Backyard Bird Watching 2016-17 edition

[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.