I came into work the other day and this hawk was sitting on our smokestack screeching.

Lots of hawks near me now. Route 295 has become their buffet now. Some days there are half a dozen patroling a 3 mile stretch from Lincoln to Attleboro.

Close up of the young hawk at my office.

Must have 1000's of starlings in the trees surrounding the house! Send over the hawks.
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and just imagine
 

they're not native to this country

that there were only two....yep just 2 here in 1954

until some dumb as dirt biologists let them escape

in Texas: flocks are so big they block out the stars

Rather than deadhead my coneflowers, I let them go to seed, because goldfinches definitely enjoy the seeds.

I was trimming shrubs early yesterday morning. Birds were singing, then the
Blue Jays started sqwaking and it became dead quiet.
I looked up and there were between 35-40 Hawks migrating south, high up on the thermals, just circiling in 100yd circles without moving their wings just riding the NW wind. Too far up to identify them, but one of the coolest things I've seen.
Nature is unbelievable.It was quiet for a long time afterwards.

very interesting

i didn't know hawks mass migrated

i've seen turkey vultures in large groups but
never hawks.... hmmmm

I had never seen it before either Rav, but there they were just
like I said. Wished I could of identified them, but they were way
up there. They looked to be about Redtailed size.
No they were not turkey buzzards for sure. :doh:

A couplke of years back we had a massive crow roosting migration pass by our house. the trees were bare, except for the hundreds and hundreds of crows perched in them.
They would pass in waves, cawing loudly as each wave passsed.
There were probably well over a thousand in all.

Reminded me of the movie "The Birds".

The crows still pass by our house as part of thier seasonal migration, but nothing like that one time.

Whatever migratory bird that flys in groups has to start the journrey
somewhere. I wonder where they all meet to start the flight or do they
just pick up hitchhikers a few at a time?

I looked up some info on Hawk Migration and it is not uncommon
to see what they call a "Kettle", which is a group of Hawks migrating by
circiling tightly on an air thermal.
Some types of Hawks migrate as far South as Peru.

Found out some more info from a guy who counts migrating Hawks.
He told me these Kettles can be as large as 100 to 1000 Hawks. He said
there hasn't been enough Nortwest winds yet to push down the broad wing
migrators in really large numbers , but they will come,followed by the
smaller Kestrel hawks etc. and lastly the Golden and Bald Eagles.

I found 4 Hawk Watch areas and hope to take my Grandsons to see them
the next time we get a nice clear NW wind day.

a Kettle of hawks
a murder of crows

everything else is just friggan flocks :huh:

And a gaggle of geese

Great Horned Owl. I saw this at a outdoor expo.

Great source of info and place to watch, hawk mt PA:

Hawk Mountain Raptor Count | Hawk Mountain Sanctuary: Raptor Conservation, Education, Observation & Research

that's my old hood. It was also was a great place to do teenager-type things :devil2:

ya got me!

now ya notice the color of that great horned owl's eyes _RED

maybe that's why the unknown creatures have those
to see better in the NIGHT to eat you

Put out seed in a feeder today first time since May, already had 6 species visit in the first 4 hrs. Are they trying to tell us something about upcoming winter weather. Yes, junkos too.
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Front yard bird watching in this case.
 

Front of the house was covered with Winter moths this morning.We open up the door so the sun can come in and the storm was covered with moths.My first thought was: "kind of crazy no birds eat these things".About 20 seconds later I see a Wren fly up to the door and grab a moth.Ended up being a pair and this happened several times until the dogs barked!

Tried to take several pics but those buggers were fast.

Are they saying I will have to spend 2 grand on gas to go ice fishing this year again?:smash: Hope not.

in Jan maybe not, Dec. probably

White-Winged Crossbill?
 

Spotted a flock (maybe 12 birds) that I could only identify as white-winged crossbills. However, Peterson's indicates a range much further north than Cape Cod. They were picking at something in my shell driveway. We have a lot of pines and it has rained recently so thought that they may be getting pine seed. They were too small to be Pine Grosbeaks and the markings didn't quite match.

The best match was for the attached picture so I'm going with white-winged crossbill until someone proves that's not possible :)

Highly likely. Reading the Boston Globe there is a weekly article on birds seen, I think I read the cross bills are here for winter foraging this year.

because snow-ageddon is coming

Paul, that's awesome! I'll keep my eye out for them.

When working in the yard I've noticed the steady stream of pine seeds floating down, can't remember it being like this before.

I noticed this thread had reached 27 pages and came in expecting that Crafty Angler had steered it off course with discussion about watching "red-breasted warblers" and "long-legged bed thrashers" from his deck off Thames Street.

But it appears to really be about bird watching.

Actual bird related content. Had a red-tail tearing a squirrel to pieces in the back yard this AM. No way to get a good shot of it but it was quite the show. Happens about once a month and always provides some entertainment.

And on that note:

Golden Eagle Snatches Kid - YouTube

WOW that was amazing! Lucky kid.

Tough to say if it's real or a very good fake and the Internet is pretty excited about the video right now, but then again, they are capable predators.

golden-eagle-drags-goats-off-cliff - YouTube

:rotflmao: they navigate by sound(s)
"remembered" such as firetrucks ,church bells,
flowing water, and sounds of the spectrum unknown to us.

Birds in Mass can hear the sound of Niagara falls (long range)
similarly to elephants-> low pitch vibration

Don't forget to say Merry Christmas to the Birds

it's gonna be 17 degree's christmas morning -> well (here)

$2.00 of white Beef suet from the big meat market's goes a long way!

i have two pair of Blue Birds as steady customer's along with
BIG RED (a red bellied woopecker) plentiful Downies,nutty's and tit mice
all coming over to wolf down suet....
the nuthatches fly off with chunks to place in their secret stash tree
where they jam it up under neath bark for leaner days....

Some seens from the feeders today.
 

Had some and took some pics.

Some more.

Still more.

One more,the wall and Simon.The wall shot was an accident but what the hell.(That paper IS on its way out)

Bluebird on my Christmas tree

reminder:
SUET IS WHAT BIRDS REALLY want right now
that and melted water (a scarce item at below freezing)

the regular store bought suet cakes SUCK right now!
because in these temps they freeze solid as a rock and only
the strongest HAMMER HEAD birds in the woodpecker family can
bust some loose....

BUT, the regular MEAT section beef suet sliced like your carving a turkey -->
then fine chopped into 1/4 inch cubes is PERFECT

Seeing a blue bird swallow those...
the equivalent of a slider hamburger to us....
..... makes it OBVIOUS they are surviving and thriving
given the right food at below freezing temperatures. :uhuh:



Happy new year :wave:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...1/BlueBird.jpg

Bald Eagle
 

Not exactly backyard but I did see a Bald Eagle at Whitman's Pond in Weymouth today. Driving past the boat ramp on Middle St. glanced out and thought I saw something -black and white- in a tree on the opposite shore. Got my glasses and that's what it was. Watched for about 30 minuites after calling my brother to see if he had a camera with telephoto lens. He took a couple of pics but thought it was too far away to come out clearly. It was still there when we left.

Raven: what are Bluebirds doing in NE during Winter, should have headed south?