Look! A bird!

[backatit]

Heard an enourmous racket out back in the woods yesterday morning, and seriously thought there was a bobcat up a tree or something. I went up as close as I could to it, and realized it was a red-headed woodpecker thrashing around in some vines working his way around the tree. I don't think it was stuck, but it sure was making a racket!

[FishProf]

I was out for a walk and heard the most peculiar drumming sound.  Like a woodpecker in rhythm, but not on wood.  I finally found the flicker perched on a plastic street light case on the swamp edge of a parking lot.  The light amplified like a drum.

So I recorded it for my class on sounds in nature(~ish).

[backatit]

If you want some barred owls making horrific noises I can see if I can record ours one evening. It may take me a while - they're a bit erratic in their travel patterns. The big horned owl seems to have taken over this corner of the woods so I haven't heard them in a few nights...

[Thursday's_Child]

Barred owls have a tremendous repertoire!  Diverse cackles and screams, in addition to recognizable hoots.  Backatit, I'll happily listen to the big horned owl for a while - just send it on over.

It's now fledgling season - the bluebirds are feeding two, a downy woodpecker is feeding one (but I hope the other parent is still on nestling duty), and it sounds like the hedge is full of wrens but I haven't seen the little beggars yet.  What's surprising is that I haven't seen chickadee or titmouse fledglings - they're usually among the first.

[Puget]

I was out for a walk and heard the most peculiar drumming sound.  Like a woodpecker in rhythm, but not on wood.  I finally found the flicker perched on a plastic street light case on the swamp edge of a parking lot.  The light amplified like a drum.

So I recorded it for my class on sounds in nature(~ish).

My parents have problems with flickers hammering on their rain gutters-- it is truly startling from inside the house, like a machine gun going off on the roof. They apparently do it to advertise their presence and declare their territory to fellow flickers, and so are delighted to find things that make much more noise than a tree.

We finally have warm weather and the birds are very vocal and active in the yard. There currently seem to be two robins sparring for territory, the jays seem to be searching for nesting materials and flying off with them, and the usual assembly of little brown birds and doves is noisily hanging around the feeder. Haven't seen the cardinals yet today, but there is a pair of them that have been around all winter. Saw another house finch yesterday, again on the regular feeder not the finch feeder. Almost time to put the hummingbird feeder out.

[Catherder]

Breeding season is in full swing (or flap) here. Goldfinches chasing goldfinches in brilliant flashes of yellow. Male grackles and red-winged blackbirds hunching up like small Count Draculas and chasing their respective females. Sparrows chasing sparrows and everyone chasing the ravens and crows.

Here the flickers only pound the ground but for racket the pileated woodpeckers win beaks down.

[nebo113]

Breeding season is in full swing (or flap) here. Goldfinches chasing goldfinches in brilliant flashes of yellow. Male grackles and red-winged blackbirds hunching up like small Count Draculas and chasing their respective females. Sparrows chasing sparrows and everyone chasing the ravens and crows.

Here the flickers only pound the ground but for racket the pileated woodpeckers win beaks down.

I have a log house much loved by carpenter bees who bore perfectly round holes into the wood for nesting.  larva are much loved by pileateds.  Much racket ensues as pileateds drill after the larvae.  Much expense every few years sealing holes and resealing wood...but worth it.

[Catherder]

I have a log house much loved by carpenter bees who bore perfectly round holes into the wood for nesting.  larva are much loved by pileateds.  Much racket ensues as pileateds drill after the larvae.  Much expense every few years sealing holes and resealing wood...but worth it.
[/quote]

When I started teaching at an Eastern school, the street by my building was lined with the first elm trees I'd seen since childhood--Dutch elm disease had killed off most elms in Canada. A few years later the elms in my university town were gone, killed by the pileated woodpeckers.

[Thursday's_Child]

I have a log house much loved by carpenter bees who bore perfectly round holes into the wood for nesting.  larva are much loved by pileateds.  Much racket ensues as pileateds drill after the larvae.  Much expense every few years sealing holes and resealing wood...but worth it.

When I started teaching at an Eastern school, the street by my building was lined with the first elm trees I'd seen since childhood--Dutch elm disease had killed off most elms in Canada. A few years later the elms in my university town were gone, killed by the pileated woodpeckers.

Do you remember if the pileateds were nesting or foraging?  They'll make lots of huge holes in trees when going after favored food - around here it's mostly carpenter ants.  Dutch elm disease is spread by a beetle, so it seems possible that the elms were infested with the beetle larvae - especially if the town wasn't spraying every tree annually to prevent them.

Yes, I am trying to exonerate the pileateds!  Also, I admire your tolerance - letting your house be part of the local habitat.

[Catherder]

That was Nebo's house. But you might be right about the beetles. What I remember is the large deep square holes made by the woodpeckers in the elms. Certainly the university blamed them.

Here, they tend to only pulverize the dead trees and stumps.

[apl68]

Still seeing flying (and hopping) flashes of blue in my back yard when I sit on the patio.  One stayed in the yard feeding for quite a well yesterday evening.

[cathwen]

The trees were full of cedar waxwings this morning, swooping in groups from one tree to the other. 

[nebo113]

Good article on marauding back yard birds, though may be behind paywall: 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-birdhouse-provides-an-opportunity-to-see-nature-up-close-its-not-always-pretty/2020/05/05/d11262f0-8eda-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html

[nebo113]

Painted bunting feeding on seed on porch rail!!!  Haven't seen one in years.

[apl68]

While walking to lunch today I saw the eagle that inspired the haiku the other day being blown sideways by the stiff breezes.  Birds must have strong stomachs if they can get buffeted by the winds like that without getting airsick.