Anyone still feeding birds?

[budwom]

Not bird related but your post reminded me of the first time I heard a red fox “vixen cry” at night. It sounds like someone shrieking in the woods and has resulted in many a soiled sheets and even calls to the police*.


*Not me though. I would never call the police after pulling a Kendall Roy.

We get that periodically, it's truly like a child being tortured or something, it just goes on and on..have to close the bedroom window and turn on a fan for noise suppression.

[Nrrrrvous]

Not bird related but your post reminded me of the first time I heard a red fox “vixen cry” at night. It sounds like someone shrieking in the woods and has resulted in many a soiled sheets and even calls to the police*.


*Not me though. I would never call the police after pulling a Kendall Roy.

Funny story. Just after I moved to Utah, I went camping at a reservoir up on top of a mountain. Had just buried myself in my sleeping bag and dozed off when I was awakened by the loudest, most God-awful blood-curdling scream/squeal. I would have sworn it was some sort of Mountain Lion/Pig/Eagle beast and it sounded like it was right outside my tent! It was the next day when I got to Internet and googled Elk Bugling that I figured out what it was. Just the amount of pure decibels that an Elk can produce is astonishing!

[bundabergdevil]

Funny story. Just after I moved to Utah, I went camping at a reservoir up on top of a mountain. Had just buried myself in my sleeping bag and dozed off when I was awakened by the loudest, most God-awful blood-curdling scream/squeal. I would have sworn it was some sort of Mountain Lion/Pig/Eagle beast and it sounded like it was right outside my tent! It was the next day when I got to Internet and googled Elk Bugling that I figured out what it was. Just the amount of pure decibels that an Elk can produce is astonishing!

Yeah, elk bugling is pretty neat but if you don’t know what it is, it’s another sheet soiler.

Where do you live in UT? It’s been a while but my wife and I lived about an hour north of SLC for a year. Great state to explore.

[Nrrrrvous]

Yeah, elk bugling is pretty neat but if you don’t know what it is, it’s another sheet soiler.

Where do you live in UT? It’s been a while but my wife and I lived about an hour north of SLC for a year. Great state to explore.

We lived there from 2012 to 2017. Then we moved back to Richmond, VA to be closer to home/family. I loved my time out there, seemed we had a new hiking trail every weekend. We were in Cedar City which is about 3 hours south of Salt Lake and 2 hours north of Vegas.

Cedar was great, in the summer you could drive 1/2 hour up into the mountains and the temp was 15 degrees cooler. In the winter you could drive south toward the desert for 1/2 hour and the temp was 10/15 degrees warmer.

[TeacherTom]

Went fishing in Lake Okeechobee today and on the drive out from the coast saw a crested caracara. I only see them occasionally and always relatively close to the lake.

[bundabergdevil]

We lived there from 2012 to 2017. Then we moved back to Richmond, VA to be closer to home/family. I loved my time out there, seemed we had a new hiking trail every weekend. We were in Cedar City which is about 3 hours south of Salt Lake and 2 hours north of Vegas.

Cedar was great, in the summer you could drive 1/2 hour up into the mountains and the temp was 15 degrees cooler. In the winter you could drive south toward the desert for 1/2 hour and the temp was 10/15 degrees warmer.

Nice. Didn't spend much time in the far SW corner of the state other than cutting over to 15 after an E-to-W drive across southern Utah hitting the parks. IIRC, Bryce was our last hit before 15, then we cut over to 15 and went through Cedar.

I read a couple books by Edward Abbey while we were there and always remember the quote below about Utah:

“Alaska is our biggest, buggiest, boggiest state. Texas remains our largest unfrozen state. But mountainous Utah, if ironed out flat, would take up more space on a map than either.”

[aimo]

Was on a noon conference call when I glanced out my front window and saw this. Notice the squirrel in neighboring tree. Must not have been hungry.

IMG_0450.jpgIMG_0455.jpg

[wilson]

...Notice the squirrel in neighboring tree. Must not have been hungry.

IMG_0450.jpgIMG_0455.jpg

That would just make me mad. I'm so sick of chasing the squirrels off my birdfeeders that I'm considering taking up falconry.

[sagegrouse]

Was on a noon conference call when I glanced out my front window and saw this. Notice the squirrel in neighboring tree. Must not have been hungry.

Very nice adult Sharp-shinned Hawk.

[aimo]

That would just make me mad. I'm so sick of chasing the squirrels off my birdfeeders that I'm considering taking up falconry.

Yeah, I stood there watching, hoping he would suddenly chomp down on one. No luck.

[aimo]

Very nice adult Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Really? I'm thinking Coopers Hawk.

[bundabergdevil]

Really? I'm thinking Coopers Hawk.

How big was it? They look like SS but the Cooper's are much bigger. Scale is a little tough in pictures...

[aimo]

How big was it? They look like SS but the Cooper's are much bigger. Scale is a little tough in pictures...

I googled the differences. This was more crow-sized than blue jay-sized.

[Devilwin]

Adult Cooper's and sharpshinned have slate gray backs. I believe your bird is a red shouldered hawk. See the white streak at the front of the wing? It opens into the pale window seen when the bird flies.

[rthomas]

Adult Cooper's and sharpshinned have slate gray backs. I believe your bird is a red shouldered hawk.

Agreed. Looks like a red shouldered to me too. I have one in my yard, and occasionally attacking my feeder.

[sagegrouse]

Really? I'm thinking Coopers Hawk.

Adult Cooper's and sharpshinned have slate gray backs. I believe your bird is a red shouldered hawk. See the white streak at the front of the wing? It opens into the pale window seen when the bird flies.

Good observation. The left picture shows the small rounded head characteristic of S-S Hawks -- I had assumed it was an accipiter (S-S, Cooper's, Goshawk, etc.), but Devilwin is right about the back color (Red-shouldered) and the right picture shows a much larger head and beak than one would expect with a S-S.

In which case, the squirrel does have reason to worry.

[aimo]

Okay, I will agree it looks more red-shouldered. Regardless, it was a lovely diversion to a boring conference call.

[bundabergdevil]

Okay, I will agree it looks more red-shouldered. Regardless, it was a lovely diversion to a boring conference call.

Hopefully your boss wasn’t on. I’m sure s/he wouldn’t have appreciated all the falcon around you were doing with the bird nuts on DBR.

[aimo]

Hopefully your boss wasn’t on. I’m sure s/he wouldn’t have appreciated all the falcon around you were doing with the bird nuts on DBR.

Meh, it was winding down, and the part that was relevant to me was long over. I probably should have shared the photos, would have livened things up.

[TeacherTom]

Did you look at the crested caracara? It’s a pretty cool-looking vulture. I saw another one Saturday in Okeechobee.