Twitchy Birder Blog

[Natrushka]

Hey Crowsie. :hi:

Whenever I see your blog in the list of topics I think of the downy woodpeckers that frequent my backyard.

You mom and my dad sound alike in their love of garage sales. We used to tease him mercilessly about it - still do, actually. Does your mom say things like "If you don't watch out for your stuff someone else will" ?

[rivercrow]

Hey Crowsie. :hi:

Whenever I see your blog in the list of topics I think of the downy woodpeckers that frequent my backyard.

You mom and my dad sound alike in their love of garage sales. We used to tease him mercilessly about it - still do, actually. Does your mom say things like "If you don't watch out for your stuff someone else will" ?

We have downies! Hairies too! Hm--flickers, red-bellied & red-headed woodpeckers, black-headed and brown nuthatches, titmice, Carolina chickadees, brown creepers, Eastern bluebirds, cardinals, towhees, grackles...

We watched a barred owl hunting bats around the streetlights a few weeks ago.

:)

No--mom never says anything like that. She does abide by the US Supreme Court ruling that anything pu out for garbage is fair game. She came home with a brand new in box carpet cleaner like that once.

[Natrushka]

Oh I'd love to see an owl. I've heard them around. I had an American Bittern in my yard not long ago - amazing.

Have you ever seen a pileated woodpecker? We had two males in our back woods fighting over a female. Like something out of the Matrix, or Star Wars (the original!) I hear them more than I see them these days. I get pretty much the same birds, except ours are black capped chickadeedeedees.

I used to be moritified as a child when my dad would stop by old washers or dryers out by the curb. He'd collect the little pieces inside so that One Day when ours broke down he'd be prepared.

[rivercrow]

Oh I'd love to see an owl. I've heard them around. I had an American Bittern in my yard not long ago - amazing.
OONK-a-chunk, OONK-a-chunk!

No, no thunder-pumpers here, sadly. We did see loons down on the Outer Banks when we were there a few years ago in late winter/early spring.

Have you ever seen a pileated woodpecker? We had two males in our back woods fighting over a female. Like something out of the Matrix, or Star Wars (the original!) I hear them more than I see them these days. I get pretty much the same birds, except ours are black capped chickadeedeedees.

When I was a kid, a family of pileates nested in a stump in our neighborhood. They were only about 10 feet off the ground and 20 feet from the street. I'd sit on the curb and watch them feeding their babies. When the parents were gone, all the babies would peer out at me.

Last year, we had wrens in the bluebird box in the front yard. I almost got darted by a parent when I was craning to see in the box. The bluebird box in back has been inhabited by families of titmice for 12 years now.

I used to be moritified as a child when my dad would stop by old washers or dryers out by the curb. He'd collect the little pieces inside so that One Day when ours broke down he'd be prepared.
Yeah--I got over that.

Oh, I'll raise you one. When we were stationed at Dugway Proving Grounds in the early 70s (go look it up), a common base-inhabitant weekend activity was to go to the dump and scavenge. Don't ask me why. When you're that age, you just go along with your parents. I don't recall any icky refuse or odors and my parents assure me that, although it was a dump, it wasn't a garbage pit. Very strange.

My sister and brother swear we collected and ate k-rations from this dump. My parents say we didn't. Who knows? Every year, my parents and I consider setting Thanksgiving table with MREs instead of turkey. :devil:

[rivercrow]

Owls:
When I was about 12, I was riding my bike around the neighborhood after dark one winter.

I got buzzed by a barn owl. It missed me by 5 feet.

You don't hear owls fly. Just this WHOOSH of a big white flapping thing.

I think this must have been near the summer when I picked up five or so luna moths at a time and had them on both hands. That was magical. They'd gotten dizzy from chasing a streetlight.


Nighthawks:
I must have been about 23/24 when we were walking the YMCA track and had nighthawks swoop around us as we passed under a street light.

[Ivy]

I hit some kind of big bird with my windshield while driving a week or two ago. :( I don't know what it was-- I just remember a flash of white and a THUMP. I stopped and looked for it but I didn't see anything on the ground. I hope maybe it rolled and flew away.

[rivercrow]

More on owls: I've heard and seen barreds in our back yard, including a mated pair.

I've heard great horneds in the neighborhood.

We've been getting dead squirrel carcasses in the back yard for a while. No noticeable paint, no up-chucked fur balls--so I don't think it's a great horned, since that would be big enough for squirrels. Hawk? We have hawks around--sharpies, red tails, red shoulders. So....?

There's a big nest-looking thing in one of our trees--I was hoping it was a crow nest (we've had a lot of crows around lately, too).

[rivercrow]

I hit some kind of big bird with my windshield while driving a week or two ago. :( I don't know what it was-- I just remember a flash of white and a THUMP. I stopped and looked for it but I didn't see anything on the ground. I hope maybe it rolled and flew away.

Hard to say.

Mom was highly superstitious about hitting birds with cars. I'm not. I've seen too many mockingbirds chase robins into cars and into traffic.

It's pretty common for larger birds of prey to get hit by cars. They eat the carrion on the side of the road and end up taking off/landing right in the path of oncoming traffic.

[Natrushka]

Oh, I'll raise you one. When we were stationed at Dugway Proving Grounds in the early 70s (go look it up), a common base-inhabitant weekend activity was to go to the dump and scavenge. Don't ask me why. When you're that age, you just go along with your parents. I don't recall any icky refuse or odors and my parents assure me that, although it was a dump, it wasn't a garbage pit. Very strange.

My sister and brother swear we collected and ate k-rations from this dump. My parents say we didn't. Who knows? Every year, my parents and I consider setting Thanksgiving table with MREs instead of turkey. :devil:

Ick, I'd never head of Dugway Proving Grounds until just now. Ouch. I fold. I've only lived on Air Force Bases!

[Natrushka]

I hit some kind of big bird with my windshield while driving a week or two ago. :( I don't know what it was-- I just remember a flash of white and a THUMP. I stopped and looked for it but I didn't see anything on the ground. I hope maybe it rolled and flew away.
Oh, I know how disconcerting that is, Ivy. It happened to me yesterday. First time ever; it was an eventuallity, we've moved to the country and I commute 30 minutes each way every day on a major highway. I hit a crow, or a grackle. It was black, it hit and thumped and flew up over the car. <sigh> I looked for its body today and didn't find it. Usually the other birds leave birds alone... but I am sure it did not survive. I was going 115 km/hr :(

[Natrushka]

Hard to say.

Mom was highly superstitious about hitting birds with cars. I'm not. I've seen too many mockingbirds chase robins into cars and into traffic.

It's pretty common for larger birds of prey to get hit by cars. They eat the carrion on the side of the road and end up taking off/landing right in the path of oncoming traffic.
We have crows and ravens here, and Damn but they're smart. The crows know which side of the lines to stay on. They walk out of my way in the mornings, they don't hurry and they don't fly. I guess living to be 40 years old they learn something. I wish they'd teach the other birds.

Your blog has become Bird World!

[Geoff]

More on owls: I've heard and seen barreds in our back yard, including a mated pair.

I've heard great horneds in the neighborhood.

We've been getting dead squirrel carcasses in the back yard for a while. No noticeable paint, no up-chucked fur balls--so I don't think it's a great horned, since that would be big enough for squirrels. Hawk? We have hawks around--sharpies, red tails, red shoulders. So....?

There's a big nest-looking thing in one of our trees--I was hoping it was a crow nest (we've had a lot of crows around lately, too).

I see owls on my late evening runs, sometimes. Nothing quite like jogging in the dusk across the fields, and have a silent, ghostlike, barn owl pass over your head without a sound.

-Geoff

[rivercrow]

I see owls on my late evening runs, sometimes. Nothing quite like jogging in the dusk across the fields, and have a silent, ghostlike, barn owl pass over your head without a sound.

-Geoff

A former co-worker used to take early morning runs with a friend...until one late winter when a pair of great horned owls (http://depts.washington.edu/natmap/photos/birds/great_horned_owl_02tk.jpg) decided to attack joggers as potential threats to their nest.

The owls would silently swoop in from behind and snatch the scrunchies/hats off the joggers.

[Ivy]

A former co-worker used to take early morning runs with a friend...until one late winter when a pair of great horned owls (http://depts.washington.edu/natmap/photos/birds/great_horned_owl_02tk.jpg) decided to attack joggers as potential threats to their nest.

The owls would silently swoop in from behind and snatch the scrunchies/hats off the joggers.

OMG. I would have to buy new jogging shorts.

[rivercrow]

Tonight on our walk we paused to listen to wood thrushes (http://www.learnbirdsongs.com/birdsong.php?id=32). We counted fifteen or more individual birds on our walk.

Then we heard the barred owls (http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Strix&species=varia), a pair singing. First the lower pitched male, then the high-pitched female, something like this (http://www.owling.com/barred2a.wav). Hm, I see barred do eat squirrels, so perhaps they've been picking off our squirrel population. Well, we do keep bird feeders on the property.
http://www.friendsofsherwoodisland.org/Photos/Hand/BoP/AJH-BarredOwl-mouse.jpg

[Natrushka]

What a great place you must live in, crowsie. </jealous>

Since moving out the country I've seen things that I hadn't since I was a child and we had a wooded area behind our home. The childlike delight of watching fireflies defies description.

[rivercrow]

After we moved here, I rediscovered the joy of hunting fireflies. Every summer I hunt for glowworms. No luck yet.

The parrots are not sure what to make of the mayo jar of moving lights.

[rivercrow]

Moved from NT Blogs

[Natrushka]

OMG, I have a blog. Which is really serendipitous seeing as I was thinking of something like this...

[rivercrow]

Well, you can rename it. It's not in blogland.... Meh.

[Natrushka]

I could.

[rivercrow]

Yup. You're the OP owner and it's in the public space.

[Natrushka]

I was agreeing. Yes, I could. I might. Not now though. How's that for letting a little Pness out?

[Natrushka]

Since this is the Twitchy Birder Blog I have these to share, moma and poppa downy have a very large, very lazy son.

http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i103/Gofurhed/xbirds/th_daddybaby.jpg (http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i103/Gofurhed/xbirds/daddybaby.jpg) http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i103/Gofurhed/xbirds/th_downies.jpg (http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i103/Gofurhed/xbirds/downies.jpg) http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i103/Gofurhed/xbirds/th_drinking2.jpg (http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i103/Gofurhed/xbirds/drinking2.jpg)

[cascademn]

Oh...there are other birders on this site??!!?? Very cool. I've been a birder since I was about 10 - how unfortunate, to be a teenager with such a geeky interest - anyway, if anyone ever wants to chat about birds, I like to think I know a *decent* amount about them (350+ N.A. species so far..).

Here's a photo that makes me smile. Ok, two --

[Natrushka]

Nice photos, cascademn. What part of the world do you live in? I don't recognize either of those birds.

I wish I had my camera with me earlier today. I watched a sharp shinned hawk swoop down into the backyard and chase off a hairy woodpecker. I hope the little peckerhead made it, I'm fond of them.

Circle of life 'n all that stuff.

[cascademn]

Hey -

Thanks! I'm in MN, but took those photos while traveling.

The large bird is a Sandhill Crane, which was on its way south and passing through Jasper Natl Park in the canadian Rockies.

The hummingbird is called a Broad-billed Hummingbird, and I took that photo in southern Arizona.

They're just a couple of my favorite bird photos; my local shots aren't terribly good, and I'm quickly learning that bird photography is really challenging. Because, you know, birds move a lot. ;) One of my 'goals' is to get as many species as possible on film, but unfortunately I'm learning that a 300mm lens just doesn't cut it. I'm gonna have to get a big telefoto at some point.

I love sharp-shinned hawks. I don't see them that often though.

[Natrushka]

Mr. Broadbilled hummingbird is quite the colourful fellow!




I love sharp-shinned hawks. I don't see them that often though.

We have a lot of them 'round here. I snapped the one below in my backyard last November (bad lighting and grainy). I lived in the 'burbs then - a testament to how abundant they are 'round here.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i103/Gofurhed/generalstuff/prey2.jpg
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i103/Gofurhed/generalstuff/prey3.jpg

Photographing birds is challenging, especially when the light is low (as it's been for the last few days here). We had a flock of 100+ juncos in the backyard this morning, I don't know how well the pictures I took will come out, I had to use a horribly low shutterspeed.

This Bittern showed up in our present back yard this May. First time I'd seen one of them, we have more herons than any other shorebirds.

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i103/Gofurhed/xxxbirdzzz/43cb43cf-1.jpg

[creativeRhino]

Oh, I love bird watching (but am still learning about what I am looking at...)
For me and my camera it is like hunting (but bloodless) patience and speed to catch the moment...

This was taken about 60kms from my place, but they also can be found in the riverland park a couple of hundred metres from my place.

Rainbow lorikeets are well named.

[cascademn]

Natrushka - awesome pics. What kind of camera and lens to you use?

I'm SO jealous of the bittern shot!!! I can't believe he just walked into your backyard!! Arg...it is one of my nemesis birds.. I have yet to see one...sigh.

CreativeRhino - cute pic! As for learning about what you're looking at, it's just knowledge you slowly build/accumulate over time. You'll get really good at identifying a lot of the more common birds, then you'll increase your scope and learn more about other ones..and if you become really crazy, you might actually take trips just to see rarer birds, or birds that don't live in your area!! Eek!

[Natrushka]

This was taken about 60kms from my place, but they also can be found in the riverland park a couple of hundred metres from my place.

Rainbow lorikeets are well named.

Beautiful. I love the colourful ones.

Natrushka - awesome pics. What kind of camera and lens to you use?

I'm SO jealous of the bittern shot!!! I can't believe he just walked into your backyard!! Arg...it is one of my nemesis birds.. I have yet to see one...sigh.

It's a digital, Canon, S3 (http://www.dpreview.com/news/0602/06022111canons3is.asp). The camera comes with an amazing lens, I haven't had to add to it yet, it gets me from 36

[Natrushka]

I took these today in the snow - it was coming down so hard half the time I couldn't focus the camera on the birds. The photos have not been retouched, they're as they came off the camera.

http://shmoocat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/batemannat3.thumbnail.jpg (http://shmoocat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/batemannat3.jpg) http://shmoocat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/batemannat.thumbnail.jpg (http://shmoocat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/batemannat.jpg) http://shmoocat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/batemannat6.thumbnail.jpg (http://shmoocat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/batemannat6.jpg) http://shmoocat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/desktop.thumbnail.jpg (http://shmoocat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/desktop.jpg)