Look! A bird!

[mamselle]

Blue birds of happiness flitting in and out of blue bird box.....

Reminds me of this book,

"Beakless Bluebirds and Featherless Penguins" by an Anglican nun in the 1990s, a bird rehibilator who wrote about her charges...
https://books.google.com/books/about/Beakless_Bluebirds_Featherless_Penguins.html?id=ZvxPAAAAYAAJ

Definitely worth reading if there are bluebirds in your life.

M.
   

[nebo113]

Blue birds of happiness flitting in and out of blue bird box.....

Reminds me of this book,

"Beakless Bluebirds and Featherless Penguins" by an Anglican nun in the 1990s, a bird rehibilator who wrote about her charges...
https://books.google.com/books/about/Beakless_Bluebirds_Featherless_Penguins.html?id=ZvxPAAAAYAAJ

Definitely worth reading if there are bluebirds in your life.

M.

Thanks.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

We set up a temporary feeding table in the backyard near the birdbaths. One brave Brown Thrasher landed on it, while other birds flew near it. Bluebirds, Carolina wrens, Phoebes, Cardinals and Downy Woodpeckers were also hanging out.

[Langue_doc]

I went birding last weekend.  I saw several red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, sharp-shinned or Cooper's hawks, and a couple of bald eagles. A heron in flight, and another one looking for a meal by the water's edge. Several warblers and assorted waterfowl. The birds of prey were circling quite low so their markings were quite clear.

I used to go on bird watching trips post-pandemic. In addition to trips organized by the local Audubon, which fill up months in advance, state and city parks schedule trips as do a few other non-profit organizations.

[mamselle]

Do you keep a life-list?

Kids at the Audubon camp I was a counselor at one summer had lists longer than your arm by age 10.

(I was impressed, but never started one.)

M.

[Langue_doc]

I don't keep lists, but get one from the trip leader on the Audubon trips. The trip leaders send us lists that contain anywhere between 150-200 birds that we (the trip leader and several others; by the time I managed to get the binoculars in focus, the bird was long gone) saw during the 2-3 hour walk in a park or wildlife area in the city. There are birds I like and recognize, and others that I like to look at, but not list or record. Avid birders on these trips enter the sightings on ebird. Spring and fall migration times are peak viewing opportunities even in small parks such as Bryant Park.

[Catherder]

There are over 40 swans on the lake right in front of me, and more arriving every few minutes.

[AmLitHist]

A local news reporter got good footage of an owl.

[Catherder]

 Over 100 swans now. Never seen this before.

[mamselle]

Over 100 swans now. Never seen this before.

Migration?

But from where to where, in the sense that those flyways are usually well-established in flock memory.

Unless all the hurricane-causing tumult in the atmosphere has thrown them off-course...

Be sure to take pictures!

M.

P.S. I wonder if there's a tracking site, like the one for storks between Europe and Africa, online? Maybe it would say...M.

[Langue_doc]

Over 100 swans now. Never seen this before.

Migration?

But from where to where, in the sense that those flyways are usually well-established in flock memory.

Unless all the hurricane-causing tumult in the atmosphere has thrown them off-course...

Be sure to take pictures!

M.

P.S. I wonder if there's a tracking site, like the one for storks between Europe and Africa, online? Maybe it would say...M.

I would check ebird.org.

[nebo113]

Over 100 swans now. Never seen this before.

Migration?

But from where to where, in the sense that those flyways are usually well-established in flock memory.

Unless all the hurricane-causing tumult in the atmosphere has thrown them off-course...

Be sure to take pictures!

M.

P.S. I wonder if there's a tracking site, like the one for storks between Europe and Africa, online? Maybe it would say...M.

I would check ebird.org.

Thanks for this suggestion.  I am in Winter Quarters and have been going nuts trying to identify a "group" of birds grazing out in the marsh, just a bit tooooo far for my binocs to see clearly.  After checking ebird, I'm leaning toward juvenile white Ibises, and will head over to state park ranger station to inquire if it could be possible.

[Catherder]

Nothing on ebird about swans in my area. But smaller numbers have often wintered a little up river where it's more sheltered.

Today some (maybe 20) are gathered across the lake where the water is still open. Alas nearer me, the lake froze overnight.

[Langue_doc]

Cornell Lab's free Merlin app can also help identify unfamiliar birds. You'll have to select your region first.
https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

As for the swans the local bird club or state or city park naturalists might have more information on local sightings of bird flocks. It's a shame about the ice though.

[Puget]

As I was working, I caught some motion out the window in the corner of my eye and looked up to find a cooper's hawk sitting on a branch just outside, looking right at me. It had landed right next to the suet feeder, interested no doubt not in the suet but in the tasty looking little birds eating the suet. Needless to say, they had vacated the premisses post hast, and have not returned yet, though I assume they will brave it again eventually.