BigLoad
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Pancakes!
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Post by BigLoad on Mar 16, 2021 17:39:03 GMT -8
It was a weird day for birds in my corner of NJ.
For the last couple weeks, skeins of geese have been heading north, sometimes even honking away at night, so I knew a change was coming.
Today there was a huge flock of gulls on the lake, which I've never seen before. Every once in a while we get one or two, but I've never seen more than a handful at a time. They were making quite a racket, and started moving out. As the first contingent rose to the air, a somewhat fragmented squadron of ducks went screaming through them at low altitude and high speed. It seemed as if neither group of birds even noticed the other.
Minutes later, I rounded the corner and ascended the hill, where from farther away it seemed some vultures were gathered in the oaks along the shore. Oops, not vultures. They were Bald Eagles, a pair, chasing each other from branch to branch and tree to tree. I tried to get a pic with my phone, but they quickly fled. As the phone went back into the pocket, a third eagle swooped down from above and behind me, following the other two.
Not bad for a day when I didn't feel like going out because it was cold and gloomy.
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rebeccad
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Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on Mar 16, 2021 17:42:04 GMT -8
Why it’s worth making yourself get out there even when you don’t want to.,
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driftwoody
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Take the path closer to the edge, especially if less traveled
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Birds!
Mar 16, 2021 17:50:35 GMT -8
Post by driftwoody on Mar 16, 2021 17:50:35 GMT -8
About a week ago the Sandhill Crane migration was flying overhead during a local hike. Always hear them before seeing them.
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walkswithblackflies
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Resident terrorist-supporting eco-freak bootlicker
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Post by walkswithblackflies on Mar 18, 2021 7:21:07 GMT -8
Damn saw-whet owl kept waking me up last night until I closed the window. Sounds just like an alarm clock. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl/soundsIf I wanted to hear nature instead of the constant hum of civilization, I would have moved to the edge of town next to some woods. Oh, wait...  |
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Travis
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WYOMING NATIVE
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Post by Travis on Mar 18, 2021 7:58:36 GMT -8
During our recent snow/mixed-precip storm, I looked up through the mist into a low overcast sky. Above I saw crows in the mist flying back and forth as in some primordial scene only the movies can envision. I had walked outside into some Jurassic Park-like world. I like crows. They were a Corvid reprieve from the Covid world and less ominous cousins of the raven who perched upon the bust of Pallas in Poe's foreboding poem. Thanks to the birds, my imagination took flight.
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BigLoad
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Pancakes!
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Post by BigLoad on Mar 18, 2021 10:51:52 GMT -8
Damn saw-whet owl kept waking me up last night until I closed the window. Sounds just like an alarm clock. They kick up quite a racket. I think I mentioned on another thread Mrs. big_load was hosting a Zoom meeting a few nights ago that was interrupted by a screech owl hunting in the back yard. The attendees laughed at how it startled her. |
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reuben
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Gonna need more Camels at the next refugio...
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Birds!
Mar 18, 2021 12:29:46 GMT -8
Post by reuben on Mar 18, 2021 12:29:46 GMT -8
I've got a fox that likes to screech outside my window in the middle of the night.
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Birds!
Mar 18, 2021 15:37:49 GMT -8
Post by bluefish on Mar 18, 2021 15:37:49 GMT -8
That's wonderful. When I was a teen there was supposedly only two pairs of nesting eagles in the state. They were both in the Absecon Refuge in Cape May County. I found a third on top of some cliffs off the road that goes between Cranberry Lake and Lake Lackawanna. I have a suspicion I know which lake you live on, as I stayed in a house on Kemah Lake, which isn't far away, for a few months. We've got large numbers of gulls on the Hudson right now, kind of unusual. I saw at least 50 turkeys today, with quite a few Toms starting to display.
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BigLoad
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Pancakes!
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Post by BigLoad on Mar 18, 2021 18:11:18 GMT -8
I have a suspicion I know which lake you live on I'm close to Cranberry Lake and Lake Lackawanna. I could walk to either in about 45 minutes. That should really narrow it down. |
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Birds!
Mar 19, 2021 3:42:55 GMT -8
Post by bluefish on Mar 19, 2021 3:42:55 GMT -8
I have more fond memories of that area than I can shake a fishing rod at. I have a picture of me reeling in a bluegill , sitting in my Father's lap on Bear Pond (not a guess) . I was 9 months old. There's so much beautiful water in that area, I'm glad to see some was protected and trails put in. It was endless posted signs for me, thus much trespassing.... Thanks for bringing up some very heart warming reminisces.
Some great music venues, too. I got to open for Jorma Kaukonen and hang out with Stevie Ray Vaughn at the Stanhope House, and enjoy the music festivals at Waterloo Village. I hope both are still going.
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walkswithblackflies
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Resident terrorist-supporting eco-freak bootlicker
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Post by walkswithblackflies on Mar 19, 2021 4:52:41 GMT -8
Damn saw-whet owl kept waking me up last night until I closed the window. Sounds just like an alarm clock. www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Saw-whet_Owl/soundsIf I wanted to hear nature instead of the constant hum of civilization, I would have moved to the edge of town next to some woods. Oh, wait... Long story short... I asked my wife yesterday evening if the owl woke her up. She didn't know what I was talking about, so I played the call for her. She laughed. Apparently, she woke up with her second alarm, because she turned the first off thinking the owl was her alarm going off at the wrong time. LOL! |
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Travis
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WYOMING NATIVE
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Post by Travis on Mar 19, 2021 5:31:10 GMT -8
thinking the owl was her alarm going off After listening to the saw-whet owl "song" at your link, my first thought was how electronic it sounded. It's such a regular pulse of a beep. All the other recorded calls sound animal in origin, except that one. |
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Birds!
Mar 19, 2021 6:15:16 GMT -8
Post by bluefish on Mar 19, 2021 6:15:16 GMT -8
thinking the owl was her alarm going off After listening to the saw-whet owl "song" at your link, my first thought was how electronic it sounded. It's such a regular pulse of a beep. All the other recorded calls sound animal in origin, except that one. It's awful! It sounds just like the alarm on my home dialysis machine. It means we have about 3 minutes to diagnose and correct one of dozens of possibilities read out by vague code. We seem to not have any saw-whets nearby. Small favors. I did see three Pileated Woodpeckers on one big maple in my woods this morning. |
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walkswithblackflies
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Post by walkswithblackflies on Mar 19, 2021 7:43:42 GMT -8
t's awful! It sounds just like the alarm on my home dialysis machine. It means we have about 3 minutes to diagnose and correct one of dozens of possibilities read out by vague code. You definitely don't want an Amazon Green parrot near you then. A friend had one that loved copying electronic sounds. His mimics were spot-on and he could throw his voice so you didn't know he was doing it. I can't count the number of times I "answered" my phone when he was toying with me. I only visited there about once per month, but somehow he retained it and associated me with that specific ringtone. |
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Birds!
Mar 19, 2021 9:50:23 GMT -8
Post by autumnmist on Mar 19, 2021 9:50:23 GMT -8
The bird sightings of others are making me wonder again what's happened to all the birds that used to visit. Occasionally I find flocks of sparrows in the arborvitae close to the house, but I haven't seen the abundance of cardinals, jays or robins that used to be in this area. And I don't know why, unless it's b/c the traffic has increased exponentially since the city created a "funky" hangout on the main crossroads, and blocked off streets in the neighborhoods except one other street and mine. So the traffic has increased probably exponentially.
Oh, and my neighbor has a new cat that spends much of her time outside, and visits me quite frequently. I discovered her prints in the snow, walking up to the front porch and disappearing. And she also surveys the garden in the back as well. Maybe she's the reason the birds stay away. I hadn't thought about that before.
I recall that one year I planted a 12'x12' bed of buckwheat, with the intention of harvesting it, hiring a local mill to grind it into flour, and eventually making buckwheat bread for my father, something he remembers from his childhood days. One day I found 12 cardinals in the bed, so I decided that they could use the buckwheat and I'd just buy some. It really was exciting to see that many cardinals together.
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