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Birdwatching:  More birds arriving daily!  |
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 30 2008 : 9:43:08 PM
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I have been tossing the morning scraps out the back door at work. Now the magpies all land in the tree and wait for the door to open to grab their bit of toast. I have even seen sparrows getting in there and rubbing wings with the big birds!
Elizaray |
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Mar 14 2008 : 8:37:57 PM
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I think I saw a little grey dove hanging around out front lawn the last few days, and I saw my first robin about a month ago! Soon the apple and cherry trees will be blooming! Oh I can't hardly wait!
Elizaray |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Mar 17 2008 : 4:09:34 PM
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Just saw 2 doves today, too, Elizaray! And our apple trees have teeny buds on them...I can't wait either!
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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LeslieAnne
outbound
29 Posts
LeslieAnne
Shallowater
TX
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - Apr 15 2008 : 09:10:48 AM
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Saw my first of season yellow-rumped warbler (male) this morning... spring migration is well underway... still waiting for hummingbirds...
Going on a birding hike this Saturday morning with Texas Master Naturalists... we should see a lot of spring migrants...
LeslieAnne...westTexas |
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Mountain Girl
outrigged
237 Posts
JoAnn
Colville
WA
USA
237 Posts |
Posted - Apr 15 2008 : 09:55:34 AM
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| No hummingbirds yet. I thought they'd be in Texas by now. When do they normally show up in your nect of the woods? Jim put up the hummingbird feeders up(a little early in my opinion) but they surprised us last year. Cross bills are at the feeder, and when did those goldfinches turn yellow. Seemed to do it quick. Enjoy your birding outing. JoAnn |
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Libbie
outstepping
157 Posts
Anne E.
Elsinore
Utah
USA
157 Posts |
Posted - Apr 15 2008 : 10:43:25 AM
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Those photos of the snow geese are incredible! What a wonderful sight.
No hummers here in Utah, either - I usually see them in May sometime - but we're full of robins, red-winged blackbirds down by the canal, and, the true signal of spring around here, the meadowlarks. I just love meadowlarks. The town I live in is named Elsinore, and my grandmother said that when she was growing up, everyone talked about how the meadowlarks sang, "Elsinore-is-a-pretty-little-town" in the springtime. I think they still do!
XOXO, Libbie
"Farmgirl Sister #10," and proud of it!!! |
Edited by - Libbie on Apr 16 2008 12:59:35 PM |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Apr 15 2008 : 2:40:50 PM
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Sat and watched a vivacious cardinal singing about being a "pretty bird, pretty bird, pretty bird!" this morning...waiting for the hummers here too.
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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LeslieAnne
outbound
29 Posts
LeslieAnne
Shallowater
TX
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - Apr 16 2008 : 11:19:15 AM
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Mountain Girl, I'm pretty far north in Texas, almost in the Panhandle... hummers have been in Texas since the first part of March, & I think they're even this far north now, but I haven't seen any... it's usually mid-April or later when I have my first black-chinned... so, it could be any day now... I've had feeders up for a couple of weeks, just in case...
I had a male northern cardinal a few days ago... still have pine siskins, that's unusual...
Libbie, I love your grandmother's meadowlark song...
LeslieAnne...westTexas |
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Libbie
outstepping
157 Posts
Anne E.
Elsinore
Utah
USA
157 Posts |
Posted - Apr 16 2008 : 1:01:38 PM
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LeslieAnne and Jen - I am so envious of you gals who have cardinals in your areas - are they the red, "look-like-they're-on-a-Christmas-card," type? There were some multicolored cardinals in Hawaii where my grandmother lived (the one who just passed away), and my boys and I fed them in the winter of 2006 with her. What a great memory to have...
XOXO, Libbie
"Farmgirl Sister #10," and proud of it!!! |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Apr 16 2008 : 5:43:25 PM
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Scarlet red with feathered crests and chunky orange beaks - almost like marvelous little parrots! I would just love to see all of the birds in Hawaii, Libbie - I bet it was wonderful.
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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LeslieAnne
outbound
29 Posts
LeslieAnne
Shallowater
TX
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2008 : 08:39:46 AM
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Our birding hike yesterday was a big success... Lubbock has a series of long, narrow lakes called the Canyon Lakes, located in Yellowhouse Canyon... it's the best place in the city to go birding... we started out in a riparian area & then climbed out of the canyon to a more brushy, prairie-type area... most of the birds we saw were in the riparian area, either in the water or in the trees, on the cattails, or on the shore of the creek-like lakes... the weather was great... we started at 8:00 a.m. with 52 degrees & finished at 11:00 with about 75 degrees... the wind was calm & the sky was clear...
Here's the list:
yellow-crowned night heron
wild turkey
red-winged blackbird
rock dove
mallard
barn swallow
great-tailed grackle
green heron
western kingbird
northern shoveler
cattle egret
American coot
black-crowned night heron
northern mockingbird
pied-billed grebe
Canada goose
killdeer
European starling
common moorhen
American robin
turkey vulture
northern cardinal
white-crowned sparrow
ferruginous hawk
mourning dove
Eurasian collared-dove
A few of these aren't supposed to be here... in other words, the field guides don't show this part of Texas as being within their ranges... but the Canyon Lakes aren't "typical" west Texas... the birds don't care one bit about what the maps show, they just know they'll find good habitat here... pretty cool, huh?..
LeslieAnne...westTexas |
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Libbie
outstepping
157 Posts
Anne E.
Elsinore
Utah
USA
157 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2008 : 08:51:12 AM
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WOW, LeslieAnne - that sounds like such an incredible day - and what a list!!! Oh - I am envious - I am sure you all had a wonderful time - and yes - it is WAY cool that birds just "know" where they'll be happy. The Canyon Lakes sound like great habitiat for so many birds - and lucky ones, at that. I love little "pockets" of nature within larger areas. They are like little presents when you stumble upon them...YAY!
XOXO, Libbie
"Farmgirl Sister #10," and proud of it!!! |
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Jen
Expedition Leader
1384 Posts
Jennifer
Calico Rock
AR
USA
1384 Posts |
Posted - Apr 20 2008 : 09:08:01 AM
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I love birding, LeslieAnne, but for some reason I never thought of doing in any serious way with my kids. The girls are old enough now that they'd really get into learning the species & tallying them up. Thanks for the inspiration! Isn't it exciting to spot "off-the-map" birds?
One of the most unusual neat birds I've ever seen was a northern shrike in WA. They're not flamboyant by any means, but they're beautiful little predators that impale their prey on thorns. Wild!
How about you girls - what's your most interesting bird sighting?
Jen
Farmgirl Sisterhood Member #9
The View From My Boots: www.bovesboots.blogspot.com
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Libbie
outstepping
157 Posts
Anne E.
Elsinore
Utah
USA
157 Posts |
Posted - Apr 21 2008 : 07:24:55 AM
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Every year, we have bald eagles that soar over our chicken coop (YIKES!) looking for prey. I can tell when they are around, because the chickens all of the sudden become VERY quiet and run for cover under the lilac bushes. It's amazing. It happens every time - I can tell there's an eagle up there even before I look into the sky. That's my most interesting sighting because of the interaction between the two bird species.
Now I'm all inspired to get a Utah list of birds and start on it with my boys - at least the oldest one...
XOXO, Libbie
"Farmgirl Sister #10," and proud of it!!! |
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LeslieAnne
outbound
29 Posts
LeslieAnne
Shallowater
TX
USA
29 Posts |
Posted - Apr 22 2008 : 08:36:37 AM
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I was already pretty excited this morning... the cardinal was on the birdfeeder & even came back for seconds after a Brewer's blackbird ran it off... but when I sat down at the computer & looked out the window, that bright blue bird eating seed along side the sparrows & finches gave me a real thrill... it was an indigo bunting!!!.. the first one I've ever seen... now I have 4 buntings on my list--indigo, lazuli, lark, & painted... I've added all but the lark bunting in the last 2 years... I've seen lark buntings all my life... the indigo has moved around to the south side, eating seed off the patio... I wonder if they ever go to feeders or if they're only ground feeders... the cardinal has left for now & has been replaced on the feeder by a red-winged blackbird...
Jen, how neat that you have northern shrikes!.. down here in Texas, they would be cause for much excitement... we have loggerhead shrikes, a relative, & they exhibit the same behavior, impaling grasshoppers or other prey on mesquite thorns or on the barbs of a barbed-wire fence...
Libbie, I love seeing bald eagles... my parents have a playa wetland across the road from their house in the northern Texas Panhandle, & in winter, if there's water in it, it's always covered with thousands of geese & ducks... that's when the bald eagles show up & they eat very well through the winter...
To learn more about playa wetlands, go to http://www.rw.ttu.edu/smith/playa.htm ... yeah, that's what it looks like around here, except for a few places like the Canyon Lakes & other locations along Yellowhouse Draw...
I would be hard-pressed to choose a most exciting bird sighting... today's indigo bunting was really exciting, but I've been just as excited many times before... when that first hummingbird shows up this season, I'll be pretty ecstatic!!!..
LeslieAnne...westTexas |
Edited by - LeslieAnne on Apr 22 2008 08:38:37 AM |
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Elizaray
outspoken
680 Posts
Elizaray
680 Posts |
Posted - Apr 29 2008 : 07:48:05 AM
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My White Crowned Sparrow is back! And lots of other friends as well! We had a pair of doves nesting in our ever greens and I have seen some sort of bird that has bluey black feathers. He is very sleek and graceful and a bit bigger than my sparrow but certainly not a crow or raven.
I have some stale bread and the dog's food is outside. The birds are loving it! Poor dog goes out and tried to defend the yard from the birds- it's a losing battle. We have big picture windows and at least once a week a bird thumps into one, but so far it seems to be a non-fatal hit- thank goodness! I will try to snag a picture of some of my "friends" soon :D
Elizaray |
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Birdwatching: More birds arriving daily! |
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More birds arriving daily!
