Watching The Birds

[Marblehead]

Two new visitors for this year.

 

The hummingbird is back from wintering in Miami.

 

An apparently young (yearling) wood pecker perched on two different upright treated 4X4s looking for food.  None found.

[Kar3n]

I have a pair of woodpeckers that made a nice hole in one of my date palms and have hatched their babies there for the third year. They are good parents, ever vigilant, and constantly foraging and feeding...

 

[Geof Nanto]

Here's a photo I took through my kitchen window yesterday afternoon of some king parrots drinking from my pond. These parrots are very wary of people - especially when they're on the ground - and fly away if they catch a glimpse of me nearby or even hear the smallest sound. 

 

[Stosh]

Here's a photo I took through my kitchen window yesterday afternoon of some king parrots drinking from my pond. These parrots are very wary of people - especially when they're on the ground - and fly away if they catch a glimpse of me nearby or even hear the smallest sound. 

 

It strikes me as weird that your grass , looks just like our grass!  .. but with a parrot on it.  

Edited May 11, 2016 by Stosh

[Geof Nanto]

These ones are Crimson Rosellas.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Marblehead]

I was sitting for a while to watch the birds and all I got was pigeons and butterflies.

 

I do like butterflies though.  And they seem to enjoy my Lantana.

[Geof Nanto]

I was sitting for a while to watch the birds and all I got was pigeons and butterflies.

 

I do like butterflies though.  And they seem to enjoy my Lantana.

 

Lantana here is a notorious invasive weed. I've spent many hours on habitat regeneration projects removing masses of the stuff.  But yes, it can provide habitat - in particular small birds seem to like it. So it's not all bad. I don't like it because of how it smoothers native flora and creates an impenetrable monoculture. Hence I judge it harshly - however the wildlife makes no such judgement and treat it as a totally valid part of their reality. They are the natural Daoists. I'm the beginner. 

[Marblehead]

True all you said.  About the same here.  They do die back in the winter so that gives me the opportunity to trim them back and remove any growth outside the area I have allocated for them.

 

Last year they did poorly because of the heat and lack or rain.  This year, so far, they are doing well as the temps haven't gotten over 100 degrees and I have been watering them every other day.  (It hasn't rained here for about four weeks now.)

 

It is probably considered invasive here in my area as well.  I haven't checked that.

 

So far I am happy with them.  If they ever get to the point where they require too much maintenance I will likely remove them.

 

Some birds do hid in them now and again but I've not seen any nests.  There are lots of large trees in the area (not in my yard) that make better nesting areas for them.

Edited May 16, 2016 by Marblehead

[9thousandthings]

We were visited by a Baltimore Oriole yesterday.  Flew right up to our newly blooming quince/crabapple tree (not sure which it is, kinda in-between).  This tree sits right off our small back deck, and just a few feet from the kitchen window that's above the sink.  

Dish washing is bird watching.  I've never seen one so close up before, such a beautiful fellow!

 

Lots of Grackles too lately.  They are really happy that I haven't mowed any lawn this spring yet, and spend their time hopping around in the tall grass that is almost over their heads now.  When I lived in Austin, TX, folks down there thought of them almost as pests, like some folks do Pigeons.  I always liked them.  I think these ones had a nest in one of my neighbors tree.  All this Bitterroot had strangled the row of pines between our yards and he cut down the dead ones recently.  In one of them the Bitterroot had formed this massive, almost cave like, tangle in the top of the tree.  I know some folks were using it for sure, and these Grackles seem a bit like they've been thrown out.  Or maybe that's just me projecting

[joeblast]

I marvel at the daily dissertations given in some of the birds around here.  they are patterned, contain beginning phrases and ending phrases, with a ton of variation in between.  its like the elder bird gets up early and begins the day's teachings for the others

[Marblehead]

A little earlier this afternoon I was sitting out front and the female hummingbird came up for a drink from the feeder.

 

It's nice seeing those little puppies around.

[Stosh]

Recently I reported two bird bands which I caught on camera, one of them was from Peru , the other from Brazil, I'm waiting for feedback as to whether they were netted or banded in the nest.

[joeblast]

I marvel at the daily dissertations given in some of the birds around here.  they are patterned, contain beginning phrases and ending phrases, with a ton of variation in between.  its like the elder bird gets up early and begins the day's teachings for the others

and the other morning, one of the younger birds beat the elder to the morning punch, began the patterns...but the younger only remembered so much of it....stopped and trailed off a bit after a few verses...

 

and the elder bird picked right up where he left off

[silent thunder]

This morning, watching the various songbirds dive in and out maneuver each other for the seeds and bread bits that are my daily offering, I'm reminded of the cream stealing Blue Tits of Britain circa WW1.

http://brendaruble.com/wp/?p=2153

That story has always fascinated me.  Morphic fields and what not...  but in the end, I just love the clever, pretty lovelies no matter what they get up to.

[Stosh]

Who would ever have guessed that Tits would drink milk?

Edited May 27, 2016 by Stosh

[blue eyed snake]

I do remember that,

when I was a child the milkman had to put the milk for our family in the shed,

or else the tits would get at it, like this;

 

[Marblehead]

I had a herd of pigeons in my garden areas this morning.  There must have been about twenty-five of them.  Begging for food.  I didn't put any out and eventually they all flew away.

 

I don't mind a few, not more than six or seven, coming by but twenty-five is just too many.  All their commotion scares the song birds away.

[Kar3n]

The baby woodpeckers and their parents have left the nest. The females took flight rather quickly and easily. The lone male baby was pretty unsure and made an awful lot of noise about being left alone. Momma woodpecker coaxed him out patiently and they flew of in unison. It was nice to see them all survive this year.

 

A pair of grackles have made a nest in the palm fronds just above the woodpecker's house in the hole in the side of the tree. There is another pair of birds I've not identified yet who are nesting in the fig tree.

[joeblast]

and the other morning, one of the younger birds beat the elder to the morning punch, began the patterns...but the younger only remembered so much of it....stopped and trailed off a bit after a few verses...

 

and the elder bird picked right up where he left off

LOL... for how long I've lived here, one would think I'd have known by now I was listening to none other than a Robin

 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/sounds

 

yep, that's an unmistakable morning song

[Stosh]

Went on a pelagic birding trip yesterday, the sea was incredibly... aquamarine. Big swells , clear skies,, I love it out there.

[joeblast]

LOL... for how long I've lived here, one would think I'd have known by now I was listening to none other than a Robin

 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/sounds

 

yep, that's an unmistakable morning song

and yet, its not quite the same dialect

[Marblehead]

Yeah, my Rebel Cardinals have different sounds than do the Yankee Cardinals. 

 

It's sometimes hard to understand that Southern Drawl they have.

Edited May 31, 2016 by Marblehead

[manitou]

Yankees:    Pretty, pretty, pretty

 

Rebels:      Purdy, purdy, purdy

[joeblast]

hehe...cardinals have this high pitched "cheep!" for the most part, but I havent ever noticed much in their patterns

 

blue jays, however....so long as they dont know you're listening, of course, they have a "flip the bird" squawk when they discover you're listening.  aside from that, perhaps the most rich and nuanced bird language I've encountered.

[manitou]

Yes, the cardinals do have the high pitched cheep thing.  But they also have the purdy purdy purdy.  I talk back to them all the time, doing the same thing.  If he does it 4 times, I do it back 4 times, and ad infinitum  The birdie switches up the amount of times he says it.  Usually it's a gardening morning.  It can go on forever.