[Turtle]

http://hypography.com/gallery/browse...c=3&userid=796

___New strategy. All my bird photos to the Science Gallery (link above); no bird photos but my own; post identifiable photos when I get them & replace them later if I shoot a better photo.
___Just so, in the Gallery now, a Rufous-sided Towhee just out my window this morning, preening after an early rain. Note the bird's orange eye. The breast (unseen in my photo) is speckled dark on buff. At first glance, this bird is sometimes mistaken for an American Robin.
___Bewick's Wren photo coming right up to the Gallery.
___So many birds, so little tape!

[WhitePhoenix]

Hey ALL!....just read something interesting about chickadees....here's the website...
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...kadee_warnings

I know its long...hope it works.....

Ciao.

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Turtle

___Well, just as the title suggest, this is all about watching birds. How often do you watch them? How serious are you? Do you keep lists? Travel to spot birds? Do you have a bird ID book?

I have a few feeders in my yard so watching them occurs almost daily. I have been feeding birds here for 20 years now. I make a list when I visit other bird watching areas and take the notebook with me to log what I see. I carry my bird ID book with me on those ventures. The area I am weakest in is the water birds. Gulls, ducks, waders are difficult for me to easily identify (except for a few like the sandhill crane and ring billed gull).

Originally Posted by Turtle

____All things birding then. I live in the Pacific Northwest & have an interest in birding that waxes & wains, but remains an interest. I live on a hill overlooking the Columbia River & I frequently see Osprey (River Eagles) riding the thermal updrafts off the face of the hill. Two days ago I saw a Bald Eagle fly by (which I never saw here before) chased by a crow.

Yesterday I had a wild Turkey picking about for bugs and such. I had heard them in the woods around me, but this was the first time I have seen one. Big turkey, probably a tom. I didnt see any babies with it. Very shy bird. I was about 200 feet away and it saw me walking in the yard and moved into the tall grass.

Originally Posted by Turtle

___Other common bird here, the English or House Sparrow, Robins, Jays,& Starlings. More elusive birds I've seen, Rufous Sided Towhees, Casins Finch, Cedar Waxwing (a whole flock on the wire across from the house!), Golden Crowned Sparrow...my memory just dropped out.

I get alot of variety during the migrations. Thats when I will see the Towhees. I get alot of Cedar Waxwings in the fall. Sometimes the cedar trees will be just covered with them. The warbler migration is very good here. As is the Hawk migration.

Locally we have a wide variety of birds including Northern Harriers and Coopers Hawks. Which hunt my feeder areas. Lots of sparrows but probably my favorite of those is the Fox Sparrow. I have several pairs of cardinals bringing the kids in for food now. There are several pairs of Northern Orioles coming for sugar water.

Heres a link to several web cams with raptors:
http://www.xcelenergy.com/XLWEB/CDA/..._0_0-0,00.html

[Turtle]

___Great posts WhitePhoenix & Cedars!
___I have Black-capped Chickadees, but the new information on the calls is very interesting. Great science!
___Great synopsis Cedars of your birding. I haven't kept a bird journal until just a few days ago when I accepted a small composition book from a housemate. I have just 4 entries in so far & a general format to follow. I don't travel much, but I guess now when I do the journal & my ID book go too.
___By the by Cedars, which Towhee do you have there?
___Yesterday I spotted one of the Steller's Jays up in a tall oak & the bird's right leg hung broken & useless below it. At every landing it braced itself with the 1 good foot & steadied itself by squatting low & cupping the branch with a wing.
___On a brighter note, I briefly through binoculars spotted the grosbeak again; in fact a male/female pair. This time I positively identified them as Black-headed Grosbeaks.
___Well enough.

___Speaking of new bird behavior discoveries, I just found this new result concerning the Hummingbird & its wing flapping. Seems they get 75% of their thrust on the downstroke & 25% on the upstroke. By contrast, other birds thrust 100% on the downstroke & insects thrust 50% up & 50% down. Great technology use in this study; read more at:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.j...=104263&org=NSF

[Cedars]

Originally Posted by Turtle

___Great synopsis Cedars of your birding. I haven't kept a bird journal until just a few days ago when I accepted a small composition book from a housemate. I have just 4 entries in so far & a general format to follow. I don't travel much, but I guess now when I do the journal & my ID book go too.

Heres a site that might interest you. http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/b...bird/r1/53.htm
and another: http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/

When I go birding at my favorite spots, if there are other birders around, they will chat. If you do take an adventure to a spot that attracts birds, dont be shy. Ask questions. People will give you clues and tips that you will find invaluable. If you are wearing the binoculars around your neck and a bird book in hand, you will attract birders :

Originally Posted by Turtle

___By the by Cedars, which Towhee do you have there?

I get the Rufous Sided Towhee

Originally Posted by Turtle

___Yesterday I spotted one of the Steller's Jays up in a tall oak & the bird's right leg hung broken & useless below it. At every landing it braced itself with the 1 good foot & steadied itself by squatting low & cupping the branch with a wing.

Oh thats hard to watch. One migration a few years ago, I had a Grackle with half of its upper bill missing. It was painful watching this bird trying to get food. It hung around for a few days and moved on. I never saw it again. I wish I had a suggestion for you for catching this bird. Maybe there is a wildlife rehab center at a university that could give you ideas. Or see if there is an ornathologist union in your area.

Originally Posted by Turtle

___On a brighter note, I briefly through binoculars spotted the grosbeak again; in fact a male/female pair. This time I positively identified them as Black-headed Grosbeaks.

I have the Rose Breasted Grosbeak and occasionally, during migration, I get the Evening Grosbeak. Sometimes a few years can go by with no Evening Grosbeak sightings.

[selky]

i like snowy owls

selky

[Cedars]

I looked out my window just in time to see a Blue Jay take off from the ground. The bird got about 8 feet off the ground and from the north, a Coopers hawk swooped in and hit the jay in flight. A puff of feathers and both birds disapeared into the green of the trees. I did not see if the Coopers finished the job. But the pile of feathers I saw, including flight feathers on the ground would indicate that the Blue Jay was de-feathered enough to impead its flying ability significantly.

Coopers hawks are a treat to watch, if you like the raptors. Tough birds they are. I have seen one hunting a crow last summer. Once that Coopers focused in on a target, the other crows abandoned that bird.

[selky]

i saw an sparow hauk kill an brid not long ago it flew relly close to the ground and went into an crowed of brids it got one than sat on an roof and ate it

selky

[Turtle]

___Great stories you guys! As I mentioned, the Ospreys ride the thermals over my house, but I seldom get down to the river to watch them hunt. My other interests have distracted me from birding these last weeks, but I did hear an owl in one of the tall oaks about 5 am the other day; look as I might, I never spotted it.
___I came across a birding page about the state of Washington & they list just under 500 birds positively identified here, many of them ocean & shore birds. I do note they have reported a lot of dead birds these last weeks on the beaches of Oregon & Washington; apparently they have starved due to unusually warm ocean currents killing off the samll creatures the birds feed on. Always something to investigate in the avian world.
___

[Cedars]

I dont know if your interested in this stuff, but heres a kestrel (sparrow hawk) nest box you can make

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/b...el/nestbox.htm