2017: For the Birds and Bird lovers CAUTION LARGE PHOTOS

The only woodpecker species I've seen in my yard are Northern Flickers. We have Nuttall's woodpeckers in Sacramento, along with several other kinds, but I haven't spotted one in my neighborhood yet.

Do woodpeckers like it if you hang suet blocks from tree trunks?

We have hairy, downey, red-bellied, and pileated woodpeckers. Also northern flickers. I've seen them all in my neighborhood.

I had another new guy at the feeder! My daughter yelled, "Mom! There's a crow in the feeder!" And at first glance, he did look like a crow and was hanging off the thing at an odd angle because he was too big for it. That also made getting a good look at him difficult and I couldn't see his eyes or beak or tail all that well. But, as he moved, the sun shimmered off his breast, giving him a blueish sheen. He might have been a Common Grackle:

mrsmig said:

Lovely photo! Is that a grape in his mouth? I think it's a Grackle rather than a Crow, and the size ratio (bird to grape) seems more accurate for a Grackle.

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Yeah, it's a grape, but it's not my picture. I was lucky enough to actually see him before he flew away--it would have been a miracle to get the camera in time. That's from the internet and the best representation of what I thought I saw that I could find.

krashnburn said:

Yeah, it's a grape, but it's not my picture. I was lucky enough to actually see him before he flew away--it would have been a miracle to get the camera in time. That's from the internet and the best representation of what I thought I saw that I could find.

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Grackles come back early in spring. They do look like crows shrunk down to slightly bigger than robin size. You're very likely right based on the iridescent sheen you described.

Am heading off to Tasmania on Friday with binoculars and camera. Hope to be back the following Friday with loadsa photos.

Had to go to Atherton today, so I nipped over to Hastie's Swamp on the way. Three new birds for the year -- intermediate egret, hardhead (a diving duck) and the very handsome wandering whistling-duck -- which took my 2017 list to 99 species.

Then I spotted a male cicadabird at home.

My firewall usually gives me trouble seeing everyone's pics or going to links, so while I was trying to look up wandering whistling duck on my own, this pic popped up. Beautiful. What are the chances that isn't photoshopped?

krashnburn said:

My firewall usually gives me trouble seeing everyone's pics or going to links, so while I was trying to look up wandering whistling duck on my own, this pic popped up. Beautiful. What are the chances that isn't photoshopped?

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I am suspicious about its authenticity, but it's a nice collection of eastern US birds.

krashnburn said:

My firewall usually gives me trouble seeing everyone's pics or going to links, so while I was trying to look up wandering whistling duck on my own, this pic popped up. Beautiful. What are the chances that isn't photoshopped?

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The light source is not consistent with each bird. Pretty though, I like pretty.

Better than screen saver, live bird cams on egg watch:

Bella Hummingbird Nest, two eggs due to hatch this weekend! Males do not participate in egg duty or feeding. The eggs are only as big as tic-tacs. The board is there to keep the crows from landing near the nest.

Bald Eagle cam, Iowa Experienced parents, three eggs:

First egg: 2/19/17 at 5:53 PM CT
Second egg: 2/22/17 at 3:09 PM CT
Third egg: 2/25/17 at 5:12 PM CT

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That's normal and incubation is ~35 days, so it will be a while.

Bald Eagles, Channel Islands
I think these are younger birds going by their colors, the brown is not as uniform (but it's just a guess). These guys had 5 eggs a month ago, all broke open, none lasted more than a day. Today the mother laid a new egg. No one knows if this one will survive. The mother is more antsy than the experienced eagles. But the father has been around, brought a fish and nesting material and saw the egg.

The comments let you know what's been happening and lots of people take screen shots to share. Warning, it's addicting.


I should also note, once in a while there is camera trouble and you'll see "highlights" noted in the left hand corner. You can also scroll back a few hours on the feed if you want to see something you missed.

Quick update: My Berwick's wren has become 2, a nesting pair coming to my yard and bird bath together daily. Hopefully they'll have a successful nest and I'll get to see the offspring this summer.

I couldn't get the hummingbird to load, but I watched Momma eagle for a bit. Then I found puppies and will not admit to how long I watched the puppies...

krashnburn said:

I couldn't get the hummingbird to load, but I watched Momma eagle for a bit. Then I found puppies and will not admit to how long I watched the puppies...

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The Channel Is eagle lost the egg. Bella the hummingbird is still sitting on unhatched eggs but you can tell she's busier turning them than she has been in the past. Not sure why it wouldn't load but at night the image is pitch black except you can still hear the sounds of the neighborhood. Both eagle nests have night vision cameras. Maybe try again.

http://explore.org/live-cams/player/bella-hummingbird-nest

The eagle eggs aren't due to hatch until the last week in March. It's amazing the weather they tolerate. Rain or snow they seem fine. Sleeping when it was snowing, snow collected on the bird and she didn't seem to notice or mind.

Mom & Dad control their body temperature to keep the eggs at the correct temperature. They can fluff their feathers to create many pockets or layers of trapped warm air. The snow on their backs doesn’t melt since all the warm is trapped and the outer feathers are locked together to keep the heat in and moisture out. When it is too warm, they will open their wings slightly or pant to cool off.

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Rosie the other hummingbird laid an egg a few hours ago!!

http://explore.org/live-cams/player/rosie-hummingbird-nest

I had a couple of Carolina wrens hanging out with me while I worked on a job. I couldn't believe how close I got to them before they flew off. There was also a red-tailed hawk hanging out in a nearby tree, in which a mama red-bellied woodpecker was very unhappy about.

One of Bella's eggs hatched!

http://explore.org/live-cams/player/bella-hummingbird-nest

The second one should hatch in the next day or so.

Bella's second egg hatched and Rosie laid her second egg. The Channel Is eagle nest remains empty and the Iowa eagles continue incubating their three eggs.

Had a rather cool, if brief, bird encounter on the way to work when a red-tailed hawk swooped down and perched in a tree right next to the road. Tried for a couple pictures, but they didn't come out too good. (Just had my purse camera, not the big boy with me.)

ETA: pics (like I said, not that great... I was in a car on the way to work, in my defense. Just barely got him in the frame on the last one; he started to fly while the camera was still "busy"...)




ETA2 - Turns out I inadvertently took video while snapping pictures (awkward camera buttons), and got him taking off... need to figure out how to pull stills from video, though it's still not great focus.

Back from Tasmania, where I got a quartet of lifers -- strong-billed and black-headed honeyeaters, Tasmanian thornbill and beautiful firetail. I saw a lot of other birds, including the white phase of the grey goshawk, which is a startlingly all-white bird of prey (except for feet, eyes and beak, which are yellow), pink robin (with a lipstick pink breast), scarlet robin (what it says on the tin) and the ultra-rare forty-spotted pardalote. Most of the pics I took were pretty ordinary, but I hope to go back again soon(ish) with the long lens, so that might make a difference. In the meantime, here's a wombat snoozing on Maria Island.

ETA: Also on Maria Island, off the west east (I get left and right mixed up too) coast of Tasmania: Cape Barren goose, second rarest goose after the Hawaiian nene.

I found another nest cam:
http://explore.org/live-cams/player/great-horned-owl-cam

This is a great horned owl with a couple eggs in the nest.

When the wind is blowing I shut the sound down. But for peaceful times, the sounds are great in the background. Makes me feel like I'm outside.

The Sauces eagles have another egg on the nest. This one has survived 2 days now without breaking.

https://explore.org/live-cams/player/channel-islands-national-park-sauces-bald-eagle

I posted a photo on my Instagram here. Not so much for the photo, but an interesting annual phenomenon. We have 8 deciduous trees in the yard, we're surrounded by fir trees, and we have tons of shrubs from heather on up to 8' rhododendrons. But every year these crows who nest next door (the ones whose baby fell and wound up in our yard 2 summers ago) come early in spring and rip at this ONE pink dogwood for its curvy twigs. Always the green twigs. Never the dead wood. (I presume they're repairing the nest.) I've seen them pull so hard they tumble over backward when the twig gives way.

I always wonder if it's the SAME pair every year or if they've passed on this particular twig source (and nest) to their offspring. There is a nest in our neighbors' trees on the other side of me, but those crows don't come to the dogwood for twigs. It's so interesting to have birds that return to your yard or area regularly enough you know their particular habits.

ETA: The Bewick's wren has been showing off the last few days. I can hear him (only the males sing, apparently) inside the house through closed doors & windows. I finally went outside to get some sound. Bear in mind this bird is the size of a thumb (or smaller), is singing from at least 40 feet up and there's much background noise (rain and ambient traffic). They can really belt it out. Video here