All About Pocket Knives

Cool baby Bluebird photos, Ken! I have not had much luck with Bluebird boxes.

Scott - those Swallowtail Kites are one of the most distinctive birds in this part of the world. I always love seeing one. I have a bunch of photos of them which are either tiny specks or else blurry smudges!

Starlings, like other blackbirds, have the ability to walk. Most birds hop from point to point. This morning I saw a starling unsteadily hopping because only one leg was functioning. This did not interfere with his flying but I wonder how he will manage to perch on a tree limb. Because he was unsteady on the ground I suspect perching may be a very limited option for him.

Saw a beautiful and large Brown Thrasher. Took me only a few seconds to run and get my camera. But of course upon my return he was gone.

Quick Steel wrote:Starlings, like other blackbirds, have the ability to walk. Most birds hop from point to point. This morning I saw a starling unsteadily hopping because only one leg was functioning. This did not interfere with his flying but I wonder how he will manage to perch on a tree limb. Because he was unsteady on the ground I suspect perching may be a very limited option for him.

Saw a beautiful and large Brown Thrasher. Took me only a few seconds to run and get my camera. But of course upon my return he was gone.

one winter had a dove coming to the heated bird bath, with only one foot. other was a stump. Birds perch by cross locking their toes. Doves sit on our 46KV. power lines. Teachers wondered why they don't get shocked? They probably would with a large enough wing span.

We have a treehouse out back that I built for the boys thirty-five years ago or so.

There are birds nesting just inside the door.

The nest is tubular.

The eggs are tan with brown speckles.

I have not caught a good sight of the birds.

Charlie

doglegg wrote:I see him Scott. Great job with a small camera. And a great sighting as well!

Thanks Floyd.

Here's another less focused pic...

Charlie I hope you get to see the owner of that nest. I've spent considerable time examining not very helpful egg charts.

Quick Steel wrote:Charlie I hope you get to see the owner of that nest. I've spent considerable time examining not very helpful egg charts.

Me too. Curious about the nest and the eggs and the parents. Great pic's.

There is a porch swing hanging from the floor joists of the treehouse. When I'm sitting there, I can hear the adults come and go, but the only glimpse I've gotten of one, it looked like a Blue Bird, but this would be an atypical nesting site for them.

Charlie

I'm also very curious as to what that metallic looking strip on the left side of the nest might be. It's visible in the photo of the eggs.

I didn't notice it until I edited the photograph.

Charlie

This is a first season Robin. I was trying to capture the remaining black spots (on downy white) that remained on some of his chest feathers. Unfortunately, I couldn't get him to pose correctly. I take satisfaction that he was born on our property. Despite their abundance I never tire of Robins.

When I was a boy in school, we read, just about every year, a story re' the first Robin of Spring.

It never made any sense, as our Robins never leave, they winter right here.

I saw a similar young Robin today on the patio.

Charlie

Knice Robin QS
Scott that shot on the wing is a difficult one. You did good.
Charlie as a boy growing up in north central Texas I always resented the school books with their stories about coal cellars and snow and sub ways, they just weren't my stories. And especially about the robins returning as we had them all the time.

Farther away, but more in focus...Swallow Tailed Kite (I could hear it screeching, actually there were 2).

Scott, I'm glad it is hanging around. Wow, what an amazing bird and you get to see it on a regular basis. Congrats Scott.

doglegg wrote:Scott, I'm glad it is hanging around. Wow, what an amazing bird and you get to see it on a regular basis. Congrats Scott.

I know....right!! Thanks! Me too!!

Nice photo, Scott. I may be wrong, but based on my purely personal experience, I think the Swallowtail Kites are some of the first birds to head back to South America. Seems like by late summer they and the Mississippi Kites are pretty much gone.

Love this thread. Thanks all for the beautiful pictures. I must start photographing the birds around here. We have several woodpeckers and others I don’t know.

Charlie, my Papaw took me up the holler when I was little to show me a hummingbird’s nest that hung down like a sock and had mud as part of the exterior. I was so little I don’t remember the intricacies, probably around 63 years ago.

It was on the way up the holler to the rock barn, made under a giant overhanging rock. It had 2 or 3 stalls with mangers, a hay loft, and ample room otherwise. It sat above the branch, which was the water for the animals.

What bird do y'all think this is?
The camera needs to be elevated a tiny bit to see the top of the snapped off pine tree. Can't see enough of it's head to ID the critter.
Treefarmer

The bands on the wings don't look right for a pileated woodpecker.

A Change of subject, I was wanting to know if you all had Humming birds this summer. Ours have not returned, I live in S.E. Kansas. Don't know what could have happened to them.

Harold

Possibly hit hard by rains and storms?

treefarmer wrote:What bird do y'all think this is?
The camera needs to be elevated a tiny bit to see the top of the snapped off pine tree. Can't see enough of it's head to ID the critter.
Treefarmer

Looks like a Sharp Shinned Hawk to me. I am basing that on the flat bottom of the tail and overall appearance in the first photo and the posture in the second photo.

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Here is a fuzzy photo of a bird that is quite common but rarely seen here in my part of the Southeast: the Yellow Billed Cuckoo. The common name for this bird is Rain Crow. I know it is common because I hear them calling just about any morning that I am in good habitat. They seem to especially like a river swamp, and when I take my kayak out on the river in the summer I always hear them.The one I photographed was in my back yard. For a bird that is so common, they are good at keeping out of sight.

Great capture Mel. I have seen one Cuckoo in my life.

As far as I know I have never seen one Mel. Thanks.

This little guy has been hanging out at the feeder with the birds for the last couple of months.