Fellow birdwatchers?

[coo_]

*This is my first time making a topic, so I apologize if there's already a topic for this (I ran a search and didn't find anything).

 

 

So, I suppose it's stereotypically a bit nerdy, but I'm a pretty avid birder. I was wondering if anyone else on here is one as well, or even casually?

 

I'm not technically a lister, but I keep a mental list in my head of the birds I've seen/haven't seen.

 

If you're a birder or enjoy watching birds - what sorts of behaviors have you observed? Do you keep a list? What's your favorite bird? What are the birds you want to see?

 

Any other discussion of birds is welcome here! ^.^

 

[serce2]

I love looking for birds!

 

I've never been a formal birdwatcher, and living in a very gentrified (read: not a lot of places for birds to eat at) suburb doesn't help, but I set out bird feeders out in the winter or throw out some extra parakeet seed mix. My favorite visitors have to be northern cardinals, especially female ones, even though everyone says they're drab. I find their accents of red very nice against the brown feathers and the snow.

This winter, I've been looking for two families of crows (or maybe it's one- they never seem to be both present at the same time) every time I walk home from school. Left out some peanuts, but I doubt they got any ):

 

In springtime, I always see hordes of American Robins harpooning worms. They don't get scared off easily, so I take a few minutes out of my day to watch. So busy!

 

Last summer, a pair of mourning doves nested by my house and now I see them everywhere. While rock doves are my favorite (and they don't live here rip), mourning doves are high up on that list ^^

Edited December 14, 2016 by serce2

[coo_]

I'm so glad you get to see the birds that you're able to! I bet you could see more at local parks, too. I read this book called the Urban Birder - bad book, wouldn't recommend it - but what I did get from it was that there are more birding spots than you'd think in cities, like parks or ponds. Even peregrine falcons nest among skyscrapers, which is crazy!

 

That's fantastic about the mourning doves! Did you get to see any of the fledglings hanging out with their parents?

 

Observing birds is such a meditative thing, isn't it? ^^

 

 

[serce2]

Yep! They nested in the columns of my house, so I had a clear view. The pair had 8 chicks in total- 2 a clutch. They were visible even as hatchlings. One of the chick pairs hung out on the car to rendezvous with their parents when they fell out, so I got a clear view of them.

 

I've already known about the peregrine falcon thing- thanks to pigeons nesting (cities resemble their natural habitat of sea cliffs) peregrines have an over abundant food source.

My closest big city, Chicago, has a former-airport-turned-park which has over 250 bird species, very close to downtown. Hopefully I'll be able to move in and actually be close enough to enjoy that park.

Edited December 14, 2016 by serce2

[sh20000sh]

I also like observing. This town has lot of trees so I could saw various kind of birds. In these days, I watching sparrows eating fruits that still are hanging on trees these days. What I most enjoyed was watching spot-billed duck family at creek. They laid egg at spring so it is not good season to watch them though(even if they are still there).

[chickadeelover]

I absolutely love birds, but I wouldn't consider myself a birder. However, any time I'm outside and see/hear a bird, I'm able to identify it instantly and tell anyone who's willing to listen all about its lifestyle and such.

 

My favorite bird is the chickadee - my profile pic and username prove it! I love their song and their appearance, although when it comes to behavior, I much prefer other birds, as I've come to find over the years that chickadees can be a tad snobby haha

 

My bedroom window faces the backyard, but I haven't put up any feeders. When I put seeds out on our back porch, the squirrels eat them all, and there's little I despise more than a squirrel eating what I've put out for birds. ._.

[serce2]

I've set out my feeders for the year. So... many... house finches. I find it cute how they make homes in bushes and have their own entryways.

 

Question for this board. A bird I can't identify slept over at the mourning dove's nest a few days ago. It was about the size of a pigeon, all black except for some brown patterning on its chest. Anyone know what it might be? It's not a common grackle.

[Whirlaway]

I don't go out of my way to birdwatch but I love seeing raptors when driving to places. Raptors are awesome.

[Laureleen]

Very very casually. I adore birds and we have feeders set up. We mostly get robins, finches, and sparrows but recently we've had a couple of doves. They keep coming back too, It's lovely. My favourite birds to watch are pigeons. For some reason I love them.

[Wildmoon]

I'm not an avid birdwatcher, I wouldn't make an objective of going out to see a particular bird, ect. (unless it was something extremely rare with a once in a lifetime chance to see maybe) But I do admire birds, they are all rather beautiful

 

Even something as common and simple as a pigeon (of which most people call vermin or "flying rats", ect) are beautiful to me, especially when you see them closer and can see that they're not just grey, there is hints of blues and pinks in there too.

 

Generally, I am a nature lover though, so obviously, this does extend to birds. And I do sometimes take binoculars out with me to get a closer look at birds, when I go for a walk in the forest, ect.

 

And sometimes, their antics amuse me, even if there is intelligence behind it, like when they stamp their feet on the earth to bring worms up, because the worms think that it is rain, so they come up to the surface, and then the birds eat them, it's actually pretty clever of them, it just amuses me when you see them bouncing around on some grass

[Paradisiske]

i have a bunch of bird feeders in my yard and a few days ago i saw a red bellied woodpecker. it was absolutely beautiful and its waay bigger than blue jays. i would say its around the same size as a squirrel

Edited January 2, 2017 by CellyBean

[Ashywolf]

Yes I am very guilty of being a birder: http://ebird.org/ebird/profile/MzQxNjI1

 

And a general naturalist, besides that.

[Katzyn]

I'm moving to Australia soon and have joined a couple of Birding Facebook pages, so I am SO excited to get out there and see some birds! It'll definitely just be a casual hobby, but I would love to get a good camera to photograph them with.

[serce2]

It's spring in the US again! Anyone seen any Birbs?

 

My scool has inaccessible courtyards, but in one I saw two American Robins picking up sticks. Also at my school, a bunch of geese made a nest and are terrorizing students just trying to get home.

[Ripan]

The real bird-nerd in the house is dad, but I think I know more birds than the average person and I like watching them.

 

We've got a lot of snow buntings in big flocks coming down from the mountains around this time of the year, and they're my current favourites.

Gotta love the common blackbirds and their song as well. It's rare for them to come this far north, but I've seen a couple in the past few days.

Last week a male pine grosbeak crashed into my window and died, sadly. I hope to find a taxidermist to take care of the body.

[TerraAnne]

 

I love going out with my camera to different places and getting as many good photos of birds as I can. I do kinda have a list, though it's kinda my bird ID books with little checks in the corners of birds I've spotted and gotten good pictures of. I also know most birds in the United States Northeast region just by their calls alone. We move every couple of years but it's always been within walking or biking distance of a river, forest, farm or grassland which all make great birding locations. My favorite bird is probably either a cedar waxwing or a mountain bluebird. I haven't been able to spot more than a few owls on my own and I would love to find some more wild owls to snap some pictures of. We also get a lot of birds by the house with our feeders, nest boxes, and plants that are all over.

[wonderwanders2]

Yes I am very guilty of being a birder: http://ebird.org/ebird/profile/MzQxNjI1

 

And a general naturalist, besides that.

Yes! Another e-birder! I figure it's pretty common among dragon egg collector's... collecting dragons is a bit like birding. Gotta get 'em all.

 

I am on ebird too: http://ebird.org/ebird/profile/MjM5MTkx/world

 

I'm considered a bird nut by most.

 

My lifelist is only in the 300s. But as I've not traveled much outside of the East coast of America... that's not bad!

 

I'm considered a "professional" birder, yes. I can ID anything assuming I can get a good look at it - even a brief look. I can ID some by sound... but not all.

 

"Peeps" (Shorebirds) and sparrows are tough! Or as birders say "Little Brown Jobs..."

 

Picking a favorite bird is tough. Locally... I love the swallowtail kites. First time I saw one of those I really thought I was seeing things, it looked like a drawing of a bird someone would have put up in the sky. I was like "Too pretty... Nah... that can't be real!"

 

In general I love watching the antics of corvids (crows and jays). They are very smart birds.

 

I also keep birds - chickens! I've had other pet birds (parrots, parakeets, finch) but with cats in the house now that's not a very safe option.

[RealWilliamShakespeare]

My back garden is a field. It makes for some beautiful spots!

 

We frequently see kestrels and buzzards, and at night we seem to have two barn owls. We also have one great spotted woodpecker who always comes to our bird feeder, and he's so gorgeous. One Christmas we even saw a sparrow hawk diving into the field, but he's not made a return.

 

Aside from those beauties we have lots of common birds come visit, like blue tits, great tits, nuthatches, robins (we feed the robins cheese sometimes), blackbirds (some of my favourites - they have so much personality)! My favourite visitors though are magpies - they have so much personality and it's really funny to watch the babies play with each other!

[coo_]

So nice to see others that appreciate birds!! <3

And ashywolf and wonderwanders2 you've both got great lists! Wish I'd update my eBird more but I always forget.

 

Anyone see any migrants?? The warbs are on their way where I am and I'm hyped! Already have seen a bunch of yellow throated warblers and some blue-gray gnatcatchers (so cute). Also fun to see the yellow-rumps with their breeding plumage again.

[wonderwanders2]

Unfortunately I don't get too many migrants coming though my area.... Most stick to the coastline of Florida and I live smack in the center of the state.

 

Here spring came early this year... some of the bluebirds already have fledglings popping out of their nest boxes!

[Seahorse]

I've seen swallows in the area recently, after spending their winter over in Africa.

 

We're expecting the house martins to appear in the next few weeks, we generally have 2 pairs that have nests on the front of our house, and another pair who nest on the shed next-door.

 

Also saw a Reed Warbler, another summer visitor, down on the Somerset Levels the other day At the same reserve we saw some bitterns, the males were booming to mate.

[hedy]

I'm nothing more than a casual observer, but thanks to mom being an active hobbyist and a teacher, I've learned quite a lot. And for example, last summer I went on a trip with her bird watching friends to go and see ospreys on their feeding lake! It was mind blowing, we got to see a young one learning to hunt and three or more great dives from adults!

 

Nowadays I live in the city, so the birds I see are usually magpies, hooded crows and sparrows. Nevertheless, I enjoy watching them! And I can hear the singing of another small birds, such as great tits (this English name never fails to make me laugh), chaffinches and eurasian bullfinches. Now when the summer is starting to roll in, we see more and more species returning here to Finland!

 

Edit: I have to add that we also get house martins at my parents place, Seahorse! Last year we had about 7 nests all around our farm, and they are honestly one of the most fascinating birds around. Especially the way they make their nests out of just clay and straw and some spit, and they come out so great!

Edited April 23, 2017 by HeDy

[Leidarendi]

I wouldn't call myself a birder, but I enjoy watching them hang out in my patio, where I keep a birdfeeder and birdbath for them.

 

My regular visitors include tufted titmice, carolina chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, robins, northern cardinals, carolina wrens, housefinches, sparrows, a blue jay, common grackles, and European starlings.

 

On occasion I'll get a goldfinch, a golden crowned kinglet, a gray catbird, a northern mockingbird, and a coopers hawk.

Edited April 27, 2017 by Leidarendi

[wonderwanders2]

I wouldn't call myself a birder, but I enjoy watching them hang out in my patio, where I keep a birdfeeder and birdbath for them.

 

My regular visitors include tufted titmice, carolina chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, robins, northern cardinals, carolina wrens, housefinches, sparrows, a blue jay, common grackles, and European starlings.

 

On occasion I'll get a goldfinch, a golden crowned kinglet, a gray catbird, a northern mockingbird, and a coopers hawk.

Yes, birdfeeders usually will draw a Cooper's Hawk, trying to eat the smaller songbirds. (Literally a BIRD-feeder.) - Not much can be done about that other than making sure there's some cover nearby for them to hide in, but not so close as to serve as an ambush location.

 

Here the biggest problem we deal with is feral cats. We hang the feeders in a fairly open part of the yard off of a low avocado tree tree limb... so the birds can refuge in the tree, and there's no cover on the ground below for a cat. We also have a dog that helps keep the yard clear of predators - she's mostly for guarding the chickens but the other birds benefit!

[catstaff]

I see quite a few redwing blackbirds, robins, and sparrows around my apartment complex, along with smaller numbers of cardinals, mourning doves, and some kind of swallow that I'm not familiar with.

 

The complex is also home to a gaggle of Canada geese thanks to the ponds on the property. It looks like there are two nesting pairs, with about a dozen goslings between them, although I'm not sure of the exact numbers. The adult geese crack me up sometimes; two of them habitually perch on the roof of the building across the road from mine at about 8 in the morning, honking at the top of their lungs for anywhere between 10 minutes and half an hour.