Backyard Birding II

[qwksilver]

I just got on video a Bald Eagle plucking a fish out of the lake my backyard backs up to. Quite impressive. The eagle was huge. The fish was quite large.

[qwksilver]

It dawned on me that I could take a screenshot and save it as photo. I am not advanced enough to post the actual video. Below is a snipit of the catch:

 

Edited March 17 by qwksilver

[dhg]

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/worlds-oldest-known-wild-bird-wisdom-spotted-courting-new-suitors

[ExiledInIllinois]

Not sure if I posted these. Found them on my phone. It's the time for the finches and orioles to be passing through!

[ExiledInIllinois]

Shot this fella over the lock and dam w/600mm lens. Not sure how I got, but just aimed away!

 

Severely compressed to get it under for this site.

 

February 2018:

[DrW]

20 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

Shot this fella over the lock and dam w/600mm lens. Not sure how I got, but just aimed away!

 

Severely compressed to get it under for this site.

 

February 2018:

 

Great pic! Especially because it shows that even bald eagles sometimes neglect grooming before leaving the roost. The flight feathers are a mess.

[US Egg]

No pics unfortunately, but, I got a bunny murdering Grey Heron in my yard. 
 

It happened about 250 ft. from the back of the house. I didn’t see if it landed or walked up, but, it had it pinned and was stabbing it repeatedly.

 

Then swallowed it whole and flew away.

[SoTier]

On 4/29/2024 at 6:35 PM, ExiledInIllinois said:

Not sure if I posted these. Found them on my phone. It's the time for the finches and orioles to be passing through!

 

We have a pair nesting around our camp in northern Cattaraugus County, NY.  I saw a male in the big black locust tree near our cabin several times when I was out there last week.  The locust tree was just leafing out so he was easy to see hunting .   I think he was hunting insects, as locusts are often afflicted with aphids. He always came and left in the same direction, so I think the nest was in one of the taller maples surrounded by a thicket of smaller trees about 50 or 60 yards  away.

 

5 hours ago, US Egg said:

No pics unfortunately, but, I got a bunny murdering Grey Heron in my yard. 
 

It happened about 250 ft. from the back of the house. I didn’t see if it landed or walked up, but, it had it pinned and was stabbing it repeatedly.

 

Then swallowed it whole and flew away.

 

I think you mean a Great Blue Heron, which look more gray than blue.   They are big (4' or 5' foot tall), nasty birds.  They usually hunt in ponds or quiet pools in creeks or rivers, but they're not shy about their prey, especially in nesting season.   I expect he/she will regurgitate the bunny for the young when it gets to its nest.  

[ExiledInIllinois]

54 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

We have a pair nesting around our camp in northern Cattaraugus County, NY.  I saw a male in the big black locust tree near our cabin several times when I was out there last week.  The locust tree was just leafing out so he was easy to see hunting .   I think he was hunting insects, as locusts are often afflicted with aphids. He always came and left in the same direction, so I think the nest was in one of the taller maples surrounded by a thicket of smaller trees about 50 or 60 yards  away.

 

 

I think you mean a Great Blue Heron, which look more gray than blue.   They are big (4' or 5' foot tall), nasty birds.  They usually hunt in ponds or quiet pools in creeks or rivers, but they're not shy about their prey, especially in nesting season.   I expect he/she will regurgitate the bunny for the young when it gets to its nest.  

Yeah... Grey heron is in Europe, Asia, & Africa...

[SoTier]

I have had some new "regulars" to my yard this spring ... nesting robins, mourning doves, grackles, and a pair of goldfinches that must be considering nesting nearby since they visit several times a day (goldfinches nest later in the summer than many birds).   I added two new tube feeders and a bin feeder plus I added white millet and a "finch mix" from Runnings to my usual offerings of black oil sunflower seed and peanuts. 

 

Of course, one of the best ways to attract birds to your yard in summer is to provide fresh water for drinking and bathing, especially when the weather is dry.  I have a pond with a waterfall that the birds enjoy using for bathing and drinking plus a couple of bird baths.  You should change your bird bath water daily if it becomes popular with the neighborhood birds.

[Beck Water]

Got to put in a plug here for a free app called "Merlin" developed by Cornell 
https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

 

I have it on iphone, assume it's developed for other platforms.

 

You give it access to your microphone, and it will try to determine what birds are currently singing.  If it ID's multiple, it will highlight the ones currently singing.

 

You can play the recording back to help learn the songs.

 

Warning its addictive

[Irv]

This rascal is very creative.  No idea how he got up there.  

[SoTier]

On 6/8/2024 at 2:00 PM, Beck Water said:

Got to put in a plug here for a free app called "Merlin" developed by Cornell 
https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

 

I have it on iphone, assume it's developed for other platforms.

 

You give it access to your microphone, and it will try to determine what birds are currently singing.  If it ID's multiple, it will highlight the ones currently singing.

 

You can play the recording back to help learn the songs.

 

Warning its addictive

 

I lover Merlin!!!  I have it on my Samsung Galaxy.   The microphone is really a great feature.

[SinceThe70s]

Yesterday there was a hawk perched on a tall tree a yard over. A young hawk kept flying up to it and then flying from branch to branch around what I assume was the mother. Then the young one would fly away (a couple of times around 20-30 feet over my head) only to return to the mother a few minutes later. This went on for awhile. Just a guess but maybe the mother was telling the youngun to catch it's own food.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

On 6/10/2024 at 11:26 AM, Irv said:

This rascal is very creative.  No idea how he got up there.  

I hang a sunflower seed filled feeder on a shepherd's hook, and my squirrels and birds seem to do a reasonable job cooperating with chowing down.  The exception is one small red squirrel who shinnies to the top of the shepherd's hook, and just perches there to jump down and terrorize the odd squirrel that gets too greedy.  "I'm Batman."  
I also have a large population of goldfinches that could not care less that I gave up on nyjer seed years ago; too damned expensive.  They contentedly dine on the black oil sunflower seeds.

Where's Punching Bag (formerly Limeaid) been?  Usually we have a posting or two from him regarding birds, even in the football off season. 🤔

[Sweats]

If by "birding" you mean shaking my junk at the neighbors, i perform some "birding" every morning.

[SinceThe70s]

On 6/17/2024 at 7:10 PM, SinceThe70s said:

Yesterday there was a hawk perched on a tall tree a yard over. A young hawk kept flying up to it and then flying from branch to branch around what I assume was the mother. Then the young one would fly away (a couple of times around 20-30 feet over my head) only to return to the mother a few minutes later. This went on for awhile. Just a guess but maybe the mother was telling the youngun to catch it's own food.

 

An update. Haven't seen the young hawk since Sunday but now we have two medium size hawks spending time together in our backyard the past few days. Pretty sure neither is the mother I saw the other day. Hoping they cull the chipmunk population in my yard.

[RichStadiumGuy]

11 hours ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

An update. Haven't seen the young hawk since Sunday but now we have two medium size hawks spending time together in our backyard the past few days. Pretty sure neither is the mother I saw the other day. Hoping they cull the chipmunk population in my yard.

My wife has "relocated" 8 chippies so far this year... they seem to be in abundance everywhere this year as the in-laws say they see at least a half dozen at their place this year too and they've rarely seen them there before. When I say she "relocated" them I mean she's catching them in a have-a-heart trap and taking them about a mile down the road to turn them loose in farm fields. I got an awesome tip for bait for those little rodents from the old farmer down the road last year and it's certainly working like a charm! They LOVE Cheerios! She threads about a half dozen Cheerios onto a wire twist tie and then ties the twist tie to the trip lever on the trap.

[SinceThe70s]

7 minutes ago, RichStadiumGuy said:

My wife has "relocated" 8 chippies so far this year... they seem to be in abundance everywhere this year as the in-laws say they see at least a half dozen at their place this year too and they've rarely seen them there before. When I say she "relocated" them I mean she's catching them in a have-a-heart trap and taking them about a mile down the road to turn them loose in farm fields. I got an awesome tip for bait for those little rodents from the old farmer down the road last year and it's certainly working like a charm! They LOVE Cheerios! She threads about a half dozen Cheerios onto a wire twist tie and then ties the twist tie to the trip lever on the trap.

 

Thanks for the tip. We've always had chipmunks but never as many as this year. 

[RichStadiumGuy]

On 6/21/2024 at 8:13 AM, SinceThe70s said:

 

Thanks for the tip. We've always had chipmunks but never as many as this year. 

No problem... the old farmer down the road has been around a while and he's got some good "home remedies" that's for sure! As a matter of fact he just turned 92 years old last week and he's still driving himself around everywhere in his 28 year old Dodge pickup :)

 

Here's another one for anybody having woodchuck problems. We had one that kept occupying our shed a few years ago and no matter how many times I filled that hole back in within a day or two it had the hole dug again. The old guy said to fill the hole back in like usual but put a couple of inches of used kitty litter on the top layer... so I tried that and we never had a hole in our shed again.