Any Bird Watchers In Here?
- Thread starter redglow
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mothernaturewilleatusallforbreakfast
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Cardinals mostly occupy my yard and feeders, but I see the occasional odd bird at the feeders that makes me wonder if someone's parakeet has escaped. I'm not as good at identifying them as my wife is. We also have a large owl that likes to perch outside my studio, and quite a few redtail hawks.
After the hurricanes, I have seen some parrot-like birds show up at the feeder also, but it has been years ago. They probably got blown here, and probably didn't survive the environmental conditions... or a python or boa constrictor got them. We seem to get the strangest things down here.
Cardinals, Blue Jays, Robins, two different species of doves, Red-Headed Woodpeckers, Mockingbirds and numerous small birds and a lot of Finches which have escaped from home cages. We also get what looks to be two different species of blackbirds - some solid black and some with red/orange flashes on their wings.
And then there is the occasional large hawk that lands on the grandkids play set and freaks out all the other birds and the squirrels.
I forgot the hummingbirds.
And then there is the occasional large hawk that lands on the grandkids play set and freaks out all the other birds and the squirrels.
I forgot the hummingbirds.
In the garden mostly blackbirds, a few species of finches, doves and lots, lots of jackdaws. Their social life is quite interesting, if a bit noisy. Spotted a pair of Eurasian jays the other day from quite close up, and at night a barn owl is teaching her chick to hunt. The little one sits high up in a pear tree, yelling at her mother every few minutes. Once the pear starts setting its fruit the yearly invasion of ring-necked parakeet will start and I'll have to get out the airsoft gun. In the water, aside from very well-fed ducks, there are cormorants, crested grebe, moorhen and coot and the occasional pair of mute swan swimming along.
Though I'm not a golfer, I think birding, like golf, is an impelling excuse to get outside and move around, which is most often a really good idea. It can definitely capture your attention and energy and become a sort of calling. I've never heard anyone say they spent too much time playing golf or birding. Cormorants are some of the less evolved birds. Though they are water birds, they haven't evolved necessary oil to waterproof their feathers, so they sit around in the sun and/or wind to dry off. They are some of the more convincing evidence that birds are evolved dinosaurs.
As for birdwatching as a good excuse to get outdoors, I'm all with you. As for the cormorant, I fear you may be off the mark. Rather than being under-evolved, the cormorant (like the very similar darter) has a greater distance between the 'beards' of their feathers to let in more water and it has heavier bones than most birds. The lack of oil on their coat is also not without reason. Cormorants hunt deep and long, so too much buoyancy would hinder them. The price they pay for hunting completely soaked is having to dry out inbetween meals. As for hunting behaviour in cormorants, last year I watched six of them perform a sort of synchronized swimming act. They would dive and come up almost simultaneously, at a good speed and keeping perfect distance from one another. This went on for more than fivehundred yards. Weirdest thing I ever saw.
Yup, cormorants are well developed/evolved/adapted for their lifestyle. All birds are, fantastically so for many verities. Particularly those that live in wildly divergent environments as they migrate. There is a goose what traverses the Himalayas at 30,000 feet. It has developed the ability to store oxygen and retrieve it while at altitude. They were making the migration before there were the Himalayas and the migration route was relatively flat. As the plates shifted and range developed, the goose evolved systems which allowed for oxygen storage and certain feather and controls which allowed it to get to altitude with little effort.
And the "dinosaur to bird" evolution is now under seriously under question.
And the "dinosaur to bird" evolution is now under seriously under question.
I like to watch Mallard, Widgeon, Green Wing Teal, Wood Duck until they get into range, then I shoot.
Warren, what evidence refutes dinosaur to bird evolutionary track? In 17,there were a few that posited some conjecture but nothing close to the data supporting.
I'll have to go to my books. If I remember correctly it is the way the feathers form. Nothing remotely like it, even in flying reptiles. I don't think the original hypothesis has been refuted, just seriously questioned.
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