Wild Side Ornithology Club

[beautress]

Oooooooh, like this one! It may have to do with the barring on the tail having a greater contrast, or the way the light falls on his back feathers...:

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[beautress]

I loaded hen turkeys in my Bing! browser, and what I found shows there may be a dimorphic trait in the lot, though I'm not sure:

 

[OldLady]

Question, Beautress:
On my way to work a couple days ago, there was a big group of the birds on the left walking on the side of the road. Maybe a dozen or so.
My immediate thought was "female turkeys" but I didn't know large groups of them hung out together like a bunch of chickens, so I questioned my identification. Do they hang out in big groups like that, normally, or is someone raising them like domestics?

 

[beautress]

Ah, back to the grackles...They (while being the characters they are) seem to have a flock tendency when they are in migratory mode...

And just one flight shot:

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[beautress]

Oh, yes, the grackles at Independence Rock was loaded, but alas, no grackles. I'll have to find them. If you missed this side road scenario on your last visit to Yellowstone Park or flew there, Here's Independence Rock that hosts a summer flock of hungry grackles, but not in the winter after they went south to the parking lot by Interstate 45. I think the grackles outside of Casper, Wyoming were on Highway 20 going west out of Casper by a dozen or so miles...oh, such good memories there. This one looks just like the time we were there our last year or two in Wyoming..I apologize for the lack of grackles and will keep looking online for one that has the family of grackles I spoke of.

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[OldLady]

Ah, back to the grackles...They (while being the characters they are) seem to have a flock tendency when they are in migratory mode...

View attachment 219606

View attachment 219610
And just one flight shot:

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When I lived in farm country I would see scenes like that--sometimes it reminded me of The Birds. Very, very cool. They love cornfields.

 

[beautress]

Question, Beautress:
On my way to work a couple days ago, there was a big group of the birds on the left walking on the side of the road. Maybe a dozen or so.
My immediate thought was "female turkeys" but I didn't know large groups of them hung out together like a bunch of chickens, so I questioned my identification. Do they hang out in big groups like that, normally, or is someone raising them like domestics?

Hi, OL! Back years ago when I lived in the Equality State that Wyoming is, occasionally when I was driving back and forth to Laramie to visit my son at the University of Wyoming, I'd see flocks of them now and again, but they were so dark colored and far away, the only thing I could really make out of them by their size and shape that they were definitely turkeys. I never thought of it before, but the groups I saw usually were a flock of 30 or 40 individuals, and yes, they acted like chickens, except they were not bound by fences. They looked more happy, though, than the bazillions of chickens I once observed in a modern-day large chicken house. Freedom is loved even by birds, and if you come too close, wild birds generally will go away with the except in the case of Canadian geese. They're entitled to a meal if you step their way, and they will let you know their displeasure if you have nothing, and they're pretty certain they can do more damage to you if you even look crossways at their little flock of Canadian goslings that follows their mommie around like cute little apparatchiks.

 

[beautress]

Ah, back to the grackles...They (while being the characters they are) seem to have a flock tendency when they are in migratory mode...

View attachment 219606

View attachment 219610
And just one flight shot:

​

When I lived in farm country I would see scenes like that--sometimes it reminded me of The Birds. Very, very cool. They love cornfields.

I live out in the country and before the drought in 2011, they regularly hung out in some nearby tall pines. You could hear them, but I couldn't see them because the pine trees near the field border were a hundred feet tall, and the long pine needles on the trees obfuscated their bodies nicely.

 

[OldLady]

Question, Beautress:
On my way to work a couple days ago, there was a big group of the birds on the left walking on the side of the road. Maybe a dozen or so.
My immediate thought was "female turkeys" but I didn't know large groups of them hung out together like a bunch of chickens, so I questioned my identification. Do they hang out in big groups like that, normally, or is someone raising them like domestics?

Hi, OL! Back years ago when I lived in the Equality State that Wyoming is, occasionally when I was driving back and forth to Laramie to visit my son at the University of Wyoming, I'd see flocks of them now and again, but they were so dark colored and far away, the only thing I could really make out of them by their size and shape that they were definitely turkeys. I never thought of it before, but the groups I saw usually were a flock of 30 or 40 individuals, and yes, they acted like chickens, except they were not bound by fences. They looked more happy, though, than the bazillions of chickens I once observed in a modern-day large chicken house. Freedom is loved even by birds, and if you come too close, wild birds generally will go away with the except in the case of Canadian geese. They're entitled to a meal if you step their way, and they will let you know their displeasure if you have nothing, and they're pretty certain they can do more damage to you if you even look crossways at their little flock of Canadian goslings that follows their mommie around like cute little apparatchiks.

I had a grouse chase me for a quarter mile once on a hiking trail for getting too close to her tiny fluff balls of babies that she had (pretty stupidly) stashed right on the edge of a public hiking trail. Busy grouse, that one.
I had to pick up a stick and pretend I was going to hit her with it in order to keep her from running right up and flapping me to death. It's not just geese.

 

[OldLady]

I'm no ornithologist, but I do pay attention to the birds around me. Yesterday I was chuckling about an adolescent seagull sitting with its parent on the roof ridge; the young ones look twice the size of the adults, but it is either baby fat or fluffy feathers or both. Despite their size, they don't let their adult too far out of sight, either.

 

[beautress]

I think that young gull mighta been a mama's gull...

 

[Pogo]

Common Grackles

Found lots of pictures of grackles in the search engine along with a plethora of sound bytes. They're squeaky, but not as loud as a Mynah Bird nor even a crow. They are about, well, a little less than Blue Jays. It's fun to watch them collect around cars at the local Walmart parking lot, where all trees were removed a couple of years ago due to hundreds of them nesting there. They took out the trees, so not as many of them visit, but the ones I saw a few mornings ago were likely on their migration path to warmer climates. These birds were healthy and happy looking, and I felt so bad I didn't have so much as a piece of popcorn to share with them. Well, maybe the next time if the manager's not out and about, looking.

All those smilies, and not a single one of them is a grackle...As I recollect, during the summertimes we lived in Wyoming, these odd little black birds that were too shiny to be crows, half of which had tails longer than their big bodies, though they weren't as big as crows nor as small as red-winged (and other) blackbirds. They were grackles, and the ones with long tails are known as boat-tailed grackles. For some reason, they didn't get into each others way, coexisted, and all, but wound up at the same roadside picnic ground near that big rock a few miles west of Casper, Wyoming, where we lived for at least 35 years, all told. Oh, the name of the rock was Independence Rock. It's been almost 10 years since we left the Equality State to retire in rural Texas, where it is warm as many months of the year as it was for cold months in Wyoming.
I'm just having a little fun until I have passed the 2-day bar to send links to bird pictures. I have to remember they put wild birds out in the garage here at US Message Board. Us bird lovers know our birds we see are pets, only they choose when they come and go. But a word of warning: I'm likely to flip out if you live in mountain bluebird territory and one visits your feeder when a camera is in your hand...

Well, nite-nighty, all bird lovers, even if our dear little birdies have to be cooped up here in this ol' garage area of cyberspace.

My dear friend in New Jersey who took me out birding and set me up with a life list would point out the grackles and their distinctive habits splayed all over the lawns around Cape May when we were birding in season. Remember it well.

Becki, how glorious it is to have you and this thread back. I should go maintain my feeders. Last winter a black bear came onto my porch and got into them.

I hope you will deliver a picture of the next time you encounter those cheerful chirpers that beg food so convincingly you know they're hungry. It's just the grackle way. Also, pictures of your bird feeder would be most welcome.

Ain't nuttin' special. I do have some old hummer pics though...

Check it out --- caught one standing still

What else happens around here is when I go outside the Rufus Towhees approach me and start tweeting. They remember me as the purveyor of those nice black sunflower seeds they like. I tweet back at them. It's a continuous conversation.

 

[Pogo]

Question, Beautress:
On my way to work a couple days ago, there was a big group of the birds on the left walking on the side of the road. Maybe a dozen or so.
My immediate thought was "female turkeys" but I didn't know large groups of them hung out together like a bunch of chickens, so I questioned my identification. Do they hang out in big groups like that, normally, or is someone raising them like domestics?

They do around these parts, there's tons of wild turkey in these woods. So much you have to be careful driving not to run into them on the more rural roads. I haven't seen as many as a dozen but at least half a dozen.

 

[beautress]

Common Grackles

Found lots of pictures of grackles in the search engine along with a plethora of sound bytes. They're squeaky, but not as loud as a Mynah Bird nor even a crow. They are about, well, a little less than Blue Jays. It's fun to watch them collect around cars at the local Walmart parking lot, where all trees were removed a couple of years ago due to hundreds of them nesting there. They took out the trees, so not as many of them visit, but the ones I saw a few mornings ago were likely on their migration path to warmer climates. These birds were healthy and happy looking, and I felt so bad I didn't have so much as a piece of popcorn to share with them. Well, maybe the next time if the manager's not out and about, looking.

All those smilies, and not a single one of them is a grackle...As I recollect, during the summertimes we lived in Wyoming, these odd little black birds that were too shiny to be crows, half of which had tails longer than their big bodies, though they weren't as big as crows nor as small as red-winged (and other) blackbirds. They were grackles, and the ones with long tails are known as boat-tailed grackles. For some reason, they didn't get into each others way, coexisted, and all, but wound up at the same roadside picnic ground near that big rock a few miles west of Casper, Wyoming, where we lived for at least 35 years, all told. Oh, the name of the rock was Independence Rock. It's been almost 10 years since we left the Equality State to retire in rural Texas, where it is warm as many months of the year as it was for cold months in Wyoming.
I'm just having a little fun until I have passed the 2-day bar to send links to bird pictures. I have to remember they put wild birds out in the garage here at US Message Board. Us bird lovers know our birds we see are pets, only they choose when they come and go. But a word of warning: I'm likely to flip out if you live in mountain bluebird territory and one visits your feeder when a camera is in your hand...

Well, nite-nighty, all bird lovers, even if our dear little birdies have to be cooped up here in this ol' garage area of cyberspace.

My dear friend in New Jersey who took me out birding and set me up with a life list would point out the grackles and their distinctive habits splayed all over the lawns around Cape May when we were birding in season. Remember it well.

Becki, how glorious it is to have you and this thread back. I should go maintain my feeders. Last winter a black bear came onto my porch and got into them.

I hope you will deliver a picture of the next time you encounter those cheerful chirpers that beg food so convincingly you know they're hungry. It's just the grackle way. Also, pictures of your bird feeder would be most welcome.

Ain't nuttin' special. I do have some old hummer pics though...

Check it out --- caught one standing still

View attachment 219677​

What else happens around here is when I go outside the Rufus Towhees approach me and start tweeting. They remember me as the purveyor of those nice black sunflower seeds they like. I tweet back at them. It's a continuous conversation.

What a beautiful shot of a sweet birdie that hummingbirds are, pogo. Mwaaa to yer face for posting it.

 

[beautress]

This bird, the orange-crowned warbler was on today's calendar I received from the Audubon Society last year for the year 2018: Oct. 12, 2018: The images were in bing. At least one of the images is from the Audubon society. A lot of species are dimorphic, and the females of a lot of species blend in with the background, which is a protective shield of nature from predators when they are multitasking a brood of eggs and chicks. It's the Lord's gift that says "I love you and give you protection from harm when you need it."

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[beautress]

Today's bird (on the 2018 Audubon bird calendar), the Mountain Bluebird - they cute.

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[beautress]

Wow, 3 more days--Sunday, Oct 14, 2018, Audubon showed their own picture of Black-crested Titmouse, the15th, Cactus Wren, and Oct 16 and 17, Tufted Titmouse. See if I can find them on the web to bring here (not always Audubon, but it's nice when someone there has them. I'm not certain how they come about putting all these pictures on their yearly calendars, but they leave space for you to write in something about the day, usually, if anything, I write when I finished a quilt. Lately, it's been a little busy, so I failed to write down the completion of several quits, so I won't have much to show for October. lol!

1. Black-crested Titmouse Page at Audubon.org: Black-crested Titmouse

range

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[beautress]

#2 Cactus Wren Monday, Oct. 15 on 2018 calendar, page with information and the sound of the bird's calls at Audubon.org: Cactus Wren

Map showing range of the Cactus Wren:

Range of the Cactus Wren

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[Pogo]

Wow, 3 more days--Sunday, Oct 14, 2018, Audubon showed their own picture of Black-crested Titmouse, the15th, Cactus Wren, and Oct 16 and 17, Tufted Titmouse. See if I can find them on the web to bring here (not always Audubon, but it's nice when someone there has them. I'm not certain how they come about putting all these pictures on their yearly calendars, but they leave space for you to write in something about the day, usually, if anything, I write when I finished a quilt. Lately, it's been a little busy, so I failed to write down the completion of several quits, so I won't have much to show for October. lol!

1. Black-crested Titmouse Page at Audubon.org: Black-crested Titmouse

range

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I've got oodles and oodles of Tufted Titmice here Becki. They and the Chickadees are the most common partakers at my feeders. After that I get an occasional Nuthatch, and there are wrens who periodically build a nest in a box on my porch that must have been put there for that purpose.

I get an assortment of woodpeckers too including the rare Red Cockaded Woodpecker that I spotted at least once:

(stock photo, not mine)​

Over the weekend I was driving to a MINI Cooper run and I spotted a Pileated Woodpecker swoop up from a low bush to a tree just before I drove by it. We hear them here a lot and see them once in a while especially once the leaves drop.

 

[beautress]

Tufted Titmouse - today and tomorrow (October 16 and 17) on 2018 calendar
Range

Page at Audubon.org: Reads like a field guide, songs and calls, pictures/drawings, habitat, etc. - Tufted Titmouse

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