The TJTwitter

[hazelrunpack]

More white-crowned sparrows:

[hazelrunpack]

[hazelrunpack]

Caught this shot close to sunset this evening. I thought it was an interesting angle of a towhee



This mama rose-breasted grosbeak was out in the rain yesterday. I love the peachy wash on her breast. The females have such a subdued subtle coloration to them compared to the flamboyant males.

[hazelrunpack]

There are at least two pairs of hairy woodpeckers displaying at each other in the vicinity of the feeders. Ah, romance is in the air.

[hazelrunpack]

We now have at least two male red-winged blackbirds hanging around. I've only seen one female, though. This is already three more than we usually see around the property. These are two different shots of the same male:





This is our nesting male American redstart. I can always tell when he comes back because I can hear him mimicking other warblers. So I'll hear a Cerulean song then a Parula song both coming from the same location. That's my little redstart buddy.

[hazelrunpack]

All males. So far I haven't seen any females at all

[hazelrunpack]

Finally, some butter-butts (you can see the yellow rump in the first pic). These are females so they're less brightly colored than the males I've posted before.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Beautiful pics, hazel.

Well, apparently all of the birds came to my feeder at once and the seed is already gone. I'm all out so I need to buy some more tomorrow.

Looked out there the other day and there were blue jays, cardinals, sparrows, robins and some eastern blue birds. Haven't had time to get my camera, but I should get some pics this week . I need to build or buy more feeders to hang if they're eating that fast.
And I was right about the height making them more comfortable. They were fine with being out there with me and the dogs as long as I sat still.

Oh and I saw one of these guys on a tree next door the other day. Took me AWHILE To identify it because I'd never seen one before. I heard this weird call, looked over, and it was sitting on a branch.
I ended up using this website to figure it out. Great resource. You can search by calls, physical features, region spotted, habitat, how often it comes to your feeder, and other options. It makes it really easy to narrow down, especially if you have a photo (which I didn't, that's why it took so long ). Not sure if anyone has posted it before, but I figured I'd put it out there for people to use.

[growler~GateKeeper]

Can I play in here too? I've got pics

On wed I spent the day (all day ~ 7.5 hours & got a bad sunburn ) walking around Stanley Park enjoyed myself & took a bunch of pics, thought I'd share my birds with you guys:

Canada Geese searching for food


Snoozing Pair of Ducks I was standing only about 1 foot away - they were watching but didn't move. The ducks in Stanley Park are so used to people you can walk right past them while asleep or awake, even as close as a foot away, on a path and they will not move


Swan in the lake with a Canada Goose, when the goose got too close the swan would chase her/him off a bit but s/he wouldn't go far

[growler~GateKeeper]

I was trying to get a good pic of one of the other swans who was on land beside me but s/he was too busy cleaning to pose pretty, so instead I snapped this young seagull's pic, s/he was talking to me trying to tell me s/he was ready for her/his close up


This crow was also quite willing to pose nicely about 3 feet from me


This little fuzzy ones parents (not the pair from above post) were in the water keeping an eye on her/him, mama duck did swim by & encourage her/him to go into the water just after I got this one, neither parent seemed concern there were people snapping pics two feet away from baby

[growler~GateKeeper]

A little ways down the trail & the Red Winged Blackbird snagged some lunch


This heron was also graciously posing for some tourists to take pics before s/he flew off down the lake, unfortunately I didn't get an in-flight shot


Thought this was an interesting spot for a goose nest, maybe s/he was just resting, way way up high on a dead tree with no foliage left

[hazelrunpack]

Great pics, growler!

I notice that although the ducks didn't move, the Mama, at least, has her eye on you! "Come closer, human, and I'll bite your ankles!"

Love the swan and the heron, and that's a great pic of a crow! Black birds are as difficult to photograph as black dogs! The gull is pretty cool,too!

Woke up this morning and realized we'd had a bit of a set-back, but I'm not sure how hard it's going to impact us, yet. The in-laws' feeders were raided by a bear last night. Just to make sure we knew who the culprit was, the brazen bruin left us a pile of s....


...scat.

Normally, the bears leave the feeders on our property alone--they're close to the fence and the bears seem to associate the fence with the dogs and avoid it. Just to make sure the bear thinks twice before entering Setter Territory, the Pack peed along the fence near the feeders on the last patrol of the evening, so we'll see what the morning brings.

If our feeders are raided, too, I'll have to bring them in every evening...provided we have any still in one piece... The in-laws' feeders now look like this:



Notice the scratch marks along the edge in the dark seed chaff.




Not sure why the bear was so interested in the feeders because they were all just about empty. It even took out the thistle feeder back by the in-laws' wood shed--odd because it didn't eat any of the thistle, it just spilled it out on the ground as it destroyed the feeder.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Maybe it was an angry bear and it didn't want the feeders there?

Bears are strange creatures. I'd assume they might destroy things just to do it. Or maybe it was trying to mark them and did it on accident?

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Or maybe it was looking for something good and when it didn't find it it was like "Screw these feeders!" and destroyed them all. If I was a bear I might do that .

[hazelrunpack]

The in-laws normally are visited by a bear once each year. But they've never done that kind of damage before Usually they just push the feeder pole over and help themselves to the seed. I'm beginning to think that was its intent, but when it was thwarted by the empty feeders, it lost its temper I hope it doesn't come for mine, now!

Congrats on the birds finally finding your feeder, btw! Sounds like it was a big hit

And what a thrill to see a horned lark in your neighborhood! Do you live in farm country? I only ever see them out in the farm fields in spring as they're migrating north and can never get a good look at them.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

I live in town, but there are a lot of farms around us. The whole surrounding area is farmland and national forest. We have a lot of birds here. I haven't seen one of these, and I don't know how common they are right in town. Might have just been passing through. Whatever it was doing it was sitting there making some pretty neat calls for a few minutes.

[hazelrunpack]

I don't think I've ever heard their song... Usually it's so cold out when I see them along the road that I have the car windows closed.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/691...rned_Lark.aspx

You can listen to the call on that page. They have a distinctive one. They also have some calls that are similar but not the same. The one I heard wasn't exactly like the one they have on there.

[hazelrunpack]

I've got tapes of bird songs...but in all the years I've been watching them, I've never heard a horned lark in person. I'll have to get brave next winter and crack a window

So what else is passing through Missouri this time of year?

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Originally Posted by hazelrunpack

I've got tapes of bird songs...but in all the years I've been watching them, I've never heard a horned lark in person. I'll have to get brave next winter and crack a window

So what else is passing through Missouri this time of year?

Not sure. I'll have to see about southeast Missouri because we have some different stuff than other parts.

Well for one, there might be some pelicans over at the national wildlife refuge right now. The white ones come through here in the spring and summer. I need a boat so I can get closer and take some pics. That or a telescopic lens I guess.
There's some egrets over there too and several types of ducks.

As for smaller birds, not sure about the migratory ones. We have a ton of different types of birds in this county and the surrounding ones.
I saw a roadrunner on my fence once, but they're not supposed to be in this part of missouri, so not sure where he came from .

Here's a list of birds for my county and the 2 closest ones.
http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/applications/...s_search1.aspx

It's A LOT of birds.

[MyBirdIsEvil]

Hmmm, I realized now it took me to the search page when I clicked the link.

You have to click birds and pick Butler (my county). And Stoddard is where mingo national wildlife refuge is. Carter is right outside of town.

You can find any species of animal that's in Missouri on that search engine.

[hazelrunpack]

That's a pretty cool site, MBIE! Lots of birds there, too.

[hazelrunpack]

Purple finches:


Downy woodpeckers and rose-breasted grosbeaks:


Notice how ticked off the downy woodpecker looks :

[hazelrunpack]

The rose-breasted grosbeaks got a little hoggy at times...


...but on occasion other birds were able to catch a snack, like this black-capped chickadee


...and hairy woodpecker.

[hazelrunpack]

The red-winged blackbird was pretty entertaining, too!

[hazelrunpack]

The mourning doves cleaned up underneath.

[hazelrunpack]

[hazelrunpack]

The trees were lively, too.

I came down the drive, caught a movement out of the corner of my eye, and managed to catch this lucky shot of a ruby-crowned kinglet. I stalked kinglets for about 4 hours one day a week or so ago and never managed to get a good shot. This one, unplanned and on reflex, is much better. Moral of the story is: Don't try so hard.


This yellow warbler was high up in one of the birch trees at sunset. There was just enough light to catch the image, but it was at about the maximum distance for my lens, so the images are slightly soft.

[hazelrunpack]

I remember seeing a joke bird identification book that had the Silhouette Warbler listed--there really isn't one. It's just that often, all you see of these birds is their silhouette. Still, they make sort of interesting images...







These are all yellow-rumped warblers, but I know that mainly because I was standing right next to them.

[hazelrunpack]

But sometimes, you get lucky and the birds pose for you in adequate light. These are the same birds from the previous post, but slightly earlier (so more light).