Birds

[tadoflamb]

It's early in the morning here. Already I can hear a Vermilion Flycatcher and my first-of-year Brown-crested Flycatcher. There's also a Green-tailed Towhee hopping around in my yard. An infrequent but welcome visitor.

Here's a picture of the towhee when he visited about the same time last year.

Cute huh?

If anyone has anything to share about birds, I'd like to see it.

 

[tadoflamb]

I had a Wilson's Warbler stop by. That's backyard year bird #46. A Yellow Warbler came by again too. I'm hearing Cactus Wrens, Lucy's Warblers, Gila and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers off in the distance. Today is going to be a good day.

 

[Martinius]

I am just a "fledgling" when it comes to birds. For our HS biology unit on birds, we had to identify slides of birds. Even with extra after-school reviews of the slides, I still ended up with just a "C" on the test. But now I live where there are plenty of birds and room for feeders and bird baths. Still don't know what they all are.

We have a pond in view of our house and a great blue heron stops by periodically. A woodpecker, not sure if it is a Hairy or Downy, pecks away at one of our trees regularly. This winter a bird I ID'd as a red-bellied Sapsucker was at the hanging feeder and hopping around one of our trees. We get Goldfinches and House Finches and Eastern Bluebirds. A few times we have seen a hawk swoop by, probably a Red Tailed. There are others but I would have to research them.

During the winter months when there was snow on the ground I put out a pan with songbird seeds and got a lot of Cardinals and other birds. One morning there were at least five Cardinals in our yard. Set up a hummingbird feeder last year and by mid-summer it was really humming with activity.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

I feel humbled by your ability to name birds, Tad.
But I do take notice of them more as I get older. They use the birdbath we provide in the backyard.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

A question for the knowledgeable. We've got a new friend, a woodpecker that is pecking on the side of our house where our bedroom is. Not very neighborly at all. Any non harmful ways I can encourage this feathered friend to move on?

 

[Martinius]

I feel humbled by your ability to name birds, Tad.
But I do take notice of them more as I get older. They use the birdbath we provide in the backyard.

I love nature and the outdoors but I am terrible with trees and birds. The problem with most birds is that the males and females often don't look the same and the young ones have different coloring and some have seasonal changes. I wish there was an app that I could use that would ID birds from an image on a smart phone. Until then, when I go for walks with my grandkids and they ask about a bird we spot, I just make something up: "that looks like an Eastern Yellow Toed Wippersnapper." Hope they don't get confused when they take their bird quiz at school.

 

[Godlovesmetwo]

"that looks like an Eastern Yellow Toed Wippersnapper."

I'll use that one with my partner, next time we go for a walk.
Except I substitute it with kookaburra.

 

[One Voice Among Many1]

There are lot of blue jays and robins around where I live. We also have a lot of kites (spelling?) too.

 

[tadoflamb]

I am just a "fledgling" when it comes to birds. For our HS biology unit on birds, we had to identify slides of birds. Even with extra after-school reviews of the slides, I still ended up with just a "C" on the test. But now I live where there are plenty of birds and room for feeders and bird baths. Still don't know what they all are.

We have a pond in view of our house and a great blue heron stops by periodically. A woodpecker, not sure if it is a Hairy or Downy, pecks away at one of our trees regularly. This winter a bird I ID'd as a red-bellied Sapsucker was at the hanging feeder and hopping around one of our trees. We get Goldfinches and House Finches and Eastern Bluebirds. A few times we have seen a hawk swoop by, probably a Red Tailed. There are others but I would have to research them.

During the winter months when there was snow on the ground I put out a pan with songbird seeds and got a lot of Cardinals and other birds. One morning there were at least five Cardinals in our yard. Set up a hummingbird feeder last year and by mid-summer it was really humming with activity.

It looks like you're identifying your birds pretty well.

 

[tadoflamb]

A question for the knowledgeable. We've got a new friend, a woodpecker that is pecking on the side of our house where our bedroom is. Not very neighborly at all. Any non harmful ways I can encourage this feathered friend to move on?

You can do what my wife does and ask nicely ask them to leave. It works wonders.

Other than that the woodpecker is either sounding off on his territory or trying to eat some food source in your walls. If it's the food, you can offer an alternative source of food, like suet, which is easier to access than what ever is in your house.

If its because you house makes a nice sound, you can make a sounding board by screwing two planks together with a small dowel in between so they make a good drumming sound when the woodpecker hammers on it.

There's also barrier type things you can do like dangling old CD's from your eaves as well as other commercially available products.

(My wife just informed me that banging on the pipes and screaming "Go away!" works if the asking politely doesn't.)

 

[tadoflamb]

I love nature and the outdoors but I am terrible with trees and birds. The problem with most birds is that the males and females often don't look the same and the young ones have different coloring and some have seasonal changes. I wish there was an app that I could use that would ID birds from an image on a smart phone. Until then, when I go for walks with my grandkids and they ask about a bird we spot, I just make something up: "that looks like an Eastern Yellow Toed Wippersnapper." Hope they don't get confused when they take their bird quiz at school.

Around here we call them LBB's. (Little Brown Birds)

In Britain it's a LBJ (Little Brown Job)

 

[tadoflamb]

There are lot of blue jays and robins around where I live. We also have a lot of kites (spelling?) too.

I remember seeing a lot of those kites when I visited my Aunt and Uncle in Stephensville a couple years ago. I think they were White-tailed Kites if IIRC. Beautiful birds. I imagine you see a lot of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers as well. They're quite the sight.

 

[One Voice Among Many1]

I remember seeing a lot of those kites when I visited my Aunt and Uncle in Stephensville a couple years ago. I think they were White-tailed Kites if IIRC. Beautiful birds. I imagine you see a lot of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers as well. They're quite the sight.

Yes, there are quite a few scissor tails. We have a lot of wild turkeys and vultures in our area too.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

You can do what my wife does and ask nicely ask them to leave. It works wonders.

Other than that the woodpecker is either sounding off on his territory or trying to eat some food source in your walls. If it's the food, you can offer an alternative source of food, like suet, which is easier to access than what ever is in your house.

If its because you house makes a nice sound, you can make a sounding board by screwing two planks together with a small dowel in between so they make a good drumming sound when the woodpecker hammers on it.

There's also barrier type things you can do like dangling old CD's from your eaves as well as other commercially available products.

(My wife just informed me that banging on the pipes and screaming "Go away!" works if the asking politely doesn't.)

Yikes, I just got a glimpse of the hole, about the size of a CD, and all the way through. Think the little pest is building a nest. I saw the bird to, a redhead, just like me and my youngest. Trouble for sure.

 

[tadoflamb]

Yikes, I just got a glimpse of the hole, about the size of a CD, and all the way through. Think the little pest is building a nest. I saw the bird to, a redhead, just like me and my youngest. Trouble for sure.

Was it a really big woodpecker, sort of like Woody Woodpecker? You're still in Montana, right?

You can tack some steel mesh over the hole, that should mess him up a bit.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

It looked pretty big, but I only saw it flying off. Did see the red though. I am still in Montana.

Was it a really big woodpecker, sort of like Woody Woodpecker? You're still in Montana, right?

You can tack some steel mesh over the hole, that should mess him up a bit.

 

[tadoflamb]

It looked pretty big, but I only saw it flying off. Did see the red though. I am still in Montana.

It's a Pileated Woodpecker probably. Cover your house in 1/4" steel. You should be alright.

 

[tadoflamb]

@Mountain_Girl406 I just remembered this:

http://attackspider.com/

 

[tadoflamb]

Probably not very exciting to everyone but thrilling to me, here's a female Macgillivray's Warbler in my bird bath today. (shot through the studio window so kind of fuzzy). She's a bird of my youth and one that I don't get to see very often.

I ended up with 28 total species identified from my backyard this weekend including 5 species of warblers, 3 flycatchers and 3 hummingbirds. God is good.

 

[Mountain_Girl406]

@Mountain_Girl406 I just remembered this:

http://attackspider.com/

Thanks! I am going to order one tomorrow. I'll report back.