Birding

[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?
___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.
___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.
___Anyway, you get the idea. Let's go birding!

[zadojla]

Not serious, but I like to see them. Recently:
turkeys
turkey vultures
black vulture
flickers
pileated woodpecker
blue heron
robins
cardinals
rock dove
grackels
crows
mockingbirds
american goldfinches
tufted titmouse
red-tailed hawk

[UncleAl]

Birds are utterly slaughtered by Enviro-whiner alternative energy windmills. One need only stand in a wind energy field and let the birds come to you. Enviro-whinerism: expensive, shoddy, deadly.

[C1ay]

Well, I don't particularly travel to see birds but I do watch birds wherever I go. I also maintain a variety of feeders and birdhouses to attract birds for us to watch at home. It's also a pastime we enjoy a lot when we go camping.

[Turtle]

___Those are great lists you guys! C1ay, what comes to your feeders? Anything unusual?
___A serendipitous encounter the other day when I happened to meet with a bird enthusiast who visited the house. Anyway, he returned yesterday & brought his list of sightings & also a CD with JPGs of some of the birds.
___Keep those stories coming!

(Argh... no bird emoticons! )

[WhitePhoenix]

I love watching birds....I could do it for hours....I have a question about one type of bird that I see in my backyard not sure if its a red wing black bird or not...the reason I say that is because it is an all black bird with red on the inside of the wing but also yellow. Any ideas on what type of bird this is?

[Turtle]

___Mmmmm...I will check my bird book; offhand, the Red Wing Blackbird has red on the outside of the wing feathers, ie. you see a red splotch when the wings are folded & the bird is roosting. I don't recall them having yellow though.
___I have found the Red Wing Blackbird to be the most ubiquitous bird I know, having seen it all across the US. I like their call too!

[orbsycli]

i watched birds yesterday.
florida has amazing bird wildlife here. the tall, stalky ones are sometimes even creepy to me. especially when they stare.
and why is it that the sea gulls here have black heads, and in california their heads are white?
is this like a natural east/west coast gang thing going on??

[C1ay]

Originally Posted by Turtle

___Those are great lists you guys! C1ay, what comes to your feeders?

Hummingbirds to the variety of hummingbird feeders scattered around. To the seed feeders we have Cardinals, Bluejays, Bluebirds, Robins, and a variety of small finches, swallows and wrens. There is also a variety of sparrows and an occasional warbler.

[Buffy]

We have a large number of cats near by, so fewer birds. I hate cats.

Woof,
Buffy