Any Bird Watchers In Here?

[redglow]

I've got a backyard full of Orioles, Hummingbirds, Woodpeckers and Goldfinch tonight.
I sure do like coming home from work, lighting up my pipe and watching these birds visit the feeders.

 

[aquadoc]

We are covered up with various thrushes, warblers, a young bobcat, too many turkeys to count, and a large pack of coyotes. Oh, and a skunk.

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

I enjoy bird watching. I miss the Brown Creeper on the pear tree. It's the usual Goldfinches, various Woodpeckers (mainly Hairy), Wrens, Cardinals, and Nuthatches here. I did spy some Warblers and Indigo Buntings a couple weeks back while in Cincinnati. The Indigo Buntings at Otto Armleder are insane.

 

[bnichols23]

Mostly robins, cardinals, blue jays, & mockingbirds here. When there aren't hawks. Oh, yeah, & buzzards.
Bill

 

[mso489]

I love to spot and identify birds. I'm chastened by having known a few real birders who did most of their identification by ear, and learned species on other continents by ear and by sight before foreign travel, and would laugh hysterically when inappropriate bird calls were used on movie sound tracks getting swamp birds in deserts, etc. We had Carolina wrens nest in a watering can on our car port and fledge a few chicks right under our noses. They're bold little birds, round little bodies, with pointy little bills. They'll almost roost on your nose; they know no fear. We have some nice brown thrashers, plagues of Canadian geese, and lately right in the middle of town groups of four or more buzzards feeding on a dead squirrel or deer. We always saw buzzards circling in the country, but they've moved into suburbs big time now. They look like overweight old gents in top coats. We must have at least 30 species visit regularly including hawks, Towee, chickadee, cardinals, house wrens, etc. We had an owl across the road for a while and I loved the night call, but it didn't stay.

 

[warren]

Mostly predictors and water fowl. I photograph them regularly. Got a Falcated Duck last week. First and only one ever seen on the Continental mainland. Usually only seen in the far western Aleutian Islands. A very lonely male, a long ways from home.

 

[cossackjack]

Broadtail Hummingbirds this evening, over 1 dozen females frantically vying to feed before their bedtime, so I put out another feeder.

We got 10" of snow overnight, & sub-freezing nighttime temperatures for the past two nights, which will continue for a few more nights.

More snow expected tomorrow night into Thursday.

I am hoping that most of the Hummingbirds will make it.

 

[aquadoc]

I have worked as a field ecologist since the 80s and many of my jobs were to census T&E birds to develop management and recovery plans. These days my work is aquatic in nature and I only bird for fun.

 

[irishearl]

I took up the hobby when I retired 7 weeks ago. Am lucky to have 2 major wetlands very close by, Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira NWR, in Kansas.

 

[daniel7]

I'm a nature conservation engineer so yup, I watch and identify a lot of birds.

 

[mso489]

To clarify my post, the expert birders I have known locate the birds by ear, but then of course they follow the sound and eventually usually locate the bird and set up their spotting scopes or use their binoculars. They certainly do observe them visually, but the bird calls are the key to finding them. They also know what to listen for based on the terrain. I like to browse bird guides and learn what I can, though I'm just your basic bird spotter without the developed instincts. One friend taught me to call in screech owls at night making a trill in the throat (frankly gurgling some saliva while whistling). He warned to quit the bird call once the screech owl moved closer so as not to encounter a male dive bombing to protect his territory with talons extended.

 

[newbroom]

Oh yeah, I watch 'em. I'm not much at identification, 'specially the little guys.

I've got a nice open field, a 'lake' and several trees in the 'back yard' which consists of the ground between the 14th and 15th fairways of the golf course there.

I often get out right as dawn is just breaking, stand at the ridge at the bunker at 14, the high point out there, and check out the sky and watch birds get on their way.

Before the sun is really up, I regularly see a pair of Great Blue Heron fly off to somewhere.

Next will be a black bird or a crow, for some reason that flies over the pond and around to check out the neighborhood.

A partial list of birds I will be likely to spot on any given day: Ibis, Egret, Great White and White heron, red-tail hawk, osprey, swallow tailed kite, vultures, morning doves, mocking birds blue birds, cardinals, boat tail grackles, all manner of woodpeckers, including Pileated, Canadian Geese (yep, there's a pair that hung around here), Sand Hill Cranes are always about, and there's a leggy blond walking by right now on the cart path.

 

[tuold]

I do enjoy sitting out in the backyard with binoculars, coffee, my pipe and a smartphone app called iBird Pro. If you are a casual bird watcher like me you will really appreciate that app.
iBird Pro Page

 

[renal923]

I'm not much of a bird watcher, however a couple of weeks ago I did spot a Cardinal up in a tree by my ex's house (while picking up my daughter). Was a cool sight, as they are rarely seen up in Phoenix, and usually are found in the southern reaches of the state.

 

[jeff540]

Enjoy the various songbirds and feed them year round. We have the usual suspects(cardinals, jays, grackle, woodpeckers), and just today I spotted a lot of yellow finches.
Speaking of other fauna, the black bear population consistently destroys our bird feeders and I have to fend them off our trash cans nightly during April and May (my back yard goes into the national forest and Appalachian Trial is at top of ridge behind my house).

 

[brassmonkey]

I live on a peninsula that is known as the wildlife capital of New Zealand, i'm just a short distance from the only mainland breeding site of the Royal Albatross which has a 10ft wing span. There are also 2 penguin species that live nearby plus lots of native bush birds and many different waders and shore birds. Some of the birds include Tui, Pukeko, Bellbird, Herons, Oystercatchers and of course lots of Sea Gulls. Before NZ was populated by people there were no mammals on the land (except for a native Bat) just birds and insects, so there is quite a diverse range of birds here.

 

[didimauw]

We get lots of finches, pilleated woodpeckers, Robins, black birds, Hawks, and now lots of Orioles too. So we HAD to buy some bird seed, and we got 6 feeders a couple weeks ago. Now we need to put out some oranges for the Orioles.

 

[redglow]

Glad to hear there are some others here that enjoy the birds.
didimauw, I feed the Orioles too. Get some grape jelly for them if you can. Orioles love it and it lasts a lot longer than oranges. The sparrows/other birds wont come in and devour it in a matter of hours. At least that's my experience with feeding oranges to the Orioles.
I'll have to try out that Ibird Pro app. Sounds helpful!

 

[didimauw]

Grape jelly! I'll have to try that!

 

[mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast]

Got a Falcated Duck last week.

Holy Shit! That's a beautiful bird. Any chance of a photo Warren?