Birds, Birds, Birds (and a little Bull)

11816 Views 170 Replies 30 Participants Last post by BrassMan, Jun 12, 2009

luvmy4brats

Discussion Starter · Jun 1, 2009

2

We are all very excited in my house. Yesterday, we discovered a Killdeer nesting alongside the road across from our driveway. She has 4 eggs. It took me a bit of research to discover what kind of bird it was.

See how close to the road she is? I don't have a close-up, the zoom isn't working. We put up signs this morning so people would be careful around the nest. Hopefully my neighbor (who's only there on weekends) won't mind.

We also found a nest in the tree in our front yard. There were no eggs and we didn't know what kind of bird had made the nest. Well, this morning, I saw the bird and had an idea of what it may be (I know next to nothing about birds). When she flew off, I grabbed the step stool and the camera to see if I could get a picture of inside the nest (I'm too short to see in it) sure enough, I got the picture and it was exactly what I was expecting.

A beautiful Robin egg

Last year we had a pair of House Finches build 2 seperate nests in my hanging planters on my front porch. Shortly after the first eggs hatched, they built the nest in the 2nd planter and we had another set of eggs from the same pair. It was pretty cool. I haven't put the planters out yet this year, but hopefully they'll return. The kids really enjoyed watching the birds from the front window. The male Finch was quite chatty and fun to watch as well.

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101 - 120 of 171 Posts

RangerXenos

· #101 · Jun 4, 2009

Here's a red tailed hawk that hung around most of the Winter. He got a few mourning doves, we'd find small piles of grey feathers in the yard -- they're not the brightest of birds, most birds head into the hedges when he's around so that the hawk can't get them.

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Cowgirl

· #102 · Jun 4, 2009

Love the yellow finches...that even looks like my feeder!

Anju

· #103 · Jun 4, 2009

It's ok Jeff - I am a "tad" more than1/2 oz.

Absolutely love your hummer Dori! Only 3 more to go!

Carol Hanrahan

· #104 · Jun 4, 2009

Love the finches, love the red-tailed hawk.
Here in So. Cal. we get the Lesser Goldfinch, looks more like the female American Goldfinch. Sometimes we get an American Goldfinch, and it is a real treat!

Neekeebee

· #105 · Jun 4, 2009

Dori said:
Latex Hummingbird (Indiana species) on Coreopsis

A labor of love for my kindleboard friends.

And your KindleBoard friends thank you!

I am loving all the pictures! Never realized we had such birdwatching/photographing/balloon-making talent here!

N

Carol Hanrahan

· #106 · Jun 5, 2009

Dori,
How long will the hummingbird last?
1 more post and you've got it!

Dori

· #107 · Jun 5, 2009

The hummingbird is alive (not really) and well with a magnet holding him in place on my refrigerator. Sometimes the balloon creations last a week or two and go down very slowly; however these balloons are quite old so I don't expect more than a few days. Today I had my 9 yr. old great nephew again and he was surprised to see that I had been making balloon toys and wondered who had been over here.

Meredith Sinclair

· #108 · Jun 5, 2009

Dori said:
The hummingbird is alive (not really) and well with a magnet holding him in place on my refrigerator. Sometimes the balloon creations last a week or two and go down very slowly; however these balloons are quite old so I don't expect more than a few days. Today I had my 9 yr. old great nephew again and he was surprised to see that I had been making balloon toys and wondered who had been over here.

Congrats DORI!!!!!!

Congrats Dori!!!! Congrats Dori!!!!

Meredith Sinclair

· #109 · Jun 5, 2009

Dori said:
The hummingbird is alive (not really) and well with a magnet holding him in place on my refrigerator. Sometimes the balloon creations last a week or two and go down very slowly; however these balloons are quite old so I don't expect more than a few days. Today I had my 9 yr. old great nephew again and he was surprised to see that I had been making balloon toys and wondered who had been over here.

You are an amazing lady Miss Dori! You seem to be very energetic and full of fun. Aren't nine-year-olds wonderful? Remember I am the one with the nine-year-old girl who LoVes clowns...

Tel 'im it was my daughter (Madison) she LOVED the balloon, she often peeps over my shoulder to see "who" I am talking to.

Dori

· #110 · Jun 5, 2009

TYVM Yes I do remember you are the klown person. My favorite age is whatever age Luke is.

We watched a few hummers at my feeder as we built a lego garage, workshop, parts store and 7 vehicles. It was a delightful day. I volunteer at his small Lutheran school so I am around the third graders a lot.

Meredith Sinclair

· #111 · Jun 5, 2009

Dori said:
TYVM Yes I do remember you are the klown person. My favorite age is whatever age Luke is. We watched a few hummers at my feeder as we built a lego garage, workshop, parts store and 7 vehicles. It was a delightful day. I volunteer at his small Lutheran school so I am around the third graders a lot.

Well, we will ALWAYS have the same favorite age! She is my only child and today is our first official day of Summer Vacation. It is so nice for you to be able to spend time with him, and cool that you play with him too. My FIL is the one who plays with Madison, school, baby dolls, whatever.... she is his LIGHT, and their only grandchild and they live in New Orleans, we live in Houston, so they come stay with us for weeks at a time.... I know people are saying your INLAWS for weeks

but not true... they are the BEST. My parents have been gone a long time so...

I had no idea though that there are so many neat threads on here for readers. I actually got started on here because of the authors involvement, now I have truly come to love every part of it. BIRDS are a big deal for us. My daughter and I watched a Kildeer's nest for a good while, quite interesting.

Then a storm came up and she was worried about the babies... next day no sign of anything, I told her they were big enough to run away, because they probably did not need to learn how to fly? Is that correct? Does anyone know?

Have a good night Dori, I will be heading to bed in a few.

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Angela

· #112 · Jun 5, 2009

We get visiting White Pelicans at our lake house in NE Texas every winter as they are migrating back to Canada. They hang around from a couple of weeks up to 2 months. They arrival of the pelicans is our first indication that winter is about over and Spring is coming.

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Anju

· #113 · Jun 5, 2009

CONGRATULATIONS Dori

WOO HOO WOO HOO

Anju

· #114 · Jun 5, 2009

Angela - we have pelicans that winter on the lake down here, unfortunately I don't have any pictures that have come out. Who knows these might be the same ones

Dori

· #115 · Jun 5, 2009

Thank you very much Anju.

The pelicans are beautiful. Great shot.

BrassMan

· #116 · Jun 5, 2009

Great hawk, great pelicans!

We had some bird experts over last night and finally identified a bird we hear all the time but had never seen: the common paurauque. We thought it was some kind of whipoorwill because of its call. Turns out it's a night bird and it stays low in the grass after insects, so we're not likely to get a picture of it. There was a nearly full moon last night and no wind. We could hear several of these birds a couple hundred yards off.

Here's a shot from a friend in town. He heard a thump against a window and found this guy, knocked silly, on the ground. But he revived in a few minutes and zipped off.

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Jeff

· #117 · Jun 5, 2009

These are our harbingers of summer, snowy egrets, better know locally as cow-birds:

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Gregor

· #118 · Jun 5, 2009

I feed birds year round and get a pretty wide variety.

Putting suet out ensures I have woodpeckers (down, hairy, rosebreasted) year round, and they really love sunflower seeds, too.

Lots of chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, yellow and purple finches and mourning doves. Got some bluejays, too.

I was able to entice a pair of bluebirds into nesting near my house. Saw the male feeding on suet last winter, put up a house, and the pair has raised at least 1 brood, maybe 2.

Kinda funny how the smallest birds like the chickadee are OK with me being on the deck when they're at the feeder, but the bluejays take off if I even approach the window!

Carol Hanrahan

· #119 · Jun 5, 2009

A few years ago, we had scrub jays, that's a western version of a blue jay, nest in a tree in our back yard. I went out there, and apparently got too close to their nest, and one of them dive-bombed me and actually pecked me on the head! It was such a weird feeling to be attacked by a bird!

BrassMan

· #120 · Jun 5, 2009

Yup, cattle egrets. We're 200 miles south of you, Jeff. We've got 'em too.

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