Birds

[Deranged Nasat]

Beautiful pictures, Lumi. That's quite a striking collection of birds.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Oops, forgot to answer this - helfino if the wild turkeys are meaty. Closest I've come to hunting them is almost hitting one with my car several years ago. They are huge but truly oblivious, so you can be driving along Rte. 128 (which is Interstate 95 in spots) and they'll just be ambling along as if they had all the time in the world, and ignore your honking (probably thinking you're some odd-looking goose).

I imagine hitting the goose would've totalled my car - and it would've been very possible if the road had been slick. In person, they'll chase you, and they will even chase large dogs (e. g. neighborhood pit bulls). Wacky, stupid avians.

Once, going north into Wisconsin, I was doing about 85 in my Monte Carlo. A pheasant flew down on my side of the concrete barrier and ran out in front of me.

I did a serious number on that bird, only a carcass left, but he did cause my exhaust pipe to come a little loose from the mount.

 

[Lumi]

Beautiful pictures, Lumi. That's quite a striking collection of birds.

Thanks. Hope to get better/more pictures this year.

 

[TrickyDickie]

Great pictures, Lumi!

I have to get a plug in here for my favorite bird: the yellow-bellied sapsucker. These guys are hilarious. They will hammer away on all kinds of metal items. I've watched/listened to them hammer on road signs, the metal housings of sports stadium lights, etc.

 

[Miss Chicken]

yes, wonderful photos, Lumi and I really like your sapsucker, TrickyDickie.

Big gulls! At least they look massive.

This (not very good photo) shows their size compared to Silver Gulls

New Holland Honeyeater

 

[Lumi]

Wow! We definitely don't have gulls that big in this area. Then again, all we have are lakes. Also, love the honeyeater pic. A gorgeous bird.

Sapsuckers... I love them, too! I have a few pictures I took of one somewhere... probably won't be finding it tonight. Way too many bird pics to go through. I always get excited when I see them, and follow them around as they feed on sap. They're such clever little birds.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Some galahs that frequent a nearby park

 

[Mark de Vries]

Great photos, Lumi!

Here are some I shot this winter:

A blue tit happy with some extra food:

A great spotted woodpecker, which I was very lucky to photograph like this. He was very frantic and fast:

Gulls braving the cold wind on the canal:

A rare visitor in winter, a common merganser:

At the first hint of warm weather, a pair of grebes started making a nest:

 

[Lumi]

Love the pics, Mark. I've always wanted to see a blue tit. They're such pretty little creatures. And that woodpecker is gorgeous. Always interesting to see pics of birds from around the world.

 

[jespah]

Beautiful pics!

 

[Miss Chicken]

Great photos, Mark de Vries.

Photos of Little Pied Cormorants

 

[Gaseous Anomaly]

For the last couple months my wife had me watching Wilma and Fred (a pair of Canadian Geese) mate, lay eggs, hatch and fledge the nest. Now I'm kind of missing the site on USTREAM, it's still up but the geese are not in camera view for the most part. I must say it was quite interesting.

Here are some screen caps.

 

[J.T.B.]

Great pictures in this thread. I like birdwatching, but I am not much at bird photographing. Last year I built a birdhouse for some black-capped chickadees and what do you know, they moved in. The photos aren't great because I had to remote-control the camera, otherwise they wouldn't come near.

 

[Lumi]

Great! I love chickadees, but they won't nest near my house. Not enough trees I guess.

I've had tree swallows nest in my box, but for the last couple of years a house sparrow has taken it over. The sparrows have also evicted robins, and cedar waxwings in the front tree. Pests.

 

[TrickyDickie]

I have to get a digital camera sometime when I can afford it. I googled for the sapsucker image so everyone could see what they look like.

Here is another favorite of mine, the pileated woodpecker. My wife and I have had the good fortune to see them all over in our travels, in New York State, Alabama, and Oregon. They are almost as big as crows and they have a very loud and distinctive call:

 

[Lumi]

I haven't seen a pileated woodpecker since I was a child, at Rondeau. I've always loved them. I think they're the largest one we've got now in North America? Unless there really are ivory-billed woodies left, but I'm not too sure about that....

 

[Miss Chicken]

Tasmanian Native Hens - which is a large, flightless rail. They can run very fast and are really good swimmers. These ones were in my mother's front yard.

They are usually found in groups of 2-5 adult birds accompanied by the young from the previous year. Usually only one of the adults is a female who mates with all the adult males.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

^ Interesting - they're members of the same genus as common moorhens, which are widespread in many places (including my parts) but totally absent from Australia and New Zealand. Your species seems to have a less flashy beak. I hadn't seen pictures before.

 

[Finn]

^ I'm guessing it is because those native hens won't let them live over there....

You Aussies sure seem to have a lot of interesting looking birds.

As for Pileated Woodpecker, I used to see them all the time at my parents in-law's weekend home in the Shenandoah Mountains. Baton Rouge is well within their native range but I haven't seen any since I moved down here.

 

[Miss Chicken]

The Dusky Moorhen is quite common on Mainland Australia but rare in Tasmania (probably due to competition with the larger Tasmanian Native Hen). I took the following photo of a Dusky Moorhen while visiting my sister in South Australia.