Wild Side Ornithology Club

[freedombecki]

Seaside Cottage:

SEASIDE COTTAGE - SPECIAL ORDER :: BIRDHOUSES : CLASSIC SERIES

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[SIZE=-1]Tangerine Cottage Birdhouse [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]The Backyard Bird Gazebo Feeder [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Backyard Bird Cottage [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Cafe Au Lait Cottage Birdhouse [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Cotton Candy Cottage Birdhouse [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Crab Cottage [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Key Lime Cottage Birdhouse [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Peaches N Cream Cottage Birdhouse [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Sand Dollar Cottage [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Sea Horse Cottage [/SIZE]
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: BIRDS OF A FEATHER SERIES HOME BAZAAR DECORATIVE BIRD HOUSES AND BIRD FEEDERS

Wow, wouldn't those be cute on the fence! all around!

 

[freedombecki]

And here's an assortment of Purple Martin houses (they are apartment aficionados)

[SIZE=-1]Clubhouse Birdhouse For Purple Martins [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Hotel California Purple Martin Birdhouse [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Town Hall Birdhouse [/SIZE]
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Also found at Home Bazaar: HOME BAZAAR DECORATIVE BIRD HOUSES AND BIRD FEEDERS

 

[freedombecki]

A friend of mine named Helen, who lived on the Platte River on the way to Glenrock, Wyoming, told me of the most beautiful birds who followed the Platte River, stopping to play, rest, and feed near her ranch. She said they had the loveliest song and were pure yellow, and that she enjoyed the two or three weeks in the spring when they visited on their migratory path each spring. I was enchanted, but unfortunately, I can recall seeing only a single one of them the entire time I lived in my adopted Equality State, and had no idea what I was beholding at the time, except he was the purest most beautiful miniature bird I'd ever seen.

Here's what the USGS Patuxent Bird Identification has to say about the Yellow Warbler or Dendroica petechia:

Identification Tips:

• Length: 4 inches
• Small, active, insect-eating bird
• Thin, pointed bill
• Mostly yellow plumage
• Upperparts greenish-yellow
• Greenish-yellow wings and tail with yellow feather edges
• Plain yellow face with yellow eye ring surrounding dark eye
• Yellowish legs

Adult male:

• Plumage golden yellow
• Rusty streaks on breast and flanks

Female and immature:

• Plain yellow plumage
• Streaks on breast absent or barely noticeable
• Some birds have pale gray wash to plumage (southwestern United States)

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/i6520id.html

The BBC Map (more at link above)

Below are some findings from the blogs, etc, on Bing's links to the web:​

 

[freedombecki]

The sweet song of the Yellow Warbler, Dendroica petechia:

[ame=http://youtu.be/OiHNa8oVImg]Yellow Warbler song ,,, Amarillo canción curruca ,, ????? ?????? ?????? - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Gracie]

How come I never saw this thread? Just my style! Subscribed!

 

[Spoonman]

And here's an assortment of Purple Martin houses (they are apartment aficionados)

[SIZE=-1]Clubhouse Birdhouse For Purple Martins [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Hotel California Purple Martin Birdhouse [/SIZE]
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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Town Hall Birdhouse [/SIZE]
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Also found at Home Bazaar: HOME BAZAAR DECORATIVE BIRD HOUSES AND BIRD FEEDERS

ooooh, I got a martin house for Christmas. i'll get it put together and set up in the spring. i'll get some pictures posted when I start getting some action

 

[freedombecki]

The one I saw was very small, very thin, and very pretty. The bird was a girl, because there were no red stripes at all on her, she was pure cadmium yellow.

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Credits: Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia) female - Montezuma Birding (and Nature) Trail​

 

[freedombecki]

How come I never saw this thread? Just my style! Subscribed!

Welcome, Gracie. I'm so pleased you found us.

 

[Gracie]

How come I never saw this thread? Just my style! Subscribed!

Welcome, Gracie. I'm so pleased you found us.

I LOVE birds. Don't know squat about them, but I love feeding them and listening to their songs. And thanks for the welcome.

 

[freedombecki]

And here's an assortment of Purple Martin houses (they are apartment aficionados)

[SIZE=-1]Clubhouse Birdhouse For Purple Martins [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]

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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Hotel California Purple Martin Birdhouse [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]

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[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Town Hall Birdhouse [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]

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[/SIZE]

Also found at Home Bazaar: HOME BAZAAR DECORATIVE BIRD HOUSES AND BIRD FEEDERS

ooooh, I got a martin house for Christmas. i'll get it put together and set up in the spring. i'll get some pictures posted when I start getting some action

OK, Spoonman. We want to see this construction process.
First the picture of the box under the tree

(or whatever)

Then the picture of the master craftsman taking the 50 puzzle pieces of flat small boards out of the box.

Then, after the foundation is set.

Then, when the first wall goes up.

Can I get any pickier?

 

[freedombecki]

I just saw a pair of Fish crows walk across my back yard! They aren't as large as American Crows, and the ones I saw looked exactly like this picture, from CCNAB:

 

[freedombecki]

February's Calendar Girl or Guy is a lovely picture of the Eastern Bluebird, Sialia sialis.

It's sitting on a bunch of cerise flowers (pinkish orange, bright) and I wonder if I can find a similar one online somewhere..

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Well, no, I couldn't find the same picture, but how lovely they are with their wings spread in flight. *sigh*​

 

[freedombecki]

But when I come home to you​

I love the things that you do​

You know I feel okay!​

~from the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night​

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[freedombecki]

This little pic is from http://www.help-for-bluebids.org:

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They also have a great page for downloading plans to make a bluebird feeder. Mealworms? Yep! That's what the kiddies are fed.​

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Eastern Bluebird Feeder Plans | Help-for-Bluebirds.org​

 

[freedombecki]

Below is all quotes from the link, btw:

There are about 10,000 species of birds.
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The types of birds (orders) are:

• Anseriformes (ducks, geese, screamers, swans, and waterfowl)
• Apodiformes (hummingbirds and swifts)
• Caprimulgiformes (nightbirds)
• Charadriiformes (shorebirds and relatives)
• Ciconiiformes (storks, herons, egrets, ibises, spoonbills, and relatives)
• Coliiformes (mousebirds and colies)
• Columbiformes (pigeons and doves)
• Coraciiformes (kingfishers)
• Craciformes (megapodes, curassows)
• Cuculiformes (cuckoos, hoatzin, relatives, and turacoss)
• Falconiformes (birds of prey)
• Galliformes (chickens, fowls)
• Gaviiformes (loons)
• Gruiformes (coots, cranes, and rails)
• Passeriformes (songbirds) - this order contains more than half of all bird species
• Pelecaniformes (pelicans and relatives)
• Phoenicopteriformes (flamingos)
• Piciformes (woodpeckers)
• Podicipediformes (grebess)
• Procellariiformes (tube-nosed seabirds)
• Psittaciformes (parrots)
• Sphenisciformes (penguin)
• Strigiformes (owls)
• Struthioniformes (emus, kiwis, cassowaires, ostriches, and rheas)
• Tinamiformes (tinamous)
• Trogoniformes (trogons)
• Turniciformes (buttonquail)

Credits and thanks to: http://www.factzoo.com/types-of-birds.html

 

[freedombecki]

I was just checking out the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, when I ran across a notification with a link that connects to this:

Join Us for the 2014 Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb 14–17

They need more counters to get an idea. At the link, there is a great explanatory video of how to participate. It's less than a week away, lasts 4 days, and it gives them a better picture of where the birds are. If you're not sure of what the bird is, become familiar with describing a bird's anatomy, and you can either download it in Bing! to find species with those traits, and sometimes as you get better at remembering what you saw, you will hit a number of links that tell you the name of the bird you are looking at.

Details are here: Great Backyard Bird Count, Feb 14-17, 2014

Bird identification anatomy is well explained in Sibley's wonderful book:

Online help for bird identification at Cornell Lab of Ornithology

General bird foci for identification:

Much more at External Anatomy of a Bird

The amazing thing about birds, is that from one specie to another, different anatomical aspects show up.

It's funny how we live on a planet with many different beings we don't even notice.

But skew the features into a grotesque creature walking or dressing like homo sapiens, and you have a hit movie, whereby children learn the names of these fictitious beings.

It's too bad we don't teach them the difference between a tufted titmouse and a black crested titmouse.

We fail to see the world that is right in front of our eyes. I was blind to birds as a child. Now, I talk to them and try to calm them at the feeder.

I only loose my cool when the 48" wingspan hawk shows up for s songbird supper or the squirrel finds the cardinal food I forgot to put inside the front door.

The last exchange with the squirrel went "Why you little..."

And the hawk got the short Lectio Divinia of "Scat! Go away! You leave my birdies alone!"

Haven't seen either since. *sigh*

Sometimes, you just have to get your bluff in on them.

 

[Spoonman]

Hawk

 

[freedombecki]

Wonderful, Spoonman. Even obfuscated by a few branches, that hawk is dazzling.

Now, I'm almost sorry I chided one for hanging around the yard waiting for a live meal. I wish I could be assured he was checking out the fat squirrel population, but they're so wily, not like the precious little birds who return a song for peanuts.

Maybe if I knew the squirrel was more than a pirate and purveyor of disease I'd be a little more understanding.

*sigh* I guess the squirrel is guilty of a little less than singing "Ya gots to pick a pocket or two" (Musical, Oliver!)

If I didn't have so much to do, I'd sit out on the front porch and just embroider birds and butterflies all day, and take life easy. *sigh*

 

[freedombecki]

Today's picture on the 2014 Audubon Songbird Calendar is of Clark's Nutcracker, Nucifraga Columbiana . They live in the West.

Identification Points:

Identification Tips:

• Length: 11 inches
• Long, pointed bill
• Pale gray plumage
• White around base of bill and undertail coverts
• Black wings with white patch on secondaries
• Black tail with white outer tail feathers

Similar species: None

Thanks to the USGS Patuxent Bird Identification Center. Clark's Nutcracker

Christmas Bird Count Map (CBC):

BBS Map:

 

[freedombecki]

Today, I was just thumbing through my book on "Birds of Texas" by Fred Alsop, and I was intrigued by his section on wrens, and one that is a visitor to the cactus region of the west, most usually, and the Cholla cactus in particular. I just couldn't recollect what a Cholla cactus was, but thought the largest wren in North America must have some good reason to nest in the Cholla cactus. Get a load of this for a home *ouch!*:

Credits to "Another Reason I don't play Golf."​

Well, for all of God's other creatures' unaffectionate feelings for such a plant, that's the nesting home of the Desert Wren, which specie figured it was a good way to have peace of mind from everybody else while raising young from egg to post fledgling days.



Here's from Audubon's Did you know? page: the described tail feathers of the Cactus wren who doesn't pose like this often:​

And photos, etc. also appear at Patuxent Bird Infocenter's Page on Cactus Wrens​

Identification Tips:

• Length: 6.5 inches
• Long, slightly decurved bill
• Bold white supercilium contrasting with dark crown and eyeline
• White throat
• Upper breast densely spotted with black
• Underparts white becoming buffy toward tail and spotted
• Upperparts grayish-brown with black and white streaks and spots
• Long tail barred with black and white
• Dark legs
• Sexes similar

Similar species:

Thrashers are somewhat similar but are larger and lack the white supercilium and dense spotting on the breast.

BBS Map at Patuxent for the Cactus Wren: