Ornithology (Bird) Thread

[Steve Warden]

A little titmouse this morning.

[doglegg]

Steve it looks as though you have a couple of politically correct rodents who have self identified as birds.

[Steve Warden]

Haha! The squirrels used to bug me, but I'm coming around. All creatures great and small, the Lord God made them all.

The feeder is a Squirrel Buster. Spring loaded open for the birds, drops down to close the feeder holes if a squirrel gets on it. They try every once in a while, but soon realize they're not getting anything from the feeder. You see how low it hangs; they pretty much ignore it.

[Quick Steel]

Was surprised to see a lone House Finch at the birdbath. We had none show up this winter while in 1918 they were abundant.

[Steve Warden]

You're an old dude, QS!

[Doc B]

But...with a good memory!!!

[doglegg]

I've read that house finches are like that. We have had years where there were a multitude and then this year just a few.
When you have a lot I think it is called and 'infusion".

[Quick Steel]

Yeh, well, 1918 was a rough year too. As I recall. But it was a very good year for House Finches.

[bighomer]

I got hummers out the ying yang, trying to fill the feeders yesterday one was right at my hand, like saying come on ole man I'm hungry, I have quite a lot of finches too. The birds in general have made a come back around here this year it seems.

[Doc B]

Well...I just downloaded these pictures from my game camera. Looks like I need to reset the time / date. Would have been in the last 2 weeks. I wasn't even sure what was pictured here. We see red-tailed hawks frequently and occasionally see larger hawks. From my googling...it appears these are 2 Harris's hawks...that just got dinner. Frequently I see whistler ducks, come in to the feeder, to get the corn. It appears one became dinner...

[philco]

Doc that's an amazing series of photos.

[doglegg]

Absolutely wonderful and amazing. Congrats.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Speaking of large raptors, I watched one of those montage videos yesterday of critters preying on lesser critters and there was a series of events showing a large bird snatching mountain goats off of cliffs. Sometimes, they literally flew away with a goat that appeared to weigh more than they, other times they just knocked the goats off their perch and let them fall to their deaths.

It was impressive.

Charlie

[bighomer]

A couple of years ago I was driving to town and as I top a hill I saw a duck with a hawk right on his tail and they were flat boogying as they neared a tree line the hawk evidently hit him and the duck tumbled into the woods, I don't know the outcome but expect that dinner was served. Here's a smaller bird although she may not know it, if they were as big as eagles they'd rule the world.

[Dinadan]

Those Harris Hawk photos are really something, Doc! Just very cool action photos. I took the liberty of slightly enhancing the last photo: you can really see the rufous shoulders and legs, which are a Harris Hawk field mark.

[Quick Steel]

Charlie, While an eagle will certainly attack a calf or young goat and may harass it or drag it off a ledge the famous photo of an eagle carrying a full size goat is a hoax. 4 to 6 pounds is max for most eagles to lift. The record eagle lift is 15 pounds in taking a young Mule deer.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Skip to 5:00 minute position in this video.



Charlie

[Quick Steel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMAutu7t9YA

This link will bring you to the once viral video of the mature white goat being carried off.

With the small goat taken by the eagle, after his talons are into the goat he is dragged from the cliff and eagle and prey are continually going downward. There is no attempt by the eagle to overcome gravity.

[RobesonsRme.com]

I agree. The eagle is basically hang-gliding, not flying. But, he's not falling under the weight of the goat. He maintains an element of flight.

And I think the segment of delivering the prey to the nest is a completely different video.

But, that is the portion of another compilation video I saw yesterday.

Charlie

[RobesonsRme.com]

I first posted about the nest in our treehouse on July 9th, I believe.

It had three eggs.

I haven’t seen any activity around the nest.

I went up to check it today and this is what I found.

There appears to be four eggs, but nothing has hatched and one egg, which is smaller than the others, is broken.

I’m afraid the nest has been abandoned.

Charlie

[Steve Warden]

bummer

[Dinadan]

Not many hummers around here for the last couple of months. But it is about time for the Ruby Throats to show up for migration.

[Doc B]

GREAT shot, Mel!!!

[doglegg]

Mel you did it again. What a great shot of a beautiful little bird.

[treefarmer]

Treefarmer