Mid-Atlantic Bird Watching - Winter 2012-2013

I do not like that wind, very chiling, but the sun does seem to be cheering people up.

Here is a photo of His Royal Majesty Hawk the second, ruler of the West Deck.

I am so jealous -- I wish His Royal Majesty Hawk would come visit me!

Marv, doesn't the hawk keep the other birds from eating ? When our hawks are around the birds all seem to disappear. I think ours must be starting to nest, they have been very quiet the past few days. Wind is picking up again and it is to be warmer here today, but , it feels cold to me. No birds either. My indoor flock is extremely quiet also. Hmmm. Better check on what is going on.

so cool!!!!

Birds very busy today
Sparrow cleaning out wren birdhouse so she could use it

fantastic hawk sighting!

House sparrow and female finch

I forgot all about the bird tread. Here is a picture of a hawk who spent four hours in my front yard a week ago He had caught a sick squirrel and was enjoying his meal about 8 feet from my front door .He was so happy and busy with his dinner that I was able to take pictures as close as four to five feet without disturbing him . what a gorgeous bird. Eventually when he ate enough or when his catch was light enough to air lift he went away. We had a little sun for few minutes and the color on the bird changed completely. He was again in my holly tree several days later and blended perfectly.... .

I love birds. This year we have so many cardinal couples...

We do too! It seems to me that Cardinals used to be more rare - we have tons of them now.

Wow, I'm so impressed with all of your bird pics. I can't even take a non-blurry pic of a flower bloom...

Hmmmm..., is that the hawk who ate my pet chipmunk?

We must have 40 chipmunks who frequent our patio if we have one. I don't exactly wish a hawk would eat them -- really I don't -- but I wish they'd move to your house, Donner, since you seem to love them! We just have waaay too many.

Happy, please send them over :-). They can eat seeds and walnuts in a hawk-proof feeder :-)

My husband also gives apples and carrots to a resident groundhog, which is completely annoying because the groundhog treats my garden as an all you can eat salad bar.

By the way, we do feed birds :-)

I do not think that my hawk travel's too far out of College Park . I took some picture of the same hawk several years ago. We used to have chipmunks and rabbits and I think that the hawks have cleaned the area out. They do not go after squirrels unless they are raiding the squirrel's nest . We have a neighbor who feed the squirrels so they are heavy little critters and the hawk would have a hard time lifting them up. I watch one once who dropped his squirrel because he could barely get off the ground. One of my friend told me that they had a wild turkey in the front yard.... probably coming from USDA. So long as we do not have any deers I am fine . The deers would have a smogasborg in my yard with all the hosta's . One of the cat tried to get a closer look at the hawk and the hawk started to stretch his wings out the cat almost did a back flip he got scared , comical to see. Enough about the hawk. yesterday we had some house finch in the yard and some of the red wing black birds..
Spring is near.
Donnerville : at the price of salad you should start charging the ground hog.

My Goldfinches are pigging out.
Filled the tube feeder with thistle seed--all the way to the top.
In two days--3" of it was gone.

I can also see the males are starting to turn more gold--slowly but surely.

Rain, rain, go away---come again another day!

Gita

Marvinemo and orchidfancy..... Great hawk pics!

so donnerville since you feed the chippies do they stay out of your gardens?

When I had my bird farm in Cream Ridge, NJ I had a flock of wild turkeys that would come visit twice a day. One day one came over the dog fence and got in the yard. Here are some shots, not sure how good they are, but it shows some of them feeding. They had a schedule for their visits and you could almost set the clock by them. It was really funny how the male and females would interact during feeding. Enjoy.

The first picture is not at all good. Sorry. You can not see them and I can not delete the picture. At least you can see it snowed that year. LOL

This message was edited Feb 27, 2013 10:30 AM

Jen, chipmunks live in my garden. Hmmmm..., they don't eat plants, do they?

JB, thank you for sharing the photos. I have never seen a turkey outside Thanksgiving dinners ;-o. It is interesting how they spread the tail feathers like fans, just like what we see in pictures :-).

Donner-- I think chipmunks do damage plants, because they burrow in the soil.

Chipmunks cause damage in gardens and lawns by digging for seeds and acorns, digging up bulbs, destroying flowers, burrowing small tunnels into your lawn or undermining the structure of sidewalks, walls, patios, steps and foundations

Must stop feeding them. They are sooooo cute :-)

orchidfancy, love that shot where he's looking right at you


We had wild turkeys in our yard, dog chased them away. Always see them crossing the road around the corner from me, only once did I see the male showing off, he was HUGE!

What great pics of those Turkeys. Yeah I know you don't really want them in the yard but how much fun that must have been.

Okay Marvinemo and Orchid Fancy do you know what kind of hawks are in the photos you have posted? I'm going to guess that Ruler of the West Deck is a Redtailed and Orchid, yours looks like a Redshouldered? How big are they?

Three hawks circling low just before yesterday's rains.

Have any of you seen the PBS special "My Life As A Turkey"? IMHO really worth a view.

Our pair of Pilated Woodpeckers have been here so much I should check the nest box Jamie built and hung for us in the tree line. Maybe they have taken up residence. That would be so cool. Ric

That would be cool!!!

Driving with the grandies and DIL last Monday to my niece's house we saw 2 hawks flying. The 8yr old was very excited. We also saw a herd of deer in said niece's yard and the grandies were thrilled, while the kids who lived there were not even aware. Guess they see them all the time so get acclimated to their presence. LOL. All a matter of perspective.

JB--

You can always delete A picture you added to a post. That's what that big, red "X" is on the picture for.

Now you gonna hate yourself--because it is SO obvious. Gita

We spotted a juvenile hawk near our deck yesterday, no pics yet. We have not identified either hawk get.

A bald eagle passed over today. Magnificent. I cannot find the nest, which should be easy as they can weigh 2 tons!

Best to look for that nest now before the trees leaf out,,,,on second thought, if there is a breeding pair, one of them will be in the nest with newly or about to hatch chicks so this is not a good time to traipse through their home turf. And sallyg can verify that the nest is not easy to spot even if you are standing right under it!!

Gita, When I noticed it was the wrong picture, it was already printed on the post and then I went to edit it and there is no place to remove a picture and the red x is gone. That was when I realized you can not edit pictures once it is already posted. At least my red x's were gone and I tried to just delete it and nothing would happen. Then the only thing at the bottom was preview. Try it and see if it works. I am not dreaming here. I hope. LOL JB

You are correct--JB. Once a picture is posted--it is there.
Also--when you "preview" your post--it only shows the written part.

G.

Thank God it is not just ME.

Please issue a passport to all chipmunks to come to our house. We love them, and have a few. They will need antiaircraft gear to defend against HRM Hawk II. We have many mini caves and other cover!!!

If I could I'd pack them up myself and drive them over.

Marvinemo - I must have your hawk's brother at my house. After all, I live in New Baltimore, and work in Fairfax...anyhoo, I went into the kitchen last Wednesday morning (I was OFF and spent the whole day pruning and spraying and buying trees on the special from Meadows Farms), and thought that I had a doggone OWL sittin' on a corner fence post. Turns out, it was "our hawk." We have found that there is a mated pair, and they don't mess with lil ole Chickadees...they watch for the doves and squirrels. Fine with us.
My species crocus are blooming away, big fat red buds are coming out of my roses and trees, and along with my emerging tulips are the tell tale deer tracks. Sprayed the tulips with my Neem Oil mixture and I'm going to look at the tulips today to see if the deer think Neem Oil is as nasty as I do! LOL!
Oh, to have a Bald Eagle nearby...wow. What a dream. I'm waiting to see "Fred and Ethel" emerge from their hole to start slithering over my garden on patrol for varmints...they are black snakes. I am wanting that warm weather so badly...

A couple of years ago Jamie made me a Woodpecker nest box. It is high up in a tree at the edge of the pasture. The two Pileateds that have been at our feeders daily have made us wonder if they might be using the box. We will have to watch it and see.

Birds prefer fresh suet: Last year at end of winter, I took a partial suet block out of the holder and stuck it in a crotch of the crabapple tree. I found it recently. It had some fresh peck marks, so I hung it next to a fresh suet block, about the same size and shape. THey look the same to me but for two weeks I have only seen birds on the fresh one and not seen any on the old one.

Fred and Ethel my be related "the Lone Ranger" who has made a home under our front porch! Our neighbor gets uo at dawn and sees him everyday....apparently he is very looonnnnngggggg. I have not seen him, only a six foot long, newly shed skin.