Birds & Birding

mccardey

Self-Ban
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 10, 2010
Messages
19,213
Reaction score
15,828
Location
Australia.
I thought in solidarity I would wear a pristine white t-shirt and shorts, and then go sleep in a wheely bin to get that ibis patina.
Ibises never sleep. They just strut and terrorise and stab with their stabbingbeaks, stabbingly.
 

Captcha

Banned
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
4,456
Reaction score
637
I stand with the ibises.

Stately birds of great beauty, they are.
 

Tazlima

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 26, 2013
Messages
3,042
Reaction score
1,494
Quail update: The birds are doing wonderfully. I don't currently have a photobucket thingy to upload pictures (I'll set one up one of these days), but I've put a hatch video on youtube if anybody wants to see one of them when he was first born. They're so cute, and they grow so fast!

Squee!:e2cloud9:
 

mccardey

Self-Ban
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 10, 2010
Messages
19,213
Reaction score
15,828
Location
Australia.
Oh that's an incredible video! Now I'm going to hop outside and see if I can hear any of my eggs cheeping.
 

Tazlima

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 26, 2013
Messages
3,042
Reaction score
1,494
Oh that's an incredible video! Now I'm going to hop outside and see if I can hear any of my eggs cheeping.

Lol, the cheeping in the video was actually from a second baby off-camera. This one was the second born and the first one was lonely (Hence the name "Bayou." The second one was like, "Aw, you're lonely? I'll come over by you.")
 

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
9,884
Reaction score
7,173
Location
Virginia
"Bayou" - that's adorable.
 

Captcha

Banned
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
4,456
Reaction score
637
Excellent video. My hands were itching to help, even though... well, even though LOTS of things, obviously.

And he did just fine on his own. Welcome to the world, Bayoux!
 

frimble3

Heckuva good sport
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
11,574
Reaction score
6,396
Location
west coast, canada
It's time to Prepare the Glare, Australia. Tomorrow is the big day. The day of Discouragement.
So, I have to ask - did glaring at ibises seem to affect them in any way? Did they fly off? Did they blush? Did they apologise? I'm betting that trying to discourage an ibis by giving it dirty looks works about at well as glaring at seagulls. (By the way, do not try to discourage seagulls by waving your fists at them - they assume you are about to throw food, and will swarm around.)
If, however, you believe that your efforts did discourage the ibises, you are ready for the next level: trying to outstare a cat. Good luck!
 

frimble3

Heckuva good sport
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
11,574
Reaction score
6,396
Location
west coast, canada
By the way, it was cold and clear today, and some sort of sparrow came to my bird-bath/pond, took a drink of water and bathed! Flicking water everywhere, having a high old time, and then he flapped off into a nearby tree. A week earlier, the 'pond' had been frozen over, except for a couple of inches directly over the bubbler. With 6 inches of snow on top, I don't think most birds could get close enough to the water to drink or bathe.
 

mccardey

Self-Ban
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 10, 2010
Messages
19,213
Reaction score
15,828
Location
Australia.
I have a hatchling! I don't know how to upload to youtube, but if you go to my facebook link, it's there. (It is worth it.)

ETA: Would a mod tell me if this is one of the links we're not supposed to post? I'm a bit of a techno-thickie. Plus I'm all over-excited.
 
Last edited:

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.
Staff member
Moderator
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
9,884
Reaction score
7,173
Location
Virginia
Aw, what an adorable little nugget! Congratulations!
 

ElaineA

All about that action, boss.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 17, 2013
Messages
8,555
Reaction score
8,433
Location
The Seattle suburbs
Website
www.reneedominick.com
By the way, it was cold and clear today, and some sort of sparrow came to my bird-bath/pond, took a drink of water and bathed! Flicking water everywhere, having a high old time, and then he flapped off into a nearby tree. A week earlier, the 'pond' had been frozen over, except for a couple of inches directly over the bubbler. With 6 inches of snow on top, I don't think most birds could get close enough to the water to drink or bathe.

I had a whole flock of various birds, from a robin and two spotted towhees down to some sort of teeny tiny yellow-bellied thing (we have so many yellow-bellied things I can't ID them. They hop around so fast and this one is the smallest of the bunch) come to my baths today. 2 days ago it was frozen over, and all I could think was how much more intrepid birds are than me. I wouldn't dunk myself in that ice-cold water for less than $1 million.

I have a hatchling! I don't know how to upload to youtube, but if you go to my facebook link, it's there. (It is worth it.)

ETA: Would a mod tell me if this is one of the links we're not supposed to post? I'm a bit of a techno-thickie. Plus I'm all over-excited.

Whaaaaa :cry: I can't see it! (I don't do FB) But congratulations anyway, mccardey. After all the drama with your eggs its nice you got one hatched!
 

mccardey

Self-Ban
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 10, 2010
Messages
19,213
Reaction score
15,828
Location
Australia.
Whaaaaa :cry: I can't see it! (I don't do FB) But congratulations anyway, mccardey. After all the drama with your eggs its nice you got one hatched!
Thank you :) There are eight or nine out now. Mama is doing a very good job growling at them whenever they leave the nest. Should see them run back :)
 

Captcha

Banned
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Messages
4,456
Reaction score
637
Is Nathan still with us?

Come on, Nathan - hang in there!
 

ajaye

partial to a gum tree
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 6, 2013
Messages
3,245
Reaction score
1,264
Location
Australia
Hey Helix remember the mystery bird that I'd heard during both the day and the night? At one stage you suggested a cuckoo and I went nah, nup, definitely not (it didn't have bars, and I'd said it was the size of a wattlebird). Well you woz right, look! :D
from Graeme Chapman's site -
031-150 is an example of how cuckoos can be harassed by other small birds but the bird in 042-250 has solved that problem - he is singing at night! a strategy common to cuckoos the world over.
Mystery bird sounds just like the first option.
So I decree him Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo.
My bird book says the juv sometimes lacks bars.
But at 17cm he is indeed much smaller than a wattlebird. um oops.
 

Tazlima

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 26, 2013
Messages
3,042
Reaction score
1,494
Nathan is doing very well for a little guy :) I think he's going to make it.

:hooray: Hooray for Nathan!

Smaller, but good news on my front, too. Last night I collected my very first egg! They grow up so fast.