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BrassNuts

Trad climber

Save your a_s, reach for the brass...

Feb 11, 2014 - 11:05pm PT

Raptors, Peckers, OUS exotics - very cool additions everyone! Can't wait for Spring! Not much besides snow and the local yocals around here lately...

dee ee

Mountain climber

citizen of planet Earth

Feb 11, 2014 - 11:07pm PT

Well, OK, there were other cool ones.
Here is a 2nd year Juvy Bald Eagle.

dee ee

Mountain climber

citizen of planet Earth

Feb 11, 2014 - 11:12pm PT

I promise, just one more.

Mtn. Bluebird

SteveW

Trad climber

The state of confusion

Feb 12, 2014 - 09:56am PT

Izzat da bluebird of happiness, Dee????? hee hee hee. . .

dirt claud

Social climber

san diego,ca

Feb 12, 2014 - 11:36am PT

Good ones Dee. Anyone thinking about getting another Birding get together for this year? Maybe we can make it into the Botanical Gardens this time or find some other cool areas. You guys coming out this way Crimpie and Brass, 10b4me?

BrassNuts

Trad climber

Save your a_s, reach for the brass...

Feb 12, 2014 - 01:21pm PT

Hey Dirt, you may have missed it earlier in the thread, but yes, all are welcome for a Taco Birdapalooza day on Sat, March 29, 8:30am at South Coast Botanic Gardens off Crenshaw. There is a charge and gates open at 9am, but it's a really nice area. Hope to see a bunch of folks there!

dirt claud

Social climber

san diego,ca

Feb 12, 2014 - 01:34pm PT

Cool, thanks for the heads up. Planning on being there unless other plans come up.
We toured the Botanical Gardens a few weeks ago but later in the day so not too many birds around. Great place to relax and catch some Zs.

little Z

Trad climber

un cafetal en Naranjo

Feb 12, 2014 - 03:36pm PT

some birds from around Guanacaste yesterday and today

these guys are great talkers (as are all the "yellow headed" type parrots) and are pretty heavily persecuted for the pet trade. You could see this guy was givin' me the hairy eye ball, and he didn't stick around for a second pic.

these familar birds just barely make it into Costa Rica at the southernmost edge of their wintering range.

another familiar bird to many, but this one is really rare in Costa Rica. It took me 22 years to finally find one here, but since then I've had multiples every year. There was a female in this same pond among about 6000 blue-winged teal. Her red eye gave her away.

dee ee

Mountain climber

citizen of planet Earth

Feb 12, 2014 - 07:11pm PT

So that's where all the Western Kingbirds are! (I knew that)

They should be showing up here in a month or two.

Bob D'A

Trad climber

Taos, NM

Feb 12, 2014 - 07:27pm PT

Great photos everyone.

Here are few from my trip back east for my mom's service. When to where my dad used to take me birding as a kid.

A cool Long-eared Owl

Two are better than one.

Beautiful Northern Cardinal.

john hansen

climber

Feb 12, 2014 - 10:00pm PT

Nice owl's Bob.
Here are a few from today.

Winter Ruddy Turnstone

Black Crowned Night Heron

And a Pintail.

Bob D'A

Trad climber

Taos, NM

Feb 13, 2014 - 09:52am PT

Nice John.

Some more PA birds.

Carolina Wren and Chickadee.

dee ee

Mountain climber

citizen of planet Earth

Feb 13, 2014 - 10:29am PT

Good ones Bob, especially the Long-eared Owls.

I just dipped on them again last night in Silverado.

I did hear 4 Great-horned Owls, one Saw-whet Owl and one Poor Will though.

Bob D'A

Trad climber

Taos, NM

Feb 13, 2014 - 05:42pm PT

More from PA and NJ.

Darwin

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Feb 13, 2014 - 06:57pm PT

Y'all keep showing off as much as you want! Thanks for the photos.

For me it's pretty much what BrassNuts said. Actually it's a nice day here, but I haven't seen a lot of birds.

I found this on our local bird forum.

[Click to View YouTube Video]

Reilly might be the only regular on "birds" to appreciate this. I find it bizarre and a little troubling. I walk or cycle over that fill every day. I'll post a photo of what it looks like today, but 90% of my "birds" thread posted photos were taken right in the epicenter of the dump. I don't know, take home message: "How stupid can humankind be, and how forgiving can nature be?"

Bob D'A

Trad climber

Taos, NM

Feb 13, 2014 - 07:14pm PT

Nice Darwin.

Here are a few more from PA and NJ. Really looking forward to going back to Cape May this Spring or Summer.

little Z

Trad climber

un cafetal en Naranjo

Feb 13, 2014 - 09:53pm PT

Left my camera in the room this morning in my rush to get out the door on time, so no photos of that Gray Hawk or the two Harris’s Hawks that were sitting there so perfectly.

Pretty shocking video Darwin, especially if you know the fill as it is now. Yes, amazing how nature can overcome man’s folly if given enough time.

Bob, great photos of all those familiar birds. Seeing them on feeders in winter reminds me of childhood days. That Tufted Titmouse shot is outstanding. If I put your Long-eared Owls and mention of Cape May together I get another fond memory from my youth. When I was in high school I used to spend a week during fall migration up at Cape May trapping and banding raptors with a group of folks from D.C. We had always focused on diurnal raptors, but one year (74?) they decided to put up a few mist nets around the banding station and to run them at night to see what sort of owl migration there might be. We got a few Barn Owls at first but it was pretty quiet so they decided to run more nets. Then one cold night there was a huge push of Saw-whet and Long-eared Owls and the nets were just full of them. Then it started to drizzle and we were in a panic to get all these owls out of the nets. Once raptors are taken out of the nets they go into tubes to immobilize them for banding. This allows just a few people to handle a bunch of hawks (or owls) at one time and it also helps to keep the birds calm. Here’s a photo of how it works...

So three of us were able to get about 25 owls into cans and to close the nets before any birds got too wet. We took all these cans with owl tails sticking out of them back into our little banding blind and started processing the birds. Since it was still raining outside and most birds were already damp we didn’t want to just fling them out the door once we had finished banding them.

So we started just setting them up on the 2 x 4 s of the internal structure of the blind – Long-eared Owls at one end and Saw-whets at the other. Amazingly they all just sat there. After some bill clacking and a little hissing most birds fluffed up and started preening. We all had these huge smiles on our faces because we could not believe the growing spectacle of so much cuteness in such a small space as owl after owl went up on the shelf. By the time we were done it had stopped raining and most birds had dried out nicely. It was a little trickier picking each owl off its perch but we finally got them all out the door. Wish I could have gotten pictures of that, but the images stashed in my mind work fine too.

sorry for running on. I won't forget my camera tomorrow.