Backyard Bird Watching 2016-17 edition

[FormerUser]

Made the investment this season in a Droll Yankees feeder and it was a very good investment indeed,the squirrels have no idea what to do with it!Its going to be nice not to have to plow through pounds of seed every week feeding the damn squirrels.

We've had just about every local species visiting,no hawk yet though.

[Raven]

a big hawk tried to kill my big plymouth rock rooster
and left his comb all bloody. a brazen bastard so now
i am back to feeding my flock of crows to be on the
look out and intercept him.

this morning i saw what looked like one of my
astrolop black chickens under the bushes
but it was actually a 55 pound porcupine.

that's a guesti-mate on weight but it was
huge... as big as a curled up dog on the couch.

it's up there still sleepin on a branch....
tried to take pics ....but they came out shetty

[Raven]

photo.... i worked on it and brought it out
of the shadows

even though it was still early and semi dark
the flash did zilch but here he is

[FormerUser]

That's not a bad pic at all.Very cool.

[FormerUser]

Oct.19th and we're bat watching at this very moment.

Have the camera out but those little buggers are fast!

Ok back at it.

[FishermanTim]

Like trying to get a pic of a hummingbird in flight!

When they are hovering/feeding, sure, but when they move they REALLY move!

[Raven]

to get a humming bird you have to
stand /sit close to a feeder
and wait-em out with camera
ready to snap.

[OLD GOAT]

Originally Posted by Raven

a big hawk tried to kill my big plymouth rock rooster
and left his comb all bloody. a brazen bastard so now
i am back to feeding my flock of crows to be on the
look out and intercept him.

this morning i saw what looked like one of my
astrolop black chickens under the bushes
but it was actually a 55 pound porcupine.

that's a guesti-mate on weight but it was
huge... as big as a curled up dog on the couch.

it's up there still sleepin on a branch....
tried to take pics ....but they came out shetty

You're lucky you have crows. The crows near me head for Monomy in the spring for eggs and get poisoned by the Feds and that makes my chickens easy pray for the hawks

[OLD GOAT]

Originally Posted by Raven

a big hawk tried to kill my big plymouth rock rooster
and left his comb all bloody. a brazen bastard so now
i am back to feeding my flock of crows to be on the
look out and intercept him.

this morning i saw what looked like one of my
astrolop black chickens under the bushes
but it was actually a 55 pound porcupine.

that's a guesti-mate on weight but it was
huge... as big as a curled up dog on the couch.

it's up there still sleepin on a branch....
tried to take pics ....but they came out shetty

You're lucky you have crows. The crows near me head for Monomy in the spring for eggs and get poisoned by the Feds and that makes my chickens easy pray for the hawks

[justplugit]

Has anybody seen any hawk migrations yet?

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by justplugit

Has anybody seen any hawk migrations yet?

Sorry no

Did see something on that idea mind boggling today on the water...
I was a little slow on the draw with the phone pic but managed to get this.... Look real close at the dotted line in the sky... It was endless!
Geese I guess...

Great sunrise also

[justplugit]

Yes, I would agree. The sky has been as clear as can be over the
last 2 weeks to see migrations. Maybe late because of the warm weather?

[FormerUser]

Been hearing the same sharpie for several days but no sighting as of so far.

I know one thing I can endorse this season is the Droll Yankee Whipper feeder.The squirrels truly struggle with this feeder.

[niko]

We saw some puffins out tuna fishing the other day - pretty cool to see
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[PRBuzz]

Originally Posted by Guppy

Sorry no

Did see something on that idea mind boggling today on the water...
I was a little slow on the draw with the phone pic but managed to get this.... Look real close at the dotted line in the sky... It was endless!
Geese I guess...
Attachment 63516
Great sunrise also

cormorants!

[rphud]

Bear, really big bear.

Any thoughts on how much a black bear would weigh if it is about 6 foot tall standing on the hind legs?

[Rob Rockcrawler]

Since the cold snap hit i have had about 50 carolina wrens hanging around. Small bird but they are my favorite back yard little guys.

[rphud]

ours are gone, replaced by Juncos.

[Raven]

as i exited the red barn door @ 6:20 am
i caught a glimpse of something running
from the cedar grove .it was a small
porcupine and i chased after it to find its
den but as i rounded the corner of the wood-
shed it was gone like a magician.

i stuffed its den hole with rocks then
dumped in a quite aromatic bottle of
pee saved for just that occasion

haven't seen it since. lol.

then i go up the hill to let the
Chickens and Ducks out and i heard
Canadian geese coming over head
so i look up and here's a 25 bird flock
in a perfect V around 75 feet up
passing right over me. incredible!

this morning we had a single tom
turkey with a 7 inch tassle and he
was watchin the 5 ducks trying to
figure them out i guess

[Guppy]

Traffic jamb Raven style,,,

[FishermanTim]

Was out fishing last month on the kayak in Dover and saw a massive crow migration. I've seen them in good numbers, but when you see hundreds and hundreds of them flying by in separate groups it can be noisy.

Some years back we had an even larger flock (Murder) of crows pass over our house. They literally darkened the sky as they passed.
Some would stop off in our trees making it look like a scene from the movie "The Birds".
And they were cackling to beat the band!

I can mimic some of their calls, to the point where they will respond to them, but since I don't know what I am conveying they soon catch on and stop replying.
I do the same with turkeys and chickens.
I can mimic the sounds pretty well but without understanding the context it soon just becomes noise to them.

As for backyard birds, we've got a lot of various sparrow species as well as finches, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, juncos, blue jays, cardinals, many types of woodpeckers, mourning doves, occasional turkeys and odd pigeon or two.

[BigBo]

These fellas are living dangerously this week especially. I can walk right up to within 10' of them. Table fare.

[FishermanTim]

You wouldn't want to get too close to them in the spring when they are strutting for mates....they can be downright dangerous!

I would feed the ones that visit our cul-de-sac.
They would bring their young of the year, and then that brood would bring theirs the next year, and so on, and so on....

The chicks would hide behind the hen while she fed and when I stepped back they would charge out from behind to feed.
The hens and prior year young would come-a-running when I would start tossing sunflower seeds for them to eat.

[Raven]

yeah Tim

I had a turkey chase me around my car several times.. It had a real bad attitude
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Rob Rockcrawler]

I had a tom attack my jeep out on Block a few years back. They blocked the road and the tom was pecking at my tires then jumping up at my drivers side window. The block island version of the UPS guy was cracking up watching it happen. Not sure if the turkeys are still on the island or if they got removed.

[Raven]

after thanks giving i always throw the rack out onto the middle of the hay field
out back to watch the crows arrive and do their thing. Turkey's seem to have a relationship
with crows trusting in their Observation skills and they'll emerge
when they're around and soon enough we had our 25 turkey hens out there milling around.
I built a compound (enclosure) for our chickens and Ducks to fence out the turkey's and deer
from the middle of our Homestead and so far they have respected the border and -> Stay out of there.

[Raven]

took all my cans of fat, bacon grease ,left over meat ect. about six cans worth and set it out
200 feet out back for them to faten up for winter
so TODAY ...first one i've ever seen! is a brown Version brown and black
looks more like a hawk coloration. Wishing i had a decent ZOOM telephoto camera.

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Raven

took all my cans of fat, bacon grease ,left over meat ect. about six cans worth and set it out
200 feet out back for them to faten up for winter
so TODAY ...first one i've ever seen! is a brown Version brown and black
looks more like a hawk coloration. Wishing i had a decent ZOOM telephoto camera.

Brownys cousin

[FishermanTim]

Was doing some X-mas shopping for a local charity drive at work, and while in line at Ocean State there was a guy in front of me getting some bird feeding supplies. Since he was chair bound, he could only get a couple things, and as fate would have it he was a dollar short. I gave him a dollar, to which he was very grateful, at which point I replied "You won't be thanking me when the birds start rapping on your window to refill your feeders".

We both got a laugh at that.

We've been seeing quite a bit more activity for this early in the season, so I'm thinking either they're making up for a dry summer (less seeds available) or stocking up for a bad winter!

[Raven]

the white net bag your Turkey comes in makes a perfect SUET feeder.