Crimpergirl
Social climber
Hell on earth wondering what I did to deserve it
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Jun 13, 2007 - 02:59pm PT
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*this is the one that Quartzite posted above that was not working...
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Floyd Hayes
Trad climber
Hidden Valley Lake, CA
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Jun 13, 2007 - 04:23pm PT
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Glad to know other climbers are into birds. I don't own fancy equipment but I often "digiscope" birds--mostly rarities for documentation--by holding up a digital camera to a telescope. Here's my birding webpage:
http://www.geocities.com/floyd_hayes/birding.html
And climbing webpage:
http://www.geocities.com/floyd_hayes/rockclimb.html
Radical, Brant are fairly common along California coast during winter. I often see large flocks at Bodega Bay. As I recall they're less common along Atlantic coast.
Here are my takes on the photos since I last looked: (1) King Rail?; (2) dunno; (3) male Black-chinned Hummingbird; (4) Cactus Wren; (5) Cooper's Hawk?; (6) prehistoric imagination; (7) definitely Hooded Oriole; (8) Bewick's Wren; (9) American Kestrel; (10) Golden-crowned Kinglet; (11) juvenile Smooth-billed Ani (living 12 years in South America helps!); (12) Aplomado Falcon (again, helps to have lived in South America); (13) Cerulean Warbler; (14) not showing; (15) male Costa's Hummingbird; (16) Snowy Egret; (17) American Kestrel; (18) Red-breasted Sapsucker; (19) Great Egret; (20) fledgling Great Horned Owl; (21) Great Egret; (22) Rock Wren; (23) Steller's Jay.
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hossjulia
Trad climber
Eastside
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Jun 13, 2007 - 04:34pm PT
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I got to help out a fledgling Cassin's Finch the past coupe of days.
3 of them wound up on the ground, in danger of being trod on, so I put them all in a willow bush out of the way. Not 5 minutes, and 2 of them are gone and dad is feeding the remaining chick. Cute little buggers. Didn't know what they were till I saw the finch's feeding them. But that remaining chick didn't just fly off like his siblings. He spent all day yesterday pathetically calling , making his way up stream some. I spied on him, trying not to interfere, and saw him/her getting fed on occasion by an adult, and apparantly trying to feed himself by lunging at bugs.
But I could hear the flock of Cassins singing across the creek, so I moved him over there, where he was instantly attented to by a female bird. After she had fed him a bit, she brook into one of the Cassins trademark songs.
It was breaking my heart listening to him cheep endlessly. I usually try not to interfere, the parents will find them and take care of them on the ground.
Wish I had gotton pictures, he/she was about the cutest thing I've seen, and very trusting of being handled.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Jun 13, 2007 - 08:20pm PT
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Oh Hoss, that's awesome! I've been lucky enough to help several birds over the years. Mostly blue jays. I raised a Mockingbird that was adorable once. She hung out with me for months before she decided to stay gone (broken heart on my end there). They are such amazing little critters.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jun 14, 2007 - 01:20am PT
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My wife and I planted our backyard garden for Hummingbirds (which we know nothing about other than they're amazing and beautiful) and I've hung out in the past with some Cornell and International Crane Foundation ornithologists in a different context, but I've never been into the whole birding thing. Except now over the past three years I've done progressively more intensive and formal monitoring of Peregrines at our local crag and I must say I'm beginning to pick up on the idea of it.
Our crag and it's immediate surrounds are a complete riot of birds. There are Eagles, Ospreys, Hawks, Owls, Vultures, Ravens, Herons, Cormorants, Geese, lots of different Ducks, bunches of Woodpeckers, Hummingbirds, a seemingly endless variety of smaller birds of all colors, and of course Peregrines. There is usually a virtual sushi-train of Gulls going up and down the river due to the dams and the huge garbage dump at Arlington out in the desert. Between the drive out and monitoring it isn't unusual to see 20-30 Osprey and a half-dozen Eagles. Both fish in the slough right out in front of where I monitor.
The Osprey are almost like rats these days. Watching their recovery over twenty years of driving the Gorge for climbing and windsufing has been a gift. Now there's one of their nests on about every other barge navigation aid, cell tower, or freeway interchange light bank. In fact, a pair of Osprey have a nest in the trees behind my monitoring spot so I see their antics everytime I'm out. The other day one of our Peregrines that is so tiny - like barely bigger than a big Jay - I call him the 'Chickenhawk' entered the primary thermal out in front of the crag and spent a while harassing the sh#t out of one of the Osprey from the nest. It would respond by inverting, back-pedalling, and baring its talons at the little guy each time he took a pass at him. He did manage to eventually force the Osprey into bailing from the thermal.
All that action is augmented by dining Otters, enormous leaping Sturgeon, and of course our highly problematic troupe of huge Sea Lions who make the 125 mile trek up the Columbia River to the Bonneville dam to feast on the Salmon queued up at the fish ladder. Last year one of them actually figured out how to get up into the ladder and so visitors inside the dam at the fish ladder window were treated to the sight of the big guy snacking away for the crowd. That forced the Corps. to spend about a million bucks trying to figure out how to deal with them before he taught all the others how to do it. They were still at it the other day when I drove by, however.
And despite having been a commercial photog I don't really have the gear for this - I should have thought longer before dumping the teles and mirrors. Now I'll have to cogitate on it all after reading your great thread and seeing all your fantastic pics. Thanks...
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Floyd Hayes
Trad climber
Hidden Valley Lake, CA
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Jun 14, 2007 - 08:42am PT
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Oh, I just looked again at the colorful one which I initially dismissed as some Asian thingy and now I recognize it: Lewis's Woodpecker. Irruptive indeed in CA.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Jun 14, 2007 - 09:02am PT
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Radical - agreed about Kingbird Highway. It is one of my favorite books. I've read it many times. I recommend it to all people, not just those interested in birding.
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Ouch!
climber
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Jun 14, 2007 - 01:41pm PT
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Kevin Calder
climber
Bishop
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Jun 14, 2007 - 07:19pm PT
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Awesome photos Wes! I'll take a crack...
Bald Eagle(shackled)
Osprey
American White Pelicans
Osprey
don't know
again..don't know but love that shot!
Annas? (I'm as good with hummers as with ducks)
great Great Horned Owl shot!
Snowy Egret
Obviously a peacock...What kind?
beautiful parrot...What kind?
Thanks for that link, man those are fantastic bird photos on that site!
Healyje, Yeah..cool post and I try to plant for hummers too, but mostly, the hoards just funnel sugar water from 4 feeders till empty everyday! That digiscoping site is cool,I'd love one of those set ups!
Floyd, I enjoyed checking out your climbing and birding sites. Two great passions. Hey, have you ever heard of another prominent birder Jon Dunn? He's my neighbor and I just wondered if any of you expert birders (quarztflight,radical,etc.) have heard of him.
and John ,cool shot of the grebes ? on Mono with Morrison in the back,
and yeah...how bout those eagles?...nice!
Hossjulia..You did a good thing!
Ouch...nice eagle crash!
Come on ya'll...I even need help to Id my own bird photos, I am especially curious about #2(Bushtit maybe?) in my last post. Taken in th Inyo range east of Owens Valley
Looks like I need to check out this "Kinbird Highway"
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Jun 14, 2007 - 07:20pm PT
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Kevin - the parrot you ask about is a Rainbow Lorikeet.
Edit: I'll give a try on your photos Kevin -
1.Hummingbird. I know, I am bad with these IDs!
2.California Quail
3.Blue-gray knatcatcher
4. Female American Goldfinch
5. Clearly that is a puffer fish in a tree. haha
6. Great Blue Heron
7. Another dreaded hummingbird
8. Red winged black bird
9. Black crowned night heron
As far as Wes' photos. Is that duck a female American Wigeon? And I think the flock flying are Common Mergansers. The peacock is just a regular ol' beautiful female Peahen.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jun 14, 2007 - 09:14pm PT
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Now I would have guessed a lot of things about Crimpie after our brief meeting, but -
"Is that duck a female American Wigeon?"
wouldn't have been one of them - go figure...
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
St. Looney
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Jun 15, 2007 - 05:55am PT
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Haha! :)
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Dingus Milktoast
climber
NorCal
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Jun 15, 2007 - 07:23am PT
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Just read a long article in the Sacramento Bee that cites an Audobon study on western flyway breeding and non-breeding populations. Dramatic reductions of some surprising species, birds I see every day such as house finches and white crested sparrows. The Evening Grosbeak has seen a 95% decline in 40 years.
Living at ground zero as it were, in the central valley and seeing all these houses and sterile farms I can't say I'm surprised.
When will we learn to stop killing the world around us? Why do we spray Roundup on our children????
DMT
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quartziteflight
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 15, 2007 - 10:54am PT
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Hey all,
I have to say I was caught off guard by all the positve responses to the bird thread. Sometimes it's dishearting how some climbers view the natural world. Not to mention society as a whole. Thanks for the good vibes..
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