Any birdwatchers?

[old_prof]

Does no one else find the irony in the Canadian Geese being particularly assholes? Candian humans are notoriously polite (yes I know enough Canadians to know this is not 100% true). Did they just turn all the asshole people at some point into birds?

 

[SimonDoom]

Not to derail these important concerns about a particular species of fowl, but the correct term is "Canada Geese," not "Canadian Geese."

I've never had an unpleasant experience with Canada Geese, even when I was practically wading through them walking up a fairway on a golf course. It's the domesticated types that have wanted to kill me.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

If you were dodging hockey pucks all day wouldn't you be, eh?

 

[liqueur]

Does no one else find the irony in the Canadian Geese being particularly assholes? Candian humans are notoriously polite...

Maybe it's the Americans who are the problem...

 

[MelissaBaby]

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!

They go south because of the availability of food. With so many people putting out feeders, lots of species have expanded their winter range.

My mom has several crabapples trees in her yard in Maine. She has had waxwings in the winter on occasion and usually has robins who stay year round.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I got a batch of baby birdies already. Too soon in the season?

Noticed some activity around an old rotted fencepost, took a peek and sure enough. Already feathered out too, may be flying soon.

It was in the teens last week overnight. How did Mom keep them warm? Rotted wood may have helped I guess.

Don't ask me what kind. Don't know, Mom is mostly black with some blue highlights.

 

[SimonDoom]

I saw another Cooper's Hawk (could be the same one) eating a small bird in the same tree yesterday. Feathers were raining down on the ground. A bird feeder hangs under the tree, so little birds flit around that tree all the time. It might also have attacked a nest, however. It was too high for me to see.

 

[ishtat]

Went up the Hawksbury (60 Km north of Sydney) river today and saw a pair of White bellied Sea eagles and a singleton.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Not to derail these important concerns about a particular species of fowl, but the correct term is "Canada Geese," not "Canadian Geese."

How about this: all Canadian geese including Canada geese are assholes.

That said, all geese are assholes, so the statement above, though true, is rather moot.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

whenever I get hissed at by a goose, I take that shit personally.

 

[SimonDoom]

How about this: all Canadian geese including Canada geese are assholes.

That said, all geese are assholes, so the statement above, though true, is rather moot.

A goose by any other name is still a goose.

They're also full of shit. Literally. I know of no bird that shits more prolifically than geese, and they like to shit in places where you notice, like schoolyards and golf courses.

 

[SimonDoom]

Today felt like the first day of spring. Warm and sunny. New growth visible on most of the trees and plants. And the birds were out in force. Just from my backyard, I either saw or heard the following birds:

Turkey vulture
Sandhill cranes (probably returning to the North)
Cedar Waxwing
Mourning Dove
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
House Finch
Crow
Raven
Scrub Jay
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Northern Flicker
Dark Eyed Junco
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Black Phoebe
Oak Titmouse
Canada Goose
Common Bushtit
American Goldfinch
Red Winged Blackbird
Bewick's Wren
Anna's Hummingbird
Golden Crowned Sparrow
Cooper's Hawk

I used Merlin to ID the calls of birds I wasn't sure about. I'm pretty sure the IDs are right, although it's not perfect, because it claimed to record the call of a Ring-Necked Pheasant, and I'm pretty sure that's wrong. I think it was a squirrel.

24 birds seen or heard just from one spot, over the total span of about an hour's time. Birdapalooza!

 

[Comentarista82]

Today felt like the first day of spring. Warm and sunny. New growth visible on most of the trees and plants. And the birds were out in force. Just from my backyard, I either saw or heard the following birds:

Turkey vulture
Sandhill cranes (probably returning to the North)
Cedar Waxwing
Mourning Dove
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
House Finch
Crow
Raven
Scrub Jay
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Northern Flicker
Dark Eyed Junco
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Black Phoebe
Oak Titmouse
Canada Goose
Common Bushtit
American Goldfinch
Red Winged Blackbird
Bewick's Wren
Anna's Hummingbird
Golden Crowned Sparrow
Cooper's Hawk

I used Merlin to ID the calls of birds I wasn't sure about. I'm pretty sure the IDs are right, although it's not perfect, because it claimed to record the call of a Ring-Necked Pheasant, and I'm pretty sure that's wrong. I think it was a squirrel.

24 birds seen or heard just from one spot, over the total span of about an hour's time. Birdapalooza!

I've had plenty squirrels chattering when I'm out walking and sometimes it's just a few squirrels with things like an American Robin, Carolina Wren, Cardinal and Blue Jay...never had Merlin say the squirrel was something (nor a dog, as many bark too)...but anything could happen depending on how well the thing's programmed.

 

[Comentarista82]

whenever I get hissed at by a goose, I take that shit personally.

I learned to NEVER turn my back on any kind of Muscovy Duck--they're very mean and they love to hiss at a person! But yeah, I have had 1 or 2 Canada geese be exceptionally nasty.

 

[Comentarista82]

Saw/heard these: Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, House Sparrow, Tufted Titmice, American Robin, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Bluebird, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Pine Warbler, American Crow, Brown Thrasher, Carolina Wren, Carolina Chickadee, Turkey Buzzard, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Mockingbird, Mourning Dove, White-winged Dove, Killdeer, European Starling, Brown-headed Cowbird, Eastern Phoebe, House Finch, Cedar Waxwing, Dark-eyed Junco

By the way: Merlin will not try to ID a woodpecker by it's drumming: Had one VERY close and you could see the blue dot come on that it was hearing a bird...but no identification (it will list a woodpecker's drumming on it's main page, though).

 

[liqueur]

Today felt like the first day of spring. Warm and sunny. New growth visible on most of the trees and plants. And the birds were out in force. Just from my backyard, I either saw or heard the following birds:

Turkey vulture
Sandhill cranes (probably returning to the North)
Cedar Waxwing
Mourning Dove
Lesser Goldfinch
House Sparrow
House Finch
Crow
Raven
Scrub Jay
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Northern Flicker
Dark Eyed Junco
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Black Phoebe
Oak Titmouse
Canada Goose
Common Bushtit
American Goldfinch
Red Winged Blackbird
Bewick's Wren
Anna's Hummingbird
Golden Crowned Sparrow
Cooper's Hawk

I used Merlin to ID the calls of birds I wasn't sure about. I'm pretty sure the IDs are right, although it's not perfect, because it claimed to record the call of a Ring-Necked Pheasant, and I'm pretty sure that's wrong. I think it was a squirrel.

24 birds seen or heard just from one spot, over the total span of about an hour's time. Birdapalooza!

Nice list! I had Merlin once mistake my cat for a catbird. But usually it's pretty accurate

 

[liqueur]

Saw/heard these: Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, House Sparrow, Tufted Titmice, American Robin, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Bluebird, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Pine Warbler, American Crow, Brown Thrasher, Carolina Wren, Carolina Chickadee, Turkey Buzzard, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Mockingbird, Mourning Dove, White-winged Dove, Killdeer, European Starling, Brown-headed Cowbird, Eastern Phoebe, House Finch, Cedar Waxwing, Dark-eyed Junco

A few of those winter up here year-round. The snow’s still a foot deep here, but it's starting to go. I can hardly wait to hear the rest of your list. (Except the white-winged dove. We don't get those here.)

 

[Britva415]

I used Merlin to ID the calls of birds I wasn't sure about. I'm pretty sure the IDs are right, although it's not perfect, because it claimed to record the call of a Ring-Necked Pheasant, and I'm pretty sure that's wrong. I think it was a squirrel.

Based on the list, it sounds like you're in California?

As am I. In my experience, Merlin is good about not calling squirrel calls bird calls. (Also the pheasant does not sound like a squirrel.) Based on the bird list, I wouldn't guess that you were in pheasant habitat, but it's late February: Who knows what could be randomly passing through on a journey of migration or territory seeking right now.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Pretty sure I saw a Bald Eagle. Big brown bird with a white tail is kind of hard to miss. Flying away from me, so couldn't see the head. Same area I saw one a few weeks ago, just a half mile from me.

 

[liqueur]

Turkey vulture, today. The first I've seen since fall. Snow everywhere, and it’s supposed to be well below zero tonight. But the sun is high, spring is coming, and they know.

 

[Comentarista82]

Pretty sure I saw a Bald Eagle. Big brown bird with a white tail is kind of hard to miss. Flying away from me, so couldn't see the head. Same area I saw one a few weeks ago, just a half mile from me.

Congratulations! Isn't one regal? I've seen 5 at different spots--2 at a place they were reported and the other 3 where I didn't expect them.

 

[Comentarista82]

Loggerhead Shrike (new), Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Northern Mockingbird, House Sparrow, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Carolina Chickadee, White-throated Sparrow, Turkey Buzzard, Brown Thrasher, American Robin, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Pine Warbler, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Mourning Dove, White-winged Dove, Eastern Bluebird, European Starling, Eastern Phoebe, Cedar Waxwing, Dark-eyed Junco, American Crow

I'm waiting for the Mississippi Kites to return. Had 4 in the area and another pair about 6-8 miles south last year: they arrived about mid-March. They sound very close to Eastern Wood Pewees by their calls.

 

[SimonDoom]

Pretty sure I saw a Bald Eagle. Big brown bird with a white tail is kind of hard to miss. Flying away from me, so couldn't see the head. Same area I saw one a few weeks ago, just a half mile from me.

They have unmistakable markings, so you probably did. A bald eagle sighting is always worth a double-take. Unless you're in Alaska, where they are as common a crows.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

They're fairly common around here too now due to some National and State preserves.

 

[SimonDoom]

A first for me today: I spotted and identified a Hermit Thrush for the first time in my backyard. It spent some time at the bird bath.