nlbarber: (gbbc)
Prompted by a mention on Elizabeth Moon's SFF newsgroup, I decided to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count this year. It's over the 4-day weekend, and basically you just identify the birds you see and count the maximum number of each species that you see at one time. I'm not planning any extraordinary activity for this--just seeing what shows up in my yard. I wasn't expecting much as the feeder activity remains low thanks to the mockingbird who has taken possession and runs everyone else off. That is, except the blue jays, who ignore the mocker.

However, I did a lot better than I thought I would--14 species today, plus a couple of unidentifieds. Today's results )

And yesterday's results )
nlbarber: (Default)
Birdwatching during breakfast...

Seed feeder: titmouses, chickadees, red-bellied woodpecker, blue jay, house finches, squirrel.
Suet feeder: bluebirds, downy woodpecker.
Corncob squirrel feeder: very fat squirrel.
Carcase of slow, perhaps overstuffed squirrel in street: 2 crows.
nlbarber: (Default)
My friend and co-worker Krissi had an unfortunate encounter with a red-tailed hawk on her way to work Monday. Very unfortunate for the hawk, which caught its head in the side-view mirror of her minivan and was killed. Moderately unfortunate for Krissi, who got quite a scare, will have to replace the mechanized side-view mirror, and who is still feeling guilty about the hawk even though there was nothing she could have done to avoid it.

I feel very sorry for the hawk, indeed, but I'm still marveling over the picture Krissi sent me (will place behind a cut, and will link it to a larger version if you want more detail). The hawk had just caught a mouse and was trying to fly away with it--the mouse and a piece of grass are still firmly clutched in the hawk's talons, even as the car firmly clutches the hawk in a way. The field mouse's revenge, perhaps.

The picture... )
nlbarber: (devil Fish)
There's been lots of activity at the bird feeder with our little cold snap--temps approached freezing a couple of mornings. Mostly the same characters as before, but I figured out that the woodpeckers I'd seen before were all downy woodpeckers, no hairys (hairies?). I discovered this when the red-bellied woodpecker showed up. It's about the size of the hairy, and the birds I'd seen before were much smaller.

There might have been a purple finch today, but it might also have been another house finch. Couldn't get a look at the key ID point to tell...

And in related news, Fish has discovered the prime bird-watching to be had from the breakfast counter. He knows it's forbidden and will jump down if he hears me coming (but sometimes is too entranced to hear me), but this doesn't stop him from coming back. So this afternoon I bought a squirrel feeder and attached it to an oak tree right outside the utility room windows, so he can sit on the laundry counter (allowed) and watch squirrels. Here's hoping the squirrels find the feeder attractive (it may be a little wobbly, as I cobbled together a hanger from wire loops around the tree to avoid putting screws or nails into the bark), and that Fish finds that at least as interesting as the bird feeder. It's a good bit closer to the window, which ought to help.
nlbarber: (Default)
A couple of weeks ago I finally moved the bird feeder pole from the back yard to the front, where it's visible from the breakfast bar in the kitchen. Now I can sit in my lovely new kitchen with the wonderful stone countertop, and watch the birds.

It took a week before they seemed to find the feeder, and last weekend the visitors were mostly Carolina chickadees, with a Carolina wren and a tufted titmouse for variety. But now everyone seems to know where the feeder is, and I'm digging for the binoculars and the Sibley (bird book) with great regularity. I've never been much more than a bird-feeder bird watcher, so my ID's are rather tentative as I scramble to spot distinguishing characteristics on "new" birds. So far, in addition to the 3 above, I've seen cardinals, a house finch, a goldfinch, blue jays (they haven't tried the feeder while I've been watching--they're a litle big for it), and woodpeckers--I think both a downy and a hairy, but I'm only sure of the downy. It's hard to check beak length when they're sticking said beak in the suet cake with great rapidity, and my eye isn't attuned enough yet to say "oh, that one's bigger, it must be a hairy woodpecker". Oh, and I think I saw both a white-breasted nuthatch and a brown-headed nuthatch, but these are both new birds for me so I'm not completely sure.
nlbarber: (Default)
Lots of tension in the falcon nest-watching on the Kodak site. Four of the six eggs hatched at the end of last week. Then one eyas died yesterday, perhaps smothered by the adult female, Mariah. Mariah has an injured leg as of a couple of days ago, and probably can't support herself normally on the nest. She's still managing to hunt successfully, but her landings are poor if she has prey in the one good talon.

Then just a few minutes ago one of the last 2 eggs hatched--several of the falcon-watchers had decided they might not, as the eggs weren't getting incubated all that well with an injured mom and lively siblings around. But no, we now have 4 live eyasses, one egg, and a sad little carcass.
nlbarber: (Default)
The Kodak Birdcam falcons have 3 hatchlings, with 3 more eggs to go. They raised 5 young each of the last 3 years, but this is the first time they've had 6 eggs.

One egg hatched Saturday and two more today. I haven't caught an actual hatching yet, but I've gotten peeks at an eyas when a parent was repositioning on the nest. Fuzzy eyas pictures can be seen on the Yahoo discussion group. (Kodak had to cut back their support for the birdcam, and their discussion board is one thing that went.)

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