Dog Community

rw-Invasion of the Berry Snatchers

Posted : 2/26/2010 10:19:36 AM

So last night I noticed an inordinate amt of bird crap out back on the patio. Odd because we are not getting many birds yet here in my neighborhood. We have the odd assortment of crows, grackles, and mockingbirds...some sparrow type things. Nothing that moves in huge flocks thru that would have dropped the same amts of caca I saw.

This morning I was awakened by a real cacophany of trilling feathery critters outside. dh went to work and seeing him off I noticed more doo doo in the driveway. Got the kids together and we headed down the hill to school.

Our next door neighbor has a big out of control bush (which I hate looking at BTW) on the side of their house nearest us and that was where the noises were coming from. As we walked past a HUGE WHOOOOOSH noise and hundreds of birds flew out of it.

Then as we continued down the street there were more and more dotting lawns and picking at the puddles. Robins...dozens and dozens of them...and also these tinier adorable birds with little headdresses on...ADORABLE seriously. I wanted to take one home in my pocket.

Anywho I got the kids off to school...Lily was very charmed by the hopping Robins...and came back up quickly to grab my camera. I had my long lens but the light was so bad I was unable to get many good pics...mostly noisy owing to the high shutter speed and smaller ap. but they simply would NOT allow me closer with my better lens.

Does anyone know what the cheeky crested bird is? They are BEAUTIFUL!!

I think when robins come, Spring is on the way...and they sure liked whatever berries were on that monstrous bush!!

Click here to enlarge

SSSOOOO CUUUTE!!! sorry bout the quality...these were MUCH shyer and more flighty than the robins...

Two-fer!!

CoBuHe

Posted : 2/26/2010 10:26:54 AM

Wow! we have lots and lots of different bird types around her....but I have never seen this cheeky crested bird before. Gorgeous!

I've got to try to get a picture of the woodpeckers we have around here. They are HUGE! 2 feet in body length. Boy can they do some damage.

rwbeagles

Posted : 2/26/2010 10:29:10 AM

seriously these are ADORABLE!! They look so exotic for Texas?? maybe some kind of passing thru bird? I love their little cresty thingys LOL. And that yellow tail...is unreal in it's brightness. They made me smile...all of them... Smile

l.michelle

Posted : 2/26/2010 10:38:17 AM

Awesome pictures!!!!

The birds in the last couple of photos look kind of like robo-birds, like terminator birds lol with the weird things over their eyes. I half-expected laser beams!

sharismom

Posted : 2/26/2010 10:51:23 AM

Gina, the crested birds look similar to the Cedar Waxwing - perhaps in the same family. We have CWs up here in the summer and they are big berry eaters.

rwbeagles

Posted : 2/26/2010 11:05:57 AM

Tina! yes that is what they are, looked it up...thank you! I seriously want one...wonder if I can get close enough with Lily's butterfly net? lol!

Truley

Posted : 2/26/2010 11:37:45 AM

rwbeagles

Tina! yes that is what they are, looked it up...thank you! I seriously want one...wonder if I can get close enough with Lily's butterfly net? lol!

Haha. Tina beat me with the answer. It would seem from your photo's and my email alerts that the northern migration is currently in full swing. I read a report of huge amount of Sandhill Cranes in the Cecilia Area of Kentucky, as many as 3k, some Whopping Cranes have been spotted with them as well. In the last few days I have noticed tons of Robins and Cedar Waxwings.

Bird watching is fun.

calliecritturs

Posted : 2/26/2010 11:43:51 AM

Dang -- you beat me to it cos I was going to say Cedar Waxwing. They are my Dad's favorite kind of birds -- look up how they nest ... it's pretty cool

aerial1313

Posted : 2/26/2010 11:47:36 AM

rwbeagles
wonder if I can get close enough with Lily's butterfly net?

According to Wikipedia, they're a protected bird and cannot be lawfully kept in captivity. Sad

They sure are pretty!! Too bad they've lef their little "packages" all over your yard, tho, lol!!

rwbeagles

Posted : 2/26/2010 11:50:07 AM

aerial1313
Too bad they've lef their little "packages" all over your yard, tho, lol!!

It's okay. Everybody Poops. At least it's almost all berry leftovers and not that nasty disgusting guano the HUGE mutant flocks of Grackles leave all over shopping center parking lots! LOL.

DumDog

Posted : 2/26/2010 12:21:03 PM

love those pictures! one of my favourite websites is Whatbird.com

we're having similar invasions in FL at the moment.. little green/yellow finch type things - sorry, havent looked them up lol - twice now they two of them have gotten themselves trapped inside the bird feeder.....

rwbeagles

Posted : 2/26/2010 12:22:53 PM

DumDog
them have gotten themselves trapped inside the bird feeder.....

INSIDE IT?? lmao...birdbrains indeed!

Jewlieee

Posted : 2/26/2010 12:39:15 PM

Holy moley that's a lot of robins together in one spot! Must not be mating season yet :)

I love those Waxwings. You don't seem them around here much unless you are near wetland type terrain. Their colors blend together perfectly.

This is my fav. bird site, btw:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1189

And you can browse all birds here

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/browse_tax.aspx?family=11

They seem to have a little bit more info than whatbird, although I like that site too.

This is what all about birds says abotu robin roots:

Robin roosts can be huge, sometimes including a quarter-million birds during winter.

I have never seen such a flock of robins before. In fact, all the robins around my house must have gone south for the winter because I haven't seen any since probably Oct last year.

kpwlee

Posted : 2/26/2010 12:51:04 PM

I had a flock of Cedar Waxwings drop in last year and been on the lookout this year - they are beautiful birds!

The robins have been in huge numbers here since January, both my mom and my sister were amazed on their individual visits at how many were in the same area.

Johnny&Tessy

Posted : 2/26/2010 12:56:17 PM

I think maybe you should catch some and send them to friends. I'd like to order one!