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The Birds

Posted: March 22nd, 2015, 11:29 am
by Colino
Every year it always amazes me in the spring, how I don't miss the birds until they come back. Four Robins showed up last week and a flock of Starlings. Flocks of Canada Geese are flying north almost every day and yesterday I heard a Killdeer. Soon the Meadow Larks will be back closely followed by the Red Winged Blackbirds so that when we have our morning coffee on the back patio there will be a cacophony of songs. There will be mid air dog fights between the Brewers Blackbirds and the Brown Headed Cowbirds as they try to lay their eggs in Black Bird nests. The common Snipe, (who we call horny bird) because he flies all day until dark calling for a mate will keep us company as the sun sets. As I write this there is a Flicker pounding out a staccato on our chimney cap, it's his love song he performs trying to attract a partner. We anxiously await the fast flying antics of the Barn Swallows who will arrive in early May because once we see them it is time to plant the garden. Spring is a wonderful time.
Colino

Re: The Birds

Posted: March 22nd, 2015, 12:28 pm
by Allen Dick
I'm flying north, too. On Tuesday.

Re: The Birds

Posted: March 22nd, 2015, 1:45 pm
by Colino
Allen Dick wrote:I'm flying north, too. On Tuesday.
I didn't know Old Buzzards came North that soon, just kidding, have a safe trip home. :mrgreen:

Re: The Birds

Posted: March 23rd, 2015, 8:54 am
by Allen Dick
I'm looking forward to being home again. It's been almost a month.

Re: The Birds

Posted: March 24th, 2015, 2:23 pm
by karen
We have Robins all winter in the coastal areas of Maine. They feed on crabapples, mountain ash and any leftover berries that they can find. They are great spreaders of bittersweet vines. In one of my yards a flock spent part of the winter feeding on a big stand of sumac.
When riding in the car coming from the airport a few weeks ago I was excited to see a pair of turkey vultures. I had seen plenty of them in Florida but here we only see them in warmer weather. I thought SPRING! But we are still having below freezing weather. Vultures have bald heads, I am sure they would appreciate a cap. (Similar to when the Old Buzzard Allen rode in the back of Aaron's truck when we went into a bee yard. It was very nice of you to give up your warm seat.) Friends have reported seeing blue birds at their feeders so though it was 9 F this morning spring is really going to come, the birds say so.

Re: The Birds

Posted: March 24th, 2015, 3:00 pm
by Colino
karen wrote:We have Robins all winter in the coastal areas of Maine. They feed on crabapples, mountain ash and any leftover berries that they can find. They are great spreaders of bittersweet vines. In one of my yards a flock spent part of the winter feeding on a big stand of sumac.
When riding in the car coming from the airport a few weeks ago I was excited to see a pair of turkey vultures. I had seen plenty of them in Florida but here we only see them in warmer weather. I thought SPRING! But we are still having below freezing weather. Vultures have bald heads, I am sure they would appreciate a cap. (Similar to when the Old Buzzard Allen rode in the back of Aaron's truck when we went into a bee yard. It was very nice of you to give up your warm seat.) Friends have reported seeing blue birds at their feeders so though it was 9 F this morning spring is really going to come, the birds say so.
You are lucky to have Robins all winter, here it's just Magpies, Sparrows and Horned Larks until the others come back. We get Turkey Vultures here too but not until it gets much warmer. They nest in some cliffs along the South Saskatchewan river. I have a flash bulb memory about a Vulture that happened the day they flew those planes into the World Trade Center. I was driving to work that day and just as they announced the 1st plane had struck the tower I caught a movement out of my left eye and there was a Vulture hovering 50 feet away about 8 feet off the ground. I've always wondered if it was a foreshadow of these troubled times.
Colino

Re: The Birds

Posted: March 27th, 2015, 11:03 am
by Colino
A pair of Common Grackles showed up this morning. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Comm ... ifehistory

Re: The Birds

Posted: March 27th, 2015, 7:15 pm
by Colino
Colino wrote:A pair of Common Grackles showed up this morning. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Comm ... ifehistory
A bang up day for migrating birds today, after the Grackles, we seen Meadowlarks, Chipping Sparrows and a Brown Thrasher. Spring is here!

Re: The Birds

Posted: March 27th, 2015, 7:25 pm
by Allen Dick
They must still be on their way here. I'm not seeing anything much yet.

Re: The Birds

Posted: March 27th, 2015, 10:07 pm
by Colino
Allen Dick wrote:They must still be on their way here. I'm not seeing anything much yet.
Maybe you're still too cool there, we got up to 21C today but still a bit windy.

Re: The Birds

Posted: March 28th, 2015, 4:10 pm
by Colino
Slate Colored Juncos were in the apple tree this morning. Red Wing Blackbirds should be back any day now.

Re: The Birds

Posted: March 30th, 2015, 6:36 pm
by Colino
Look at and listen to this beauty.
Colino
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bof3k62upx45t ... g.MOV?dl=0

Re: The Birds

Posted: April 1st, 2015, 3:17 pm
by Colino
5 Red Winged Blackbirds showed up today, sang a brief chorus and moved on.

Re: The Birds

Posted: May 6th, 2015, 10:00 am
by Colino
A great day yesterday, caught a swarm, the government changed and the Barn Swallows are back.http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Swallow/id Even though they are not our nesting pairs, it's time to plant the garden, because Swallows have such a rapid metabolism that they need a dependable food source to nest. That means the weather will be settling down soon. Also most of the birds are back, I seen a White Capped Sparrow this morning and the Robins are nesting. A nesting pair of Feruginous Hawks have chicks already in a neighbors tree.http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ferruginous_Hawk/id There are 2 pairs of Common Snipes this year so the mating calls are going on all day and night. About all we're waiting for now are the Western and Eastern Kingbirds.http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Kingbird/idhttp://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Kingbird/id

Re: The Birds

Posted: May 6th, 2015, 10:03 am
by Allen Dick
the Barn Swallows are back
So much for mating queens, and so much for your drones

Re: The Birds

Posted: May 6th, 2015, 2:03 pm
by Colino
Allen Dick wrote:
the Barn Swallows are back
So much for mating queens, and so much for your drones
I didn't think of that, but generally the swallows don't come around much during the day, mostly around at dusk. Last year they didn't seem to make a dent in my drone population, however the queen mating could be a problem but not much I can do about it. The bees will just have to get tough or die. :D

Re: The Birds

Posted: May 6th, 2015, 6:12 pm
by karen
Last summer a flock of sea gulls happened to find the yard in the evening when bees where returning and it was like a dog fight in the sky between the gulls and the bees. I watched with binoculars and could see the gulls snapping the bees out of the air and the bees would go after the gulls. I was worried because once gulls discover a food source they don't forget it but the flock never returned. I video taped some of it, not a great video, I made it with my cell phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va8pnIrtIEE

Re: The Birds

Posted: May 6th, 2015, 7:35 pm
by Colino
karen wrote:Last summer a flock of sea gulls happened to find the yard in the evening when bees where returning and it was like a dog fight in the sky between the gulls and the bees. I watched with binoculars and could see the gulls snapping the bees out of the air and the bees would go after the gulls. I was worried because once gulls discover a food source they don't forget it but the flock never returned. I video taped some of it, not a great video, I made it with my cell phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va8pnIrtIEE
That is interesting. I've watched Seagulls following farmers as they work their fields, eating insects and such but I never would have thought of them as a bee predator. I guess we can't protect our bees from everything and it's not right to eradicate birds just to keep a few of them from being eaten. It's part of the risk we assume as Beeks and I would never want to harm any species because they are doing what is natural to them.

Re: The Birds

Posted: May 15th, 2015, 11:24 am
by Colino
Mr. Swainson's Thrush showed up this morning, they don't nest around here so he is just fueling up before moving on. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Swainsons_Thrush/id Yesterday there were a couple of Yellow Headed Blackbirds in the cattails by our dugout.http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yell ... ackbird/id We seldom see the Yellow Head here, for some reason they don't nest around Whitla and yet 10 miles east there are lots of them.

Re: The Birds

Posted: May 21st, 2015, 9:42 am
by Colino
Glorious day yesterday, a male Baltimore Oriole spent some time in the Caragana bushes. We see them once in a while here, most often they are just passing through but 1 year a pair took up nesting in some Poplar trees by the railway tracks.http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird ... ore-oriole