[orbsycli]

by this one lake up on this one mountain-
i always see this beautiful white swan-like creature
always across the way
a bird graceful-
just waiting to mate or die

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by (((tartanism)))

i have a grandfather who is very into birding, and when i told him abou this forum he seemed very interested, so turtle you may have a fellow birder in here yet. However, that is not the reason for this post. i wanted to tell turtle, and any other serious birders, that i learned of a book called "the big year". i cant recall the authors, but i do know that it is about three birders who challenged themselves and eachother to see the most rare birds that they could. there are over 9 thousand different species of birds, and i belive that nobody has seen them all, but that book may give you some good ideas.

glad some people love birds too,

Someone told me about this book and it sounds like a fun read for anyone who has a need to see birds. I wish I had the kind of money it takes to embark on such an adventure.

Heres a review of the book:

http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/si.../big_year.aspx

My interest in birds was really sparked by an old farmer whos hayfield bordered our farm. I would go up and ride on his tractor when he cut hay and he told me stories about what our area was like and how it had changed. He had moved there in 1937. He told me about how the skys were darkened during the fall migration by the numbers of waterfowl moving thru. He told me of thousands of swans and cranes in the swamps around our area and how they began to disapear. As he described it, by the late 50s, the birds were gone. He told me the stories in the early 70s. He was a gentle and kind man.

A major motivation in my own bird feeding is my desire to give something back. We (people) have taken so much from all nature, displacing and disrupting the animals homes and food sources so much. Its a little bit I can do to help compensate for my disruption of their environment.

Its always good to find someone else who shares this enjoyment (your grandfather)

[orbsycli]

that story was moving-
all of this concrete makes me sick sometimes-
literally-
sometimes ill be sitting in my room and for some funny reason i'll be super attentive to smell
and i'll get a whif of polution that i overanalyze and it makes me puke

so every once and a while i get away
deep into the forests i roam-
their territory-
it amazes me to see all of the critters living
why just the other morning i was smoking my water pipe on a rock in the middle of nowhere
and a deer swiftly trots by-
i know that this thread is for birds- but hey
a deer flew by me
and it was beautiful

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Turtle

We have a family of buzzards (er...not the right name but on I go till it pops into mind) living nearby by the quarry.

Vultures? If so, Turkey Vulture has the red head and is found in your area.

Originally Posted by Turtle

I have to side track a bit Cedarsa, because I want to tell you about some Cedars we have out here. There is an island called Long Island, sitting in Willipa Bay, enclosed by North Beach Peninsula, on the SW coast of Washington State.
On this island is a stand of virgin Cedars that have individual now-today-living trees that are 2,500 years old. Also in the stand is stumpage evidentiarry of the stands existence for 4,000 years.
The island [Long Island] is about 6 miles long x 1 1/2 miles wide. This very bay [Willipa Bay] is where geologists first found conclusive evidence of past Great Quakes & the ensuing Tsunami. No fewer than 4 such events are recorded in the alternating layers of mud & sand.

I have Cedars here, though not as old. They attract Cedar Waxwings in the fall in large numbers. I have stood in my yard and as the flock moves to the next trees, they have flown so close to me, I could have reached out and touched them. Lots of warblers will crowd these trees on their migrations. A deer researcher noted the tempetures in a stand of cedar trees in northern minnesota was between 10 and 15 degrees higher than the surrounding areas and thought maybe these stands were attracting so many deer in this particular area because of this.

Originally Posted by Turtle

Well, I do run on. The Swans come to this area sometimes too.
PS Does anyone feed the wild rice to the birds there?

Feeding wild rice would be very expensive. We have lost many of the natural wild rice beds. I would guess that the number of birds who would be attracted to the wild rice would be mostly waterfowl, or birds who take the seeds before they mature, which with the regulations surrounding rice harvesting here, would put you in violation of these regulations and take up a huge amount of time to gather yourself.

I love your pictures!! I need to get a good camera and spend some time taking pictures. My skills with a camera tend to leave me with blurry spots against a blue sky as my target is flying away. I do have a few acceptable pictures I have taken over the years. I should get a website so I can post them.

[Drip Curl Magic]

Everytime I go to yosemite, I keep an eye out for a California Condor. For some reason, that's the only bird I'm interested in. I think I'm amazed at their size.... and how few of them are left in the wild.

[orbsycli]

um wow i just had such a random memory
me and chris regna spotted a huge condor one time
but then we realized it had mechanical wings
it was some kind of robot bird-
i'll never be able to figure out what i saw

[Drosera]

Hi,

I realize this response comes real late, but it concerns the photo of the suspected Vireo. I come from the East Coast, so I don't know the all the species you have on your side. But if I saw that bird here, it would definitely *not* be a vireo, but rather an Empidonax Flycatcher. In my region, there are 5 recorded species that look virtually identical, and you have to hear their calls to identify them properly. The 2 species of Vireo over here have obvious stripes above and below the eyes, are larger than what your pic seemed to show, and the beaks are somewhat longer and sharper.

Keep bird watching!

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Drosera

Hi,

I realize this response comes real late, but it concerns the photo of the suspected Vireo. I come from the East Coast, so I don't know the all the species you have on your side. But if I saw that bird here, it would definitely *not* be a vireo, but rather an Empidonax Flycatcher. In my region, there are 5 recorded species that look virtually identical, and you have to hear their calls to identify them properly. The 2 species of Vireo over here have obvious stripes above and below the eyes, are larger than what your pic seemed to show, and the beaks are somewhat longer and sharper.

Keep bird watching!

Those are good points you present. The angle of the picture makes a positive identification much harder. The beak shape, I cannot distinguish against the background.

Part of my basis for agreement on the vireo identification is the surrounding terrain and the posture of the bird in the pic and what appears to me to be a very stout body, with a rounded head. It appears the bird is low to the ground foraging. The vireos I see most often are foraging in my blackberry and raspberry bushes.

Many of the flycatchers have a crest of some type and should show up some in the pic, even in this angle. In my experiences, the flycatchers tend to hunt higher and catch insects in flight. Though we do not have the numbers of flycatchers here that the western region does, so I do not have a point of reference on the feeding behaviors of the western birds.

But you did cause me to pick up my bird book and refresh on the flycatchers again!

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

that story was moving-
all of this concrete makes me sick sometimes-
literally-

so every once and a while i get away
deep into the forests i roam-
their territory-
it amazes me to see all of the critters living
why just the other morning i was smoking my water pipe on a rock in the middle of nowhere
and a deer swiftly trots by-
i know that this thread is for birds- but hey
a deer flew by me
and it was beautiful

Thanks. Its always good to know someone reads my post.

When we went to yellowstone, we had a great time feeding the Gray Jays that hovered over the picnic areas. We had a big bucket of granola and shared with the birds. Of course the park says Do NOT Feed the Animals, but they started it. LOL, they would land on our table and grab pieces of food and take off. So we gave into natures needs. Once we started feeding them, they came closer and closer. We got some to come between 2 and 3 feet of us. Same with the prairie dogs in s. dakota. Sunflower seeds. It was a great adventure. My kid still remembers these events with a smile.

Now this is a different perspective during the same trip. We were headed towards a petrified tree. As we neared the area we saw a bunch of cars parked along the road and many people gathered around this one spot. I rolled the window down and asked a man with a camera, what was going on.

He was very excited. Theres a Momma Bear Playing With Her Cubs about 30 feet off the road!!!

I couldnt believe it! I said, Are you NUTS?? You dont mess with a bear and her cubs!! He gave me a look of disgust and headed towards the bears. Me and the people with me debated on whether to stick around for a Kodak moment of "when animals attack" but decided it was getting too close to dark and we wanted to check out the tree. I rolled my window up and we drove away.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Drip Curl Magic

Everytime I go to yosemite, I keep an eye out for a California Condor. For some reason, that's the only bird I'm interested in. I think I'm amazed at their size.... and how few of them are left in the wild.

To see a Condor would be a noteworthy event for any person. If I were in the region of california where the birds are found, I would set aside a day or two to try to spot one myself.