Backyard Birding April 2011 News FM06

[rot]

Observed in Henderson,NC by an elderly couple.
I have not seen one yet, but the wife runs a fairly extensive bird hub which is now on Code Red.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-winged_Crossbill/id

For the Va,NC, and SC folk...keep your cams on standby.
FinchesRCool,NC
rot

[W3MIV]

Alas, "backyard birding" here has a different connotation. My next door neighbor has three large feeders in the yard, and it has attracted a large and very active group of hawks. The largest of these, which I saw just yesterday for the first time this year, is a redtail female of about seven or more pounds. She is formidable and experienced, able to pretty much ignore the mobs of crows who often seek to pester her and drive her off. When she is not working the feeders, we see a range of falcons and sharp-shin hawks. The staples here are robins, sparrows, wrens, catbirds and mockingbirds, with a few obstreperous blue jays thrown in to cause trouble. A bazillion robins, particularly, and a bazillion muddy old robins' nests that drop out of the trees onto car roofs with the coming of the spring rains. All of our nice winter mix of chickadees, buntings and titmice leave us when the days grow too warm.

Fortunately, the bulk of the servings at my neighbors pole-mounted deli counter are purple grackles, starlings and cowbirds none of which will be missed. It seems every year our hawk collection grows.

This neighborhood is largely deciduous, as one might expect, with the usual mix of suspects found in modern suburban developments. The surrounding woods are full of Virginia pines and some loblollies -- though most of lobs range over on the Eastern Shore and through Southern MD.

[rot]

Peg runs sort of a "Woodstock" type operation in the sense more show up and hang than prepared for sometime. We have a large back deck which gets pooed up quite a bit requiring a powerwash now and then. I did a DirectTV dish install which appears to be quite the social hang spot. The amount of poo on the dish does not seem to cause alot of signal loss...at least not yet so no prob.
Lots of squirrels and such. I like the crows for attitude, finches for the color, the hummers, and alot of Robins show up after rain to pull worms. Its kind of nice to start the day with the hubbub of activity. Bats will come out sometime at night doing the bug thing which is cool as hell. One came in an upstairs window and I finally caught it with a butterfly net and released. Hairy as hell and a abit spooky to look at up close and personal. Thought about making bat boxes but never have. Black snakes hang and have been very nice neighbors. Big ole hornets appear on occasion, but all they are looking for is an open beer. always pour into glass cause I've seen em walk right into the can. Could get ugly to chug a bee beer..not gonna happen.
All in all a nice little plus for very little effort.
I've heard talk about Black Bears cruisin through...never seen one...hope I never do...I'm sure I'd soil me armor on that deal.
rot

[W3MIV]

Squirrels and feeders can be a big problem, as I have experienced many times. I have a feeder that is utterly squirrel proof in that it is a 16ga steel tube with very small perch-pegs and angles stamped in that make tiny "porch rooves" over the feed holes. Covered with an old wok lid on a few links, the squirrels would come down the chain and try to get over the wok lid -- always without success, since they would tip it and slide off before they could grab anything.

Then they would climb the maple trunk from which the feeder was hung and essay leaping from bole to tube. Could give a man a hernia from excess laughter. They could not get a grip most of the time, landing like Wile E Coyote under the feeder. When one would catch a toe on a perch, struggling to gain a better hold, he usually would be dumped unceremoniously. Problem was always that the squirrels would dump so much feed under the feeder, where the smarter rodents gathered to munch happily while their stupider friends kept up the acrobatics, the weeds would get out of control and the cost of feed became prohibitive.

Now I leave the weekly bags of bird seed to my neighbor.

[rot]

Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...
I have just sat and watched for hours.
Makes great stuff for short story and the storyteller.
rot

[NQ6U]

Terry, if you like bird watching, you should come out here sometime. As hard as it may be to believe, San Diego County is home to more different species of birds than any other county in the U.S. I've even seen Bald Eagles here.

[KG4CGC]

Terry, if you like bird watching, you should come out here sometime. As hard as it may be to believe, San Diego County is home to more different species of birds than any other county in the U.S. I've even seen Bald Eagles here.
I hear you have escaped pet parrots hanging out together in rogue gangs of birds.

[rot]

Terry, if you like bird watching, you should come out here sometime. As hard as it may be to believe, San Diego County is home to more different species of birds than any other county in the U.S. I've even seen Bald Eagles here.
Would love to. My wife's sis and bro in law live in San Diego. Absolutely love it. It's been a while ( more than 5 years) since we've hooked up. Miss seeing them. San Diego Zoo is totally awesome. The avairy is my fave. The sis in law is coming in May for a couple of weeks. Great place you got there Carl. We always have a good time and hate to leave. Got my VX-5R at the SD HRO. Tried to touch base with N6SIX but didnt. Joe was nice as hell in a few email swaps. I've worked into SD a few times on 6m so hey you never know. San Diego has always been real nice to me and the wifey. Maybe down the road we can say Howdy.
rot

[NQ6U]

Yeah, Joe N6SIX is a good guy and, as of last week, vice chairman of SANDARC, the local ARC coordinating council (I'm the delegate from my club). By all means drop me a line should you ever be heading out this way. E-mail address is my call sign @cox.net. (Heh heh, I said "cox"!)

[NQ6U]

I hear you have escaped pet parrots hanging out together in rogue gangs of birds.

Yes and no. There are flocks of parrots (mostly Lilac Crowned Amazons), but they're not escaped pets per se. They're the descendants of escaped birds that have been naturalized for generations, now fully wild. And, man, do they ever make a racket! You can hear the little flockers for miles.

[rot]

Yeah, Joe N6SIX is a good guy. By all means drop me a line should you ever be heading out this way. E-mail address is my call sign @cox.net. (Heh heh, I said "cox"!)
Will do. Hell even I should be able to remember cox net, but we won't go there.:rofl:
rot

[W1GUH]

Used to love those bird feeders that attached to the window with a suction cup. Got a nice close-up of the birds -- mostly chickadees, wrens, and titmice. (Heh Heh:bbh: ) If a big Blue Jay would show up it was usually comical watching him/her try to fit on that tiny feeder.

Once had a pigeon get caught in one of those feeders with the roof and glass sides. Had to take it apart to let him out.

[rot]

My grandfather was into pigeons, of course George AMR, and had a bud in school that raced 'em.
Tom had pigeon mags, breeding charts and all kind of shit everywhere. Lots of work involved, We just chunk food, have a few bought and 2 homebrew feeders and all kinds of hubbub. Try to keep on top of it in winter and try to cut off the hummers early fall. We've had the "Screwing with the natural pattern" arguement shit, but still do it anyway.
It is interesting that we have a new vet who is replacing the old man vet. Known Dr. Gywnne for years and he always been great with the horses, dogs, cats and such. The new guy, Dr. Conde has brought in a avian twist to the practice, mostly rescue raptor stuff and is really cool and will chat on and on about birdstuff.
About a month ago, some asshole in Warren county shot an Eagle and it was taken to him, but it was too far gone. Sucked huge.
We even have woodpeckers that will go off on a tin roof. That'll drive ya nuts real quick.

[KG4CGC]

My grandfather lost the family fortune betting on the pigeons. Not that he was anything much more than a sperm donor anyway.