# The Birdwatching Thread



## bravenewworld (Jan 24, 2016)

I'm surprised that this forum doesn't have a birdwatcher's thread!

So I'll start one myself and see if anyone else is interested in sharing pictures and stories about their local birdlife 

Here's one I saw the other day on my street(sorry, I'm not equipped with an expensive DSLR camera, just a smartphone at long-range zoom )









You may not be able to see it in the (frankly terrible) photo, but this bird had a beautiful back and rump which was grey with a pink tinge. Upon consultation of my Readers' Digest _Complete Book of Australian Birds_, I was able to deduce that it's a White-Faced Heron. It is found across Australasia, and was probably looking for reptiles to eat (it has a varied diet).

On the same day, somebody I know sent me this image of a bird in their garden for identification:









It turns out to have been a Channel-Billed Cuckoo (as you can see, a large bird). It spends the winter in an area ranging from Sulawesi (formerly Celebes), Indonesia to the Bismarck Archipelago. In the spring (as it now is here in the Southern Hemisphere) it heads to Northern and Eastern Australia (the furthest south it ranges is a little past Sydney). It then lays its eggs in the nests of Currawongs, Magpies, Collared Sparrowhawks and other unknowing victims, as Cuckoos do.

As an international forum, I'm sure we have a lot of wonderful birds to share!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Swan family in June by Hennie Schaper, on Flickr


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Mandarin duck by Hennie Schaper, on Flickr


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I find it interesting to note the various bird species that can now be seen in New Jersey that I almost never saw, or never at all saw, in my youth. I offer these observations as a mere dabbler in birdwatching.....

Bald Eagle, Osprey, Wild Turkey, Mockingbird, Bluebird, Carolina Wren......

On the other hand, I no longer see many neotropical migrants such as Scarlet Tanagers. Many warblers are much thinner on the ground (in the trees, actually) than yesteryear, as are Black Skimmers, Nighthawks, Red-Headed Woodpeckers. Curiously, Pheasants used to be abundant, but have disappeared seemingly simultaneously with the return of the Wild Turkey.


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## bravenewworld (Jan 24, 2016)

Strange Magic said:


> I find it interesting to note the various bird species that can now be seen in New Jersey that I almost never saw, or never at all saw, in my youth. I offer these observations as a mere dabbler in birdwatching.....
> 
> Bald Eagle, Osprey, Wild Turkey, Mockingbird, Bluebird, Carolina Wren......
> 
> On the other hand, I no longer see many neotropical migrants such as Scarlet Tanagers. Many warblers are much thinner on the ground (in the trees, actually) than yesteryear, as are Black Skimmers, Nighthawks, Red-Headed Woodpeckers. Curiously, Pheasants used to be abundant, but have disappeared seemingly simultaneously with the return of the Wild Turkey.


That's interesting, why do you think this has occurred? We have also had changes in our local birdlife: native species such as the White Ibis and the Brush Turkey have made a major comeback in Sydney, while smaller species such as the (native) Willy Wagtail and the (introduced) Sparrow have been essentially cleared out of the city, as a) the undergrowth in which they thrive is not promoted in parkland, where trees and grass are preferred, and b) aggressive birds such as the Noisy Miner (native, but in an artificial environment) and the Indian Myna (introduced) have been taking over and forcing other birds from their territory.

A more seasonal change we have is that Galahs and other interesting parrots temporarily colonise the coast when inland areas are dry, forcing them into greener pastures. This is currently the case.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Well, the Bald Eagle and Osprey have been resurrected from DDT weak-eggshell syndrome, thanks to Rachel Carson's efforts to have DDT and other pesticides removed from the environment. This also accounts for the return of the Bluebird. The Mockingbird and Carolina Wren have expanded northward due to global warming. The Wild Turkey was deliberately reintroduced by human intervention.

The loss of semitropical birds incuding warblers is due to habitat destruction in central and South America. Black Skimmers and other shorebirds that rely upon predator- and human-free sandy beaches here in the US are losing these to development. I do not know why Red-Headed Woodpeckers or Nighthawks are thinning out so drastically. Strangely, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers have grown in abundance here in NJ, becoming commonplace. Cormorants also. Pheasants and Wild Turkeys I'm assuming are competitors for the same niche, and the Turkeys are winning.


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## bravenewworld (Jan 24, 2016)

Unfortunately I didn't manage my own photo of it, but this morning I heard (and then saw) a grey butcherbird, which aren't too common in my neck of the woods these days.

These are beautiful, mid-sized birds with a commensurately beautiful call.









They're called butcherbirds because, unlike larger predator birds like the Wedge-Tailed Eagle, their feet are too small to hold prey while they eat it; instead they stab it with their beak and use that hook at the end to rip through it and have a meal. Gory indeed. But we humans needn't worry about such dangers, and so we can simply admire the sheer beauty of this bird.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

The butcherbird looks to be an Oz counterpart to our North American shrike; both species are clearly songbirds/passerines that have evolved as small raptors but have retained the weak feet of their songbird stock. Shrikes are also here called butcherbirds and have the habit of impaling their prey when dead upon thorns or barbed wire for storage. Quite rare, though one stayed for almost a whole winter in a nearby wildlife preserve and I could see it most every time I went.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

This character, one of several, flew into my house and had to be caught a released back outside. A very colorful bird, bright yellow and black with an orange fringe, as seen here. It turned out to be a hooded oriole. They make their nests as pouches hanging from the leaves of palm trees, which are plentiful here - but I had never seen one. They raid hummingbird feeders, which was why they were around here.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Some pelicans at Bolsa Chica (my shots).


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

An egret, also pretty common here. My shot.


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

Strange Magic said:


> The butcherbird looks to be an Oz counterpart to our North American shrike; both species are clearly songbirds/passerines that have evolved as small raptors but have retained the weak feet of their songbird stock. Shrikes are also here called butcherbirds and have the habit of impaling their prey when dead upon thorns or barbed wire for storage. Quite rare, though one stayed for almost a whole winter in a nearby wildlife preserve and I could see it most every time I went.


Most of your post is accurate, but shrikes are not raptors - as you say, they are passerines. The term 'raptor' has a much narrower definition in ornithology and is related to morphology, not diet or method of predation


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Headphone Hermit said:


> Most of your post is accurate, but shrikes are not raptors - as you say, they are passerines. The term 'raptor' has a much narrower definition in ornithology and is related to morphology, not diet or method of predation


I should have put "raptor(s)" in quotes (just like here). Speaking of raptorial birds, while paddling yesterday along the barrier beach, we saw a Peregrine zooming about; also a large flock of some 60 or so Brown Pelicans, an immature Black-Crowned Night Heron, and several small flocks of Snowy Egrets, a Tricolored Heron, the usual Great Blue Herons, and a lone Osprey. Busy, birdy day!


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

Saw this green woodpecker feasting on an ants nest, managed to get a grab shot through the window with an old Minolta bridge camera.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

A Melbourne poster on the Goodreads site posted this:

http://www.367collinsfalcons.com.au/

" Three peregrine falcon chicks have just hatched on a ledge 33 floors above Melbourne and are a fitting reward for a brave pair of long term lovers. The falcon parents, who mate for life, tragically lost their chicks last year when it's believed they inadvertently fed them poisoned pigeon. Now, thanks to a live webstream, surrogate human parents can watch the daily challenges of chick raising in real time. And with peregrine falcons being the fastest animal in the world (flying up to 390km/hr), it's safe to say these babies will grow up fast. Very fast."


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## Albert Berry (Oct 5, 2018)

Sept 26th I was in Elk Island National Park, East of Edmonton Alberta in Canada, chasing bison photos. I saw this Greater Yellow Legs in the shallows by the Astotin Lake picnic area after walking down from my trailer parked a few hundred meters away. The naturalist on duty in the campground office was stumped. Merlin bird ID was stumped.

The difference between Lesser and Greater Yellow Legs is so minimal that I had to use Pentax Formums' Bird ID people. They had an interesting (to me) discussion of the differences and finally settled on Greater because the bill is longer than the head, and the Lesser has the bill much the same length as the head. Who knew?


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Red kite, one of hundreds in our part of the world.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

My sister’s house in Harrogate backs onto a narrow lane with allotments beyond. There are usually a few kites wheeling above her house and garden, the most she’s seen being 11. They have been known to startle people at the bus-stop. As they live mostly on carrion and small mammals, I always wonder how they find enough food to go round, specially when there are chicks. Such beautiful birds. I’ve never seen any round here, I think they’re more in Dumfriesshire. I see lots of buzzards though, which seem to have seen off the kestrels.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

I think I can trump your sister there, Lez (if trump is not considered a profanity these days)

We are in South Oxfordshire, we can rarely see none (seriously!!) and I think the best I have seen above the house (as in "lazy birdwatcher") is probably a couple of dozen. 

They are indeed, quite beautiful.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Having fun with a new long lens - a common goldfinch from my back porch.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

What flavour lens, Ken? I want one!!


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

Lovely photo Ken, is it definitely a goldfinch? Our British ones look like this:






Yours is more like our female chaffinch:





.

Go to 1.42


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Robert Pickett said:


> What flavour lens, Ken? I want one!!


That's an older Sigma 50-500mm zoom with no image stabilization. The camera is the original 6 megapixel Canon EOS 300D. You can probably pick up the pair, used, for $5-600 these days.

PS I also used a nice focusing high-power shoe-mounted flash, as you can see if you look at the shadows behind the bird's tail. A good flash makes a difference if you're not too far from the subject and it's in shadow.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

LezLee said:


> Lovely photo Ken, is it definitely a goldfinch? Our British ones look like this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Very definitely an American Goldfinch I think, which is abundant and year-round in these parts. See this online pic:










It looks like there are no chaffinches here in California, although Wiki says there may be an occasional stray in eastern North America...

​


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

Apologies Ken, just found some different pictures. 
Isn’t the difference amazing? 
I was talking about magpies to my afore-mentioned Melbourne friend as she said they were lovely birds with a lovely song! Over here they are positively hated as they raid other birds’ nests, stealing eggs and eating the chicks. They also make a horrible ‘football-rattle’ noise. It’s even legal to shoot them here.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I love goldfinches! They have a bounding flight, alternating rapidly between rapidly beating their wings and coasting, all the while singing in synch with the bounding: "I can fly!! I can fly!! I can fly!!". Makes me wish I could fly, but always makes me smile.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

LezLee said:


> Apologies Ken, just found some different pictures.
> Isn't the difference amazing?
> I was talking about magpies to my afore-mentioned Melbourne friend as she said they were lovely birds with a lovely song! Over here they are positively hated as they raid other birds' nests, stealing eggs and eating the chicks. They also make a horrible 'football-rattle' noise. It's even legal to shoot them here.


We here in the colonies have loved to shoot our birds. The passenger pigeon, quite a large bird, once flew in flocks so great they were said to darken the sky, like an eclipse. "In 1866, one flock in southern Ontario was described as being 1.5 km (0.93 mi) wide and 500 km (310 mi) long, took 14 hours to pass, and held in excess of 3.5 billion birds." (Wiki) They may have been the most numerous bird species on earth at that time.

But the last wild bird was shot in 1901, and the final survivor died in captivity in 1914. All gone, victims of mass slaughter and habitat destruction.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

A house finch, an altogether more serious bird.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

These are some lovely little long-tailed ti.s in my garden. Not a great photo and you'll need to enlarge it a lot.!


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Ducks in the Taipei zoo. I'm now out of bird pics.


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## bravenewworld (Jan 24, 2016)

LezLee said:


> Apologies Ken, just found some different pictures.
> Isn't the difference amazing?
> I was talking about magpies to my afore-mentioned Melbourne* friend as she said they were lovely birds with a lovely song! Over here they are positively hated as they raid other birds' nests, stealing eggs and eating the chicks. They also make a horrible 'football-rattle' noise. It's even legal to shoot them here.


According to Wikipedia:
_A member of the Artamidae, the Australian magpie is placed in its own genus Gymnorhina and is most closely related to the black butcherbird (Melloria quoyi). It is not, however, closely related to the European magpie, which is a corvid. _

That should go some way towards explaining the differences between the birds. All the same, the European magpie is pretty intelligent (I'm not sure if it is more or less so than the Australian), so I think it deserves real appreciation.

*That is, unless you meant Melbourne in the UK.


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## bravenewworld (Jan 24, 2016)

KenOC said:


> We here in the colonies have loved to shoot our birds. The passenger pigeon, quite a large bird, once flew in flocks so great they were said to darken the sky, like an eclipse. "In 1866, one flock in southern Ontario was described as being 1.5 km (0.93 mi) wide and 500 km (310 mi) long, took 14 hours to pass, and held in excess of 3.5 billion birds." (Wiki) They may have been the most numerous bird species on earth at that time.
> 
> But the last wild bird was shot in 1901, and the final survivor died in captivity in 1914. All gone, victims of mass slaughter and habitat destruction.


A tragedy nearly as horrible is that which befell your only parrot species in the States, the Carolina Parakeet. There is some debate as to what really ended the reign of that magnificent animal, but it is certain that hunting and deforestation played a role.









We in Australia have a greater diversity of parrot species, and we've been lucky that few (only one I can bring to mind) have been declared extinct, unlike our mammals, amphibians and non-parrot bird species. That one extinct parrot I can remember is the Paradise Parrot. The Night Parrot we had thought extinct for over a century, but a few years ago several small populations were discovered. Unfortunately, it looks as if our Critically Endangered Orange-Bellied Parrot from Tasmania (see below) is headed down the path to extinction, with the 'conservative' government in Tasmania hellbent upon continuing the heavily subsidised, low value deforestation of the regions in which it lives. One would think conservatives would care most about conservation. Another problem facing it is the introduction of sugar gliders to Tasmania in the 19th Century; these are not native to that state (they are mainland marsupials) and have been eating the eggs of the parrots.









The natural range of this species is limited (below), but it is very much migratory and has historically been an important species involved in the pollination of the great forests of the entire South-East, along with the Regent Honeyeater. I believe in good custodianship of the landscape, but when combined with this species' ecosystem function I am made livid by its plight.









So I'm afraid that, whilst we've had a better record on bird conservation in the past, things are going downhill here rather quickly, and there are many other species beyond the Orange-Bellied Parrot which are in jeopardy.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

From the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology)

Five Cuckoos in the Congo

“We now have five Cuckoos in the Congo rainforest - Thomas from Norfolk, Robinson from Nottingham, Bowie from Hampshire, Victor from Suffolk and Knepp from Sussex. Cuckoo Sherwood who has spent a few weeks near Dakar in Senegal left that location on 2nd October and has since covered 1,300 miles, flying east, first to The Gambia, then on to his current location in Benin, via Burkina Faso. We've been tracking Lancashire Cuckoo Larry since June 2015 but we haven't received an update from his tag for almost two weeks, when he flew from Chad into Central African Republic. He usually winters in northern Angola and in 2016 he moved south into the Congo basin on 29 Sept. However, in 2017 he didn't leave until 9 November. It will be interesting to see what he does this year. Keep an eye on the Cuckoo-tracking pages for the latest updates as the birds move down into their wintering areas.”

I don’t know why there aren’t any ladies there


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

I'm really pleased to see this thread. A female tawny owl was just kwicking outside my window. Birds are one of the things that make even bad days seem a little better.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Pat Fairlea said:


> I'm really pleased to see this thread. A female tawny owl was just kwicking outside my window. Birds are one of the things that make even bad days seem a little better.


We were lucky at our previous home at the edge of the forest. One night I heard 3 great horned owls calling back and forth. On another, 2 screech owls' shivering calls. Several times owls would sit within 20 feet of the bedroom window and call, as ghostly silhouettes seen dimly in the night.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Alfred Hitchcock speaks of the age-old relationship between man and the birds. "In my lecture, I hope to make you all aware of our good friends, the birds." And so he does - kind of.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Grey heron on our local river. Not rare or exotic, but none the less lovely.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Local mal-named species: One would expect a red-bellied woodpecker to have a red belly, but alas, all one ever sees is an occasional slight pink wash if the light is good. Situation the same for local green herons--3-4 different colors here and there about the bird; none of them green, not even remotely. Great Blue Herons? Not so much. If grey is blue, then they're blue. Essentially a clone of your grey heron, above.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Here's another one for heron fans. A distinctly grumpy heron.









And that's it for herons.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

I too be happy to find this thread today... and learn that Strange Magic is a fellow paddler... good way to see birds!

Here on the Russian River I look forward to migration season. Just yesterday a small flock of birds, too far away to identify, few over my street erratically, as if they were trying to decide who to follow... I imagined this flock eventually growing in size and finding a common trajectory....

Most of the tourists look for blue herons, and the herons oblige. Others are more difficult to see, like the kingfishers, and the ospreys often start off early mornings with a loud screech. Those orioles that Ken posted, show up in the off-seasons, and always get my attention. Like most California rivers, we have blue-violet swallows in the spring building nests and hunting hatches, and lots of chickadees, which often fly in my house and could be the cutest species on the planet... 

I love to hear the woodpeckers laughing, and just yesterday on my run, a raven was talking to nobody in particular, in a rhythmic pattern of oscillating clicks, in perfect descending and ascending 4ths, sounding like tuned wood blocks...

We also have hummingbirds, loons, redtail hawks, bald eagle nesting grounds on a nearby laguna... I have only one avian enemy, those pesky blackbirds / grackles or whatever, they fly in aggressive gangs and scare all the other birds off. So a few years ago I disturbed their nesting rituals by shaking the trees they like, and now they go somewhere else...


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