Daily Pics - 3

It was -2 F. when this resident Nuthatch stopped by for breakfast this morning. That's why he looks like a ball of feathers.

Burrr!!! that's cold!! Glad he found your suet to keep him going.

That's how I feel in the morning, too!


Deb
PS/Very few visitors to the feeders today. Too warm maybe.

This message was edited Feb 24, 2007 4:21 PM

Oh how adorable Gras! I love your duck picture too Murmur!

Deb, I noticed that around here there birds have been pairing up and checking out all the bird houses in the yard. Also I have seen NO woodpeckers lately. Maybe it has been warm enough for them to find bugs and not bother with the suet feeders anymore. We are supposed to get a lot of rain tonight with high winds. I worked outside in the yard all day and listened to a pair of hawks calling back and forth.

Lily: Only a few sparrows today and the odd chickadee. I hear and see the occasional woodpecker up in the trees, but - as you said- they've been absent from the suet. Wrens, too. Popping in and out but not hanging around the feeders much. You must be right. Must be nest building time!

(They don't seem to like our birdhouses, tho. Probably bad placement on my part.)

Deb

Great pic of the Nuthatch Gras!

Deb, I keep saying to myself, "hurry up blue birds before all the real estate is off the market!!" lol! I think we are close enough that we are getting similar weather and bird behavior maybe! Although my son is going to school in Chapel Hill NC and I have noticed that they are generally warmer than here in Kingsport.

Another spring phenomenon I had forgotten about... the mockingbirds calling out their territory and faking me out. Part of their repetoire is the ruby throat and even though I know it is way too early I still find myself dropping my tools and whhipping around to look for one. Then I realize that its "you know who". Next they will be calling "neener neener neener".

Lily: The mockingbirds are talented. A firend of mine swears she has one near her house that imitates a cell phone. There's one in our yard that even sings out at night. Not sure who he's imitating at that time...in the dark. Kingsport is up in the mountains or the foothills, right?

This is the only one who volunteered for a portrait today (other than those darn geese who've moved in). Though when I looked at it just now, I see the peach tree has buds. Yahoo!

Deb

Managed to get a picture of this pretty guy today. Everytime I try to sneak out to get some pictures of the birds at the feeders they fly away.

Ahh, Mr. C!
Never dissapoints, does he!
Deb

Help me here. Is this a Red Shouldered Hawk? Photo was taken today in the Myrtle Creek/Tri City area of SW Oregon, and according to my reference books, the RSH isn't supposed to be in Oregon.

Anyway, I think it's a gorgeous creature! Love the markings.

Yep, definite.

Looks like theyve been colonising southwest Oregon in recent years - Great Backyard Bird Count totals for OR:
1998 0
1999 0
2000 3
2001 4
2002 9
2003 3
2004 8
2005 11
2006 13
2007 22
http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/report?cmd=showReport&reportName=SpeciesCity&species=reshaw&state=US-OR&year=2007

Addenum: do please report it to your local area bird recorder, they're still obviously scarce enough to be of great interest in monitoring their colonisation. Note standard spelling Red-shouldered (not Red Shouldered :-)

Resin


This message was edited Feb 25, 2007 9:58 AM

Thanks Resin!

That list is interesting. Scappoose and Warrenton are up on the Columbia.

I don't know who the local recorder is, but I sent photo and email to the Ranger Station.

We're seeing other raptors here that aren't usually in the area. A neighbor reported to me he'd seen large dark hawks with a white tail base. I got images too, but way to distant for an ID. I hope they stay around long enough for me to get some decent photos. They must be Harris or Black.

Seems there's already a very few Red-shouldereds getting up into WA - none in '07, but 2 in '06 and one in '04:
http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/report?cmd=showReport&reportName=SpeciesCity&species=reshaw&state=US-WA&year=2006

Try posting all the same, it might be possible! Though Harris's Hawk is popular with falconers, so there's a high risk of an escape from captivity (we get odd ones found over here from time to time!).

Resin

You might enjoy the bird photos on wunderground weather site. http://www.wunderground.com
Click on the photo on the far left, and then search birds.
There are some great images. I check them out every couple days. I had just shown DH a series of RSH before I left the house to add it to my life list!

They really are very bad photos. I only kept them in case the "birdman" at the Ranger Station poopoo'd my sighting. I did report, and doubt they were escapees because there was a pair.

A couple years ago I had a kingfisher visit here 2-3 times, but it was decidedly green and not the blue of our Belted Kingfisher. The birdman was certain I'd seen some kind of heron.
I wasn't able to get pictures. ;-(

All the more of an interesting challenge! :-)

Resin

I believe this is a red shouldered hawk that managed to chase away my finches while he was in the area.

I will leave the positive id to someone like Resin, but I am loving that purple jewel eye! LOL!

I'd be amazed if anyone could get an ID from these! ;-)

Neighbor did tell me that the white tail base was visible from both top and bottom. He was able to view the birds on the ground from his work area.

Resin, do you ever sleep? LOL

The other bad pix.

Yep, first-winter (so it doesn't have the reddish shoulders yet)


Dare I say it, yep, and it's a pale adult Red-tailed Hawk . . . the pale buffy undertail coverts are catching the sun, making them look relatively even paler than they are (compare the cover pic on Sibley's North American Bird Guide*), and what little light there is shining through the tail shows an orangey-red tone without any obvious barring. Note also that the pale area overlaps the wings; on Harris's Hawk (and even more so on Black Hawk), the white is further down the tail, not overlapping the wings. The underwing pattern - dark covering the wing bones, then fairly pale, but dark-tipped secondaries and primaries, is also a Red-tailed Hawk character.

* Pic here: http://www.clarkson.edu/news/photos/sibleybook.jpg

Resin

This one was identified as a red-shouldered hawk.

Back view. There are a pair around every day, but can't get a real good shot.

Yep, Red-shouldered Hawk. The back view gives a nice look at the diagnostic black-with-narrow-white-bars on the tail.

Resin

This thrasher was a surprise, hadn't seen him in quite a while.
Deb

Same thrasher, waiting in the azaleas before coming to the feeder.
Not the clearest shot, but it was a pretty long zoom in low light. :)
Deb

Nice pics Deb!

Feeding time.

Cute pic Marilyn!

A new Daily Pics Page has been started. PLEASE go here.

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/696070/

What is it Marilyn??
Joyce

Its a Goldfinch