HH

[quercus alba]

I didn’t realize that you were a bird watcher till I checked out your Facebook page. I lived sixty years in the same town until I moved about 60 miles north a year ago. Having to brush up on my bird identification again. Amazing at the flora and fauna difference that 60 miles can make.

I’m seeing grosbeaks and indigo buntings in numbers at my feeders for the first time and the most unusual thing I’ve seen is an English Goldfinch, probably a pet gone wild.

[HideHunter]

Evening White.. I started all this when I was just a kid.. Really got into it years ago, ran a 30 house bluebird trail in conjunction with Rita Efta... and did the whole Ebird thing for a few years. In fact, had the most species in Iowa on their "back yard bird count" a couple years. Then - the whole "eye" thing.. I still recognize all the "easy" ones.. sparrows and shore birds give me fits.. Your English goldfinch, pet or not, would be a great 'lifer".. Still "watch" everyday.. ;)

[quercus alba]

Had a painted bunting this evening, first in years. Think I may have to eliminate a feral cat hanging around, dogs keep it out of the yard but they can’t guard the whole neighborhood

[BarryBobPosthole]

We always had indigo buntings around the family farm in Arkansas but I never saw a painted bunting until I moved here to the edge of the prairie. Birddog and I spot one once in a great while on our fishing excursions.

BKB

[HideHunter]

Yep.. quite a few indigos here.. painter would be a lifer for me.. very cool..

[quercus alba]

I see these guys once in a while, they like the thick stuff around wet marshy areas





Prothonotary Warbler

10648

[HideHunter]

Love the warblers when they are migrating.. Twice, turkey hunting, I've had big flocks settle in around me.. All those colors - throw in the red starts, and it looks like someone left the door to the pet shop cage open. ;) Must be a "flight day".. Lots of new birds this morning including a pair of "orchard orioles" .. my favorite..

[quercus alba]

What do you feed the Orioles, fruit or some type of jelly/jam? I’ve got some orange slices out but so far I haven’t seen any, I know they’re around because I can hear them calling.

[Thumper]

And youse sissy tweety-bird chasers rag on me about liking cats. Sheesh! ;)

[HideHunter]

A 2013 study by Scott R. Loss and others of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service suggested that free-ranging domestic cats (mostly unowned) are the top human-caused threat to wildlife in the United States, killing an estimated 1.3 to 3.7 billion birds and 6.3 to 22.3 billion mammals annually.[4][12] These figures were much higher than previous estimates for the U.S.

Cats - SSS.. ;)

Grape jelly = oriole cocaine.. ;) I put up an oriole feeder about a week ago.. They have no interest in it.

Another cool little bird I usually see when turkey hunting.. Had two around for an hour dby.. Common yellow throat..

[Thumper]

Yessir, feral cats aren’t the problem, it’s the humans who let them become feral and breed. Much like feral hogs, big problem, but “we” caused it. Agreed though, they’re a major problem. I trap as many feral cats as possible and have them neutered/spayed, then get them inoculated. Heck, with the measles outbreak, I guess that’s more than some people do for their own children these days. Anyway, unless we can tame them (which we’ve been fairly successful at), we return them to their feral colonies. Admittedly, that doesn’t curb the wildlife predation, but the lack of breeding ability at least helps keep the numbers down. A drop in the bucket really, but it’s a start.

[quercus alba]

Me too Jim

My cat innoculator




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[Thumper]

Haters! Nuttin’ but haters around this joint! ;)

[Arty]

I didn’t realize that you were a bird watcher till I checked out your Facebook page. I lived sixty years in the same town until I moved about 60 miles north a year ago. Having to brush up on my bird identification again. Amazing at the flora and fauna difference that 60 miles can make.

I’m seeing grosbeaks and indigo buntings in numbers at my feeders for the first time and the most unusual thing I’ve seen is an English Goldfinch, probably a pet gone wild.

Wait, QA is on Facebook?


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[quercus alba]

Nope. I get on my sons account when I’m bored. I was shopping for some fly fishing stuff and thought Hide might have some pics on there. Turns out most of his posts are bird related

[Thumper]

Nope. I get on my sons account when I’m bored. I was shopping for some fly fishing stuff and thought Hide might have some pics on there. Turns out most of his posts are bird related

Weak! I ain’t buyin’ It. A closet Facebooker if I ever saw one. ;)

[HideHunter]

Most of my fly fishing stuff goes on FB "pages".. "Warm Water Fly Fisherman" "Ultralight Bluegills" "Iowa Trout" etc., etc..

Actually, Jim.. I never, for the life of me, could figure why they would trap cats.. neuter/spay them then turn the damn things loose.. They did 50-some in Oakville after the flood and many were abandoned. Recently, I talked with a gal who is involved in the "trap/neuter" thing. She explained that removing cats from and area creates a "vacuum" and other cats just move in. Spayed cats don't attract toms. Neutered toms may still kill kittens that are born (ala normal cat behavior ((Go Cat - Go! ;) ))) .. less fighting .. less smell.. Not sure I buy it all 100% - but at least I can see some reasoning behind it.. ;)

[quercus alba]

You can burn the stump and sift the ashes and you still won’t find my footprint on Facebook. You can get the Senate oversight committee involved and hire Robert Mueller and you still won’t find any trace of me on there. So either I’m awful smart or I ain’t out there.

I think we all know which

Bucky is the that caved in and got a Facebook account. I’m just a second party lurker.

:moon

[johnboy]

Speaking of birds, I had a pretty kool eagle encounter Thursday evening. About 7:30pm and I'm sitting on the deck (about 10-12 ft off the ground) sipping a glass of vino and enjoying the beautiful evening. I'm looking off to the right at the mountains when I hear a 'whooshing' sound so turn to the left only to see a mature bald eagle about to crash into my deck railing a couple of feet away. Holy crap! I notice that it has a BIG chunk of fish in its talons and figure that it can't maintain altitude with that much weight. It does a big flare and just manages to clear the corner of the deck to get past with me feeling the wind of its wings on my face.

Our house is between an eagle nest in a big tree a few streets over and the ocean so we have eagles passing over and around the house a bunch times every day as they go back and forth from the nest. Even had them drop down for a closer look which can be pretty startling if you get surprised by them (BIG bird).

Anyway, it drops right down into my back yard, barely misses the wifes cloths dryer whirlgig thing, pulls up just enough to clear the fence then drops right down to head height as it crosses the street. I figured it might get hit by a car it was so low. It gets a couple of feet altitude, still hanging on the the chicks supper, and manages to squeeze between two house across the street, below roof level. These are bungalows so pretty low roof line. It claws for altitude and just manages to crash land on the roof of a 2 story two streets over. It's kinda pooched now as there is no way it can get enough altitude with the weight it's carrying to get back to the nest.

Then, to add insult to adversity, two immature eagles (look like 2 year olds) decided to attack and steal the fish. Wow, big eagle fight with lots of flapping and screaming (loud!) and carrying on. I grabbed my binocs and had a front row seat to all the action. After some time the adult finally gave up on the fish and tried multiple times to get enough altitude to get back to the nest all the time harrassed by the juveniles. I figured one would get killed as they were not fooling around. I lost her in the trees and sure hope she made it back safe. Saw one or more of the adults yesterday and today so hope it was her.

Ain't nature grand!

[BarryBobPosthole]

I read that twice. The second time I read it in a David Attenborough voice and it was even more exciting!

Wow! You are right. Nature is grand!

BKB

[Arty]

That’s the coolest thing I’ve read all week!


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[Thumper]

What’s that old saying? Without pics, it didn’t happen? 😉

Agree, cool story. Kinda made me want to kick some teenaged gang-banger eagle ass! 😡

[BarryBobPosthole]

Teenaged eagles must be like flying Jethro Bodines the way they eat.

BKB

[DeputyDog]

That is a very cool story! We are starting to get a few eagles in this area. There are at least two known nesting pairs here now. It’s still really cool when you see one.

I can remember when I was a young kid, it was a big deal to see many deer. If someone saw a big group of whitetails it was passed along and there would be lots of people driving the area to try to see them for themselves. Now they are everywhere and the county I live in is always near the top in the state for the number of deer taken each year.

Then when I was in high school, it was the same way with turkeys. It was a big deal when the numbers got high enough to open a hunting season. The first few years it was just in select areas of my county, now there are so many, we have a Spring and Fall season and it’s no big deal to see a turkey.

We are even starting to see a few bobcats and the state re-introduced river otters a few years ago and their population is growing too.

It sure seems like conservation efforts are working at least in my neck of the woods despite all of the doom and gloom you hear about climate change and the fate of nature.


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[Thumper]

Barry has a stuttering problem. ;)

I don’t EVER remember even seeing a bald eagle in the wild as a kid. Now, I see them almost daily around the house. In fact, there are two nests, that I know of, within a 1/4 mile of my house. It’s a great success story from a conservation standpoint. Much like the alligator, as a kid, the only gators I ever saw in the wild was when my uncle would take me out on a VERY remote lake at night and “shine” a couple for me. These days, you can’t pass by a dang drainage ditch without spotting at least one. We even have a hunting season for them now.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Conservation played a part in the eagle comeback. Lots of orgs out there raised and released birds. The big deal though, was banning DDT. Almost all of our raptors are coming back in good numbers because of it.

BKB

[Thumper]

Yeppers, I figured the DDT ban was the major part of the eagle conservation effort. With gators, it was simply the fact they were made a protected species for many years.

[Chicken Dinner]

All those conservation efforts won’t mean much if what “they” say about climate change is true. Time will tell whether it is or not.


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[Thumper]

Well, gators are true dinosaurs, so if ANY species can live through it, they can.

[johnboy]

If 'climate change' kills off a buncha humans then that will be a GOOD thing for most wild critter populations. The ones that will suffer are rats, cockroaches and politicians and we could do with a lot less of them.