Any birdwatchers?

jeffyboy

In the spirit of other pleasant nature-based threads:



I'm not one to go out in the field to seek the rare crimson breasted 3-toed warbler, but we have a number of different birds that visit various feeders in the backyard.



Robins and grackles on the ground, gold and rosy finches at the thistle seed, orioles at the grape jelly and orange slice cafe, cardinals, blue jays, grosbeaks and sparrows at another feeder, and my favorite, hummingbirds right on the deck.



There's an owl around, but I haven't seen it.



Two rosy finches have decided to try to nest in our garage door when it's up. Every day when I get home from work I have to take the stuff out. We hung a birdhouse from the garage overhang, but they're determined the door is the spot. This has gone on for a couple weeks, so I guess I'll have to close the door when I go to work.



What birds do you see where you live?



J

curiousuburb

Within 4 blocks of the ocean where I live, so aside from the Gulls,

I get regular overflights from Great Blue Herons, Bald and Golden Eagles, Crows, Ravens, Canada Geese, Ducks, and various shorebirds, in addition to some racing pigeons in the neighbourhood.



The Hawthorne tree outside my window attracts Sparrows (currently feeding young as I speak), Swallows, Northern Flickers, Warblers, Bushtits, Starlings, Chickadees, Juncos, and best of all, the occasional Cooper's Hawk (rare) who'll perform a screaming dive into the tree (then wait in the camouflage sometimes and take a bird on the way out of the tree)



Spotted a baby Woodpecker the other day, testing out his beak on a birch.



Nature is cool.

luca

My family's house is right in the woods so we get lots of birds. That scene you described sounds familiar. Also, about a mile or two from the house there are some wetlands and wide open fields. I've seen a great variety of birds... the very common red-winged blackbird of course, but also the rarer yellow-headed blackbird. In the woods I've seen downy woodpeckers, northern flickers, hairy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, and even a few pileated woodpeckers. They all cause problems because they seem to enjoy looking for bugs in the siding to the house. After they peck holes in the house, small animals come in and make nests in them.



I've also seen various smaller birds... grosbeaks, various finches, blue jays, nuthatches, warblers, sparrows, and so on. The rarer ones that I've only seen maybe one or two of include one brown creeper, a cowbird (the kind that cannibalizes another songbird's nest), a grey catbird, a barred owl, and a goshawk. Also, a blue jay family built a next about five feet from our deck one summer. We were able to look in and see the ugly little babies, but we had to be careful because the mother would sometimes swoop down and attack us.



Yeah, nature is pretty cool.

mattjohndrow

i'm not really much of a birdwatcher, though where i live we have this insane woodpecker, and today i saw a cardinal, first time this year.

wrong robot

I'm more of a nature watcher, I don't particularly focus my interest in birds, but I spend a lot of time just checking out what various animals and insects are doing.

audiopollution

Just the ones at the pub.

zodiac

I used to watch birds with my grandma many years ago in her backyard.

rick1138

I live right along the North Atlantic flyway - about 250 different species of birds can be easily seen.

kingofsomewherehot

Birds ? ... what are birds ??



Oh yea ... those little flying things the snakes ate !



I can go several day's without seeing a bird ... the Brown Tree Snake found it's way onto our island several decades ago and has since managed to wipe out almost the entire bird poulation on the island. ('cept the chickens of course ... folks are very protective of their prized fighting cocks!)

colanderofdeath

Not a bird watcher but I've got a few photos of this flying critters in one of my galleries online:



http://www.pbase.com/ericnoel/tolmie_peak



Wish I could get more cause birds are quite impressive and colorful when seen up close but I'd really need a telephoto that was 400 mm or more I think. My 300 mm gets the occasional one but my digital camera, without a telephoto, never gets any. Central Washington is actually probably a better place to watch birds than Western Washington although we do have a fair number of bald eagles out here.

jeffyboy

I saw a pileated when I was about 6 years old, but no one else was around. I couldn't convince my mom I'd seen a woodpecker that big-she didn't even know they existed.



It's always stuck with me because it was the first time I knew something she didn't.



Heh, curiousuburb said bushtit! That hawk sounds badass. I was lucky to get a good look at a bald eagle at our state park-it was just amazing.



I forgot to mention the barnswallows that fly around the neighborhood sometimes. So acrobatic. A lot of birds seem to fly to get where they need to go or catch food. Barnswallows look like they're flying for the fun of it.



Rick1138-that sounds so cool!



J

jeffyboy

oops