Ornithology (Bird) Thread

[FRJ]

Nice picture, Mel.

[cudgee]

There are some good points made about declining bird numbers. As a personal observation, when I was young back in the middle of the last century, in the fall and winter I would observe huge flocks of robins moving through the woods when I hunting. For a while, maybe half an hour, robins would be everywhere in the bushes and trees and on the ground, with lots of chirping and fluttering. I have not seen a flock like that in decades. I miss that.

I do think that everything changes, whether from man made causes or natural causes. When I was a kid, humans had made an environment here in the Southeast that was probably better for a lot of birds than anything that had ever existed naturally. Small fields and pastures, with lots of fence rows and wooded areas scattered around. Perfect for quail and many species of songbirds. The change from that kind of land use to huge fields and huge pine plantations eliminated a big segment of songbird habitat. But what was eliminated was something that we had created.

Stop for a moment and think about this. Not too many thousand years ago most of Canada and a bit of the northern USA were covered in continental glaciers. How many birds do you think lived in the north half of North America when it was covered in over a mile of ice? My point is that things are changing, have always changed, and always will change. If we can identify the cause of a bird decline, the way we did with DDT and the raptors and pelicans and so forth, by all means let us try to fix things. But do not think we are going to recreate some kind of avian Garden of Eden that never actually existed.

Speaking of gardens, the Hummers are busy in my back yard. Here is a little female going after the cypress vine. Cypress vine is a morning glory, and the flowers are closed in the afternoon, but the hummers must still be able to get nectar from the way they visit.

Well put and explained, and great photo they are beautiful birds.

[Steve Warden]

Sitting by the firepit, sipping my coffee.
Hadn't seen a Nuthatch all summer when one a makes a grab and go run at the feeder.

[doglegg]

Personally, I think it's chemical use in farming. I have nothing to back that up. Just my feeling.
I think chemicals affect the bugs and many critters up the food chain.

Do wind turbines kill lots of birds? If they do I would be surprised.
I have watched birds fly head long into heavy foliage and not so much as touch a leaf.
I would be surprised if they couldn't avoid a relatively slow moving huge fan blade.

Well documented that wind turbines are murderous on birds. The mirrored solar generators that reflect the concentrated beam of light kill more than their share too. Not reported as both energy providers are on the PC list at the moment.

[FRJ]

Thank you, doglegg. I remain surprised.

[danno50]

Lots of great bird photos on this thread.
Here is a double crested cormorant. May be a juvenile as the crests are not visible? We get huge flocks of these on our lake during the summer.

[cudgee]

Thank you, doglegg. I remain surprised.

Thought you may be interested in this. We have a green activist over here called Bob Brown, he started the political party The Greens, which have a lot of political clout, the 2 main stream party's, your equivalent the Democrats and Republicans, quite often have to do deals with them to get into or remain in power. He was a major player in getting wind turbines to replace coal power for electricity, they are now every where across the landscape. He is now advocating no more and getting rid of some already in place because of the birds, particularly raptors and eagles, being killed by the turbine blades. I am not making a political statement, just thought that you might be interested in his change of heart, that's all. You have a good week.

[FRJ]

Thank you cudgee.
I'm glad this powerful person has had a change of heart for the birds.
I haven't been around wind turbines much at all. The few I have seen the blades are moving slowly. Is this usual?
It's difficult for me to understand how birds, a critter that must be intensely aware of its surroundings, can be hit by a fan blade or fly into one. I will certainly keep an open mind.
I do appreciate the post.

[cudgee]

Thank you cudgee.
I'm glad this powerful person has had a change of heart for the birds.
I haven't been around wind turbines much at all. The few I have seen the blades are moving slowly. Is this usual?
It's difficult for me to understand how birds, a critter that must be intensely aware of its surroundings, can be hit by a fan blade or fly into one. I will certainly keep an open mind.
I do appreciate the post.

Their speed obviously depends of the wind velocity, they do move slowly on average days, but my understanding of them is that on really high wind days there is some sort of flaw in their design which significantly cuts their power output, but i am no expert by any means. But i have a very good friend who is an electrical engineer who has been consulting world wide to councils and companies about installing renewable energy means. This is his field of expertise and he told me this, he tried to explain to me why, but it went over my head. But he also told me of the bird problem, and from what they can gather, Because they have such a massive blade area coverage, and cover vast tracks of land, the background blends into like a mono culture blur which throws the birds sight pattern and any sort of directional instinct that they have out of play. That is the best that they have come up with so far. But back to the actual turbine themselves, on really high wind days, they actually shake, sway and vibrate like you would not believe. Hope this has been some help.

[FRJ]

Well, this was pretty interesting to read, cudgee.
Thank you for this information.

[cudgee]

[Quick Steel]

President Obama issued an executive order permitting the power companies to kill more Bald & Golden eagles than were originally estimated.

Yhe average tower is somewhat over 200 feet tall. There are more than 50,000 in operation. Currently, turbines are planned for the south shore of Lake Ontario which is a major concentration point for migrating birds. These towers will be 500 ft. tall. Could result in great carnage.

[mrwatch]

I have read about the mirrors frying unsuspecting birds and have seen the large windmills in Indiana and now some of west Michigan. Another issue is that when they quit working they just leave them standing. They even wan't to place them in Lake Michigan. Folks not happy about that. They say some of the generator units are so big you can turn a school bus around inside. Yes they did relax the bird kills rule. A boat manufacture in my area started making the fiber glass wind vanes for them.

[bighomer]

Well now I ain't trying to get no argument started but I expect automobiles,pesticides and herbicides kill far more than wind mills do. I've hit a couple this year myself. Retail hawks are hit in alarming rates on the interstates in my area. Now I ain't for or against wind of solar power, and I dang sure ain't getting rid of my automobile. Oh by the way a pileated woodpecker visited my suit feeder, didn't eat just checked it out, by the time I got my camera phone he had left. Still got about 10 or 12 hummers around, probably transits from up north.

[Quick Steel]

No argument big homer. I think loss of habitat and pesticides are likely the most significant causes. However with the near 50% decline in most species, losing from 300k to 500k per year in the wind farms is significant. There are currently 50,000 turbines which produce a little over 5% of our energy. The goal is to have wind generate 20%. This will mean 200,000 turbines. My theory is that when we reach the 200 thousand mark, the entire landmass of our country will begin to rise up and lift off. Upon reaching the jet stream America will head for the moon.

Congratulations on the Piliated Woodpecker, a magnificent bird.

[FRJ]

,pesticides and herbicides kill far more than wind mills do.

I think loss of habitat and pesticides are likely the most significant causes. .

I believe these are the major killers.

[treefarmer]

Let's lighten the mood a bit.
Been having trouble with one of my game cameras, I was instructed to do a "hard reset" and then see what happened. The thing seemed to be okay in the office so I drove a T post in the ground next to a humming bird feeder and set the camera looking at the feeder. Had a few pictures this afternoon, nothing spectacular, here's one that shows the sun on the little fellers back:

Looking for a humming bird around the yard, other than at the feeder, is a lot like learning to spot deer in the woods. Once you focus on them they are all over our yard, fighting, chasing, sitting on branches. If they are sitting still, they are hard to point out to another person. I've been trying to get Miss Joy to sit with me on the porch and listen to their tiny chirping when they are around the feeder. She says it's too hot for that and she would take my word for them chirping.
Treefarmer

[royal0014]

Nice shot there Phil.
Interesting feeder you have, too. Old glass bottle ?

[TripleF]

Looked like an all-out brawl between 3 turkeys only to find out it was 3 hens "dusting" themselves, which I just learned
is how they clean themselves!!!

I just uploaded a video:
https://youtu.be/ogeXmvDOytY

[cudgee]

Looked like an all-out brawl between 3 turkeys only to find out it was 3 hens "dusting" themselves, which I just learned
is how they clean themselves!!!

I just uploaded a video:
https://youtu.be/ogeXmvDOytY

Good post.

[cudgee]

Just a brief update. This is mum, dad is a bit shy, normally the other way around. Any way been hearing the magpie chicks chirping for the last couple of days. Was having a coffee outside this morning and got my first siting of the chicks. Ventured out to the tree next to their nest, still a bit dubious about things, while they are getting their bearings. Hope to get some pics when they start to venture out with mum and dad and come over for something to eat. Mum and Dad are fantastic parents, usually come over twice a day to eat enough each then take food back to the nest, but in the last week having been coming over every one to two hours to get food for their ever hungry off spring.

[TripleF]

Was able to get a close picture of a Woos Stork, not that my cell phone could take a good photo but....

[Quick Steel]

Neat photo Scott. Never seen a Wood Stork.

[treefarmer]

The Wood Stork is an interesting bird but they won’t win any beauty contests!
Treefarmer

[Quick Steel]

I recall watching a nature film in which an African Marabou Stork slowly walks along a lake shore devouring Flamingo chicks like they were appetizers.