Birds: Interesting and Returning

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greenonion
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by greenonion »

YES!! and cool mandarin duck you shared too! thanks, nyker!
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nyker
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by nyker »

You're welcome! The Mandarin duck was an outlier appearing out of nowhere, then it just it disappeared. Assuming someone stole it to keep as a pet, or just ate it.
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by greenonion »

nyker wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:26 pm You're welcome! The Mandarin duck was an outlier appearing out of nowhere, then it just it disappeared. Assuming someone stole it to keep as a pet, or just ate it.
Literally lol!! That would be like eating a peacock!
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Derek
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by Derek »

greenonion wrote: Mon Apr 27, 2020 7:51 am
Literally lol!! That would be like eating a peacock!
Which can be done.

Interesting episode of planet money in which they followed an old peacock recipe.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016 ... ed-peacock
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by osprey »

We saw a Tennessee Warbler today in our Hackberry tree. They frequently come through in spring on their way to Canada.
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by DeTour »

Kimo, those shots are awesome. On a site with an abundance of great photography, those are some of the best as far as I'm concerned. The chickadee, a relatively commonplace bird, but what a thing of beauty as you captured it. I guess a sentimental favorite to me, as a reminder of my childhood in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and long-departed parents whose love of nature rubbed off on their children. I'm frequently surprised and delighted at similarities I see between the Colorado mountain environment and the U.P.

And the albatross photo story, wow, thanks for sharing that treat!
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by MtnHub »

As I mentioned earlier, we frequently see lots of the standard water fowl (Canada geese and ducks of various kinds) near or in the pond in back. But yesterday morning returning home from taking my daily walk I saw a great blue heron wading the water. Beautiful, elegant birds.
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by TaylorHolt »

These pics came from my family in the BV area today. First Bullock's Oriole of the season and a Lewis's Woodpecker.
Bullock's oriole.jpg
Bullock's oriole.jpg (32.68 KiB) Viewed 3061 times
Lewis's Woodpecker.jpg
Lewis's Woodpecker.jpg (86.65 KiB) Viewed 3061 times
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by dwoodward13 »

Fantastic thread. I find myself doing some more casual birding on walks and local hikes now that I'm not going to the mountains. Its such an easy thing to do and birds are really amazing animals that I had been only casually noticing in years past. Went out to Rocky Mountain Arsenal this past weekend and saw tons of different species. Western Meadowlarks, RW Blackbirds, Chickadees, Gulls, Snowy Egrets, Pelicans, Bald Eagles, Teals, Mallards, Geese, Say's Phoebes, Western Kingbirds, Ospreys, a few different Hawks, and the state bird, the Lark Bunting! I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting. Struck out on finding a Burrowing Owl however.

Really a gem of a place for wildlife right in the city that I had only been to once before.
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kimo
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by kimo »

Get your pencils and checklists ready...the Big Day is coming. Global Big Day 2020

The collected data is very useful to ornithologists. The data contributes to neat animations like this abundance map: https://ebird.org/science/status-and-tr ... map-weekly
DeTour wrote: Thu Apr 30, 2020 9:03 pm Kimo, those shots are awesome. On a site with an abundance of great photography, those are some of the best as far as I'm concerned. The chickadee, a relatively commonplace bird, but what a thing of beauty as you captured it. I guess a sentimental favorite to me, as a reminder of my childhood in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and long-departed parents whose love of nature rubbed off on their children. I'm frequently surprised and delighted at similarities I see between the Colorado mountain environment and the U.P.

And the albatross photo story, wow, thanks for sharing that treat!
Hi DeTour, thanks for the nice feedback. Chickadees are great. We have a pair nesting in our backyard box. They bounce around our feeders and then go back to the box on the other side of the yard. Just a joy to watch. Helps keep things in perspective. I too was fortunate to have parents who loved nature and shared those experiences with me. It's important for children to have that exposure.
dwoodward13 wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 3:45 pm Fantastic thread. I find myself doing some more casual birding on walks and local hikes now that I'm not going to the mountains. Its such an easy thing to do and birds are really amazing animals that I had been only casually noticing in years past. Went out to Rocky Mountain Arsenal this past weekend and saw tons of different species. Western Meadowlarks, RW Blackbirds, Chickadees, Gulls, Snowy Egrets, Pelicans, Bald Eagles, Teals, Mallards, Geese, Say's Phoebes, Western Kingbirds, Ospreys, a few different Hawks, and the state bird, the Lark Bunting! I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting. Struck out on finding a Burrowing Owl however.

Really a gem of a place for wildlife right in the city that I had only been to once before.
Neat picture of the western meadowlark doing her thing with skyscrapers in back. RMANWR is a real gem so close to the city. There's a fantastic wildlife photographer on this site named BostonBD. He has shared some great photos from RMANWR in the wildlife photography thread.
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by kimo »

A quick flash of yellow. I slow the car and pull to the side. Over there she says, motioning with her hand. I see it - the little yellow warbler bouncing between branches.

ImageYellow Warbler by Kimo Boeche, on Flickr

ImageYellow Warbler by Kimo Boeche, on Flickr

ImageYellow Warbler by Kimo Boeche, on Flickr

ImageYellow Warbler by Kimo Boeche, on Flickr

Last weekend we explored the back roads of our county of residence looking for birds. It was practice for the upcoming Big Day. Just finding the little birds is hard enough. Then try taking a sharp close-up picture of one. It all takes practice.

We drove down Hanover Road and parked near the gate for Chico Basin Ranch and within minutes saw a Northern Shrike. This bird is known as the butcherbird. It's a fierce little songbird that impales its prey on barbed-wire fence.

ImageNorthern Shrike by Kimo Boeche, on Flickr

ImageNorthern Shrike by Kimo Boeche, on Flickr
Last edited by kimo on Fri May 08, 2020 6:42 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Birds: Interesting and Returning

Post by greenonion »

Gorgeous photos, Kimo! Love the Yellow Warbler, especially. I just learned about the Northern Shrike this week from my daughter. Pretty smart bird!
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