Interesting notes on wild birds

I love to go for morning walks, and I get to listen to Mourning Doves and it is so peaceful. I also love to watch quail. They are so handsome / cute and incredibly fast. Occasionally I get to see a Red Tail Hawk soaring overhead. One of my favorites to watch fly though is swallows. They are truly masters of their domain, fast, agile, and catch insects while in flight. They are a testament to nature's incredible engineering.
 

bobcat said:
Yeah, I had a smaller guide once just to try and identify the ones in my backyard, but nothing as comprehensive as the one you have. I find that birds are endlessly fascinating. Watching hummingbirds go from flower to flower in the blink of an eye, do aerial battles with others of their kind, and then zip out of sight like it's nothing.

Then watching the intelligence on display of ravens who turn over rocks with their beaks searching for grubs, buzzards soaring for hours with hardly a wing flap now and then, or just watching a Grossbeak in the top of a tree singing out it's lungs, or Canadian geese flying in formation.

I have observed Stellar Jays building their nest, and it is amazing to watch what they choose, how it gets woven in, and it's even heartwarming to watch the male bring food to the female when she is on the nest incubating the eggs. I don't know that much about birds, except that they are very cool.
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I love birds too and find them fascinating. I learned from a book on corvids that crows will recognize a person who, say, gives them peanuts -- recognize their face, not their yellow hat, etc., but actual facial recognition. They are so unsettlingly smart. Have you noticed that when you look at a crow, it looks back at you?
 
Medusa said:
I love birds too and find them fascinating. I learned from a book on corvids that crows will recognize a person who, say, gives them peanuts -- recognize their face, not their yellow hat, etc., but actual facial recognition. They are so unsettlingly smart. Have you noticed that when you look at a crow, it looks back at you?
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I didn't know that. I have heard that they are very smart birds, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me.
 
Medusa said:
I love birds too and find them fascinating. I learned from a book on corvids that crows will recognize a person who, say, gives them peanuts -- recognize their face, not their yellow hat, etc., but actual facial recognition. They are so unsettlingly smart. Have you noticed that when you look at a crow, it looks back at you?
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Apparently crows are the smartest birds in the world.
 
Kaila said:
Mallard ducks.....

Expansive range, in that they live across most of North America, and also in Europe, and in Asia.
.....Canada, Mexico, West Indies....

Do mallards live near you?
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I took this photo years ago in a state park near me, it's just with a pocket camera. I love the teal coloring on the males, the female is behind him dunking under the water for something. I love animals and nature.

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bobcat said:
I love to go for morning walks, and I get to listen to Mourning Doves and it is so peaceful. I also love to watch quail. They are so handsome / cute and incredibly fast. Occasionally I get to see a Red Tail Hawk soaring overhead. One of my favorites to watch fly though is swallows. They are truly masters of their domain, fast, agile, and catch insects while in flight. They are a testament to nature's incredible engineering.
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We have a lot of mourning doves nesting in our yard here in Colorado, love them. This is a Red Tailed Hawk from years ago in my back yard, found that not all of them actually have the red tail.

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Kaila said:
Whooping crane......

Is North America's tallest bird.
And has a7'6" wingspan.
That's 2.3 meters!

Beautiful pure white with black wing tips, and red on forehead and cheeks.
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It's funny you mention that. Yesterday I was thinking of posting about the Jabiru and I would have if I could have located pictures I took of them.

The jabiru (/ĖŒdŹ’ƦbÉŖĖˆruĖ/ or /ĖˆdŹ’ƦbÉŖruĖ/; Jabiru mycteria) is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It sometimes wanders into the United States, usually in Texas, but has also been reported in Mississippi, Oklahoma and Louisiana.[3][4] It is most common in the Pantanal region of Brazil and the Eastern Chaco region of Paraguay. It is the only member of the genus Jabiru. The name comes from the Tupiā€“GuaranĆ­ language and means "swollen neck".[5]

The adult jabiru is 120ā€“140 cm (47ā€“55 in) long, 2.3ā€“2.8 m (7.5ā€“9.2 ft) across the wings, and can weigh 4.3ā€“9 kg (9.5ā€“19.8 lb).[6]

I was thinking of it as it relates to my father's 2nd wife (85yo) whom is now estranged from most of our family. My father was the glue in our family so when he passed in 2018 we splintered, for instance me moving 2500 miles. We travelled with her to Belize w our young daughter years ago and stayed at a remote camp on the New River. It was there on an evening boat ride to see birds at the New R Lagoon where saw many birds including the jabiru.

She recently moved to a nursing home and then quickly to a hospital as many of her systems are shutting down the most life threatening is her poor kidney function. She is a person of many talents and she loved to draw so I sent her some materials and sketch pads to her so she could occupy herself. Of course first the art supplies went to the nursing home and it took several days for her son to bring them to her at the hospital. That is the last I've heard about the supplies. And this all ties back in to the another Kaila thread.


Gentle posts.....
 
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Here is another funny bird story for entertainment:

I walk in this tree lined neighborhood here in Tucson near the mountains. In the summer, in order to get out of our scorching heat, the good size adult hawks and juveniles go live in the higher elevations of the mountains nearby. After Sept 30, through about June 1 they come down and take up residence in this neighborhood I walk in.

I CANNOT wear a pony tail that sticks out of my ballcap, while walking in this particular neighborhood. The JUVENILE hawks MISTAKE my long ponytail sticking out of my cap, for a tail! I have had my pony tail grabbed by hawks not less than THREE times! It is sooo funny. The first time it happened I was amazed, rather shocked, thought it was just a "one time mistake by some blind hawk!". NOPE. It happened two more times! I wish I could get a video of this!
 
CooCooforCoCoPuffs said:
Here is another funny bird story for entertainment:

I walk in this tree lined neighborhood here in Tucson near the mountains. In the summer, in order to get out of our scorching heat, the good size adult hawks and juveniles go live in the higher elevations of the mountains nearby. After Sept 30, through about June 1 they come down and take up residence in this neighborhood I walk in.

I CANNOT wear a pony tail that sticks out of my ballcap, while walking in this particular neighborhood. The JUVENILE hawks MISTAKE my long ponytail sticking out of my cap, for a tail! I have had my pony tail grabbed by hawks not less than THREE times! It is sooo funny. The first time it happened I was amazed, rather shocked, thought it was just a "one time mistake by some blind hawk!". NOPE. It happened two more times! I wish I could get a video of this!
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That is amazing! And you're so chill about it.
I had a hawk hit me in the head with a pine tree branch once, by lifting off it while I was under it, and I was freaked. Charmed, but freaked. You've actually been attacked three freaking times! Damn.
 
Medusa said:
That is amazing! And you're so chill about it.
I had a hawk hit me in the head with a pine tree branch once, by lifting off it while I was under it, and I was freaked. Charmed, but freaked. You've actually been attacked three freaking times! Damn.
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The bird thinks I have a SQUIRREL tucked under my hat while I am walking!
Yes, that is where I ALWAYS carry 'my squirrel' when I walk!

LOLOL

Dumb freakin bird! LOLOL
 
Kaila said:
Mexican whip-poor-will.....

Rarely seen,
because it sleeps by day, on forest floor matching with dead leaves.

That unique song being heard at night.

Might be in Texas, Arizona, Southern California.
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Whippoorwill - Robert Mitchum
 
We had bird feeders near the windows for many years, which was nice. But in addition to birds, we were feeding and attracting a lot of mice. Lots of droppings and damage to things stored outside. So we got cats. Then we were feeding the birds on the ground below the feeders to our cats! So we got rid of the feeders. Birds or no mice? We went with no mice. Now we only get occasional blue jays eating left over cat food on the deck railing. And some birds smart enough to keep their distance from the cats.

I sure miss seeing those birds, especially in the winter months. Finches and grosbeaks were my favorites.
 

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