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Birding

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pipistrelle
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Re: Birding

#51

Post by pipistrelle »

AndyinPA wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 7:59 pm Image
PITTSBURGH —

A new bald eagle was born in the City of Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

The Audubon Society confirmed the Hays bald eagles welcomed an eaglet just after three this morning.

The eaglet is the first to come from the three eggs the Hays eagles laid this year.
https://www.wtae.com/article/the-eagle- ... h/35910199

The second one hatched during the night last night. That makes H13 and H14 for this pair. One more to go.
Is this the nest harassed by the great horned?
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AndyinPA
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Re: Birding

#52

Post by AndyinPA »

pipistrelle wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 8:03 pm
AndyinPA wrote: Wed Mar 24, 2021 7:59 pm Image
PITTSBURGH —

A new bald eagle was born in the City of Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

The Audubon Society confirmed the Hays bald eagles welcomed an eaglet just after three this morning.

The eaglet is the first to come from the three eggs the Hays eagles laid this year.
https://www.wtae.com/article/the-eagle- ... h/35910199

The second one hatched during the night last night. That makes H13 and H14 for this pair. One more to go.
Is this the nest harassed by the great horned?
Yes. And a raccoon. And a squirrel who's lucky not to have become dinner.
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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Chilidog
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Re: Birding

#53

Post by Chilidog »

So the kid, and I decided to go out to the local nature preserve this afternoon.

We went to Crabtree preserve in Barrington, Illinois.
The have a nice overlook on a lake that gets a huge variety of waterfowl.

I wasn't expecting much, but it was a nice day, and it turned out to be a great birding walk.

Besides for the usual assorted woodpeckers, nuthatches and red wings...
We saw:
Common Mergansers
Hooded Mergansers
Commorants,
Northern shovelers
Buffleheads
Great Blue herons,
American Pelicans
A caspian tern fishing for dinner,
A pair of Sandhill cranes,

AND.....

The guy below
► Show Spoiler
Who was a lifer for both of us.
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Azastan
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Re: Birding

#54

Post by Azastan »

Always nice to see owls! I have picked up some crazy hard-to-find owls here in WA (Snowy Owl, Great Grey Owl, Northern Hawk-Owl), but some of the more common ones elude me! Still haven't seen Long-eared, Short-eared, Northern Saw-whet, Boreal, Flammulated, and Spotted.

Anyway, it looks as if you had a really good day of birding, and congrats on that lifer!
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Chilidog
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Re: Birding

#55

Post by Chilidog »

On top of that, there were probably 200 painted turtles and even a couple snappers basking on the logs, muskrats galore and even a couple fox snakes doing the Snake boogie.
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northland10
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Re: Birding

#56

Post by northland10 »

The other day, I took a walk:
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And yes, he did get a little close (and fast) so I had to resort to creative composition.
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101010 :towel:
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Azastan
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Re: Birding

#57

Post by Azastan »

Oh my!
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Phoenix520
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Re: Birding

#58

Post by Phoenix520 »

Were you carrying a mouse or a small dog? 😊
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Chilidog
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Re: Birding

#59

Post by Chilidog »

Retails are super active right now.
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Azastan
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Re: Birding

#60

Post by Azastan »

Kate520 wrote: Sun Apr 04, 2021 10:58 pm Were you carrying a mouse or a small dog? 😊
Last week my neighbour was doing some gardening at the end of our driveways. Much to her horror, she looked up to see an adult bald eagle flying straight down my driveway in hot pursuit of one of my chickens. At the same time, I was sitting at my computer and heard the little black chicken screaming away, so I looked up to see the bald eagle at the edge of my deck, climbing rapidly so as to avoid hitting my house. Chicken survived by hiding under the deck, and I had a really good view of that bald eagle.

Two days ago my husband came home to find George, our barn cat, with a small cut over his eye, three quite shallow puncture marks on his belly near his back legs, limping on his left front leg, missing a claw from his right hind paw, and smeared with mud on his right side.

George had been attacked by a bald eagle, and NARROWLY avoided being a snack. We think the eagle had not fully closed its talons, but dragged George a foot or two through our muddy pasture.

I later found out that about four days ago my neighbour's cat also got attacked by the eagle, also narrowly avoiding becoming a snack. He got hit worse than George, needs antibiotics for the wound.

Today the same neighbour looked out her front window and chased the eagle away from HER chickens.

George isn't being allowed out any more.
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MsDaisy
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Re: Birding

#61

Post by MsDaisy »

:shock:

Don't y'all have road kill out where you live? I saw a Bald Eagle having lunch with some Black Vultures in a corn field the other day. They'd dragged a small deer over there from the side of the road.
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Azastan
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Re: Birding

#62

Post by Azastan »

MsDaisy wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 6:54 am :shock:

Don't y'all have road kill out where you live? I saw a Bald Eagle having lunch with some Black Vultures in a corn field the other day. They'd dragged a small deer over there from the side of the road.
Very little, actually, where I live. I've never seen a dead deer on my road. An elk, once, which was promptly removed by meat harvesters with an elk tag.
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northland10
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Re: Birding

#63

Post by northland10 »

Kate520 wrote: Sun Apr 04, 2021 10:58 pm Were you carrying a mouse or a small dog? 😊
Maybe I should not where my mouse hat while walking down the trail.

Before he took off, I noticed he was eyeing something (it had flown right past me and landed on the wire).
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What he was after was on the other side of the trail. I happened to be between the red-tail and its meal. It wasn't one of those swoop and grab runs but he wrestled with it for a bit. The earlier photo of it flying nearby was its return flight to a nearby tree to eat the catch. Restaurants are more open but takeout is still the safer bet.
Hawk Dinner takeout.jpg
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Chilidog wrote: Sun Apr 04, 2021 11:01 pm Redtails are super active right now.
There are two who I have seen often during the last year. I assume this is one of them. They like hunting up and down the trail.

Here is one from last year.
Hawk on house2.JPG
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Edit: When it first flew by, I was checking on a couple of birds I had noticed (which I believe were Eastern Phoebes). I have not sent hem at my place.
101010 :towel:
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northland10
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Re: Birding

#64

Post by northland10 »

On Wednesday, I saw a brown and white bird that was new to me in this area. As I am still a novice on birding, I went to my Merlin app from Cornell though found nothing. A bit of web searching and I found it was a Brown Thrasher, which apparently does end up north during the mating season. I was confused as to why it was not available on Merlin.

On Thursday, I checked, and the Brown Thrasher was listed, as uncommon. When I backed up the date to Wednesday, it was not there. Very odd (I did enter it to my life list for the correct day, however).

Maybe the local Northern Illinois bird expert (and WPS art expert), Chilidog, can give some insights on the Brown Thrasher and if seeing one now is rather unusual.

Wednesday was also a day for very active and aggressive birds. Cardinals were chasing other cardinals. Doves were chasing other doves. A cowbird was around somewhere (I heard him) which made the sparrows annoyed, given that one had invited itself into the birdhouse they were using a few weeks ago (I assume to lay eggs in their nest, which caused some very loud yelling by the sparrows).
101010 :towel:
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Chilidog
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Re: Birding

#65

Post by Chilidog »

I checked with the real bird expert, my son.

Yep. Thrashers are around.
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Re: Birding

#66

Post by MsDaisy »

northland10 wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 12:52 pm On Wednesday, I saw a brown and white bird that was new to me in this area. As I am still a novice on birding
:snippity:

A bird book, you needs one.
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Our feeder is just outside the big kitchen windows, when my grand kids are here and we're at the kitchen table we make bets on what kind of bird will land on the feeder next and if they can't identify a bird we take a quick photo with the phone and they have to look it up. It's amazing how many birds they can identify and which ones are "mamas" and "papas" at ages 5 & 7.
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Re: Birding

#67

Post by Foggy »

Whoa, that eagle is PISSED about something or other.

That's just the way all them birther "patriots/constitutional scholars" like 'em: Angrier than a toddler after you took his lollipop.

Does that eagle have crab shells in his underpants or what? :confuzzled:
Out from under. :thumbsup:
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Azastan
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Re: Birding

#68

Post by Azastan »

Foggy wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 12:49 pm Whoa, that eagle is PISSED about something or other.

That's just the way all them birther "patriots/constitutional scholars" like 'em: Angrier than a toddler after you took his lollipop.

Does that eagle have crab shells in his underpants or what? :confuzzled:
:rotflmao:

They have a bony ridge over the orbit of the eye which acts as a built in eyeshade (and makes them look angry all the time).
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northland10
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Re: Birding

#69

Post by northland10 »

Foggy wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 12:49 pm Whoa, that eagle is PISSED about something or other.

That's just the way all them birther "patriots/constitutional scholars" like 'em: Angrier than a toddler after you took his lollipop.

Does that eagle have crab shells in his underpants or what? :confuzzled:
101010 :towel:
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Re: Birding

#70

Post by fierceredpanda »

Lots of activity outside Mrs. FRP and my residence this morning. Our resident downy woodpecker is drumming, and we even got a "rusty pump" call from one of our blue jay visitors in addition to the usual "jay jay jay" yelling.

I know a lot of bird enthusiasts think they're irritating, but I happen to absolutely love blue jays. Especially endearing to me is that they will sometimes prank other birds by imitating the calls of local hawks in order to have an easier time at feeders.

I don't have one from our place, but this is a close up I got of one at the bird bath at my in-laws' place last year.
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Re: Birding

#71

Post by Maybenaut »

:lovestruck:

I love blue jays! I heard them doing the rusty wheel call this morning. What I’ve noticed about the jays around here is that you never see the jays by themselves — they kind of pack up with other species, usually doves but sometimes crows. And, like the doves and crows, they prefer their food on the ground.
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Re: Birding

#72

Post by Foggy »

Growing up, I only ever knew about Western blue jays, which are really called California scrub jays. They're pretty aggressive, and will steal food from your picnic table while you're sitting right there. I was not a big fan.
Out from under. :thumbsup:
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AndyinPA
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Re: Birding

#73

Post by AndyinPA »

When I was feeding the birds (pre-turkeys), blue jays were always here. I loved watching them. I don't think I've seen one here in my yard in a long time. :(
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Re: Birding

#74

Post by Maybenaut »

Foggy wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:13 am Growing up, I only ever knew about Western blue jays, which are really called California scrub jays. They're pretty aggressive, and will steal food from your picnic table while you're sitting right there. I was not a big fan.
We had seller’s jays in Northern California. :lovestruck:

Image
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Re: Birding

#75

Post by MsDaisy »

Maybenaut wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 1:04 pm
Foggy wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:13 am Growing up, I only ever knew about Western blue jays, which are really called California scrub jays. They're pretty aggressive, and will steal food from your picnic table while you're sitting right there. I was not a big fan.
We had seller’s jays in Northern California. :lovestruck:

:snippity:
He's beautiful!
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