Look! A bird!

[FishProf]

There is a Blue Jay who seems to enjoy being on CatTV and taunting my furballs.  He comes to the table outside the window to collect peanuts, but he stays and opens/eats them right in front of them.  The he gives a big squawk which startles them.  It is the same one (distinct feather pattern) day after day.  The other Jays don't do it.

[Langue_doc]

There were only four sanderlings today, perched on the rocks as the tide was coming in. According to the pictures in the Peterson guide, these must be non breeding adults.

The gulls were mostly herring gulls, ranging from the white and grey plumage of a four year gull to the mostly brown plumage of year olds. I don't usually pay much attention to gulls, but decided to take an interest today.

[Puget]

There is a Blue Jay who seems to enjoy being on CatTV and taunting my furballs.  He comes to the table outside the window to collect peanuts, but he stays and opens/eats them right in front of them.  The he gives a big squawk which startles them.  It is the same one (distinct feather pattern) day after day.  The other Jays don't do it.

Jays are both bold (they will mob birds of prey) and uncannily smart (like the other corvids).

I've had many run-ins over the years with grey jays, which have the well-earned nickname of camp robbers -- they will take food right out of your hand (not food you were intending to feed them mind, food you were in the process of putting in your own mouth!) and are very good at getting into any unattended container or pack.

At my parents' house, generations of Steller's jays have taught their young to feed at the supposedly jay proof feeder by grabbing the tiny perch with one foot on the fly and swinging underneath it while reaching up to get seed.

So I fully believe it both knows the cats can't get it and is interested in provoking a reaction from them!

[nebo113]

Took a decent photo of a woodstork with juvenile ibis on the branch in front of him.

[Langue_doc]

I saw a flock of brant geese today. Although I've seen them at other locations within a 50 mile radius, this is the first time I've seen them in this particular area.

The highlight of my walk though was on the way to my "walk" when I hear what sounded like the crowing of a rooster. Just a block away there he was, brightly colored, showing off to his companion, a most uncolorful white hen, both of standing in front of a house, pecking for food alongside a tree on the sidewalk.

[Puget]

I saw a wood duck on the river today-- I've never seen one there before. There is also evidence of recent beaver activity, right there in the heart of suburbia!  In reading up on wood ducks just now, it mentions that their population has rebounded as the beaver population has also recovered, because beavers created the sort of forested wetland habitats they prefer, so these two things may be connected.

[Langue_doc]

The usual gulls and several flocks of sanderlings.  A couple of fearless ones passed me on the right, skimming just inches above the sand.

[Langue_doc]

A snowy owl was spotted in Central Park. Here's the article and pictures of the bird: https://nypost.com/2021/01/27/rare-snowy-owl-draws-flock-of-bird-watchers-to-central-park/

[Harlow2]

A pair of hairy woodpeckers have frequented our squirrel-proof feeder, and the juncos are willing to wait for them to move away.  Hairy woodpeckers are so purposeful as to be somewhat bullying. Finally this morning a pair of gold finches are having a turn. No sign of the titmouse who stopped by earlier in the week. So far all seem to be avoiding the 2 cats who are suddenly lurking around.

[nebo113]

A pair of hairy woodpeckers have frequented our squirrel-proof feeder, and the juncos are willing to wait for them to move away.  Hairy woodpeckers are so purposeful as to be somewhat bullying. Finally this morning a pair of gold finches are having a turn. No sign of the titmouse who stopped by earlier in the week. So far all seem to be avoiding the 2 cats who are suddenly lurking around.

Didn't know that juncos would use feeders.  Mine seem to flick in and out of bushes and trees, rather than honor my feeders!

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Someone in SO's family saw a Pileated Woodpecker the other day. They are absolutely enormous!

[nebo113]

Someone in SO's family saw a Pileated Woodpecker the other day. They are absolutely enormous!

I have a log cabin.....pileateds love going in after carpenter bees! 

[apl68]

I heard a woodpecker banging away on somebody's house during my morning walk. 

[mamselle]

One of my middle-schoolers in music theory today spent 15 min. after class telling me about the elective he's taking in which they're to walk around observing and drawing the birds in their neighborhood. ..they were given a "draw the spine, then the body, then the head" set of instructions, and then told to have at it.

The end result will be some kind of notebook done in whatever medium they choose, with added text about the birds they find. My kidlet was interested in detailed pencil sketches, so I pulled up Wyeth's back view of a man sitting on a log, and we discussed the various ways to hold a pencil and rub the cross-hatching to get those silvery tones--and how to shade the belly to make it look round.

Can't wait to see what he comes up with, and I think I'm in love with his school!

M.

[AmLitHist]

O, to have a dashcam:

Kid #1 was waylaid by a pair of angry trumpeter swans on the way home from my house to hers, which is out in the boonies, earlier this week.  She saw them ahead in the middle of the road and slowed down, thinking they'd move off to the side as she got closer.  Nope, the closer she got, the slower they walked, finally stopping and staring over the hood of her Volvo at her.  (The pup didn't know what to make of them.)  Honking did nothing; nor did rolling her window down and leaning out and swearing at them.  Popping the door and starting to get out finally got them to scurry away. 

As I was teaching the next morning, I saw a huge flock of swans flying south--the sunny sky and light reflecting off the snow really made them stand out.