Birding

[Turtle]

___Nice job WhitePhoenix; did you look up Red Winged Balckbird?

___Looks like a bookmark site to me! :rant:

[WhitePhoenix]

I sure did. It definetly is a red wing black bird. I'm going to have to bring my camera and take pictures then look up....my memory is not as great as it used to be...must be old age setting in.

[Kirk Gregory Czuhai]

may i suggest the following link for a bird picture jpg

that some of you may like for some computer wallpaper? --->

Computer Bird Wallpaper?

love and peace,

and,

peace and love,

(kirk) kirk gregory czuhai ---> LOVES! :xx:

http://BlueRoses.WS

http://ChessClub.WS

[Turtle]

___Very gracious Kirk; thanks. :xx:

___The bird of the day is the American Robin. The arechetypal 'early bird' they wake me every morning before dawn with their calling & so common they, that many don't even list them on their birding record. :)

[Kirk Gregory Czuhai]

the robin is my state's, Michigan's state bird. I always feel its finally spring when I see the first of the new year,

one bobbin' along listening for a worm in the still frozen ground after coming from the south for

its stay in Michigan for the coming warm months.

peace and love,

and,

love and peace,

(kirk) kirk gregory czuhai ---> LOVES !!! :xx:

[Turtle]

___Friday afternoon a visiting friend spotted a Western Tanger out my window, and while I was too late with a camera, it was my first ever siting.

___On further reading, I believe the one I saw was a male in breeding plumage; it was face on & very bright red head & yellow breast. The photo in the Gallery is a male in everyday plumage.

___An interesting mystery regarding how these birds acquire the red pigment. :( :(

[Turtle]

___Earlier today while gazing out the porch door, I caught a flick & flitter of bright yellow & suddenly not 20 feet away landed a Female Western Tanager. No doubt the mate of the one I described seeing just the other day in a post.

___Great luck today as well, as Ace was on hand with his digital camera & managed to snap a photo before she flew off. The photo is through a glass door, but still a nice shot of a fairly rare to see bird going about its business. See the photo in Science Gallery/Member's Categorie/Turtle

___Alas I have to move from here in just 2 weeks & it's likely these birds are nesting nearby! Still, a sweet bird coupe!

[Kukucan]

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

 

Woof,

Buffy

:note: There's mostly just a chubby, slow, short-legged cat around here with poor batting average.

 

The other day a tiny hummingbird fly very close to me as I was planting some Japanese Irises, I also saw one feeding on the Japanese Irises which were already in the ground a couple days earlier. Beautiful flowers, beautiful birds.

[Turtle]

___I am moving to a new place so I will have to take a while to begin spotting my new local avian friends. I did see one river eagle (Osprey) briefly as I loaded boxes, & as I have a wood-lot behind my new place I expect no shortage of opportunity.

:naughty:

[Turtle]

___Oh bother! So clean did I make my window in my new place (the better to see bird), that one bird flew right into it yesterday. Oh bother!

___I have already spotted a Black Capped Chickadee, a Stellars Jay, & an American Robin gathering grasses for a nest. It spent nearly 5 minutes selecting pieces of grass about 5 inches long & each time adding the find to the group in its beak. When it finally flew off, it had nearly 30 neatly stacked pieces of grass in its bill.

___Don't forget to visit Science Gallery/member categories/Turtle to view a few bird photos.

http://hypography.com/gallery/browseimages.php?c=3&userid=796

(Note: you must be a Hypography memeber & signed in to view Science Gallery images full screen). :naughty:

[Turtle]

___I have a new bird sighting here on the Columbia bluffs, well OK, 2 new sightings. New to me at any rate. :cup: My altitude here is roughly 150 feet above sea level & a few hundred meters from the Columbia River.

___The first bird I spotted clinging to a dead high branch of a Big Leaf Maple just 20 feet out my window; almost entirely gray with white wing bars and a long mustacheoed bill, I identified it as a Hammond's Flycatcher - Empidonax hammondii.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Hammonds_Flycatcher.html

___I watched for some several minutes through 8x22 binoculars as the bird first roosted & flew away numerous times before finally lighting & staying several minutes. The link above & my Audubon's book both note the eye ring (which I did not notice), but fail to mention the mustache even though it is pictured. The wing bars I took close note of & the bird also has a rounded cleft in its tail feathers.

___All in all, not a bird you draw with a feeder, so a rather pleasant serendipity.

 

___The next new sighting I had today & looking out the same window to the South & in the upper branches of a tall oak some hundred meters down the bluff. As I watched the Stellars Jays play in the branches, a somewhat larger bird flew in & perched somewhat upright in the crook of an upturned branch.

___I put the binoculars on it right away & first took note of the resemblance to a Zebra's coat. Half turned away from me, the belly seemed a lighter but similar patterning, the head dark & unpatterend, & the the bill longish & stout.

___I have tentatively identified the bird as the Female Williamson's Sapsucker - Sphyrapicus thyroideus.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/programs/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Williamsons_Sapsucker.html

Likely just a one off flyby, but maybe one of a local pair?

___Sorry no photos; such is birding. :D

[Turtle]

___Just minutes ago I shot several photos of the bird I identified as a Hammond's Flycatcher.

http://hypography.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=313&c=3&userid=796

___What do you think? Is my identification correct? Is this photo enough to ID the bird?

[C1ay]

___Just minutes ago I shot several photos of the bird I identified as a Hammond's Flycatcher. For now I have it here as an attachment.

___What do you think? Is my identification correct? Is this photo enough to ID the bird?

Try comparing with these images....

[Turtle]

___I looked them over C1ay & I simply must snap a photo while the bird is perched with its back facing me. Most of the photos from your links show that view, wherein the white wing bars show clearly.

___I am fairly new to birding, but I already sense there is nothing quite like a photo of your own to back up one's claims on a list. Having your own photo(s) also allows some leisure in studying the bird's markings as well as identifying individuals. In my last house I came to readily recognize an individual Scrub Jay by its blinded right eye I saw first in a photo.

___By the by C1ay, do you think I have properly identified the bird in my photo?

[C1ay]

___By the by C1ay, do you think I have properly identified the bird in my photo?

My opinion would only be a guess. Your photo is awfully similar to this one.

[Turtle]

___Very similar; including a wisp of a crest. The same I think too. There is no species ID on the photo however; what is the bird's name?

[Turtle]

___This is a temporary post, but I wanted to share this photo. I took my video camera down a trail I found on the bluff in hopes of sighting some birds; instead I chanced upon another creature foraging along the stream bank around 1:30 PM. :cup: A raccoon.