The Fora: A Higher Education Community

While out walking before church early yesterday morning, I saw birds flying against a backdrop of majestic clouds.  Then I saw a bolt of lightning stabbing down from those clouds.  It didn't seem to bother the birds.

I took advantage of the cool(er) morning to clean up the garden this morning, including pruning the tomatoes and zucchini, tying up things the storms had blown over, and pulling the beets and kale and romaine (the latter of which were bolting and getting tough/bitter).  As I sat in the shade to cool off and catch my breath, I saw a young speckled robin hopping around, feasting on the bugs and worms I'd stirred up for him!

A bobolink, first heard, then seen in the bushes near my karate dojo.  One of my favorite songs, as it is so metallic and 'clinky'

Bobolink song

We are flush with bluebirds this spring/summer.  And they're nesting in our new box!

The egret was still at his post under a bushy tree by the water's edge. He did short forays away from the water, but returned to the same spot. Fishing must have been good, or he might have just eaten, because he didn't seem to be looking for anything in the water. The goslings are now miniatures of their parents--they've outgrown the yellow fuzz, and look like proper geese.

Lots of prairie warblers in the woods not too far away.  Wood thrushes too, so beautiful.

Bicycling at the end of the day on July 4, I saw my first ever yellow-crowned night heron—such dramatic coloring (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/assets/photo/70693841-1280px.jpg). The one I saw was hunting at low tide in an estuary.

Quote from: fleabite on July 06, 2023, 01:46:39 PMBicycling at the end of the day on July 4, I saw my first ever yellow-crowned night heron—such dramatic coloring (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/assets/photo/70693841-1280px.jpg). The one I saw was hunting at low tide in an estuary.

We came across what looked like an entire flock (these are solitary birds) rooting around in the mud at low tide on one of the bird walks.

Another egret flying across the parkway yesterday--same parkway as in the earlier post, but at a different location, so it must have been a different bird.

Quote from: Langue_doc on July 07, 2023, 05:19:43 AM

Quote from: fleabite on July 06, 2023, 01:46:39 PMBicycling at the end of the day on July 4, I saw my first ever yellow-crowned night heron—such dramatic coloring (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/assets/photo/70693841-1280px.jpg). The one I saw was hunting at low tide in an estuary.

We came across what looked like an entire flock (these are solitary birds) rooting around in the mud at low tide on one of the bird walks.

Another egret flying across the parkway yesterday--same parkway as in the earlier post, but at a different location, so it must have been a different bird.

I have seen black-crowned night herons on occasion but only in the singular, so they must be quite solitary too. A flock of the yellow-crowned ones sounds lovely.

Goslings are thriving, and the egret was still walking around his favorite spot by the edge of the pond. He seems to favor the cedars and other bushes by the edge of the pond, so doesn't move around much farther anymore.

We have a big ugly duck among the tame waterfowl at the city park whom I've seen in various odd locations around the park now and then.  Evidently the duck is trying to stay away from the gaggle of tame geese who go around the pond and park squawking and assaulting anybody who passes by.  Can't say as I blame the duck.

I also saw a big egret at the pond for the first time in a while.

When out for a walk in a wooded area yesterday I came across two young red tails who must have very recently fledged. They were fully feathered and adult size or nearly so, but not really flying yet, instead hopping and flapping about on the ground in a most comically uncoordinated way.

I read that after leaving the nest they stay on the ground or in low branches near their nest for 2-3 weeks before they can really fly, and the parents continue to feed them during this time. Which is good, because this pair were clearly not ready to fend for themselves!

One of them did seem to be practicing hunting by repeatedly pouncing on sticks and pine cones and grabbing them with its talons.

They were not at all perturbed by me standing about 20 feet away watching and recording them for at least 5 minutes-- I guess they really have no predators to speak of.

Birds aplenty during my travels. Several ospreys flying over the water earlier in the week, one with a fish in its beak.

Back at my birding hotspot after about three weeks, the egret was missing from its usual pond, but I happened across him and a great blue heron drying themselves on the branches of a fallen dead brush on another pond. They were standing quite close to each other, busily combing their feathers. Later I saw either the same heron or a different one standing near the adjacent pond. How he got there was a mystery, because when I looked up after updating my checklist on ebird, there he was. He stood still contemplating the water for quite some time, then with his neck extended forward, took one slow step after another for a short time. The shoreline across the pond must have looked more promising, so the heron took off and landed there gracefully. He had moved a quarter of the way around the pond as I was leaving; he was so near the road that I could almost reach out from the window and pat his head (needless to say, I didn't think this was in the best interests of the bird).

A warbling vireo, a blue-gray gnatcatcher (heard him first on the Merlin app, and then saw him) a couple of eastern kingbirds, red-winged blackbirds, male and female, woodpeckers, a downy and a red-belly, as osprey flying overhead, a cooper's hawk, and the usual summer birds.

Three Pileated Woodpeckers yesterday!

Quote from: Thursday's_Child on August 02, 2023, 10:48:53 AMThree Pileated Woodpeckers yesterday!

Sounds raucous as well as gorgeous. They are the noisiest birds I've encountered.

In other news, the Northern mockingbird on our street continues to keep track of people's goings and comings. He flew down to the lamppost across the street as soon as I had parked, then stayed there as I was unloading the car (last week, after my trip). I later saw him perched on the roof, surveying the neighborhood.