Look! A bird!

[backatit]

I wish, but that makes me dizzy :D. I mostly just watch them swoop over the pond.

I'm installing a couple of bat houses in the maple trees this year - we seem to have a lot of bats but given the mosquito population we can never have too many...

I installed a bat house according to guidelines, and I've seen bats (I live in the country) but alas, they spurn my offered lodging.

We're also in the country, and it may be that out here, they have too MANY choices. I did see a coyote the other night, too, which was a little disconcerting (it was in the neighbor's field, so hopefully the big dog will keep him out of our field - the little dogs are at risk.

Is this post for general fauna, or just avian? If the latter, I'll make a new thread :D.

[Thursday's_Child]

Nebo, I've also offered bats a lodging and have been ignored!  We just don't assess habitat the way they do.

My drive out of the neighborhood this morning was enlivened by a squadron of Canada geese flying, in a precise V, just above the tree tops.

[nebo113]

I wish, but that makes me dizzy :D. I mostly just watch them swoop over the pond.

I'm installing a couple of bat houses in the maple trees this year - we seem to have a lot of bats but given the mosquito population we can never have too many...

I installed a bat house according to guidelines, and I've seen bats (I live in the country) but alas, they spurn my offered lodging.

We're also in the country, and it may be that out here, they have too MANY choices. I did see a coyote the other night, too, which was a little disconcerting (it was in the neighbor's field, so hopefully the big dog will keep him out of our field - the little dogs are at risk.

Is this post for general fauna, or just avian? If the latter, I'll make a new thread :D.

I would support a general fauna thread!

[mamselle]

Yes, and at some points there were (on the old Fora) specific threads for live-cam sightings (I followed the owls for about a year, as I recall....)

So, a separate thread for animal sightings would be cool!

M.

[mamselle]

A double a day later...

Saw a nuthatch going upside down down a tree near my student's house. By the time I'd gotten the camera out, he'd scissors his way back up the trunk and (I'm guessing) into a nest in its blasted-out crotch.

Slim little body, light-colored underbelly, pretty dove-grey back feathers.

M.

[sinenomine]

I'm on a lengthy housesitting gig at a farm that abuts a nature preserve. I've already had two golden eagles hanging out along the fence line, and a sparrow hawk that decided to stand on my car to look for prey.

[nebo113]

I'm on a lengthy housesitting gig at a farm that abuts a nature preserve. I've already had two golden eagles hanging out along the fence line, and a sparrow hawk that decided to stand on my car to look for prey.

I've seen one golden eagle in my lifetime; it was an awesome moment.

[Thursday's_Child]

A double a day later...

Saw a nuthatch going upside down down a tree near my student's house. By the time I'd gotten the camera out, he'd scissors his way back up the trunk and (I'm guessing) into a nest in its blasted-out crotch.

Slim little body, light-colored underbelly, pretty dove-grey back feathers.

M.

Given your location it was most probably a white-breasted nuthatch.  If you see it again, check the head color - females in the NE have a gray crown, not black.  Also look for red-breasteds!

Sinenomine, I'm jealous!

[alto_stratus]

So many turkeys. . .

The best bird I've seen in the last week was a lovely Quaker parrot who was boarding for a week with a local pet store owner.  It was the cutest - peeking out of a little fleece nest, talking to everyone who came over, and laughing - I think it had a talkative owner!

[backatit]

I was really surprised to see a flock of green parrots in Holland Park in London a few weeks ago. I really did not know that they lived there; they seem like such tropical birds to live in Kensington that it was quite a surprise. I see them when I am in Florida quite often (there are flocks all over beachside there and they fascinate me) but those really threw me for a loop!

[the_geneticist]

We have a resident male Annas hummingbird who jealously sits at the top of the orange tree and guards the feeder.   A flock of local ravens likes to come and sip water from our front yard sprinklers and pick through the compost bin.  A few pigeons and invasive house finches.  I'm hoping we'll get an acorn woodpecker, but none nearby.  They LOVE to store acorns in the trunks of palms.

[mamselle]

Last night, walking over the bridge that spans a brook name for the brokeback herring that once spawned here in great numbers...I startled something that took off with a huge wing spread, then settled itself down on a rotting tree about 20 feet upstream.

One it had landed and turned, I saw it was the (or a) blue heron, one of which, at least, I've seen before there.

I guess there are still alewives there ....

M.

[Thursday's_Child]

It's migration time again!

Got a good look at a common yellowthroat the other day, plus a couple of probable warblers and an Empidonax flycatcher (don't ask me which one!).  Plus either a newly fledged hummer or a migrant because it was checking out the red peppers - the locals all know that they aren't flowers.  Also, the cardinals may finally have finished nesting b/c I haven't seen any little beggars at the feeder in over a week.

This morning the barred owl gave a last hoot about 5:45.  Ten minutes later the first day bird - a titmouse - started calling.

[backatit]

So I have a question about hummingbirds. I have a large backyard, probably about a half acre, surrounded by woods. I have some bushes at the perimeter that probably do have hummingbirds (they have flowers that look appropriate). If I put a feeder by my kitchen window, where I could actually SEE the birds, do you think they would venture all the way over, or should I plant some bushes to lure them in? The septic tank is right next to the house near the kitchen (great placement!) so I can't really block it with a bigger garden or anything (it's one reason that's a big open grass area, for the drainfield. I know not to use colored water or anything, but I'd like to be able to see the little boogers. I could maybe plant some vines.

[Thursday's_Child]

So I have a question about hummingbirds. I have a large backyard, probably about a half acre, surrounded by woods. I have some bushes at the perimeter that probably do have hummingbirds (they have flowers that look appropriate). If I put a feeder by my kitchen window, where I could actually SEE the birds, do you think they would venture all the way over, or should I plant some bushes to lure them in? The septic tank is right next to the house near the kitchen (great placement!) so I can't really block it with a bigger garden or anything (it's one reason that's a big open grass area, for the drainfield. I know not to use colored water or anything, but I'd like to be able to see the little boogers. I could maybe plant some vines.

Try it and see!

They're so fast and agile that I don't think crossing a half acre will make them feel vulnerable to predators.  If you give them a perch (open bush or vine) near the house they might appreciate it.  You also may find one male deciding to dominate the feeder from that perch!  If that happens, then add a few other feeders around the perimeter (iron shepherd's crooks make easy and unobtrusive hangers of you don't have suitable tree limbs) so the others can tag-team him - and provide even more fun for you!