Wild Side Ornithology Club

And of course:

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And:

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Blue heron are fairly common, but they're always fascinating. They're so big...and they hang out in the coolest places...
 
This makes me want to go out and bird watch.

But I've got baseball closing ceremonies tonight, darnit.

We're closing in on the end of the year (school/sports) though, whew, it's been a race!
 
Horned grebe:

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I've always liked grebes. They're like our version of the loon, though I don't know that they have a call like a loon.

Plus they have red eyes.
 
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We love eagles...you never forget seeing an eagle pull a fish out of the water.

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Osprey, or seahawk.
 
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Peregrine...they're migratory, and there aren't a lot, but they do come through and they nest on the coastal cliffs. Very cool.
 
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Here's another someone took about 100 miles from here:




Ducks are amazing fliers. My father loved to hunt birds (and fish). He used to dream he was a duck, flying over water and land. The funny thing is...nobody else I know has dreams of flying. Except me! I have always dreamed I could fly. Sometimes I'm flying as me....but on a few memorable instances I've been an eagle, soaring over vast distances and terrain. Those are dreams worth having.
 
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And the honkers. They fly at night, too. Every morning, my wakeup call is Canadian geese flying over my house.
 
We spent today at a lake, free fishing weekend...the kids caught a few each..and the whole time they were fishing, we were treated to a show by the resident osprey and eagles.

At one point I saw 4 osprey circling directly overhead...and we saw them dive (and catch fish) several times.

Also two bald eagles, who wheeled over, scree'd and chattered....we heard vocalizations the entire time from all of them, sometimes at each other. They seem to be a little competitive with each other (ospreys/eagles).

We were also honored with a visit from a vulture....and comorants.

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The Roadrunner is New Mexico's state bird. We get a lot of videos of them, but it is almost impossible to get a home video of a roadrunner really stretched out running full steam because they are so fast. But they are highly intelligent, funny with a sense of humor, and sometimes pretty sociable.

Kudos to this homeowner who got this footage of a roadrunner playing with their cat:

CAT AND ROADRUNNER - YouTube
:lol:
 
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As I read your post the birds outside my window are doing their morning routine.

I happen to live in a lovely place where birding is an everyday event.

Thus far I have indentified about 40 species of birds and there's three species as yet I have not been able to indentify.

I don't have a camera that's really good enough to capture good pictures of my feathered neighbors.

But to give you an idea of the sort of birding events that are fairly common here?

A month or so ago my Maine coon Cat lost her prey to a red tailed hawk in a knock down drag out fight that occured in my chincese goosberry arbor.

It was fantastic to witness this 20 or 30 second scuffle as that hawk stole my cat's capture.

My cat was less than impressed though.
 
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As I read your post the birds outside my window are doing their morning routine.

I happen to live in a lovely place where birding is an everyday event.

Thus far I have indentified about 40 species of birds and there's three species as yet I have not been able to indentify.

I don't have a camera that's really good enough to capture good pictures of my feathered neighbors.

But to give you an idea of the sort of birding events that are fairly common here?

A month or so ago my Maine coon Cat lost her prey to a red tailed hawk in a knock down drag out fight that occured in my chincese goosberry arbor.

It was fantastic to witness this 20 or 30 second scuffle as that hawk stole my cat's capture.

My cat was less than impressed though.
I bet she was!

Maine enjoys the Black-capped chickadee a lot during the year, I understand, since they named it the state bird there.

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Credits

I understand wild turkeys are common in Maine, too. They're supposed to be here, too, but I haven't seen a single one in 3 years, and we live out in a place where they could be if I knew what seeds to plant for them to forage that would do well in the Piney Woods area. Our soil here is the texture (but not the color) of gunpowder. It's kind of a tannish color by looking at the edge of our little lake out there.
 
Ducks are amazing fliers. My father loved to hunt birds (and fish). He used to dream he was a duck, flying over water and land. The funny thing is...nobody else I know has dreams of flying. Except me! I have always dreamed I could fly. Sometimes I'm flying as me....but on a few memorable instances I've been an eagle, soaring over vast distances and terrain. Those are dreams worth having.
Well, when I was young, I dreamed I could fly. The dreams were so real and vivid I thought, I know I can, and I spent a lifetime showing people how easy it was to fly in my dreams. I'd wake up, thinking, well, one of these days, I'll fly, that's all there is to it. I was still flying in my dreams at night into my thirties. But in my dreams, I'm not a bird. I'm fully human, and it's up, up, and away; come on everyone, it's easy. hahahaha!

I'm glad you mentioned that, koshergrl. It's been such a long time ago, I'd forgotten about that part of my life, albeit the ethereal part.

Oh, now that I have a front row seat I still cannot account for why our lake is enjoying the presence of Black guillemots. They're supposed to be up in the arctic regions, yet these cute little goonies are circling my lake all the time and loving it. I'm enjoying watching them, too.

I found a shot of one flying - in a more expected location--Scotland, which is a lot further north that we.

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Credits, at Wikipedia
 
Saw a blue heron today. Got a picture but can't load it for some reason.

My picture wasn't very good anyway, kinda fuzzy.
 
Yes, Becki, turkeys are rather commonly seen hereabouts. They've were reindroduced a while back (over a decade, I think) and their population is thriving here.

It is quite common to see flocks of ten or twenty or thirty foraging in people yards near the woods.

To date, however, I have yet to see even one on my land so, no, wild turkey is NOT yet among the 40 species of birds I include as having been sited on my land.

We also have blue herons who roost in the woods near the mill pond, Koshergirl. I often see two or three here at once. They are AMAZINGLY huge birds.

They're so primative looking its like having minature blue teradactals flying around the neighborhood.

They're seriously predators, too.

You'll thank GOD you're not a small animal, reptile or fish when you see one strike its prey.
 
Yes, Becki, turkeys are rather commonly seen hereabouts. They've were reindroduced a while back (over a decade, I think) and their population is thriving here.

It is quite common to see flocks of ten or twenty or thirty foraging in people yards near the woods.

To date, however, I have yet to see even one on my land so, no, wild turkey is NOT yet among the 40 species of birds I include as having been sited on my land.

We also have blue herons who roost in the woods near the mill pond, Koshergirl. I often see two or three here at once. They are AMAZINGLY huge birds.

They're so primative looking its like having minature blue teradactals flying around the neighborhood.

They're seriously predators, too.

You'll thank GOD you're not a small animal, reptile or fish when you see one strike its prey.
Editec, if you ever see turkeys nearby again, I hope you have your camera in your car or handy somewhere! I'd positively love to see a Maine turkey. I saw two swarms of turkeys in the 35 years I lived in Wyoming. They ranged near Bate's Creek between Horton's Corner and Medicine Bow on the road to Laramie. They were so terribly awesome and a tribe. Once there were about 20 of them, and the other time there were at least 50.

That's a great description of the Great Blue heron, and needless to mention, its near relative the Great Egret. You're right. The Blue heron does closely fit the description of reconstructed and imaged Pteradactyls

 
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That's my pic of a great blue heron taken last weekend, lol. Next year my gift to myself is going to be a better camera. This one is a new little nikon digital...but I want a mirrorless with telephoto...
 

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