2017: For the Birds and Bird lovers CAUTION LARGE PHOTOS

Should I relax the Image Rules for this Thread

  • Yes, with a warning about large images

    Votes: 5 100.0%
  • Yes, but in the way I will explain in a post

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No; standard AW image rules are fine

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5
  • Poll closed .

Roxxsmom

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The largely pale patch in the middle of the breast suggests it's more likely a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/id
(Use the bar below the Field Marks heading to scroll sideways to a juvenile that shows the breast, then use the bar under Similar Species until you get a juvenile Cooper's Hawk, and you can do a side by side comparison.)
I was wondering if it could be a red tail as well, as those are also common in the more open areas here (and my friend lives out in the country a ways). I can't get a good feel for how big the bird is from the picture, but it looks like it might be larger than a Cooper's hawk as well.

I think you're right, looking at some different red tail pictures. The pattern on the coverts of its wings are similar to this picture.

Mind boggling that a hawk stops a sprinkler to get a drink. My dogs can't do that. :tongue

My three dogs are all scared of sprinklers. I did have a dog once who stopped sprinklers, but I think it was more to play with them than to drink. Birds are turning out to be smarter than they once told us they were. "Bird brain" isn't such an insult after all. Earthworm brain, on the other hand...
 
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MaeZe

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Hummingbird just kindly graced my yard for a few seconds. It hovered for a bit, turning in different directions several times. Fascinating in that every time it turned, it made a little snap sound.
 

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For those of us in Western WA and Oregon, Foinah has reminded me that the fires are causing wildlife to flee en masse, and that means they're venturing into more urban areas.

Consider keeping your animals inside at night, because yes, bears and bob cats are included, and also, making freshwater available for critters, including bees and birds.
 

ElaineA

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Well, a first for me in my yard today. It's one of those days where it seems every bird in the vicinity is here having a bath, and when the crowd died down, a bird I had never seen before perched above the bath. I could not figure out what it was at all, but it turns out to have been a Red-winged Blackbird, only not showing the red wing. They are very common around the retention pond near my neighborhood, which has been restored to more native flora to encourage wildlife, and I see them regularly there, but this one came rather far afield. Unfortunately it flew off before I could raise my phone to snap a picture. :cry:

One photographer mentioned the gold bar and duller black (more like a very deep gray to my eye) rather than the glossy black/red shoulder was "winter plumage" but I don't know how accurate that is. Anyway, considering how much time I work in front of this window, it's exciting to have new sightings. I had a downy woodpecker here a few weeks ago, too, another first. :hooray:
 

Albedo

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The poll for Australian Bird of the Year is open, and it's already generating some controversy, with revelations that bots (possibly Russian) were voting en mass for the Powerful Owl. This was possibly a Kremlin response to the completely unexpected groundswell of popular support for the Sacred Bin Chicken (otherwise known as the white ibis), which is currently leading with almost twice the votes of the perenially popular magpie.

Please vote, international friends! You may as well. I've already voted for the ibis about fifteen times.
 

Helix

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I have been encouraging people to vote for the orange-bellied parrot. It currently has 882 votes, which is many times more the actual number of parrots surviving both in the wild and in captivity.
 

mrsmig

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I plopped for the orange-bellied parrot, although there are so many wonderful birds on that list that it was a struggle.
 

Helix

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Team OBP thanks you, mrsmig.

I think it's no coincidence that the birds in the lead are the most conspicuous species in Sydney and Melbourne. And I am shocked at the shenanigans of Team Powerful Owl!
 

Albedo

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Fine, I'll vote 15 times for the orange-bellied parrot as well. But I want it to be known that I'm supporting the ibis on its merits, not out of some tribal loyalty.

What's with the lack of a single corvid species on the shortlist, but?
 

mrsmig

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Isn't the magpie a corvid?
 

Helix

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Our magpies belong to the family Artamidae, along with the currawongs and woodswallows. They're called magpies because of the coloration.

Our corvids -- we don't have that many species -- are all ravens and crows.
 

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Juncos returned a couple weeks ago, just before the snow. We still have gold finches. And I finally managed to take poor pictures of the female cardinal, via my phone.
female_cardinal_011.jpg
 

LadyV

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Yay for juncos! I always know winter is here when I see them.
 

Jason

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Not sure how I missed this thread for so long, but is it too late to resurrect it?

Eagle
30970310132_d2925155d2_c.jpg"



Hummingbird
30928996971_ebeb2e9610_c.jpg"



Woodpecker? (not sure)
30938193726_08d9605c10_c.jpg



Woodpecker 2 (again, not sure...)
30883959841_750c28ce51_c.jpg



Not birds, but couldn't help myself
5088068591_ea8f380eb4_c.jpg
 
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mrsmig

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Great photos, Jason.

The woodpecker-y bird looks like a Northern Flicker to me.
 

Jason

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Tks, I have more but didn’t want to be too braggy or inundate what was previously a somewhat dated thread... :)