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Post by Whiskey Jack on Apr 1, 2004 14:07:45 GMT -5
Raptors are amazing! I completly agree. The most interesting hunt from a raptor I have ever seen was in Madera Canyon in southeastern AZ. There was a row of about 8 Brown-headed Cowbirds all lined up on a leafless branch that stretched out from an old Silver Oak. From behing them a Sharp-shinned Hawk came flashing through the foliage and grabbed one of the middle Cowbirds so fast that the others didn't even react until a bit later. It was like they just looked around and noticed that one of them was all of the sudden gone and they all took off. I doubt if any of them even saw the Hawk at all!
Yesterday while walking my dog I saw a couple of Lesser Goldfinches trying to mate. So love is in the air folks!
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Post by eaglewoman on Apr 5, 2004 13:20:14 GMT -5
Hey Y'all, I'm such a psycho bird fiend! Even though the weather was less than desirable for wildlife veiwing, I just had to get out there and see what was going on! On Saturday (in the midst of hardcore hailing) I went out to the Kachina Wetlands to check it out. (Thanks for the directions Crow!) Anyway, I couldn't believe how active the birds were in the icy storm. Everything was flying and jumping around in the reeds. It was really neat. I saw two Orioles that were black with an orange head and breast. To be truthful, they were the first Orioles I had ever seen! I also saw numerous ducks, red winged blackbirds, bluebirds and sandpipers. So cool to see what wildlife do during the "rough" times! On Sunday, I went to Scholz Lake. If you have never been out there...GO!!!!!!!!!!! It is soooo great, and private. I'll post directions on the wildlife veiwing thread. Anyway, I saw a butt load of double crested cormorants (like 10) huddled together on a small island on the lake. I also saw vluebirds, meadowlarks, egrets, herons, juncos, a huge robin, geese, and lots of ducks. When the rain came, the ducks (particularly the Mallards ) started flying high in the air. Because of the wind and the rain, when they flew over us, we could hear their flaps cutting the wind! So awesome. I thought it was really interesting that the ducks in both the Wetlands and Scholz lake flew around in circles during the storms. Does anyone know why they do this? I figured they would bed down like other animals. Maybe they were reacting to humans? Don't know. ;D Moose action for me too!
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Post by Whiskey Jack on Apr 5, 2004 13:34:59 GMT -5
Eaglewoman, Man, you are a birding fiend! Braving the hail and icy rain to hang out ith birds, I have to respect that! From what I can guess about the waterfowl flying around in endless circles over bodies of water, is that they are confused and reacting to either us birders or just the weather in general, especially if it is continually changing, like when rain turns into hail. I have seen some ducks fly around for like 20 minutes, land in the water, and then a second later get spooked again and fly around some more. Or maybe they just dig on flying. If I had wings to fly with there would be no way that I'd come back down unless I had to. That has always been my answer to the very enlightening elementry school playground question of: "So, if you had super powers what would they be?". Definetly flight. P.S. to Stinger, nice job on identifying that bird over the computer man. You gots the skills!
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Stinger
Mexican Grey Wolf Member
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Posts: 183
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Post by Stinger on Apr 6, 2004 13:58:29 GMT -5
Eaglewoman, You are crazy!! The only time I endure that kind of weather is if I have a fishing pole in my hand or a rifle on my shoulder. That is some dedication you have, but it sounds like it paid off big time!! Crow, I dont know about have the skills but every once in awhile I do get lucky! Actually, I was curious about what type of birds those were awhile ago so I looked them up. They are very common in Phoenix, I would see them all over town. Fun birds to watch!! That and I think sometimes Silent Don and I share a brain, we usually are on the same page as each other, guess it is a brother thing!
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Post by Whiskey Jack on Apr 6, 2004 17:47:37 GMT -5
I think the Great-tailed Grackle is a great bird. I love to watch them fly and see how the males turn their tales almost completly sideways. They're another one of those animals that have grown with humans, like the American Crow and the Rock Dove, or the Rat and Coyote, but its truly amazing to check out how much they have expanded their range just in the last 50 years. At one time they were only found in the extreme South, now they are all over the place, in every state. I have heard some people call them and species like them "weedy species", which I guess means that they are like weeds and can live anywhere, especially where humans have put their touch on the land. But I think they are brilliant because of that. They see that humans are everywhere and are pretty destructive, and they have figured that they might as well try to adapt to our ways ad our conditions. Pretty smart if you ask me.
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Stinger
Mexican Grey Wolf Member
Cowboy Up!!
Posts: 183
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Post by Stinger on Apr 9, 2004 23:59:47 GMT -5
OK, now for the my big sighting on the way down to Phx. this weekend. Just around the border of Coconino and Yavapai counties I spied a beautiful Turkey Vulture cruising over the highway! This seems to be my most common sighting, eh? Maybe I need to change name from Stinger to Vulture! ;D What was neat about this one was it looked like he/she was caught in a cross wind over the freeway and needed to do some nifty flying to get out of it! I just wish I could have watched him longer.
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Stinger
Mexican Grey Wolf Member
Cowboy Up!!
Posts: 183
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Post by Stinger on Apr 12, 2004 0:38:57 GMT -5
All right, more bird sightings from this weekend! My parents live in the middle of the city, around 19th Ave. and T-bird, but it was an eventful weekend none the less. I saw the falcon again, he/she was hanging around all day Sat. , while I did yard work . It was pretty interesting to see how the other birds reacted or did not react while it was around. The palm trees in their yard were very active with starlings, they would fly in and out with worms in their beaks. Then there was the Glia Woodpecker, which by the way is not a very smart bird, it would peck on the metal chimney, the metal air conditioner and the metal light pole. I was expecting it to have a bent beak like Woody woodpecker would everytime he pecked a metal pole! ;D ;D On Saturday night I was coming back from a party and drove by this open field around 7th ave and Deer Valley when I saw this large bird land on the top of a light pole, I slammed on my brakes, luckily noone was behind me, and watched this Great-Horned Owl tear apart a rabbit! The last sighting were 3 Lesser Nighthawks picking moths out of the air in the Albertson's parking lot on Carefree Highway and I-17! Whew!, that was a lot to type! I hope y'all had a great weekend and a Happy Easter if you celebrate it!
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Post by Whiskey Jack on Apr 12, 2004 8:53:04 GMT -5
Thats a good story about the Gila banging on metal things. I see Northern Flickers do it all the time in my neighborhood. Folks figure it is to project their message out to all their buddies or enemies nearby, so its kind of like using a microphone or something since it increases the noise level. Man, I used to live in Madera Canyon where I built a bed and breakfast for about 3 years, and I would just move from room to room (whichever one was the most finished and where no work was taking place) and sleep there. But there was one room I hated sleeping in because every morning, right before the main part of the dawn chorus, an Acorn Woodpecker would come and bang its head on the vent outside of the room. Talk about a bad way to wake up every morning! Oh well, I guess I'd bang around all day with a hammer and what not, so it was probably just getting me back.
On Easter Sunday, out in the crater fields, there was a pretty large mixed flock feeding in the area. It consisited of Juniper Titmice, Mountain Chickadees, a few straggler Dark-eyed Juncos, White-breasted Nuthatches and a lone Hairy Woodpecker. Also a ton of Townsend's Solitares and Steller's Jays were pretty active that day. The Jay's I'm sure where waiting to snag some Easter Eggs that never got found during the big hunt.
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Post by eaglewoman on Apr 12, 2004 13:53:08 GMT -5
Hi Y'all, Well, I had a very adventerous weekend hiking in and out of Fossil Creek (in the hail and rain...and soooo not by choice!) for a class on Saturday. It was still a great trip though. On the way to Fossil, we saw two ospreys, one diving for fish over Lake Mary, a red tail hawk soaring, and several bluebirds. Down by the creek, I saw a black phoebe(before the rain set in). On Sunday, I went to Glendale to spend Easter with me family. Every since I have been getting into birds, my dad has been putting out all kinds of seeds to attract them in to their yard. I saw some great things in the middle of suburbia! A northern flicker made a home (literally cut it out herself!) in my parents palm tree. She must have worked very hard because she made a hole about 4 or 5 inches in diameter. I am sure she is nesting there. It is sad too though, because the tree will probably die. It's a small tree. They have lots of house sparrows, starlings, grackles, hummers, doves, abert's towhees, wrens, and even a little verdin nest. SO CUTE! And for the most amazing site......My dad saw one Eurasian Collard Dove in the front yard. Why have you never heard of them(or maybe you have)?.....Because their range is in a tiny portion of the coast of California. Maybe it got lost in the recent storms. I think that is really cool, but sad, too, because he(the dove) was not in his home. Talk to you all later. Have a great week.
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Post by Chromiusdomius on Apr 12, 2004 14:33:32 GMT -5
Howdy y'all! I am in the land of cheese freezing my butt off. I've been hoping to make some sightings of interest, but no luck so far. Hopefully I will see something yet. If not, I'm sure that I will see something interesting while driving form Wisconsin to Phoenix. I must say, that I thoroughly enjoy reading about everyone's sightings. Hopefully I will have a few for you all soon. Hey Stinger! We will probably go through Flagstaff on the way home; maybe we can hook up and grab some lunch or dinner. Did you get my tent? ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Stinger
Mexican Grey Wolf Member
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Post by Stinger on Apr 12, 2004 14:38:56 GMT -5
That would be great! Give me a call when you are nearing town. As far as the tent goes, they were out of them but I did get a raincheck and dropped the money off at the house. They said it will probably be the end of the week before they get them again.
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Post by Chromiusdomius on Apr 12, 2004 14:44:38 GMT -5
:-*Stinger, did you get any pictures of the falcon this time?
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Stinger
Mexican Grey Wolf Member
Cowboy Up!!
Posts: 183
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Post by Stinger on Apr 12, 2004 14:48:09 GMT -5
I was about to snap a picture of it and the Montster came running up barking and scared it off!! Stupid dog! j/k ;D ;D
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Post by Whiskey Jack on Apr 13, 2004 13:44:27 GMT -5
Well, I am going to beat Sparrowhawk and eaglewoman to this posting! But I guarentee you that they both remember more of the birds that we saw than I do because I forgot my notebook, and, well, my memory ain't what it used to be. But there were a couple sightings on this mornings trip to Tavarsci Marsh that I will never forget. So 3 of the highlights form the trip that are still very vivid in my mind include seeing 2 Northern Harriers soaring through the air and chasing one another, their wing tips touched every once and again as they danced up there in the sky, it was beautiful. Also a group of about 10 (or so) White Pelicans were floating in formation way in the distance! The sun would shine brilliantly off them every once and again. Finally, the coolest thing was when a Black-crowned Night Heron soared into the area where some of us were and perched on a stump about 10 yards away! To see one that close was amazing. I can remember a ton more birds that we saw, but I better save some for everyone else to post about. It was a lot of fun birding with you guys this morning.
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Post by eaglewoman on Apr 13, 2004 17:01:42 GMT -5
Oh Yes Crow! T'was a total blast birding this morning, even though I forgot my binos . If you all want to learn more about birds, Crow is the man to bird with! The sightings Crow already mentioned were completely spectacular, but I also had a few encounters that seemed special. On the way out to the marsh, we stopped in Cottonwood to observe the most awesome site of about 7 roosting turkey vultures. COOL! The Common Yellow Throated Warbler is a pretty tough bird to spot. He stays hidden in the reeds and marshes, and I thought we would only get to hear his beautiful song, but today, he jumped out to say hi for just a second. It was great to catch a look. Another rare sight was a marsh wren(very rare in AZ). He jumped out of the reeds about 2 yards away from me! What an excellent view! Crow and I also out-identified our TA (we luv ya Eben!) when a Turkey Vulture Soared with a Red-Tail Hawk. We knew what they were! Fun Fun! Since we saw so many great birds, I am going to just list what I remember: Roadrunner, Bullock's Oriole, Brewer's Blackbird, Yellow Rumped Warblers, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Black Throated Hummingbird, Great Blue Herons, Grackles, White Crowned Sparrows, Black and Say's Phoebes, Western Kingbirds, larksparrows, cardinals, Gamble's quail, redwinged blackbirds, and a brown headed cowbird. There were more out there, but I just can't remember them all. [glow=red,2,300] What a great day![/glow]
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