bird watchers ?

[armedoldhippy]

anyone here feed our lovely feathered friends ? we have about three inches of snow on the ground here, with more falling, & every single northern cardinal in my neighborhood is in my back yard scarfing up my sunflower seeds. well, all of them that the local tree rats & rufous-sided towhees aint found yet... i been sitting on the patio watching them go round & round, whilst enjoying something allegedly of Thai origin. after being a good boy for weeks due to work, today is smooooth...

 

[SeaMaiden]

Yes! I don't go out birding as I used to when I lived in SoCal. But I am always watching the birds, which are by far the most abundant, prevalent wildlife, and they'll tell you much. I have found the coolest snakes by watching the birds (jays, mockingbirds). Where I used to live in SoCal is a greenway and part of the Pacific Flyway, a gigantic migration route for animals moving between Canada and the Arctic and the Central and South American areas.

What books do you like & keep on hand? Any preferred binos? When I was robbed they took a brand new pair of Nikon binos Dave had gotten me as a gift. He replaced them, fortunately. I like a smaller scope that's easily hung around the neck or stuck in a pack, at least a 10x magnification and the bigger the opening, the better. IIRC mine are 10x32, something like that.

My best, most favorite birding book is the Peterson's Guide to Western Birds. Even though it doesn't use photos, the artwork is top notch and allows me to make an ID pretty much every time, unless the light just doesn't allow good observation of plumage.

 

[Treetroit City]

Gotta admit I dig our feathered friends. Here is one of my favorites, won't be here for a few more months but I look forward to their arrival every spring.

Eating some grape jelly.

 

[k-s-p]

Nice Oriole shot. I love the birds too, but I'm not feeding. Right now I'm seeing the usual winter suspects, chickadees, titmouse, downies, etc. Heard a meadowlark last week or so, seems early for here, but I just moved here recently. I see bald eagles on a daily basis. I like the National Geographic bird guide which I find is superior to the other guides. For binoculars I use a pair of Swift Kestrels, 10x50.

 

[SeaMaiden]

I never see orioles up here! But, we have hummers year-round, and I tell you what, it's a trip watching a female ruby-throat out when there's snow on the ground.

Those have to be a larger pair of binos, ksp, if they've got a 50mm optical opening. I haven't seen the NatGeo guide. I have a book on Sierra flora & fauna, written by a Muir descendant, but it's not all that complete, yet repeats information given elsewhere. Chalk it up to poor editing.

Let me see if I still have some of my old bird photos, it's been a while since I've even tried. Just a few shots of the same bluebird almost 10 years ago in SoCal. I had never seen a western bluebird down there, so was very excited. Now, I see them all the time. Guess I should get a pick of a flicker next time I hear 'em pecking on the house before I shoo them away.

 

[armedoldhippy]

beautiful oriole, Third Coast! have only seen one of those here in my life! i get covered up at times by ruby-throats, and eastern bluebirds & goldfinches are thick too. its almost time for me to get after my favorite bird, the eastern wild turkey gobbler...

 

[RandyCalifornia]

I was out in the front yard enjoying some sun and eating lunch the other day and I saw a large shadow and looked up and there was a bald eagle circling low right over me. I'm by the river so he was probably taking a side trip from salmon watching.
Love the birds and I build gardens to attract them. It's always a great show while smoking a good joint.

 

[k-s-p]

SM, the NatGeo guide is for all of N America, and is a little larger format than the Peterson or Audubon guides. But it's nice to have all three sometimes. The Kestrel binocs I have I bought for doing some songbird work, and also for watching raptors. Bigger than many birders carry.

I saw what I think was a dark morph Ferruginous Hawk and a flock of Merriam's on my afternoon walk today. The hawk was huge so I'm pretty sure it was a Ferruginous.

Nice idea for a thread.

 

[SeaMaiden]

Nice, ksp, I'll take a look at the guide next time we're in a book shop.

We were driving out along the delta this weekend and I got a good look at a male kestrel catching a small rodent/animal. No binos, no camera, and speeding along at 80mph, it ALWAYS surprises me when we're speeding along and some bird catches up, or seems to be keeping up with us.

In SoCal, I saw two species of oriole on a regular basis, coming up from Mexico. But the bird that always got me really excited was the Western Tanager, only ever seen a few, and only down there.

We have baldies out here, out on at Purdee Dam there's been a nesting pair for some years. Someone mentioned rufus-sided towhees, they're another one of my favorites.

We have robins up here year-round, but they migrate through SoCal. I remember the first time I noticed a big migration of them. Evening before, the usual ravens, mockingbirds, scrub jays, house finches and gold finches, hummers, yadda yadda yadda. Next morning I wake up and it's an absolutely cacophony. I knew I didn't recognize the calls, sweet, but so loud! So I grab my binos and start looking around and the hills are swarming with robins, thousands of them! They remained for about a week, then were off. Once I noticed, I realized it happened twice every year, around February and then again around September.

It's still a bit cool to go to the local rivers (Mokelumne and Cosumnes) to see the waterfowl there, but that is also quite enjoyable as I see species that are normally only associated with the estuaries and oceanside areas for me. Coots, various ducks and such.

I believe that I can safely state that everyone here has seen the Nature specials? The one on ducks (Duck Nation, I think it was called?) and the one a couple of years ago on hummers, yes? And likely the one from, what, 10yrs ago, on that male red-tailed hawk that was living in NYC? what was his name..? I can't remember right now,

 

[armedoldhippy]

your mentioning the citified red tail reminded me of our resident peregrine falcons here. they have taken to nesting on the roof of a down-town building in my hometown. they give the maintenance men fits when they have to repair the radio antenna on the roof, LOL! saw a confused flock of robins myself the other day, probably forty of them in a buddies back yard, only place for a quarter mile that the snow had melted off...