and nary a Bushtit in the past month
discuss
Printable View
and nary a Bushtit in the past month
discuss
Most of my favorite moments in life involve dusk in the desert and owls.
Bushtit has been plentiful at my house lately.
*Vibes*
We used to have birdfeeders until they became Hawk Feeders instead. Kids would be watching some pretty birdy and BAM, hawk. It was kind of traumatic for them I think.
For the kids, I mean. Definitely traumatic for the birds that got snagged.
....Until they became mole feeders. Tunnels everywhere. :the_finge moles.Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman
All we've had lately are boring house finches, purple finches, a slew of LBJs (little brown jobbers) and the occasional skittish cardinal. BORING, I need to move back to the sticks.
We did have what I suspect was a preggo black squirrel hanging around our feeders. Her fun bags were hanging out for the world to see. I gotta say, I've seen a lot of shit in my day, squirrel tits was a new one.
At that house we had a big picture window that faced the back yard, and when a hawk popped one of their buddies the rest of 'em would scatter frantically and inevitably one or two would smash into the window and often break their necks and lie there quivering and dying while the kids screeched like banshees.
The birdfeeders had to go.
Hey, start IDing those LBJ's. We are in an urban setting (West Seattle) but less than a mile from a ravine with old growth Doug Fir, Western Red Cedar and Western Hemlock. The birds from there have worked there way to our place during the past ten years. I haven't updated my yard list, but I'm pretty sure it's 40+ species (including flyovers).Quote:
Originally Posted by dumpy
Accipiters and falcons gotta eat too. A male Cooper's Hawk stalks our feeder each winter. We've lost a few Dark-eyed Juncos and he once got an Orange-crowned Warbler. You can lessen the feeding birds' exposure to hawk attacks by placing the feeder in a spot where there is a clear view of the sky and away from brush. A feeder under a canopy is often a trap.Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman
Housecats kill far more songbirds than accipiters, falcons and buteos kill.
ETA: ice, those window hits could have been abated with strategic feeder placement, one with an exit route away from the window and/or some stickers on the window.
Oh I thought it was pretty cool, but try explaining that to a 6-year-old girl.
One day I was standing on the landing of the stairs of my parent's house looking down through a big window onto the front yard/garden. I was watching a lizard run around between the flowers when suddenly it disappeared and in its place there was a red tailed hawk. It stood facing me with the lizard in its talons, looked me straight in the eyes, lifted the lizard and using its beak and talons tore the lizard in half, gulping down the half in its mouth first then swallowing the back legs and tail, still running. It never broke eye contact.
Wow, 40 is impressive.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Steve
Yeah, I don't doubt what can be had in urban and suburban enviroments, but I'm currently in kind of a dead zone, likely because of proximity to the interstate. Interstate, fast food hell, etc in one direction, one subdivision followed by miles or ruralness on the other. I can understand why birds don't come our way.
Although on the other side of the interstate nestled between it and fast food hell is a river that gets Great Blue Herons on the reg. nature is funny like that.
Had a Bald Eagle fly over my house a couple of weeks ago. We're NW of Chicago and have never seen one here before.
He was spotted here a number of years ago, too. We have a ski jump by our house where alot of potential olympians compete and he was a guest jumper when he was hot.
You're a lucky man.:yourock:Quote:
Originally Posted by warthog
Jenna?...Quote:
Originally Posted by warthog
Yeah, interstate corridors can be sterile areas. I've worked at keeping out the garbage birds (House Sparrows, Starlings) with Starling proof suet feeder and using only black oil seed in my Droll Yankee.Quote:
Originally Posted by dumpy
My 40+ yard IDs include flyovers (Osprey, Bald Eagle, three gull species, two cormorant species, GB Heron, Peregrine Falcon, several duck species) but we've also had some good ones perched on or over my modest 5000 sq. ft. urban lot, e.g. Merlin, Red Crossbill, Hutton's Vireo, Chestnut-back Chickadee, Western Wood Pewee, Evening Grosbeak and a half dozen warbler species. None of those are rare outside the city limits, but pretty good IDs for my habitat. I need to update the list -- hell, we might be >50.
Oh no, It's GLOBAL WARMINGS:eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Steve
We get both Bewicks and "God damn Bushtits" in a Slavic accent. (I don't know why, but one of the ornithology proffs during my undergrad, had something against bushtits.) Frankly I like tits with out bush, but that's just me.
I have never compiled a yard list, but I can say we had one day were I counted 25 species in a single day light period in our yard. I could likely have added a couple of owls had I paid attention at night. Lazuli bunting was one of the coolest that day. (I saw a painted bunting once in Mexico, wow is all I can say.)
I like a full service bird feeder. When we realized we had Cooper's hawks nesting the first thing my wife did was fill the empty feeders. We get tons are weed birds like house sparrows and house finches, so we felt okay feeding a few of those to the Cooper's. Funny enough after a few days we had little bird activity around the feeder...go figure?
Didn't realize you were counting flyovers, still pretty damn good though. Do you actually keep a list? Damn, I thought I had bird nerd tendencies.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Steve
Never agreed with the concept of "garbage birds" (I want to feed them all), but am a big fan of having tube feeders so the lil guys can get some action too. Although, IIRC the pregnant black squirrel was at a DY, but any and every feeder can be defeated.
Black oil sunflower should be everyone's daily driver. When it comes down to what the birds actually eat, it's the most cost effective. Thistle/Niger and safflower are good "specialized" seeds. Most mixes are garbage.
You birders are bushtit crazy.
I rank above hack birder status, but I'm no tweeter. I stopped keeping a life list 30 years ago. Silly tweeter shit. I keep pretty good track of birds I ID in alpine, subalpine and montane zones. Tweeters don't wander far beyond the trail cuz the number of species in our mountains is limited and most tweeters are about numbers. Fuck that. But a few of the local experts sometimes pick my brain about what I see up high.
I started a yard list for the sake of the babe, who has no knack for birding but truly loves experiencing nature. (Maybe there's a correlation there.)
hutash, if you are in SoCal and near good nesting and feeding zones, you are in great birding territory. A bud of mine in LA proper has a yard list of 100+
dumpy, yup, 100% black oil seed is the way to go for the main feeder. House Sparrows don't eat it IME. Avoid any mixes with millet, which attracts HS pigs. We also have thistle (niger) for the Goldfinches (year round) and Pine Siskins (winter visitors about every 3 years or so) and a starling-proof suet feeder, which works great -- holes just the right size and cage just the right distance from the suet to keep out the starlings but allows the Flickers, Downies and occasional Pileated to reach in. It's not unusual to see 10 Bushtits in the damn thing but they don't each much. I've got nothing against Bushtits.
We ditched the hummingbird feeder after the babe planted some stuff they love more than sugar water. Got a male Anna's year round. Bold fucker. He was 5 feet from my head when I walked out the door this morning.
Well, I'm talking about non-indigenous species, e.g., Starlings and House Sparrows, which have crowded out the native species. Starlings and HS pigdogs don't need my help.Quote:
Originally Posted by dumpy
Weed birds vs garbage birds, Weeds= European (house) sparrow and European starling because they are both introduced. Garbage= house finches and American coots because they are a pain in the ass. While native, they are a pain in the ass like gophers or Beechy ground squirrels.
Mandarin ducks are not weeds, because like flowers they aren't taking over and have aesthetic value.
As an aside, my daughter who is in Pullman reports an increase in snowy owls due to weather up north. She works in the vet hospital and at the raptor center at WSU and they have had several in the area that need treatment.
Snowys are cool, definitely not a garbage or weed birds.
Ventura is not a great birding spot, but not bad either. We pretty much stopped feeding (except when the hawks are nesting.) Mostly we just plant a very bird/wildlife friend landscape. We get tons of hummers (and so do I) just by planting lots of tubular red flowers. Anna's most common, but Allen's Rufus and calliope show up at times.
Southern California in general is a great birding spot because we have some many different habitats.
I have nothing constructive to add, but a good surprise present for a skiing birder would be a new pair of ON3P Wren's leaned up against the feeder one morning... a new species for the list, as it were.
Fair enough. I kinda like mudhens.
Yeah, western WA has had a Snowy Owl invasion this winter. I haven't seen one this year and it's not my thing to drive for two hours to see an irregular or accidental. There was a Tropical Kingbird in B-ham last winter (no shit). People were lining up to see it but I didn't bother to drive 10 minutes out of my way. But I usually carry my compact binos when I run, tour, hike or climb.
My Chesapeake bay retriever was named "Coot". It fit him, as may Dad used to call coots "worthless mudhens."
I prefer a set of Great Tits, myself: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/sussex....reat%20Tit.htmQuote:
Originally Posted by Big Steve
that was smoooveQuote:
Originally Posted by jfost
Good lord.Quote:
Originally Posted by dumpy
I kept a life list as a kid and am still pissed my old green beat up peterson vanished from my childhood stuff when i went off to the caribbean. Saw an Ivory gull, saw whet owl, great gray, pileated wood pecker, red crossbills and lots of stuff that was not supposed to be in CT.
Hawaii has some rare native birds and lots of introduced, I have Java Sparrows nesting in the eves, colorfull and busy little bastards. We need a few falcons around here.
Narry a tuffted titmouse either. Rats.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...se-27527-2.jpg
Java Sparrow-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/jersey/content/...70_470x470.jpg
I've seen three owls in bridle trails while running in the last 3 months or so. I dont know what kind because all 3 have been around dark but they are big, quiet and cool to see. Before that I havent seen a wild one in washington. One was just outside the kitchen door in the tree. Didnt want to scare it off so I left the lights off. I dont keep a list but I like trying to id birds when I see them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Steve
Gotta say, I've only been exposed to local bird nerdery, never hunted it down on the interwebs or anything. It's kind of weird hearing West Coast folks talk about what their "common" birds at their feeders are.
Some overlap (all of the woodpeckers you mentioned, starlings, evening grosbeaks, etc), but bushtits? Honestly, I was raised by fairly hardcore birders and I've never heard of them before this thread. I would remember that name, even "tufted titmouse" still makes me chuckle.
So Steve, you got a pileated at your suet feeder? Damn, that must've been a sight. They are impressive even when sighted in the woods at a distance. I get excited when I just hear one or see their holes (in trees, pervs).
One of my all time favorite birds.
The Pileated in the woods near my home sounded like thunk-thunk-thunk when he hit, not like the little bity woodpeckers that were taptaptap super fast. I remember how they flew around, amazing.
If you get a field guide to the birds you see all the wack names, i remember odd things, flycatchers spiral up a tree, some other little dude goes headfirst down the tree... but the big stuff, birds of prey have all the moves. In the fall we would check screech owl tapes out of the library in middle school and go out in the woods and try to call them in and shine lights on them, super cool.
There's an app for that. iBird West. $10 but it paid for itself the first time it got the Mountain Chickadees to sing along in harmony.
We have pileated's around my house, those things are impressive, they're like dinosaurs or something.
Every once in a blue moon I like to play with the mocking birds in my yard, whistle a few notes of something a few times until they pick it up, it's pretty cool when they whistle it back to you. I was trying to teach them the intro to "Crazy Train" last time, it sounded pretty cool because there's like three different pairs within close range of the house and they were all doing it but they couldn't quite get the timing down between themselves so it was like a chorus or something.
Nuthatches, talk about a unique evolutionary niche, or maybe god was drunk when he created them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crampedon
It's all fun and games until they learn to mock your alarm clock, then the little fuckers go off before dawn and the bastards don't have a snooze button.Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman