DAILY PICS VOL. 24

Thats a definite possibilty!

When I first saw it I thought Red shouldered but I don't think their even in your state.

That must have been exciting sybil; good thing you had camera w/ you!

We have a Harlan's Hawk that flies around here but he is not that big. The white beak makes me wonder if it's: Red-tailed Hawk, rufous/dark morph, juvenile - something I found on the web, but colors aren't right. Not that I am the expert.

I didn't have my camera. I went on into the shop and thought about going back to the house to get it. It's raining outside today so I hesitated. Then I thought, "If it's an owl, it will be resting there for awhile," so I went back to the house and grabbed the camera. It was in the woods on the other side of our deer fence and I didn't go to the trouble of getting a closer shot. I would have if my @#%@ camera would take a decent shot!

Anyway, all you experts out there - what the heck is that?

Maybe this shot can give you some sense of the size of the bird.

This message was edited Oct 18, 2007 12:54 PM

I think maybe it is a Red Shouldered - http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Red-shouldered_Hawk_dtl.html#map

Very busy here today!!

Mystery birds . . .

Wallaby #1 (post #4095294) – I'd say female House Sparrow
Wallaby #2 (post #4095326) – impossible to tell!

Original_sybil (post #4097379) – Red-shouldered Hawk

Resin

pigeons by the pool

Thanks for the confirmation Resin. Very exciting - haven't seen one before. The size is what threw me.

I imagine it will be back. I have created such a busy feeding station for the other birds, no self-respecting hawk would ignore such easy pickin's.

very nice debilu!!!

What a sweet pic!

Red-shouldered are spreading in a northern direction. I read that after I I saw one here......where it supposedly shouldn't be. While it's always exciting to see a "new" bird, I think it's more so when you discover one out of it's known/usual range. Congrats sybil!

tiger - a little disconcerting as well I feel. Two winters ago we had hundreds of owls come into our area from Canada - something to do with food, not climate. This feels like a climate thing. Maybe not?

Oh, I love that idea Resin! Thanks for thinking!

Need ID

He/she was having a great time bathing in the mud puddle. It's about the size of a sparrow

Might be a Lark Sparrow.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Lark_Sparrow.html

My guess would be that or a Fox Sparrow.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Fox_Sparrow.html

This message was edited Oct 18, 2007 7:11 PM

Fox Sparrow for me.

Resin

Looked up Fox Sparrow and I agree.

Very good!

So how many are on the list now adel?

Interesting birds!

What a great find Sybil, the Red-shouldered Hawk!

Cutie Pidgeons debilu!

adelbert, another guilty bird in the water, lol, your cat must be a good bed guard!

I got some today of a Wren hopping around (again in the neighbour's on the fence), it was pecking around under some old fence boards then had a dance on the top of the fence. Too much glare to get good pics but they fixed up fairly well.

Reaching high....

On those toes......

Bottoms up.......

This is fun...

In between of course Mr Robin had to make an appearance, he flew over to 'my' side of the fence, a little further up through the bushes.

Another small bird turned up, I think a male Dunnock, not the one I recognise which is probably the female.

It's much paler on the breast,

A Great Tit, looks like it got somthing to eat.

Blackbird feasting on rotting apples.

This bird turned up in the same spot as yesterday, looks the same, it still didn't look like a Sparrow but I think you are right Resin, I had to lighten it as was against the sun.

Another two arrived, looks like mother, father and junior.

Of course along came Mr Robin again to proclaim his territory!

There was a thin crust of ice on most of the water, at Potters Marsh today. This pair of Trumpeter Swans with one cygnet had kept a small area of water open, around where they were napping.

The other day Linthicum asked about predators on the cygnets. I have been puzzling over how to answer the question. I seldom see a pair with more then three cygnets. A normal clutch of eggs is 4 to 6. Obviously they are loosing cygnets to something, but I don't know what it is. Too cold for turtles here. Most of the nesting area is out of the areas occupied by Northern Pike, a large fish. (Pike do feed on ducklings.) Since the Trumpeter Swans are primarily aquatic, they are out of reach for most terrestrial predators. Wolverine are the only mammals which might be a predator, but they aren't very common. There are a few Jaegers in part of the nesting area, but not common. The only predator I can think of, would be Eagles.

Gary

wallaby - your pics have such character - or, you take great pics of characters!

Thanks Sybil! I think the characters are the birds, which I have captured! Even the 'junior' sparrow looks to have a juvenile character! lol.

Very nice wallaby!!! Love them all! You were busy again!

Nice pic Gary!

pelle.........the count as of now is 102.

Outstanding adel !!!

Gosh, turn my back for a while and there's an avalanche! Great pics, everyone.

adelbertcat, we are in a little town called Bonsall - just east of Oceanside about halfway between the 5 and 15 freeways, if you're familiar with the area. We're in a river valley on 1.25 acres. We get coyotes, possum, raccoons, etc. We usually don't see them, but occasionally (like the dead coyote that ended up in our pond) they are visible. Mostly we hear them or see the evidence. The coyotes are certainly active. We have seen what we thought might be deer prints - but only once or twice a couple of years ago.

I was curious. During WWII we lived in L.A, and had friends in Poway, at that time it was wide open country. I went back in 76 and couldn't believe the difference. My neice lives in Oceanside.