Any birdwatchers?

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Went outside for 15 or 20 minutes and probably saw that many flocks of geese. Huge flocks too, couple of hundred each at least.

 

[liqueur]

They are mean fuckers

Having been attacked by geese, I can attest to this.

Are you guys confusing domestic geese with wild ones? I had domestic geese, back when I was on the farm. Best watchdogs I ever had. They'll teach you where the term “goosed” comes from, too!

 

[Statius]

Wild geese. They don't care if you're minding your own business. Hostile MF'rs

 

[old_prof]

Turkeys and geese are the meanest wild birds. With blue jays not that far behind.

 

[liqueur]

Wild geese. They don't care if you're minding your own business. Hostile MF'rs

You must be talking about the ones that live in cities. They're practically tame. Wild ones, out where people hunt them, are cautious of people.

It's the same with any wild animal that's accustomed to being at the top of the pecking order, when they move into towns and cities and lose their fear. “Wild” turkeys have put people in hospitals!

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I've had a pair of Hawks or Falcons or something similar around here for a while.

Went out back a bit ago and one was on the ground about 50' from the house. We just kind of looked at each other for a minute, then it went back to rummaging around for whatever. I just stood there so as not to spook it. Maybe 10 minutes later it flew up to a branch.

 

[Britva415]

Are you guys confusing domestic geese with wild ones?

I don't see how, they're both mean

 

[Statius]

I've had a pair of Hawks or Falcons or something similar around here for a while.

Went out back a bit ago and one was on the ground about 50' from the house. We just kind of looked at each other for a minute, then it went back to rummaging around for whatever. I just stood there so as not to spook it. Maybe 10 minutes later it flew up to a branch.

We have a few 100 yards of woods behind our house and there's a pair of hawks, a barred owl, and a group of like 6 crows. The hawks and crows chase each other and raid each other's nests every year. It's crazy in late spring, early summer. Every once in a while the owl gets involved but not often.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Any birdwatchers?​

Not bird watchers per se, but we are both very interested in nature. Given we’ve become a province of Canada here and have had a continuous ten inches of snow cover for over a week, we’ve been putting out seed for ground feeding birds (appreciated by the squirrels and bunnies as well).

It’s like a Hitchcock flick here. And we are getting red tailed hawks lining up to feed at the all you can eat cheapie buffet.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Turkeys and geese are the meanest wild birds. With blue jays not that far behind.

Ducks. Ducks are vicious little shits when they want to be.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Ducks think they're Geese, but they're just Quacks.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Are you guys confusing domestic geese with wild ones? I had domestic geese, back when I was on the farm. Best watchdogs I ever had. They'll teach you where the term “goosed” comes from, too!

I grew up in rural Maine. I know Canada geese. They are assholes.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Turkeys and geese are the meanest wild birds. With blue jays not that far behind.

This is why turkeys are mean.

God: “I grant you the power of flight…”

Turkeys:”Cool!”

God:”…but you suck at it.”

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I've lost track of the number of days now, but I'm still seeing flocks of geese overhead.

Has the entire planetary population decided this was the path to take?

 

[SimonDoom]

The cedar waxwings are back.

They're an annual herald of spring. They always move in sizable flocks and make lots of high-pitched whiny noise, and they're poop machines so you don't ever want to stand under a tree full of them.

But they're attractive, buff-colored little critters with pointy feather crests on their heads.

 

[old_prof]

My wife and son worked for several years for a wildlife rehabber who mostly worked with birds. (My son grew up wanting to be an ornithologist.)

We get the flocks of cedar waxwings later in the spring up here. It's still the depth of winter up here. I think we get them in about two months. Depending on the weather in the fall, some bushes would get the end of the berries frozen onto the plant. By spring, they will have fermented. Some years, there could be a dozen or more waxwings brought in from having run into windows because they got drunk on the berries.A few days of good nutrition and rehab, along with a few impromptu AA meetings, and they were ready to fly off again.

 

[SimonDoom]

My wife and son worked for several years for a wildlife rehabber who mostly worked with birds. (My son grew up wanting to be an ornithologist.)

We get the flocks of cedar waxwings later in the spring up here. It's still the depth of winter up here. I think we get them in about two months. Depending on the weather in the fall, some bushes would get the end of the berries frozen onto the plant. By spring, they will have fermented. Some years, there could be a dozen or more waxwings brought in from having run into windows because they got drunk on the berries.A few days of good nutrition and rehab, along with a few impromptu AA meetings, and they were ready to fly off again.

I've seen this too. Waxwings are the embarrassing town drunks of birds.

 

[Britva415]

The cedar waxwings are back.

They're an annual herald of spring. They always move in sizable flocks and make lots of high-pitched whiny noise, and they're poop machines so you don't ever want to stand under a tree full of them.

But they're attractive, buff-colored little critters with pointy feather crests on their heads.

I can no longer hear them. Their calls are very high pitched, and the highest frequencies are the first to go, with age.

 

[Bamagan]

I grew up in rural Maine. I know Canada geese. They are assholes.

Yes, they are very fowl-tempered.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I watched a swarm of them clean the juniper berries off a tall cedar tree in a very short time.

 

[anthrodisiac]

I watched a swarm of them clean the juniper berries off a tall cedar tree in a very short time.

I misread that so hard.

"I watched a swarm of juniper berries fall off a tall cedar tree in a very short time."

 

[liqueur]

The cedar waxwings are back. They're an annual herald of spring.

We get the flocks of cedar waxwings later in the spring up here. It's still the depth of winter up here.

Hmmm. I rarely see them— I don't have the right habitat on my place— but I'm up above the 45th parallel, and I have seen them in winter. According to Merlin I'm on the northernmost edge of their year-round range.

 

[SimonDoom]

Hmmm. I rarely see them— I don't have the right habitat on my place— but I'm up above the 45th parallel, and I have seen them in winter. According to Merlin I'm on the northernmost edge of their year-round range.

Seems odd that you would see them in winter but that where you are is the northernmost edge of their range. Birds are usually south in winter. Must be some drunk waxwings!

 

[liqueur]

Seems odd that you would see them in winter but that where you are is the northernmost edge of their range. Birds are usually south in winter. Must be some drunk waxwings!

No, I meant this is the northernmost edge of their all-season range. They go way north in the summer.

 

[subdudeme13]

I grew up in rural Maine. I know Canada geese. They are assholes.

Most geese are but Canadian geese are among the worst.