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Saw a pileated woodpecker this afternoon on my way in to work.  Was making the hike from the parking lot to the office when I heard a loud THUNK THUNK THUNK, like someone hitting something with a wooden mallet. Looked around for the sound and it was a pileated high up on a pine tree wailing away. No mistaking a crow-sized woodpecker with a red crest for anything else, and wish I had my camera on me.
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Jun 23, 2015 20:39
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Crossposting from PYF, a mama frogmouth and chick.    
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Jul 8, 2015 23:54
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Tendai posted:I'm still not convinced that frogmouths aren't some elaborate, beyond-the-grave hoax of Jim Henson. They're such ridiculous-looking muppet birds. Where are they from, anyway? I'd never heard of frogmouths before seeing that post, but they look very similar to the whipoorwills we have here in the eastern US.
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Jul 9, 2015 00:50
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Ah. Here's our eastern US version, the whipoorwill: WHIPOORWILL 4283 on FlickrAmazing singers, incredibly frustrating to actually find and see.
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Jul 9, 2015 05:02
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BeastOfExmoor posted:^ I had Chuck-Will's-Widows singing outside my tent in Bentson-Rio Grande SP in south Texas this year. Never got a look though We have whipoorwills year-round in Florida, they're lovely to listen to. Though I think "Chuck-Wills-Widow" might be the strangest bird name I've ever heard (yes, I know they're named for their song).
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Jul 9, 2015 05:11
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Nightjars are pretty much my favorite family of birds.
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Tendai posted:In other news, there is some kind of just exceedingly dramatic Brewer's Blackbird love triangle taking place out on my driveway today. One male trying to impress two females, both of whom looked vaguely disinterested and kept looking for food. They sound like the aliens from Mars Attacks More fun than the birds around my apartment complex have been having.  Watched a hawk grab at least one fuzzy duckling as its mother was leading them across the road while I was heading out to my car. Mama duck with a train of yellow fluffballs behind her walking across the road, then hawk swoops down and grabs at least one. Didn't look like it even landed.A shame. It's a hawk family that's been preying on birds around the apartment complex for a while and I cheer every time I see evidence of a dead grackle.
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Jul 20, 2015 03:37
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Lots of birds fit that description. Not familiar with your area, but it sounds like some type of swallow or nighthawk. They're usually most active around dusk and eat bugs.
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Jul 28, 2015 17:14
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BetterLekNextTime posted:I have bad news for you cowbirds often remove one of the host eggs when they lay one of their own There was a guy in the bird threat in the photo forum talking about how he once caught a great horned owl raiding a robin nest to feed the robin chicks to the owl's chicks.
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Jun 15, 2016 00:53
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ExecuDork posted:Get a feeder. It's cheap entertainment. I have one in Florida. It's 50% squirrels, 20% cardinals, 20% blue jays, 9% woodpeckers, 1% titmice. Until the grackles discover it at which point my yard gets covered in grackles until I take the feeder down for a few months.
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Jul 27, 2016 17:23
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YggiDee posted:I know squirrel repellent feeders can be hit-or-miss but if you get the kind that spins them off you'll double your entertainment. There's also ones that prevent birds over a certain size from having feeder access, but I don't know how invested you actually are in bird feeders. What kind of seed are you using? Generic wild bird seed from walmart. The squirrels never seem to be able to actually get at the bird food, but they know it's there and will spend lots of time trying to access the feeder. The blue jays and woodpeckers are also very messy eaters and scatter lots of food onto the ground, which the squirrels seize on. I like the blue jays, mind, but the squirrels I could do with less of.
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Jul 27, 2016 18:10
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Noted, but to be fair I live in Florida. In the five years I've had this feeder here's a sum total of all the birds I've seen visit the feeder: Mourning Dove Collared Dove Blue Jay Northern Cardinal Tufted Titmouse Downy Woodpecker Red-Bellied Woodpecker Common Grackle Boat-Tailed Grackle There are wrens and thrashers and mockingbirds and crows and bobwhites and pileated woodpeckers around in the neighborhood, but they've never expressed any interest in the feeder. Think I will check into adjusting the bird seed, though, I adore the titmice but they're very skittish and the only birds they will visit the feeder with are the cardinals and downy woodpeckers.
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Jul 27, 2016 19:29
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YggiDee posted:Also it can take a while for birds to figure out that you have food, some will pass by at the start of the season and if you didn't have anything, they won't check back until next year. This is why I occasionally have to take the feeder down for a few months. I don't mind one or two common grackles, they're rather pretty, but once they figure out I have food I routinely see my yard covered in twenty or thirty of the bastards. Ditto for the boat-tails, though I've stopped seeing them much in general in the last couple of years. quote:Hmm, I know orioles like fruit and nectar (with apparently a preference for oranges?) but their bills don't fit in most hummingbird feeders. Cedar waxwings also like fruit and blossoms, I once saw an entire flock mob and strip an apple tree. Pileated woodpeckers are HUGE and shy, I don't know if they'll go for a suet feeder, you might have to give them a whole dead tree. Oh, I'm not trying to attract the other neighborhood birds to my feeder. I just like birds and notice the birds I see in my (shady and borderline overgrown) yard and those I see around the neighborhood when I go jogging. The carolina wrens have figured out that bugs are attracted to windows with lights in them in the evening and will sometimes camp out on the windowsill waiting for bugs.quote:Actually that might be a factor, I don't know what seasons birds are active in down in Florida, like right now I'm pretty sure half your birds are up north with me right now. If I ever manage to dig up my bird book again I'll get back to you on that one. The only seasonal birds I've noticed around here are gray catbirds and various indeterminate species of warblers. The arrival of the catbirds and hearing them calling in the bushes is as sure a sign of fall down here as the human snowbirds. The titmice are adorable and fun to watch, but they're the most skittish bird in my area except maybe the downy woodpeckers.
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Jul 27, 2016 20:30
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From PYF.
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Jul 31, 2016 16:20
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WrenP-Complete posted:Welcome to birding! I'm in DC and the cardinals come eat out of my land here. I'm in Florida. Titmice visit my windowsill regularly. There's no food or anything, I just periodically have a small, hyperactive grey bird getting very confused about the existence of a window. Cardinals and wrens also occasionally do it.
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Oct 29, 2016 21:02
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bean_shadow posted:The possible Red-Bellied Woodpecker I named "Norm". There are so many birds at the feeder I've started naming some of the frequent patrons after characters from Cheers. I've named this bird Norm because he's there all the time. That's definitely a red-bellied. I see them all the time at my feeder, they're obnoxious little assholes.
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Jan 13, 2017 00:52
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Might as well do the same, the birds I've seen at my feeder. I'm in Port St. Lucie, Florida: * Blue Jay * Northern Cardinal * House Sparrow * Mourning Dove * Common Grackle * Boat-tailed Grackle * Downy Woodpecker * Red-bellied Woodpecker * Northern Flicker * Brown Thrasher * Redwing Blackbird * Tufted Titmouse * Bobwhite * Barred Owl (hunting squirrels and rabbits) The doves, jays, cardinals, and red-bellied woodpeckers are my most common visitors and I see them every day. The sparrows, common crackles, thrashers, blackbirds, and titmice are also common. The flicker and bobwhite were both one-offs, but I've seen the owl a few times now - doesn't seem to care about the birds, it wants squirrels and rabbits. There's always northern mockingbirds around, since this is Florida and they're everywhere, but as insectivores they don't come to the feeder. Ditto the carolina wrens I see around a lot.
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Jan 15, 2017 01:14
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Had another bobwhite at my feeder today. They're not really feeder birds, but the birds that get on the feeder tend to scatter stuff onto the ground and a bobwhite came by today and ate a bunch. I hope he's careful if he's not passing through, there's a family of barred owls in my area that I regularly see bag squirrels and rabbits.
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Jan 16, 2017 00:45
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ExecuDork posted:Put some work into it you lazy person. Owls are proving an effective squirrel deterrent where I am. It's amazing how much the squirrel population dropped off after I started hearing hooting every night.
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Jan 16, 2017 20:14
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Lutha Mahtin posted:I don't remember seeing very many when I was a kid (MN) but we have loads of cardinals nowadays. I saw a pair last week and a day or two ago I heard one chirping it up outside my bedroom. That very short screechy cheep noise they do is pretty distinctive. They're everywhere in Florida. Cardinals, blue jays, northern mockingbirds, and mourning doves are the traditional backyard birds down here.
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Apr 21, 2017 02:21
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Chard posted:Do people not like mockingbirds? I think they're neat even if they're garbage tier Mockingbirds are loving everywhere in Florida, and I love em. They're fun to listen to, except when they've decided to mimic things like the local marching band.
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Apr 22, 2017 13:30
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Finger Prince posted:Nah man, gulls are cool. They're such characters. The rabbit hole of hybrid/juvenile/1st winter/2nd winter/3rd winter/breeding/subspecies gull identification is so very deep though. And in Florida, they laugh at you.
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May 30, 2017 13:58
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Driving through the middle of Florida is incredibly boring, but the last couple of times I've made the trip I've spotted crested caracaras which are apparently not migrants or just a lost population but have been in south-central Florida since the last ice age. Pretty distinctive birds - only other bird we have that looks like them from a distance are bald eagles, and caracaras have a black cap on top.
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Jul 20, 2017 21:37
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HungryMedusa posted:City turkeys are terrifying. I saw one while driving near Minnehaha falls and slowed to take a photo of it. It charged my car with it's head at my eye level. I leave those bastards alone now. Urban peacocks are just as nasty, I assure you. And they are loud.
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Aug 17, 2017 17:12
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Nice! It's migration time- get out there and look for birds! Can confirm migration. Been hearing grey catbirds around lately, a sure sign of fall in my area along with the hurricanes.
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Sep 6, 2017 14:22
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Saw a migrant in my parents' yard yesterday after the storm. Little wood thrush stopping by to sift through all the downed branches and leaves for food.
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Sep 12, 2017 19:44
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Finger Prince posted:I don't know if those tracks are from a bird. They look more like some subterranean beast like a crab or a clam or whatever clearing out its sand holes. That's assuming they aren't made by some kid's hands! Yeah, Florida native here. There aren't any shore or wading birds that have feet that look like that to my knowledge - they invariably have one toe sticking backwards from the leg.
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Jan 27, 2018 01:31
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No surprises where I am. Mourning doves, northern cardinals, northern mockingbirds, blue jays, tufted titmice, carolina wrens, and this time of year, gray catbirds. Brown thrashers are in the area but not always easy to spot.
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Feb 12, 2018 16:25
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Doesn't have to be your literal backyard- you can count at a park or open space if you want. You can submit counts from multiple areas. Eh, sure, signed up for it and I'll submit reports when that starts this week. Mourning doves, blue jays, northern cardinals, northern mockingbirds, carolina wrens, tufted titmice, brown thrashers, red-bellied woodpeckers, and red-tailed hawks are all my very regular backyard birds. Grey catbirds are seasonal; downy woodpeckers, pileated woodpeckers, northern flickers, common grackles, boat-tailed grackles, american crows, swallow-tailed kites, red-winged blackbirds, and bobwhites are all occasional sights. Plus of course hordes of tiny brownish-yellow birds I've never been able to conclusively identify.
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Feb 12, 2018 17:40
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I submitted my first Great Backyard Bird Count this morning. Eight mourning doves, one ring-necked dove, three blue jays, two northern cardinals, two tufted titmice, a gray catbird (heard, not seen), and a northern mockingbird.
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Feb 19, 2018 02:14
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Sometimes the wildlife comes to you. https://i.imgur.com/cTX8M3N.webm
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Feb 19, 2018 14:35
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https://i.imgur.com/nfXGs9J.mp4
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Mar 13, 2018 23:23
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Saw an unusual bird on my evening walk today, a Great Crested Flycatcher. I'm in Florida right on the border between where they summer and where they live year-round, so dunno if this one's a full time resident I've just never seen before or a new arrival for the summer.
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May 19, 2018 03:44
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Someone on a local birding group said it was likely normal molt. So I guess there's a good chance of some funny looking birds this time of year. I remember my parents getting full-on bald headed cardinals that were just blue skin above the neck. Bald blue jays are a regular sight around this time of year where I am.
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Jun 24, 2018 01:29
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I think a great horned owl is introducing himself to my area tonight. Someone's hooting up a storm, and it sure doesn't sound like our usual barred or screech owls.
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Jul 11, 2018 04:30
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YggiDee posted:Is it a great horned owl, or is it a dude imitating a great horned owl because he thought there was one in the area and is trying to track it down? No clue, but based on what I looked up online about great horned owls it sure sounded like one. We have a couple of barred owls in my area, but their calls are pretty distinctive, and I've seen eastern screech owls several times courtesy of blue jays freaking the gently caress out over one sitting in a tree.
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Jul 11, 2018 13:38
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WrenP-Complete posted:Saw my first nightjar - a common nighthawk! Weird muppet-looking friend. They eat lots of bugs, too, so they're always a welcome sight. ExecuDork posted:We've been talking about this in the bird photos thread in the Dorkroom, but yeah, this is an excellent way to find owls. Watch for corvids (jays, crows, magpies) losing their minds and being noisy obnoxious jerks, centered on a particular tree. I never got a decent photo, but a year or two ago I spent an enjoyable hour following an owl around a small Regional Park (less than 1 square km) in southwestern Ontario, based on a trio of crows that would not leave it alone for a second. My local jays never seem too worried about our barred owls or hawks, but screech owls really seem to drive them nuts. It's a good thing, too. Screech owls are so small and so well camouflaged that it's a real pain to find one of the little guys.
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Jul 11, 2018 17:05
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WrenP-Complete posted:Agreed with Execudork. My crow allies here hate owls and will attack them in groups - seen a barred owl and a great horned owl that way. I've heard that's a common crow behavior. I'm never sure what owls did to them. Well, the main issue is that owls will eat crows and sometimes raid nests to grab and eat the babies. You're seeing crows trying to deter predators.
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Jul 11, 2018 17:50
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To spare the merely curious of clicking that link, great horned owls are well known for targeting bird nests to grab hatchlings and fledglings to feed to the owls' own chicks. Great horned owls are among the most diverse and opportunistic raptors in North America when it comes to feeding - they'll eat drat near anything that moves that they can catch and kill. They're one of the most prolific predators of adult ravens and crows, too, in addition to their nest raids. Basically, if you're smaller than a mid-size dog, great horned owls are silent flying nocturnal Terminators. They'll attack anything up to and including raccoons, porcupines, and adult ravens and hawks. Hell, they'll even eat peacocks in areas where those are established.
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Jul 11, 2018 19:58
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The fall migration has finally hit my neck of the woods. You know it's autumn around these parts when catbirds are mewing from the bushes.
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Oct 29, 2018 23:48
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BeastOfExmoor posted:*Looks at the calendar* Close, Florida.
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Oct 31, 2018 14:35
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