Anyone still feeding birds?

[sagegrouse]

Went across the mountains to Arapaho NWR on Saturday. Some spectacular sights. The best is to see a flock of 50 Wilson's phalaropes swirling through the sky like a flock of sandpipers (which they are, in a way) and then land in the middle of the lake like ducks. Common in Colorado, but not in these numbers. Phalorpes are large "sandpipers" and the Wilson's Ph. feed in the shallows by twirling around so their bill stirs up some edibles.

Also saw a black tern soaring through the air like a giant swallow. I know, terns are white -- but not this one.

[wilson]

Went across the mountains to Arapaho NWR on Saturday. Some spectacular sights. The best is to see a flock of 50 Wilson's phalaropes swirling through the sky like a flock of sandpipers (which they are, in a way) and then land in the middle of the lake like ducks. Common in Colorado, but not in these numbers. Phalorpes are large "sandpipers" and the Wilson's Ph. feed in the shallows by twirling around so their bill stirs up some edibles.

Also saw a black tern soaring through the air like a giant swallow. I know, terns are white -- but not this one.

Clearly the best phalaropes.

[sagegrouse]

Clearly the best phalaropes.

What's your favorite?

Wilson' phalarope
Wilson's snipe
Wilson's warbler
Wilson's storm-petrel
Wilson's plover

[bundabergdevil]

Busted out to a state park over the weekend and caught a pretty good pileated woodpecker shot.
Attachment 10775

Oh, man. Those are fun birds. We occasionally have them fly through the neighborhood here but we usually see them out in some of the forested parks nearby cruising through up high.

[bundabergdevil]

Nice to see some bobolinks today...their numbers are diminishing due to excessive cutting of grass areas...there are efforts underway to mow fields less often to let them breed more successfully...the VT Audubon Society has a Bobolink Project, which pays farmers to delay cutting fields. Score one for the bobolinks.

Bobolinks sometimes get called the Star Wars bird because they sound like R2D2. Scroll down a bit on this Audubon page.

[Devilwin]

Bobolinks nest to some extent in NC. Mainly Wilkes, Ashe, and Watauga counties, wherever suitable habitat remains.

[wilson]

What's your favorite?

Wilson' phalarope
Wilson's snipe
Wilson's warbler
Wilson's storm-petrel
Wilson's plover

Snipes are out immediately; someone took me on a hunt for those once and it was...underwhelming.
Among the others, I'd choose the phalarope because a) I like its looks the best and b) that word is the most fun one to say.

[Nrrrrvous]

This came across my FB feed this morning...

Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

IMG_7546.jpg

[Devilwin]

Bear bird...

[Indoor66]

Bear bird...

Actually, Black Bear dird. 😂

[OldPhiKap]

This came across my FB feed this morning...

Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

IMG_7546.jpg

Black bird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All my life
You were only waiting
For this moment
To arrive.

Black bird, fly . . . .

[aimo]

This came across my FB feed this morning...

Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

IMG_7546.jpg

That is one strong bird feeder. Wonder if it survived the attack?

[Neals384]

Yes. My wife and I love feeding the birds.

We were trying to get some bluebirds to nest in our yard. I bought two beautiful nesting boxes designed specifically for bluebirds and hung them on trees in our yard.

We attracted bluebirds using mealworms, and for a while we had several males and females around the yard and we saw them checking out the boxes.

I have no idea what happened. They were there one day and pretty much gone the next, never to return. I assume they nested somewhere else and are busy with their young, but why did they reject our yard? Anyone have any ideas?

We have lots of other birds coming around, including some majestic cardinals, a thrasher, a crested titmouse, finches of every variety, bluejays, and a variety of woodpeckers.

But I really miss my bluebirds!

Bluebirds are not the only ones that will use those boxes. Wrens and swallows love them too. Swallows can be more aggressive - at least in our yard where the swallows evicted our (western) bluebirds last year. Don't forget to clean those boxes out in the winter - it's always fun to see what stuff got including in the nest building process.

[bundabergdevil]

This came across my FB feed this morning...

Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

IMG_7546.jpg

That's a great photo. Did someone you know take it or is it just a pass-around meme-a-ma-jig?

[Neals384]

One bird I did not see this winter is the evening grosbeak. In fact, it's been several years since I have seen any. But they are cyclic, being absent for a few years then suddenly abundant. I did see a pine grosbeak back in December of 94, which was an excellent find, as this species rarely erupts this far south. Saw a few pine siskins with goldfinches back in January.

We love evening grosbeaks - they have such beautiful, subtle coloring. We've had them at our feeder just 3 times in 19 years - always in May during a cold, wet spell. I really thought we might get them this year, but no.

[Neals384]

turkey.jpg

Seems everyone has a turkey photo. After this I moved the suet cage to a hook that can't be reached from the railing.

[Devilwin]

We love evening grosbeaks - they have such beautiful, subtle coloring. We've had them at our feeder just 3 times in 19 years - always in May during a cold, wet spell. I really thought we might get them this year, but no.

This was a bad year for irruptive winter finches here in NC. Saw a few pine siskins and purple finches, but that's about it. Evening grosbeaks were very rare in the state. Searching records, I found just five reports. One was good, however, as a flock of fifteen was seen at a feeder in Yadkinville.
I did seem to have several brown headed nuthatches this year.

[MChambers]

Let me know when you see them...we have several feeders, and at their peak we'll have a dozen or more hummingbirds zooming around...then a lull (when lots of other food is available), then they gas up for the return South in late August...so far nothing, but should be any day now...

We were eating dinner last night on our back porch and a hummingbird showed up, took a sip from both feeders and then perched in a nearby tree, ready to chase others away.

[Devilwin]

Big female pileated visited.https://nchuntandfish.com/forums/ind...s30-jpg.45261/

[bundabergdevil]

Big female pileated visited.https://nchuntandfish.com/forums/ind...s30-jpg.45261/

Have to log into that site to see it, unfortunately.