on his deck.

And people wonder why the taxonomical reference is actually a "murder" of crows.

It sounds like you have a nice variety down in the Bay Area, Jim. We get most of the birds you've mentioned, but I haven't seen an oriole around here ... or ever, I think. It's been a while since I've seen a cedar waxwing. Those birds are beautiful. Strangely or not, we've been getting Downy's here quite frequently in the last few weeks. I'd like to see a hairy woodpecker (I know, questionable name) — they're supposed to look just like the Downy, but up to twice the size!

I'm a very casual birder too. I would imagine, out where your brother lives, there's an even greater variety than in the "big city" here.

[JohnS]

Casual birder too. Not much in the garden but the nearby mud flats/salt marsh are always interesting. Wintering Brent (Brant) geese, curlew, oystercatcher, and now with global warming, egrets. Countless other small shore birds too.

[Jim R]

Thought I'd share an image of the Black-crowned Night Heron, for those who may not be familiar with it (like me, until relatively recently):

Almost seems too beautiful to be hanging around in such a major metropolitan area...

Edited February 28, 2007 by Jim R

[sal]

One of the things I love about my new home here in the river valley is the wide variety of birds. The majestic great blue herons are common, as are the smaller white ones. We have a VERY healthy population of red tail hawks. And lots of goldfinches, chickadees, and cardinals. Saw a bluebird not too long ago as well.

On a slightly separate note, I was cleaning the snow off my balcony last week, and I saw a coyote walking down my cul-de-sac with a rabbit in its mouth. It was very a very surreal thing to see.]

Edit to add that there have been a few sightings of peregrine falcons nearby as well. I keeping my fingers crossed to see one of those.

Edited February 28, 2007 by sal

[Quincy]

Casual birder or maybe just cheap, meaning I have 1/2 a dozen bird books but inexpensive binoculars.

Outside right now are some juncos, a lone song sparrow, and the one of the resident scrub jays.

The berries on the backyard holly tree attracted about 4 dozen robins for a feast last week. It's always a toss up between robins or cedar waxwings as to who gets them. It's quite the logistical operation and it almost seems like they must have an air traffic controller. They take off from 3 different maple trees that form a triangle around the holly tree. The holly has capacity for perhaps 20 birds, so as a bird flies in from each maple another leaves the holly to return to a maple. Arrivals & departures might be 3 per minute from each tree. The sidewalk and cars are berry stained after their feast day.

Perhaps once a month a flock of bushtits whip through with a few chickadees, which is always a comical delight, especially as some hang upside down on the bamboo in the back. Someone once brought a bushtit nest that had fallen out of a tree to a wildlife center I used to work at and I tell ya, I would get rid of my mattress if I could hire a few dozen bushtits to weave me a nest instead. Very intricate weaving with a soft bedding of moss & lichens.

For 6 years we had a scrub jay around the house that had the tip of its beak broken off, thus giving us the rare chance to get to know an individual bird with certainty. Corvids (crows, jays, ravens & magpies) are very intelligent creatures, and if you spend any time in your yard around them it's very likely they have "a file" on you. This bird used to dive down behind me when I mowed the back yard, as the manual mower kicked up bugs and the shorter grass made it easier for it to forage. It would also drop by within a few feet of us if we were sitting around in the backyard (we didn't feed the birds either.) It and its mate would also torture a neighbor's cat by landing briefly on its back, or get within a few feet in front of the cat and screech at it. If the cat wasn't outside sometimes the birds would go to the neighbor's back porch and screech for the cat to come outside. The cat was an old tom so this game only went on for a couple of years in the late summer once the birds were done with parenting.

The current pair are also used to us, and don't air bomb us when they're raising their young or if we happen to get near their fledglings when they are on the ground. Many people can't stand the racket jays make, but obviously I'm rather fond of their ways.

Edited February 28, 2007 by Quincy

[Late]

Perhaps once a month a flock of bushtits whip through with a few chickadees, which is always a comical delight, especially as some hang upside down on the bamboo in the back. Someone once brought a bushtit nest that had fallen out of a tree to a wildlife center I used to work at and I tell ya, I would get rid of my mattress if I could hire a few dozen bushtits to weave me a nest instead. Very intricate weaving with a soft bedding of moss & lichens.

We get bushtits about once a week here. (We're probably not that far apart city-wise.) They arrive in a burst and depart the same way. Adorable little birds.

Two years ago, a covey (woo-hoo! got to use that word) of California quail showed up on our driveway, hung out for about three hours, and then took off. I had actually never seen quail outside of books.

I forget what the actual name of "camp robbers" is, but I saw some just recently while hiking Spencer's Butte. Those guys, if you give them time, will land on your head and hands ... especially if you happen to have some Cheezits.

I don't know what I'm thinking. I've got to visit the Raptor Center here. I love owls, and would like to know more about them.

Jim — that heron is amazing! Did you take that photo?

[Jim R]

Quincy, that is some interesting stuff. You seem to have a natural way with describing wildlife in action.

Late, no, I didn't take that photo, but I really like it. I looked at quite a few online, and so many of them don't capture the beautiful blue-green color on the head and back; and if they did, they didn't show the distinctive thin white plume on the back of the head. I guess these aren't generally quite as large as a great blue, but they're pretty big- especially when they stretch out their necks.

The "camp robber" reference reminded me of the thousands of Steller's Jay's I saw in the Sierra (and no doubt the Cascades) on Summer trips when I was younger. I hadn't seen one for years, but encountered a pair of them (in an outdoor cafe, of course ) last Summer when we stopped for lunch in Big Sur on our way home from a SoCal trip.

[mikelz777]

What, no Charlie Parker jokes yet?

I live in south-central Minnesota and I'm a semi-casual backyard birder. I do have binoculars and a copy of "The National Audubon Society Field Guide To North American Birds". I've hung 3 droll yankee type tube feeders around the yard, one containing nyger thistle, one with a special finch seed and the 3rd with the standard cracked corn/millet/sunflower seed mix. I also have a pole feeder (with squirrel baffle of course) which holds several pounds of feed. Two of the 3 sections in that feeder contain the standard mix and the 3rd has a mix of safflower seeds and black oil sunflower seeds. I also have a suet cake cage-type feeder hanging off the pole feeder. I put up a bird bath during the non-freezing months. I also have one of those squirrel bungy-cord things which holds a cob of corn.

I haven't seen a lot of activity the last couple of days as we have been having snow storms on and off and I've yet to clear the snow off the feeders. Some of the regulars I've seen over the course of the winter:

-black cap chickadee

-junco

-white breasted nuthatch

-cardinal

-hairy or downy woodpecker (I haven't investigated enough to determine)

-red bellied woodpecker (once or twice)

-crow (I pretty much hate them)

-occasional bluejay

-sparrows

My interest in watching birds comes from my parents. For as far back as I can remember, we always had a feeder outside the window where we had our kitchen table. We'd always watch them and identify them as they came along. I love cardinals but I think the chickadee is my favorite. Like another poster mentioned, they are very comical to watch with how they seem to be happy in any position whether it be right side up, upside down or sidways. The nuthatches too for the same reason.

I always look forward to this time of year with the change of seasons when we start looking for the first sighting of the returning robins which is a sure sign of the impending spring. It's also cool to see the other various species which start returning to the north in the warmer months.

Edited March 1, 2007 by mikelz777

[Jim R]

Good stuff, mikelz777. With all those feeders, you're not "casual" in the same way that I am. (I'm casual and lazy). Anyway, your mention of feeders reminds me... I think somebody gave us a feeder as a gift, but we haven't gotten around to putting it up. If I remember right, it's one that's designed for liquid... for hummingbirds, I think. Fortunately (and I'm not sure why I didn't mention it), we already have quite a few hummingbirds around here, attracted by a variety of plants. I think those are one of my favorite birds to watch.

[Late]

Simple bird trivia (that you guys probably already know): The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards. How? They move their wings in a figure-8 when "hovering" in front of flowers/feeders.

Quincy — as Jim already mentioned, nice writing above. I actually read it aloud to my wife last night. She's more of a birder than I am. Then she said, "Why are you talking about birds on a jazz board?"

Talk about hummingbirds reminds me — I have to go refill the "hummingbird juice" in our feeders today. We have a pair that wintered over, and we think they're about to breed soon.

You know, I bet that are other birds that can fly backwards. I've always just accepted that "fact" as truth, but have never asked an actual bird expert.

[sidewinder]

A pheasant sleeping outside on my patio the other morning. It had woken up and scarpered before I had chance to fill it with shot.

Edited March 1, 2007 by sidewinder

[Noj]

Burbank is in the desert just northeast of LA, and we've got a fine array of birds to enjoy. My favorites are the predators, the red-tailed hawks and sparrow hawks and the occasional owl. Owls are so quiet and only out from dusk on, so you've really got to be lucky to see one. I hear them hoot more often than I get a look at them.

Woodpeckers are common, black and white ones with bright red chests who frequent the telephone pole out back. There's an old blue jay who is always in my back yard, I'm pretty sure I see the same one all the time. Its feathers are getting gray.

There's tons of hummingbirds, my next door neighbor put feeders all over her yard. Unfortunately the feeders also attract vermin like mice and rats. Western tanagers and quail are abundant, as well as a whole lot of small birds whose names I don't know. It's great to sit by my back window and see them in the trees and bushes outside, many have beautiful markings one can't see from a distance.

[sidewinder]

There was a TV programme the other day about the re-cent reintroduction of the huge Eagle Owl into the UK. So far about 20 or 30 birds have established (probably visitors from 'mainland' Europe) and mainly nesting up North in Yorkshire but some have been tracked to urban areas in the South. It's not clear if these were ever 'native' to the UK but - if so - they have not been established here for hundreds of years.

Much worry about cute moggies being snatched from suburban gardens..

[Jim R]

Western tanagers... are abundant...

No shit?! Wow, maybe my general ignorance will show here, but I thought those were pretty rare these days. As I said above, it's been years since we've seen one around here. Our family saw one perhaps 20 years ago, and it's practically a legendary event now.

Pretty spectacular.

I just checked for a range map, and it appears that they are indeed more commonly seen in greater L.A. than here in the Bay Area:

Damn it.

Edited March 1, 2007 by Jim R

[Noj]

The ones near my home don't have the red heads, they're the yellow-headed variety. Or are those just the females?

[Jim R]

Yeah, those would be the females, unless you've got orioles or something down there.

(btw, I just googled for an image of a female w.t., and the first link that came up was "Birds of Westwood"... some photos taken on the UCLA campus)

[mikelz777]

It looks like a goldfinch with a red face.

[couw]

It looks like a goldfinch with a red face.

you must mean the American Goldfinch (Carduelis trístis), as the Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) has a red face.

[Joe G]

I have no intention of squelching this thread. I only offer this up for additional resources:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...st&p=190144

[Man with the Golden Arm]

A trio of these babies soar over the house all the time. This past weekend they were low enough that you could hear the wings flapping.

[Joe G]

A Turkey Buzzard. I like the way they tilt when a gust of wind hits 'em.

[Noj]

I have no intention of squelching this thread. I only offer this up for additional resources:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...st&p=190144

I knew I was having deja vu when I posted here.

[Quincy]

Pretty spectacular.

Several years ago in the spring they were all over downtown Eugene for almost a week. They were working the big leaf maple tree flowers (though we're starting to lose them, there are still streets with huge 70-100 year old trees.) They really brightened up the place while they were here! Most of the time if I see them it's in the Cascades or the Hells Canyon area in NE Oregon.

Here in the Willamette Valley there are some birds that migrate east/west (and vice versa) from the mountains to the coast (namely certain warblers) rather than do the usual north/south. I think for whatever reason that year the tanager's angled through Eugene on their way to the mountains.

Yes Late, Steller's Jays can get pretty brave when it comes to looking for orange food not found in nature.

One of my favorite camp robbers is Clark's Nutcracker. At almost a foot long they're pretty impressive birds, and you don't want to leave things out unattended even for a couple of minutes as they'll take advantage. At least they can't work zippers like ravens!

We're a few blocks away from the other butte (Skinner's.) Back when I was still a smoker I was sitting on the front porch around sunset. Out of the ferns and onto the sidewalk a lone California quail slowly stepped out with it's head boppin'. I must have gasped or made some sort of noise I wouldn't have normally made when in "wildlife viewing mode," as the tufted guy looked over at me and took off so fast it practically made the Looney Tunes zzzzzzzzzoooooooommmmmm sound.