Ornithology (Bird) Thread

[1967redrider]

A Kingfisher on the prowl in Poulsbo Wa.DSCN7199.JPG

Cool pic, dog.

[doglegg]

Thanks rr.

[Dinadan]

I like the Kingfisher photo, Doglegg. Looks like a hazy morning on the river.

[zzyzzogeton]

Okay - Had a new one today. Had a guy come by and start talking about whether or not I had any owl pellets on the property.

Being the suspiscious person that I am and not having a clue as to what he was talking about, I asked "Why do you want to know that?"

After much heming and hawing and convoluted explanations, I finally figured out that this dude was out looking for "owl barf". This is what owls throw up after they have digested whatever it was they ate. It is usually only present where they are nesting, not roosting. This is not owl poop, but owl barf and they are called "owl pellets" not "owl barf". Never knew that, so I learned something.

Well, I told him that we have owls that kinda hang around off and on but I didn't know if any of them hung around long enough to raise a brood or not.

So off we traips down the road to the barns and for the next half hour, I watch this guy dig around all the crap in the barn looking for "owl pellets".

He ended up finding one "very old" pellet that he said was probably 5 or 6 years old.

He was looking for them for a friend whose parents apparently run some kind of elementary kids teaching program called "Kid-Wings". He and the friend are both in the Army at Ft Hood and on their off days go around looking for "Texas Owl Pellets" for the other guy's parents to use in their program.

Turns out they usually go together and the other guy does all the talking, but the buddy caught extra duty and the company really needs more owl pellets as school has started up, so I chatted with him for another 20 minutes to get his "elevator speech" figured out so he doesn't have such a hard time when he is alone.

His intro is now really simple -

"Hi, my name is Andrew and I collect OWL POOP for an educational company called "Kid Wings" that teaches elementary kids about birds? Do you have any owls in your barn/abandoned house/etc?" If yes, "Could we go look in your barn/abandoned house/etc for some?" If No, "Thank you. Have a nice day."

Now is when he starts explaining about the difference between owl poop and owl pellets.

So today, I learned something and helped someone. Not bad for a day when my gout is playing a symphony on my right big toe.

[doglegg]

It was at the harbor at Poulsbo Washington. They seem to hang around the sound a lot. We have them here in Texas as well. Love to watch them fish. Thanks Mel

[doglegg]

Bard owls atleast have a special tree that is their vomitorium
First thing on waking up they go to this same tree every evening and vomit up their pellet. I don't know if all owls do that but atleast some do. They will often poop while there as well. So if you see a lot of poop on a tree it might be worthwhile to check around it for owl pallets.

[TripleF]

A Kingfisher on the prowl in Poulsbo Wa.DSCN7199.JPG

Very cool Floyd.

Up close with a Sand Hill Crane last night.

[doglegg]

Very knice pic Scott and thank you.

[doglegg]

A Scissortail Fly Catcher. Love to watch their aerial acrobatics.

[Waukonda]

A Scissortail Fly Catcher. Love to watch their aerial acrobatics. DSCN7309.JPG

Nice picture, Floyd! We don't have those in our area! They are classy birds!

[doglegg]

We only have them in the summer. Beautiful birds to watch as they catch bugs in the air.

[Waukonda]

I was debating between a Wood Pewee and an Acadian Flycatcher, I'm gonna go with Pewee.

[Boji]

Haven't seen any hummers for a couple of days, we had a cold spell. Will watch this weekend as it warms up, might be time to take down the feeder.
Put up the seed feeder a week or so ago, seeing some chickadees and nuthatches.

[bighomer]

Haven't seen any hummers for a couple of days, we had a cold spell. Will watch this weekend as it warms up, might be time to take down the feeder.
Put up the seed feeder a week or so ago, seeing some chickadees and nuthatches.

I expect the hummers that I'm feeding now are some that you folks up north fed over the summer. There still a few around this morning, but I believe they are travelers. I've already took 3 feeders down and will probably take 4or 5 more down today. I'll keep a couple up to mid October for the late stragglers.

[Ivoryman]

Haven't seen any hummers for a couple of days, we had a cold spell. Will watch this weekend as it warms up, might be time to take down the feeder.
Put up the seed feeder a week or so ago, seeing some chickadees and nuthatches.

I expect the hummers that I'm feeding now are some that you folks up north fed over the summer. There still a few around this morning, but I believe they are travelers. I've already took 3 feeders down and will probably take 4or 5 more down today. I'll keep a couple up to mid October for the late stragglers.

They tell me around here to leave them up all winter because while our summer visitor hummers go south and leave, the hummers from Alaska and cold north head south to end up here and winter in the Pacific Northwest. So we have them year around, but they may not be the same birds. I like to help them out in cold months anyway, so feed year around. Don't know how cold TN gets or if this is true for your birds, but it makes sense. The same with Robins. They definitely fly south for the winter, but when our summer birds leave, the northern ones fly south to here and sort of replace them so we have some year around.

[doglegg]

Haven't seen any hummers for a couple of days, we had a cold spell. Will watch this weekend as it warms up, might be time to take down the feeder.
Put up the seed feeder a week or so ago, seeing some chickadees and nuthatches.

I expect the hummers that I'm feeding now are some that you folks up north fed over the summer. There still a few around this morning, but I believe they are travelers. I've already took 3 feeders down and will probably take 4or 5 more down today. I'll keep a couple up to mid October for the late stragglers.

They tell me around here to leave them up all winter because while our summer visitor hummers go south and leave, the hummers from Alaska and cold north head south to end up here and winter in the Pacific Northwest. So we have them year around, but they may not be the same birds. I like to help them out in cold months anyway, so feed year around. Don't know how cold TN gets or if this is true for your birds, but it makes sense. The same with Robins. They definitely fly south for the winter, but when our summer birds leave, the northern ones fly south to here and sort of replace them so we have some year around.

Iman, the hummingbirds there in your area and are unique in that in the winter they hibernate every night to conserve energy. Slow their heart rate etc. I believe they are the only ones in the world that do that. They stay up there year round.

[Boji]

No hummingbird that wants to live will winter around my location. Temps of -20 to -30, wind chills reach -60+

[bighomer]

I've heard of a few hummers wintering in southeast TN. but not in my area, the latest I've seen one is middle of October. Last year I think the last one was the 6th or 7th.
The Robin's left here after the little ones fledged ain't seen any in a good bit, they are crazy birds the first ones to return last year arrived in late January. I firmly believe that there was some that wintered here when I was a yonker.
I may have to cut back on the feeding this winter, bird food prices are getting ridiculous.

[mrwatch]

A pair of Bald Eagles standing watch over our cars and the lake at my Nephew's front yard. 7 Pm evening sun lit the up. and no splats on the car. Took out my tripod and took pictures from three positions, and they just seemed to not be bothered.

[mrwatch]

Best I could do with my cell phone.

[Steve Warden]

A pair of Bald Eagles standing watch over our cars and the lake at my Nephew's front yard. 7 Pm evening sun lit the up. and no splats on the car. Took out my tripod and took pictures from three positions, and they just seemed to not be bothered.

Niiiiiiiice!

[royal0014]

Awesome shots mrwatch !

[treefarmer]

Treefarmer

[doglegg]

Mr. Watch, great pics and experience.

[DM11]

A Kingfisher on the prowl in Poulsbo Wa.DSCN7199.JPG

Great pic!