The Avairy-- aka Gone to the Birds

[Jess]

When we still lived in Charles City, the annual migration of cedar waxwings was always a great treat to catch. I referred to them as tiny bandits, as they would move from tree to tree stripping any berries or nuts hidden by squirrels and make off with them. Couple interesting notes: They will store food in their throats, like 30 berries at a time to feed young. They will also line up on a branch and pass food from one to the next down the line until one finally eats it.



Neat lil fellers!

Thanks for the thread Finney Han! I'm a big old bird watching dork from way back!

[Andrew, Jr.]

I am another bird watching fan here! I even belong to a club called Birds & Bikes. You follow birds and ride your bike along nature trails. I really enjoy it.

[violaine]

stone finn, i have long loved your bird photography. thank you for starting this thread. here is a link on cranes, please:

http://www.savingcranes.org/


thinking about how connected we are all to birds-

impacts/more thoughts: wind farms and flyways, backyard to remote habitats, oil spill and migration, endangered species, songbirds, raptors, pesticides, representation in history of art, spirituality, poetry/music, ornithologists, et c.

stunning images-

belle

[Kobi]

I put up a couple of pretty handpainted birdhouses on my deck for decoration a couple of years ago. A sparrow couple set up housekeeping and have never left! They are very sexually active and give birth 3-4 separate times each season. Fascinates me when it is time for the little buggers to venture out of the nest.

Thankfully, they are used to my being there now and no longer dive bomb me when I step foot out the door.

We also have a pair of hawks which are awesome to watch until they swoop down on the chipmunks for a snack.

Cardinals, yellow finches, chickadees, titmouses.....sometimes I sit there with the Birds of North America book trying to figure out who is visiting me.

[violaine]

today is already quite warm in indiana. visiting the feeding stations today are the following birds-

sparrows, grackles, red-winged blackbirds, cardinals, jays, and on the ground- mourning doves, american robins, crows [my favourite], & late afternoon/early evening ducks.

the red-winged blackbirds take over the feeding stations, and make a shrill sounding * chreeeeeep- chreeeeeep*

during a walk, i'll see all of the birds listed at the feeders plus- finches, woodpeckers, turkey vultures, red-tailed hawks, cooper's hawks, great blue herons, ducks, geese, crows, and great horned owls.

cornell lab is a wonderful place i am very fond of ornithologist kevin mcgowan, and he's why i became a supporter of the field work/research he's done over the years with florida scrub jays and crows. i've made his acquaintance, and while some people may become star struck over actors, i'd much rather meet ornithologists/primatologists and so on !

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/index.html

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/ia...le/animals.htm

the first link is to kevin/cornell, and the second

has tons of information on history of art/animal symbolism.

Falcon / Hawk byk - The sacred bird of the falcon-headed solar god Horus, it was also regarded as his Ba. The falcon was a bird that had protective powers, and was frequently linked with royalty, where it was depicted as hovering over the head of the pharaoh, with outstretched wings. The falcon was also sacred to Montu, god of war, and Sokar, god of the Memphite necropolis. The bird of prey was sometimes associated with Hathor, 'The House of Horus'. The son of Horus, Qebehsenuef who guarded the canopic jar of the intestines, was a falcon-headed god. The human headed ba-bird was sometimes given the body of a falcon.

Heron bnw - The bnw-bird was represented as a heron, and was thought to be the original phoenix - it was a bird of the sun and rebirth, the sacred bird of Heliopolis, closely linked to the primeval mound. It was also thought to be the Ba of both Ra and Osiris.

Ibis hb - Regarded as the reincarnation of Thoth, the sacred ibis was sacred to the god of knowledge, who had the form of an ibis-headed man. The Akhu, part of the soul, was written with the sign of a crested ibis, known as the Akhu-bird.

Ostrich nyw - Ma'at, the personification of order, was shown as a seated woman wearing an ostrich feather as her headdress or as the feather itself.

Vulture nrt - sacred to Nekhbet, goddess of Upper Egypt and Mut, mother goddess. The vulture often holds the shn symbol of eternity in its talons, offering eternal protection to the pharaoh. As such, the vulture is closely linked to rulership.

happy day birding to you all-

belle

[violaine]

i started two albums for here- one is called aprilOwls, though it contains hawks. the other album is crows [which only has a few rather far away images, but i like them anyway!]



http://s895.photobucket.com/albums/a...rilOwlOwletts/

[Hack]

I'm hitting my favorite birding spot next weekend in northern Michigan, hoping I am not too late for the spring migration. Michigan is blessed by being located in a major fly-way. We see lots of cool birds here in the spring. A few years ago, my best bird was a Lewis' Woodpecker, normally only seen in the desert out West. It was blown off course and was spotted at Whitefish Point in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I happened to be in the area and drove over to the area and I ended up spotting it in the scrubby pines. It was amazing!

I'd love it if birders would post their lists in here of things they seen on their birding days. It would be cool to read what others are seeing in their part of the world.

Jake

[Heart]

I'm not an official birder - but I love birds.

One day 10 years ago, I was sitting in a friend's garden looking at the pigeons lined up on the telephone wires above. And there, in the midst of their grayness, was a bright bold green parrot.

There's actually a colony of parrots living in a large cemetery not far from my house. Here's a link: http://blogs.discovery.com/nerdabout...ts-of-nyc.html

[StoneFinn]

Originally Posted by Hack

I'm hitting my favorite birding spot next weekend in northern Michigan, hoping I am not too late for the spring migration. Michigan is blessed by being located in a major fly-way. We see lots of cool birds here in the spring. A few years ago, my best bird was a Lewis' Woodpecker, normally only seen in the desert out West. It was blown off course and was spotted at Whitefish Point in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. I happened to be in the area and drove over to the area and I ended up spotting it in the scrubby pines. It was amazing!

I'd love it if birders would post their lists in here of things they seen on their birding days. It would be cool to read what others are seeing in their part of the world.

Jake

'allo Jake... and great to hear from you-- that is an awesome story about the Lewis' Woodpecker ! Talk about you being in the right place at the right time there!

I am a pretty avid birder and bird photographer-- in my early 20's I was lucky enough to be the naturalist for one of the Audubon Society Reserves in the US for a while. Even before then, when I was small my Mum was a vet tech, also in the States, and I was able to do things like raise a set of orphaned ducklings, and even an orphaned great horned owl at home. The ducks, we eventually released ourselves, though the owl went to a Raptor rehab center after a while.

I also was also lucky to have a large raptor nest right next to my side of the house on the farm growing up-- so birds have always been a huge focus of mine. I started working on photographing them with that nest-- running out with my kodak 110 insta-matic trying to get decent snaps of the ospreys or the owls.

Since that time, I have traveled all over North America, and now also parts of Southeast Asia, into New Zealand (to see the Albatross specifically), and live in Australia. I have even been lucky enough to stand within a couple of meters of the Little Penguin-- an Aussie native penguin-- in the wild down in the Melbourne region.

Thank you everyone for posting and sharing your stories and photos! Keep them coming every one makes me smile, and I love being able to share some of the birds that I see that others might not ever be able to... and seeing birds that I might never be able to travel to see myself

My partner has become used to me doing things like suddenly stopping the truck, grabbing the ever present camera, and me running off somewhere, chasing after something... usually all she hears is "BIRD!" as I jump out... LOL She has an eternal patience with me, especially when it comes to this-- her only "rule" is that I don't run the truck off the road, into another MV or off a cliff because I am too busy looking at a bird. I think that is fair.


Otherwise-- I am hoping for the safety and well being of all my and our feathered (and scaled and non-scaled and so on) friends up in the Gulf of Mexico....

will close with a couple more photos tonight...
A **small** flock of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos in NSW


One of the ducks (that I am still working on an ID for) at one of the local park ponds.

[lionpaw]

Originally Posted by Jess

When we still lived in Charles City, the annual migration of cedar waxwings was always a great treat to catch. I referred to them as tiny bandits, as they would move from tree to tree stripping any berries or nuts hidden by squirrels and make off with them. Couple interesting notes: They will store food in their throats, like 30 berries at a time to feed young. They will also line up on a branch and pass food from one to the next down the line until one finally eats it.



Neat lil fellers!

Thanks for the thread Finney Han! I'm a big old bird watching dork from way back!

Oh, this is such a beautiful bird!...We love birdwatching!.....I was told about this thread the other day, but I never saw it....I couldn't find it.....So, thank you for whomever added to the thread.....Now, my honey and I can enjoy the birds too!