Maybenaut wrote: ↑Mon Apr 12, 2021 1:04 pm
We had seller’s jays in Northern California.
Steller's Jays and California Scrub Jays are both found in California. Steller's Jays are more 'upslope' and the scrub jays are down lower in elevation normally.
They are both beautiful birds, they are both loud & raucous, but there is one characteristic of Scrub Jays that makes them stand out. They are, universally & without exception, assholes.
We've always had blue jays in our neighborhood. I still chuckle about the time my husband set out a live trap. I forget what kind of pest he was trying to capture. Imagine his surprise when it caught a blue jay! (Easily released.)
Estiveo wrote: ↑Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:50 pm
They are both beautiful birds, they are both loud & raucous, but there is one characteristic of Scrub Jays that makes them stand out. They are, universally & without exception, assholes.
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I'll put our mockingbirds up against your jays any day of the week and twice on Sunday in the asshole sweepstakes. Mockingbirds will win every time.
This morning, on the Gettysburg PA Live Bird Feeder Cam, it was quite the reality show (Jerry Springer anyone). The grackles were all in their mating mood (beaks up and feather rustling) and also being downright nasty to the others (one even swatting a red-wing blackbird flying by). Then, a mourning dove showed up and demonstrated that while it may have a soothing voice, it is no wimp. Every time the grackles came by, it would puff up and keep them at bay or even run them off. The bluejays seemed like the quiet and calm ones this morning (along with normally territorial cardinals).
A red-bellied woodpecker got mad at something later, as well.
It was not much different here at home were 6 cowbirds (4 males and 2 females) were having some kerfuffle outside my window.
We've had an indigo bunting on the suet feeder for the last 20 minutes. We knew they were around here but this is the first time we've ever actually seen one. Beautiful bird.
The hummers are so plentiful this year they're lining up to get at the feeders, and the nuthatches and titmouses disappeared during the ice storm but are back with a vengeance now. All 3 feed right outside my window, about 2 feet from my face. The nuthatches are the most aggressive, but also the only ones who flee if I move.
I’ve seen only one indigo bunting around here — it was several years ago — but I did manage to get a picture.
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"Hey! We left this England place because it was bogus, and if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too!" -- Thomas Jefferson
Our second baby Vulture finally hatched in the creepy barn down in the woods. Last time MrD took the grandbrats down there on a tractor ride to check on them my grandson came back and said "one is doing okay but the other one is still just an egg."
Kate520 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:26 pm
Baby vultures are adorable . They look like Weebles. Remember ‘Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down’?
Vultures might be the least awkward-looking of the birds of prey when they are very young. Owls, eagles, hawks, and falcons all look fluffy and disheveled as hatchlings, especially owls.
"There's no play here. There's no angle. There's no champagne room. I'm not a miracle worker, I'm a janitor. The math on this is simple. The smaller the mess, the easier it is for me to clean up." -Michael Clayton
Sadly, there’s a fairly large, headless red tail hawk lying prone on my compost heap. He wasn’t there yesterday. After googling, I suspect a territorial battle with the much bigger red tail we saw circling above the neighborhood this morning. Lord only knows what ate its head.
I didn’t get a picture but I’ll post one if anyone really wants to see it.
Kate520 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:09 pm
Sadly, there’s a fairly large, headless red tail hawk lying prone on my compost heap. He wasn’t there yesterday. After googling, I suspect a territorial battle with the much bigger red tail we saw circling above the neighborhood this morning. Lord only knows what ate its head.
I didn’t get a picture but I’ll post one if anyone really wants to see it.
Kate520 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:09 pm
Sadly, there’s a fairly large, headless red tail hawk lying prone on my compost heap. He wasn’t there yesterday. After googling, I suspect a territorial battle with the much bigger red tail we saw circling above the neighborhood this morning. Lord only knows what ate its head.
I didn’t get a picture but I’ll post one if anyone really wants to see it.
The head is the most nutritious part.
BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS.
"There's no play here. There's no angle. There's no champagne room. I'm not a miracle worker, I'm a janitor. The math on this is simple. The smaller the mess, the easier it is for me to clean up." -Michael Clayton
I have been quite amused with a robin singing all day, literally, all day. Since it comes from the same spot, I was figuring it is the same one. It's impressive. It is loud enough, I can easily hear it with the windows shut and he goes on until sunset. Obviously, their vocal process is stronger than mine, even when I (a college-trained vocalist) was in full shape.
When one of the house finches gets going, it is downright loud in the backyard not that I'm complaining.
Mrs. FRP and I have a male robin who sings the delightful morning song right outside our window around dawn every day. The only problem is that he wakes us up even earlier than our cats, and he's extremely loud.
"There's no play here. There's no angle. There's no champagne room. I'm not a miracle worker, I'm a janitor. The math on this is simple. The smaller the mess, the easier it is for me to clean up." -Michael Clayton
I scurrilously blamed a tiny wren for a loud call I heard in my green belt backyard. I hereby fully and completely apologize to said wren, his heirs, assigns, et al.
The real caller is a male cardinal whom I caught red-handed, as it were, whilst watching him sing. I had been aware of the metallic cheep sound cardinals make because of a demanding one who reminded me every afternoon when it was time for more bird seed. I had also learned of a certain call cardinals made from the Cornell Ornithology Lab. My soloist performed only a part of that pattern but with such gusto it resonated through the neighborhood. It tends toward Wagner rather than beer garden in style.
"Mickey Mouse and I grew up together." - Ruthie Tompson, Disney animation checker and scene planner and one of the first women to become a member of the International Photographers Union in 1952.