Any birdwatchers?

[Rob_Royale]

I live in an Idaho canyon and we have quite the selection. Birds of prey of all sorts, from bald eagles to kestrels, magpies, ravens, beautiful orange/yellow orioles, two variety of hummingbirds and then there's my chickens.

 

[liqueur]

and then there's my chickens.

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We have most of those here in Maine, except for the magpies. But eagles: do you have golden eagles? I saw them, up close and personal, when I was hiking in the Olympic mountains. Magnificent birds!

 

[Rob_Royale]

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We have most of those here in Maine, except for the magpies. But eagles: do you have golden eagles? I saw them, up close and personal, when I was hiking in the Olympic mountains. Magnificent birds!

Yes. I have seen them hunting in the desert.

 

[Milo9012]

Can't find a web picture of Splash Dancer.





Y'all got Mockingbirds? Those things are INSANE!!!



But they sure are a hoot to watch.

The only place I see mockingbirds is in places like the Walmart parking lot.

They loiter there on the lot's lampposts squawking their distinctive call.
.

 

[Britva415]

My SO swapped to a new bird seed for the feeder which has been very popular. I have been enjoying watching the birds squabble over it each morning. Mixture of little birds (chickadees, gold finches, nuthatches mostly) and some larger birds.Plus several larger birds, dominated by some hairy woodpeckers, one of which is huge.

Huge hairy woodpecker, eh?

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Huge hairy woodpecker, eh?

Maybe got it confused with a Beaver.

 

[SimonDoom]

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We have most of those here in Maine, except for the magpies. But eagles: do you have golden eagles? I saw them, up close and personal, when I was hiking in the Olympic mountains. Magnificent birds!

Eagles of both types are amazing. Where I live, sightings of eagles of either type are uncommon but not rare. Bald eagle populations are way up from where they used to be. They're much more common in many places than in the recent past.

 

[liqueur]

Speaking of hairy woodpeckers, I had one about yesterday. I was working up on a staging near the eves of my house, and a hairy woodpecker landed on a trim board not more than 20 feet away and started tapping on it. He didn't seem the slightest bit concerned with my presence. He worked his way up the length of the board, and then flew away. It's not the first time this has happened— last year it was a downy woodpecker. I can't resist the fancy that they're attracted by my “tapping” with my hammer, and have come to help— or compete.

He didn't do any harm. I checked after he left. He was just checking for rot, because that's where the bugs are— and (fortunately!) didn't find any.

Meanwhile, I heard a brown thrasher in the woods at the edge of my yard. Rare for my area, but the song was unmistakable. Merlin confirmed.

Eagles of both types are amazing. Where I live, sightings of eagles of either type are uncommon but not rare. Bald eagle populations are way up from where they used to be. They're much more common in many places than in the recent past.

They're thriving along the rivers in the northeast. I live about a quarter mile from the Kennebec. I've only once seen one fly over the house, but see them over the river from time to time. Ospreys, likewise. I'm surrounded by forest, can't see the river from my house, or I think I'd see them more often.

 

[Britva415]

I can't resist the fancy that they're attracted by my “tapping” with my hammer, and have come to help— or compete.

Up in the redwood forests one time, I heard a pileated woodpecker drumming. These guys mark territory and reproductive fitness with these sounds like other birds use calls and songs.

I went looking for him and it took forever following my ears. He was drumming persistently for like half an hour so I was able to keep going and going without seeming to get closer. Turns out, he had found a dead redwood trunk over 150 feet high, hollow all the way from base to the upper end of the “stump,” where it was still probably 18-20 feet across. At its base it was almost 30 feet across.

So this brick shithouse of a woodpecker had established dominance over a gigantic resonating chamber which caused his drumming to carry for almost a mile through the forest. All the females in the area had to know him, and all the males in the area had to have been chased off by this absolute Chad - or one of them would have owned that snag.

So as you can see, me calling him a "him" is not rooted in chauvinism or casual erasure of females. I knew he was a he before I ever got visual confirmation.

 

[SimonDoom]

Up in the redwood forests one time, I heard a pileated woodpecker drumming. These guys mark territory and reproductive fitness with these sounds like other birds use calls and songs.

I went looking for him and it took forever following my ears. He was drumming persistently for like half an hour so I was able to keep going and going without seeming to get closer. Turns out, he had found a dead redwood trunk over 150 feet high, hollow all the way from base to the upper end of the “stump,” where it was still probably 18-20 feet across. At its base it was almost 30 feet across.

So this brick shithouse of a woodpecker had established dominance over a gigantic resonating chamber which caused his drumming to carry for almost a mile through the forest. All the females in the area had to know him, and all the males in the area had to have been chased off by this absolute Chad - or one of them would have owned that snag.

I've seen a pileated woodpecker only once in my life. I spotted it not because of its drumming but because of its call, which pierced the stillness of the forest like a clarion. I've never heard a bird call like it -- a rapid-fire succession of high notes. It was far off the ground in a fir tree, so fairly far away from me, but there was no mistaking what it was.

 

[iwatchus]

For about two years, we had a pileated destroying a fallen dead tree just off the corner of our screen porch. Noisy SOB.

 

[yowser]

Interesting to consider birdsong, but likely not enough to change the thread title.

One of the most fascinating birds for me growing up was the whippoorwill, that arrived like clockwork in early summer (June I believe.) A night bird, I never saw one, but heard its distinctive call every night as dusk descended, usually right after dinner. The nest must have been close by, but I never found one. A pleasant harbinger for summer.

The other, even more eerie call, was my first hearing (and seeing) a loon on a Maine lake. Sent shivers down my spine but as I paddled the canoe for a closer look, it managed to keep the same (unpassable) distance from me, so never saw one near.

Richard Dawkins (Selfish Gene, Gene book of the Dead) and some others (Krebs) have talked about how genes shape birdsong, and how the phenotypic expression of such a gene can affect natural selection -- attracting a mate, announcing presence, scaring off competitors - leading to effects beyond the individual, altering others' behavior.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I've got a couple of pairs of some kind of hawks or falcons hanging around. I see them quite often and hear them a lot more. They've landed on the grass about 50' from the house, probably to take a mouse or other small varmint.

 

[Britva415]

Interesting to consider birdsong, but likely not enough to change the thread title.

Oh, song and other auditory signals are absolutely a part of bird "watching."

It's an extremely useful and powerful one, too. A "hear" can often lead to a "see" which might not otherwise have happened. It can also help a birder distinguish among visually similar species, and it can count as a "sighting" for the purposes of citizen-science bird counts or one's personal lists.

It has been super useful to me, and I developed a program at the park I work at to help people learn "birding by ear."

 

[MelissaBaby]

They're thriving along the rivers in the northeast. I live about a quarter mile from the Kennebec. I've only once seen one fly over the house, but see them over the river from time to time. Ospreys, likewise. I'm surrounded by forest, can't see the river from my house, or I think I'd see them more often.

We used to go watch eagles at the Augusta landfill on Hatch Hill Road.

 

[SimonDoom]

Interesting to consider birdsong, but likely not enough to change the thread title.

One of the most fascinating birds for me growing up was the whippoorwill, that arrived like clockwork in early summer (June I believe.) A night bird, I never saw one, but heard its distinctive call every night as dusk descended, usually right after dinner. The nest must have been close by, but I never found one. A pleasant harbinger for summer.

The other, even more eerie call, was my first hearing (and seeing) a loon on a Maine lake. Sent shivers down my spine but as I paddled the canoe for a closer look, it managed to keep the same (unpassable) distance from me, so never saw one near.

Richard Dawkins (Selfish Gene, Gene book of the Dead) and some others (Krebs) have talked about how genes shape birdsong, and how the phenotypic expression of such a gene can affect natural selection -- attracting a mate, announcing presence, scaring off competitors - leading to effects beyond the individual, altering others' behavior.

Merlin is a great app for identifying birds by their calls, and for learning more about the different calls they make.

One of my favorites is the weird and as far as I know utterly distinctive croaking call of sandhill cranes. Around here I often hear them long before I see them, way up in the sky either arriving or departing, depending on the time of year, as part of their annual migration.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Merlin is a great app for identifying birds by their calls, and for learning more about the different calls they make.

One of my favorites is the weird and as far as I know utterly distinctive croaking call of sandhill cranes. Around here I often hear them long before I see them, way up in the sky either arriving or departing, depending on the time of year, as part of their annual migration.

We live not far from a large cemetery, the oldest in the city. I like to walk there and I often use Merlin. It's amazing how many birds I hear but have never seen. like ovenbirds, scarlet tanagers and yellow warblers.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

We live not far from a large cemetery, the oldest in the city. I like to walk there and I often use Merlin. It's amazing how many birds I hear but have never seen. like ovenbirds, scarlet tanagers and yellow warblers.

You're hearing their ghosts.

 

[MelissaBaby]

You're hearing their ghosts.

I’m going to save that idea for next Halloween!

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I've got four Bluebirds taking turns in and out of the bath splash dancing.

 

[liqueur]

One of the most fascinating birds for me growing up was the whippoorwill, that arrived like clockwork in early summer

Where did you grow up? I grew up in west central Vermont, and whippoorwills were my go-to-sleep music every night. Now they seen to be all gone. I heard one lone whippoorwill, calling briefly one night, in early June last year. Likewise the year before. Before that, none for almost 30 years. Since then...??

 

[liqueur]

It's amazing how many birds I hear but have never seen. like ovenbirds, scarlet tanagers and yellow warblers.

Scarlett tanagers are hard to spot because they tend to stay in the tree tops. But I had one hanging out in my yard last spring. Quite unafraid. And SO beautiful!

Look for yellow warblers in dense leafy low growth stuff.

I've been listening to oven birds my whole life, and the only times (very few) I've seen them have been purely by chance. They don't call when you're near.

 

[liqueur]

Dear watchers of birds: what about whippoorwills, that I mentioned in passing earlier. Does anyone live where the whippoorwills call? if so, where? Is their demise everywhere? Or just where I've lived (northern New England). Does anyone know the whys and therefores?

 

[Bamagan]

Dear watchers of birds: what about whippoorwills, that I mentioned in passing earlier. Does anyone live where the whippoorwills call? if so, where? Is their demise everywhere? Or just where I've lived (northern New England). Does anyone know the whys and therefores?

They appear to be declining, especially in the Eastern US. The cause is not well understood, but general habitat loss is certainly a factor, and there is some evidence that their prey (moths, certain beetles, etc.) are becoming more scarce. There's a chance that it could be a cyclical thing, since insect populations often feature crash-and-rebound patterns, but that kind of depends on just how exclusive the birds' prey choice is. Night jars in general are hard to study, so there's a chance that certain populations of the bird depend very heavily on specific insects in particular regions, which could make those populations more susceptible to rapid decline than their cousins in other parts of the country. Don't expect any detailed answers soon, though. Funding for such research has fallen dramatically.

 

[Zrosey]

Dear watchers of birds: what about whippoorwills, that I mentioned in passing earlier. Does anyone live where the whippoorwills call? if so, where? Is their demise everywhere? Or just where I've lived (northern New England). Does anyone know the whys and therefores?

I've never lived anywhere in the whippoorwill range, but reading about them mentioned they are declining likely from insecticides and feral dogs and cats. The stuff I read says they nest on the ground, so sounds like they are vunerable!