Daily Bird Pics (and conversation) #447

Great pictures on that last one everyone. You can see them all here-
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1285041/

Think I'll start off with a cooper's hawk that I had the privilege of releasing back to the wild yesterday. Our local vet has taken over as the wildlife rescue center too and she calls me when the birds are ready to be released back at the site where they were picked up for various reasons. So far it's been two hawks and a long-earred owl which took off so fast when my hubbie opened the cage that I didn't even get to see anything but brown feathers. Here's a couple photos of the cooper's.

I forgot to add that our vet wasn't sure what happened to this particular hawk because she normally does the doctoring on the birds and then sends them out of town to a rehabilitation center outside of our town to get well. Once the bird is recovered, the rehab center calls her to come pick it up and release it.


Congratulations to everyone that participated in the photo contest. There sure were some beautiful photos this year.


Continuing, here's a white pelican, a dark-eyed junco and a northern flicker.

This message was edited Nov 14, 2012 10:20 PM

Exceptional photos, duc. Fantastic clarity. And, lucky you to get close up opportunities as the rescued birds are being released. Nothing beats close up ......

Wow duc, those are amazing!

Fantastic shots, duc, and what a privilege to be there for the release of the birds following rehab.

Gorgeous duc!!

Crow enjoying the suet......

Thank you Duc for the new thread, Cooper hawks are some striking birds but I do prefer your intergrated Northern Flickers. Thank you Resin on the i.d. of the YBSS from the previous thread. Those mid-size woodpeckers seem to be fond of the dogwoods' berries, Northern Flickers too enjoy those berries this time of year. Here are a few photos to share;

Northern Flicker's hanging on the limbs for dogwood berries;

It has been more than a little bit since I've participated in one of the Daily threads. I tend to get overwhelmed with online stuff, so back off a bit from various sites.

Those are beautiful shots, Duc. What an experience to be able to release the hawks. The closest we've done is transporting a Cooper's to a rehabber from a vet in town. We didn't get a good look at it because it was in a box and it was dark out. They suspect it hit a window and was released the next day.

Nanny, do you have crows visiting every day? There are a few out our way, but they've never come near the house.

Lily, very nice Flicker. We haven't seen any since summer. I miss them since they were such regular visitors then.

We're still busy watching the birds at home and away, but home is always my favorite place. :)
The first is an away bird- we never get Chickadees here. We get some amazing birds, but never these guys.
The second is a bird that got him/herself into a predicament and needed my assistance. I had my son take a quick picture before I let this Harris's sparrow go. Those birds are too curious for their own good. I didn't know if I had a biter, so I put a glove on first. But it was a docile little thing; I hoped it learned to stay out of trouble. .

Duc, thanks for starting the new thread.
Those Crow are quite intelligent! I saw one manipulate the suet cage, to get to the goodies inside. Good shot Nanny!
Lily_love nice setting for the Flicker pic.
Congrat on getting the BC Chickadee at your feeder, Chillly. And hope that little Sparrow learned a lesson. He was fortunate to have you around that's for sure.

A few Grosbeak, Pine GB, Evening GB,
A Grackle decided to brave the winter here.
A Mourning Dove resting in the tree,
And the Redpolls have arrived!!!

Yay Redpolls!

lol, yes,yay happy danse here, Mrs_ ED

Chillybean, yes our crows are here everyday!

Keep hoping this will be my year for a redpoll and an evening grosbeak!! lol


Gold Finch & Tufted Titmouse

Chillybean, I'd be glad to send you some of those Flickers, they're lovely birds. Nan, I would love to see some Goldfinches around here, but haven't lately. Burn, love your various Grosbeaks, the only kind I saw every so often are the Rosebreasted. Guess I'm too far South to ever get to see the Redpolls? I'd so love to see one.

I was glad to have found a male Eastern Towhee this morning but no pix. I begun to recognize some of the birds' call, and the Towhee is one I can identify. That makes me happy.

Here is a male Northern Cardinal hiding behind the suet. Then my fav. ducks a Mallards couple.

Nanny, great shot of your crow. Mine love the suet too but they're particular where the suet cake is-if it's hanging from a pole, they don't touch it, but if it's on the fence where they can stand and eat, they'll devour it. They have me trained-one cake for them, one for the other birds-hanging.lol Loved your pictures of the goldfinces and titmouse too-so cute.

Lily, that flicker in the dogwood is just beautiful. I didn't realize they had that many berries on them. Glad you're enjoying the cardinals and the mallard pair too.

Chilly, love your little chickadee and that sparrow was very lucky. Glad it made it.

Burn, love those grosbeaks and that grackle is so beautiful. Congrats on the gorgeous redpolls arriving.

I had a new life bird fly up to this tree as I was photographing a downy woodpecker. It's a townsend's warbler. It was pretty far away but I managed to get a couple photos of it.
Here's one of several black phoebes that are enjoying the fruit in my neighbors yard.
Here's a nuttall's woodpecker that came up on the deck looking for peanuts.

That warbler is a great bird, ducbucln. And congrats on the Redpolls, Burn.

Hairy Woodpecker (If you remember a conversation this summer, this is one of those feeders I bought with the fluff), Downy Woodpecker looking a little funny and a Cedar Waxwing. The Waxwing was seen in town. My son took this one and I had never seen the tail flared like this before.

Great photos Chilly, including your son's!

I know some of you are going to be traveling this week so I wanted to wish all of you a Happy and safe Thanksgiving.
We have ten wild turkeys that come to raid the birdseed under the feeders. The deer don't know what to think of them and seem more curious about them.

oh my gosh, that deer is adorable. What kind of deer do you have out there?

Here is a belted kingfisher I was lucky enough to see. Not a lifer, but first of 2012.

awwww.....love the turkeys and the deer!!

Good catch with the Belted Kingfisher, Mrs. Ed. Oh duc, how adorable is that little deer with the wild birds!

Here I've couple of Mallard pair, then Mallards and friend the American Coot. Then to my delight several of the Eastern Blue Birds were taking turn to check out a new Nestbox DH has put up and they even explored the gourd houses that were intended for Martins. I got a glimpse of a gold finch in the back yard, as well as a pair of Ruby Crowned Kinglets. I was sure they were, but didn't stop for a photo op. I was tickled pink to have seen them though.

I seem to be having trouble uploading pictures so I will just tell you that the Northern Flicker is still coming around, he is so pretty and he is not scared of us at all. When the page lets me, I will post a picture of him, he is so beautiful and I have tried so hard to entice him that I can't help taking pics of him.

Mrs. Ed, we have the black-tailed aka mule deer in our area. That is one great photo of your kingfisher.

Lily, cute photos of your mallards and I love the gourd houses!

Emptyeyes, glad you're still seeing your flicker.

Thanks duc, the Gourd houses were meant for Purple Martins, the Blues birds are much loved, but I hope they won't claim those houses.
1. Red Bellied wp
2. Yellow Bellied Sapsucker
3. Downy wp.

I have a quick question, if the pileated woodpecker has visited your suet cake feeder on the tree twice, do you think he will come back? Right now I have a starling that has discovered the suet and is trying my patience. Unfortunately they are not of the mammal family so hot sauce will not bother them. I think when that suet is gone I will leave it emply for a couple of days and see if he goes away.

Lily, loved your photos and am especially glad that red-bellied is still coming around your feeders.

Emptyeyes, I don't know if taking away the suet will stop that starling from coming around. Our three just stay most of the year in the same area of trees. Can't answer if the pileated will return but my downys and nuttall's woodpeckers all return for our peanut butter log each year so I'd say there's hope for you.

Here's a downy woodpecker enjoying a persimmon and a white-crowned sparrow.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

Just one pic from me, actually got some shots of an American Kestrel sitting on the power line in the neighbors yard.

Nice one gardenpom!! I am seeing so many Kestrels this fall!

Haven't seen any Kestrel here, so glad you've seen them. Love those wp and the sweet looking white-crowned sparrow Duc.

I seem to have an abundance of house finches this year, and the northern flicker keeps coming back. I still have not gotten any of the pileated, if he shows up it is usually when I am not home. I had a video of the northern flicker eating the suet, but I can't upload it to this page because it is too big, so I will just have to settle for still shots. So here are some I took today and as you can see my winter birds are showing up, thankfully no Juncos yet, they usually mean a lot of snow, and I don't want any of that. 1.Of course the first is the male northern flicker,2here are the house finches,3.and last but not least the Cardinal.

ducbucln, We'll be getting a couple persimmons in our organic bin this coming week, I guess if we don't like them, I'll set them out for the birds. :) I'd have to figure out a way to hang them or bring the uneaten overnight, so our neighborhood possum doesn't partake.

emptyeyes, If only the Juncos heralded in the snow... We've had the dears since October and not a single flake in the air. :(

We've been doing nothing but feeding mostly HOSP, so everything has been brought in except for what the HOSP haven't figured out yet. The sock feeder for finches, peanuts in the shell, and the various woodpecker feeders. The house sparrow numbers have drove most of the other smaller birds off. Today, they keep coming to scout for food, and I don't think we can get them to totally move on because we have such great hiding spots for them and liquid water. Our Harris's sparrows have moved on. I really liked those guys and were about the only reason I tolerated the HOSP, since they flocked together.

That is mostly a groan, not really seeking advice. We've tried just about everything we can think of to discourage them. They've eaten Nyjer, safflower, suet in a Starling stumper, etc. etc. etc.

Here is a happy-to-see-bird when we went birding on Thanksgiving day. It took more than a year, but now I finally have a decent Chickadee photo for our life list album. I don't remember if I posted this second one. This little Junco dear figured out how to eat the seed/nut/fruit ball thingie.

I have a seed bell and I would love to put it out but have to figure out how to do it so the squirrels don't chew the tab that holds the bell to the shepherds hook or whatever we put it on. Thought of dipping it in the crushed red pepper flakes or pouring hot sauce over it, any suggestions?

emptyeyes,
From audubon.org... "“Use no additives in seed or nectar. Capsicum [the genus for hot peppers] irritates the eyes of humans and is likely to do so with birds as well. We do not recommend adding capsicum to bird seed.”" Though prior to this the site said no studies have proven this. But then subjecting any animal to this type of study wouldn't be good, either.

I always tend to be on the cautious side. Could you use vaseline or something on your shepherd's hood to keep the squirrels off instead, or put up some type of baffle?

I would have to wire tie the smaller shepherds hook to the bigger one, the larger one only has one hook on it and we were thinking of attatching the smaller one to it and there have another hook, I think I could smear some vasoline on it, I sure don't want the birds to get their eyes irritated with the red pepper.

Fantastic shots folks.

Emptyeyes, I enjoy all of the birds and squirrels that come to my feeders. They are all God's creatures and enjoy a good meal. It matters not who eats what, they are all enjoyable to photograph and to watch. Try it, it may just make the birding adventure more enjoyable for you.

Well said GG. Besides I'm too lazy to try and fight the house sparrows. I can't wait until the woodpeckers show up more often to deter the sparrows from the suet. My squirrels are pretty well-behaved.

A sad weekend as we finally had to shut the pump off in the pond, so not as many birds flitting around the stream.

And an interesting note, Friday was a huge day in the Chicago area for Sandhill Crane migration. The bird listserv was all abuzz and reported about 10K to pass through that day alone. I would like to have been in that flight path!

Re. the Sandhill Crane migration, being IN the flight path would be great--being UNDER it, not so much fun. LOL

Hahaha, love your sense of humor GG. emptyeyes, I agreed with the two ladies. There must be abundant for all to enjoy. I do have my favorites, but I wouldn't try to irradicate one species over the other. In fact, I try to lure the squirrels away with left-over bread. Is that acceptable, will they be sick on eating bread, anyone knows? Thanks.

Mrs. Ed. I wished if I could see those cranes in person. How lucky can one get? But like GG already said,

I don't mind squirrels on the ground eating spill, but don't like them on a feeder. We have a baffel on our tube feeder & DH cut a small bit of the tree from which they were jumping on to it. the higher branches are at the wrong angle for them to cling to the baffle.

Purple finch has shown up & red bellied woodpecker returned to the suet feeder.

OMG.....would love to see 10K Sandhill Cranes!!

I saw a small flock in WI about 3 yrs ago. I had never seen them before.

Taken at Tule Lake yesterday.