Bird Watchers

Tacran, I am just up in Newberg! We are neighbors.

Tacran, I thought I was pretty brave for admitting, quietly, that I like something that my MIL suggested!  hahahahaaa   []
 
Jean, I love watching the birds of prey too...they are amazing!  Last year when we were in Maine there was a juvenile bald eagle that lived in our neighborhoom and I liked to watch him as he started to change colors.  There were also a lot of Osprey near where we lived, there was a nesting pair that had a home on a telephone pole in the median of Route 1, that was cool to see as you were driving down the highway.
 
Around here we just have red-tailed hawks, and I am sure I saw a Cooper's hawk....beyond that I don't know many more.  I'm still learning.
 
Gina, love the pics of the robins, keep them coming.  When I was in Colo. I had a hanging basket on my front porch that I had a pair of house finches come back to for 3 yrs in a row....I got to see them raise a clutch each year, I loved that...they were so loud and so cute!!

We have red-tailed hawks nesting in our backyard. Here's a pic my daughter took the other day. We also have yellow finches, purple house finches, robins, cardinals, bluejays, bluebirds, chickadees, junkos, mallard ducks, canada geese, white egrets and grey herons (and of course crows, starlings and blackbirds). []

Scott and I were just out on the porch watching mountain chickadees! You don't see these very often, but apparently I live in Mountain Chickadee Central! They have brownish caps instead of black caps, and their call is slightly different, and they are smaller. Very cute!

I love ospreys, but don't get to see them very often. There are lots of peregrine falcons that nest near the Tanana River, and a couple years ago I was on a deck too close to a nest and was hassled by the parents. I didn't mind, though. []

It's owl mating season here, they are all hoo-hooing and all that every night looking for boyfriends and girlfriends. We have boreal owls here, rivaled in cuteness only by burrowing owls.

I love those red-tailed hawks.  I always count to see how many I can spot when I am on my way someowhere.  My record is 11 birds (10 alive and 1 dead) on a 20 mile trip, one way so I knew I wasn't counting the same birds 2x.
 
Jean, I think that I am going to have to come to Alaska and see all this wildlife. 

ORIGINAL: nigguysmom

Jean, I think that I am going to have to come to Alaska and see all this wildlife.

You are more than welcome to come visit! If anyone wants to come to Alaska, please let me know. I love playing tour guide. []

When you see birds of prey, remember that a good rule of thumb for identifying the sexes is that the females are generally larger than the males. 

My dad was a raptor rehabilitator wehn I was a kid.  He had a federal permit to keep them.  We always had hawks and owls around our house--sometimes IN our house!

One of our family members was a Game warden and years and years ago he found an owl that had been shot, they put it in the freezer as evidence in the case.  Well, 15 yrs later they were moving and when they were cleaning out the basement and the freezer guess what they found.  Hmm....note to self, make sure all meat eaten at their house is fresh.....

ORIGINAL: jeano
Sofia says to tell Rupert that he missed his chance, and that she would have gotten that riffen ruffen squirrel!! (I think she would have tried, anyway, she spends all summer trying!)

[] I never had a bird dog before, and I sure was surprised the first time I let him out to "getthesquirrell." I got all excited, squealed "Rupert, go get the squirrell!!!!" Whipped those patio doors open, expecting him to run out there wildly at top speed. Instead, he creeeeeeeped out there, all stealth-like. Sssslllooooooowly. The squirrell just sat there, not knowing what to do. That's how Rupert is able to get so close. Usually the squirrell or chipmunk ends up taking a flying dive off the deck railing (one story up), crashes on the grass, and runs into the woods. [] 

Ha! Rupert actually knows how to catch them, if he ever learns to move FAST right at the end!

Sofia runs UP TREES trying to catch them. No doubt if I let her off her lead she'd catch lots of squirrels, what with her extreme prey drive and incredible speed. But I can't let her off, all she cares about is hunting...besides, the squirrels up here are loaded with fleas and parasites. It's better if she doesn't catch them.

They TEASE though, horribly!

Nigel used to have a squirrel "buddy" who would sit on the fence and chatter at him.  They had this game to see if the squirrel would make it all the way down the fence to the garage roof or the other way to the roof of the house.  Nigel never caught him, but he sure tried!

This is a test to see if the pic I uploaded before will actually show this time.

Seems that I have to upload twice a LOT these days to get a pic to actually show up.

See? No picture.

Try again. It's only a 16K jpeg.

TWICE. I have to upload pictures TWICE. It's making me nuts.

Jasmine loves to "get the squirrel!"  We have a huge evergreen tree, and a swingset.  Once the squirrel ran to the swingset, and waited.  Jasmine ran into the yard.  Then the squirrel jumped off the swingset and tried to make it to the tree.  Jasmine was VERY close to the squirrel and they stared a few seconds and then the squirrel ran up the tree.
 
It's rabbits that she stalks!  She points, starts creeping forward slowly, and usually just lays down and stares.  If I would say, "Get the Rabbit," she would RUN!  Usually, she just stares, until the rabbit decides its had enough and just leaves on its own.  If she does run, it's usually just to the lot line and then she stops.  It's like she just wants the rabbit out of her yard.
 
We have a lot of red-tailed hawks in WI.  In my yard, I get to see sparrows, juncos, chickadees, red-headed finches, cardinals and mourning doves.  If I want to see goldfinches, I have to have thistle seed in one of my feeders.  I have been getting a lot of goldfinches.
 
Jean, that must be so frustrating that your pictures won't upload the first time!