i do the cat sound at them Paul
and i am pretty good at mimicry but it
tends to be so real... they often fly off

i have only one so far.... they're almost as
good as a mockingbird....i'd PAY to
get a mockingbird though.

saw my 1st oriole of the season yesterday in Quincy, and during the weekend in Truro had the return of the white crowned sparrows and the towhees. Catbirds are next -

I cleaned and moved several bird houses around the other day
and one in particular i mounted on the back of the glass green house.

Well, the very next day there was a skinny stick protruding from the
door in the front and a pair of Carolina wrens have moved in. :btu:

let the serenades begin.
~
I had a red bellied woodpecker outside my window doing his little
dance and heady call (on top of the hollow log)
his red feathers on top of his head separating
while he tapped out a sunflower seed. cool to see.

I tried getting a close up shot using the make do blind but
he was too clever so i'm headed to wally world to get some cheap suet
to smear into the cracks which they cannot resist anymore
than a cat and a partially open door.

wow
bought some peanut dough suet @ christmas tree
(non melting) and the cat birds are Luvin it!

Quite a weekend for me in the bird dept. (and a few schoolies to boot). Catbirds were right on schedule and tore through every orange I put out on my seed board, but as a bonus I had a pair of flycatchers checking out the birdhouse outside my window. The female was checking the house out while the male was a few feet away. He then flew over to another house, but I think that the hole was too small - bummer.

Got some pics of an unidentified hawk that came down and took a birdbath in a puddle in my driveway, he was about the same size as a crow and he had a prominent black cap. I forgot to drag the pics home with me, I'll get them up next weekend

I took this a few weeks ago: Red Shouldered Hawk
 

http://fishhardlivelong.com/Red_Shou...with_inset.jpg
Red Shouldered Hawk, (male) April 2012
I used a Nikon D-70 w/80-400mm telephoto at maximum focal length. He was perched on a snapped off tree-trunk about 30 feet up and 50 feet behind my back fence. It looks smallish, but it had a wing span about the same as a Red Tailed Hawk.

great hawk pictures!
I love the red bellies so i built them a pecker pole
with a perch up top (15 feet tall)
hoping to attract some owls @ night for mice control too.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...peckerpole.png

that hawk is nice~

I got a crappy old 3.0 megapixel that I keep around, doesn't have the best quality (especially on long shots) but the price is right. I got that flycatcher from about 10'.

ya know whats cheap for a binocular camera
is these type....the only gripe is you have to keep them
real steady to reduce blur
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...nob1/binoc.png

They work for cute girls TOO :)

Raven - Your yard looks like bird heaven.
I like photographing somewhat rare or unusual birds. It's similar to fishing - I find it very rewarding. I like sitting still in the woods, it unfolds the longer you stay in one place. Very intriguing, very mystical.
I can see the allure of dear hunting, it's not for me, but I can appreciate it.

here's my hawk from last weekend, Small, a little smaller than a crow. ID appreciated~

can't tell :huh:

Joe, with your photoghrapy skills you should build a blind somewhere
in the woods near a stream. Amazing, just like deer hunting, the longer
you stay in the blind the more your senses come alive and the deeper
you can see into the woods and identify birds and animals by sound.

Mike, I think that's a Cooper's Hawk. I've seen a couple around my house.

yeah. a Cooper's it is. A 1st.

I've noticed a lot of stuff around I haven't seen before. You have birdfeeders out Paul?

Not much like sitting in the woods and having them come alive around you. I have been trying to id an accipiter hawk around my house and the other day saw it take a sharp turn up into a canopy not too far away so I will have to take a walk and look for a nest then set up shop. I have seen a few orioles around, is it true putting up oranges are an attractant for them? I also saw a bird the other day I have never seen, thought it might be a grosbeak, that I never id'd but couldn't match in my books. Gotta get a better look, its right near work, gonna bring camera.

easy to recognize a gross beak hence the name

their beak resembles a pair of wire cutters

the female is striped bigtime and the male looks like he's wearing a tuxedo complete with a ROSE

if that's a coopers hawk its pregnant

Yeah, I have bird feeders out. I "used" have suet out but there's a raccoon that keeps getting into it. He climbs out on the limb, and reels the chain up to the limb and perches the suet cage on the limb and eats the whole thing.

I've got to change my feed though. I'm getting a lot of the same birds. Tons of chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, cardinals, and goldfinches.

I'm pretty sure it's a cooper's hawk based on the coloration and 2na's description of it's size. It's bathing itself so its feathers are all puffed out.

By the way, I was walking the old railroad bed between Great Hollow beach and Pamet Harbor in Truro today and spotted what I think was a black headed grosbeak, but I didn't think the eastern coast was in their range. Maybe it was a towhee, not sure. I couldn't get a picture.

i'd say it was a towhee as their head is completely black

they sound different too....

so............what kind of seed you gonna switch to?

i've been getting raided also so i put up a real bright light
for the time being as they like to be in complete darkness
if possible....

my seed mix has some peanuts and i keep finding the tops
of the feeders pulled up with only half the amount left each time:fury:

Not sure what kind of mix I'm going to. There's a "birder" store in Orleans, I may go there and get some hints about attracting a wider variety of birds. I do get a lot of birds and the local feral cats can attest as they stalk my feeders.

I had a raid happen last night....but this time it was a battle between a Fisher
and a Racoon .... it's getting to the point that i have to build a over night box
out of ply wood that locks up feeders nightly to keep the critters away.

Feral cats aren't to hard to dissuade ya just tree them with your Dingo and blast them with your hose for awhile then they'll avoid your Sanctuary....

I've gotta find some peanut flour to mix with cheap natural peanut butter to dry it up a bit... and make my own suet cakes ....
the "FEED" stores Inland usually have a better price on the "Exotic" mixes but make sure you avoid any seed mixes with Millet
as Nothing eats it and it's a con job filler additive!

the hole i drilled and filled with peanut butter and then jammed sunflower seed in it yesterday got licked clean last night.... bastids

didn't see the beak on the bird I thought might be the grosbeak, it was mainly black, with white on all but the outline of the underbelly of the tail feathers which the outline was black. Sounds confusing even to me. The tail feathers were white with a black border. A call I've never heard, and flew almost like a flicker.

one thing that stands out when I see a Towhee are the red eyes

this is a very cool clear video
after you skip the dammed ad

i have set up a similar feeder array , early
just 2 thus far but that number will grow
More Hummingbirds Than You Can Count! - YouTube

forgot to mention wally worlds back to sellin suet cakes for 92 cents
best found at the super stores

"it was mainly black, with white on all but the outline of the underbelly of the tail feathers which the outline was black."

what I meant was the whole bird was black, except for white in the middle of the tail feathers, wasn't a towhee, I know them. I couldn't find the bird I saw in any of my books, will have to find it online, me tinks

ahhh i see, didn't mean to insult your intelligence there

then i was thinkin you heard one Bird and saw another....

like a female downy, all black and white and would fly like a flicker
as they are much larger than their male counterpart