Twitchy Birder Blog

[Natrushka]

Hey Crowsie.

Whenever I see your blog in the list of topics I think of the downy woodpeckers that frequent my backyard.

You mom and my dad sound alike in their love of garage sales. We used to tease him mercilessly about it - still do, actually. Does your mom say things like "If you don't watch out for your stuff someone else will" ?

[rivercrow]

Originally Posted by Natrushka

Hey Crowsie.

Whenever I see your blog in the list of topics I think of the downy woodpeckers that frequent my backyard.

You mom and my dad sound alike in their love of garage sales. We used to tease him mercilessly about it - still do, actually. Does your mom say things like "If you don't watch out for your stuff someone else will" ?

We have downies! Hairies too! Hm--flickers, red-bellied & red-headed woodpeckers, black-headed and brown nuthatches, titmice, Carolina chickadees, brown creepers, Eastern bluebirds, cardinals, towhees, grackles...

We watched a barred owl hunting bats around the streetlights a few weeks ago.



No--mom never says anything like that. She does abide by the US Supreme Court ruling that anything pu out for garbage is fair game. She came home with a brand new in box carpet cleaner like that once.

[Natrushka]

Oh I'd love to see an owl. I've heard them around. I had an American Bittern in my yard not long ago - amazing.

Have you ever seen a pileated woodpecker? We had two males in our back woods fighting over a female. Like something out of the Matrix, or Star Wars (the original!) I hear them more than I see them these days. I get pretty much the same birds, except ours are black capped chickadeedeedees.

I used to be moritified as a child when my dad would stop by old washers or dryers out by the curb. He'd collect the little pieces inside so that One Day when ours broke down he'd be prepared.

[rivercrow]

Originally Posted by Natrushka

Oh I'd love to see an owl. I've heard them around. I had an American Bittern in my yard not long ago - amazing.

OONK-a-chunk, OONK-a-chunk!

No, no thunder-pumpers here, sadly. We did see loons down on the Outer Banks when we were there a few years ago in late winter/early spring.

Have you ever seen a pileated woodpecker? We had two males in our back woods fighting over a female. Like something out of the Matrix, or Star Wars (the original!) I hear them more than I see them these days. I get pretty much the same birds, except ours are black capped chickadeedeedees.

When I was a kid, a family of pileates nested in a stump in our neighborhood. They were only about 10 feet off the ground and 20 feet from the street. I'd sit on the curb and watch them feeding their babies. When the parents were gone, all the babies would peer out at me.

Last year, we had wrens in the bluebird box in the front yard. I almost got darted by a parent when I was craning to see in the box. The bluebird box in back has been inhabited by families of titmice for 12 years now.

I used to be moritified as a child when my dad would stop by old washers or dryers out by the curb. He'd collect the little pieces inside so that One Day when ours broke down he'd be prepared.

Yeah--I got over that.

Oh, I'll raise you one. When we were stationed at Dugway Proving Grounds in the early 70s (go look it up), a common base-inhabitant weekend activity was to go to the dump and scavenge. Don't ask me why. When you're that age, you just go along with your parents. I don't recall any icky refuse or odors and my parents assure me that, although it was a dump, it wasn't a garbage pit. Very strange.

My sister and brother swear we collected and ate k-rations from this dump. My parents say we didn't. Who knows? Every year, my parents and I consider setting Thanksgiving table with MREs instead of turkey.

[rivercrow]

Owls:
When I was about 12, I was riding my bike around the neighborhood after dark one winter.

I got buzzed by a barn owl. It missed me by 5 feet.

You don't hear owls fly. Just this WHOOSH of a big white flapping thing.

I think this must have been near the summer when I picked up five or so luna moths at a time and had them on both hands. That was magical. They'd gotten dizzy from chasing a streetlight.


Nighthawks:
I must have been about 23/24 when we were walking the YMCA track and had nighthawks swoop around us as we passed under a street light.

[Ivy]

I hit some kind of big bird with my windshield while driving a week or two ago. I don't know what it was-- I just remember a flash of white and a THUMP. I stopped and looked for it but I didn't see anything on the ground. I hope maybe it rolled and flew away.

[rivercrow]

More on owls: I've heard and seen barreds in our back yard, including a mated pair.

I've heard great horneds in the neighborhood.

We've been getting dead squirrel carcasses in the back yard for a while. No noticeable paint, no up-chucked fur balls--so I don't think it's a great horned, since that would be big enough for squirrels. Hawk? We have hawks around--sharpies, red tails, red shoulders. So....?

There's a big nest-looking thing in one of our trees--I was hoping it was a crow nest (we've had a lot of crows around lately, too).

[rivercrow]

Originally Posted by Ivy

I hit some kind of big bird with my windshield while driving a week or two ago. I don't know what it was-- I just remember a flash of white and a THUMP. I stopped and looked for it but I didn't see anything on the ground. I hope maybe it rolled and flew away.

Hard to say.

Mom was highly superstitious about hitting birds with cars. I'm not. I've seen too many mockingbirds chase robins into cars and into traffic.

It's pretty common for larger birds of prey to get hit by cars. They eat the carrion on the side of the road and end up taking off/landing right in the path of oncoming traffic.

[Natrushka]

Originally Posted by rivercrow

Oh, I'll raise you one. When we were stationed at Dugway Proving Grounds in the early 70s (go look it up), a common base-inhabitant weekend activity was to go to the dump and scavenge. Don't ask me why. When you're that age, you just go along with your parents. I don't recall any icky refuse or odors and my parents assure me that, although it was a dump, it wasn't a garbage pit. Very strange.

My sister and brother swear we collected and ate k-rations from this dump. My parents say we didn't. Who knows? Every year, my parents and I consider setting Thanksgiving table with MREs instead of turkey.

Ick, I'd never head of Dugway Proving Grounds until just now. Ouch. I fold. I've only lived on Air Force Bases!

[Natrushka]

Originally Posted by Ivy

I hit some kind of big bird with my windshield while driving a week or two ago. I don't know what it was-- I just remember a flash of white and a THUMP. I stopped and looked for it but I didn't see anything on the ground. I hope maybe it rolled and flew away.

Oh, I know how disconcerting that is, Ivy. It happened to me yesterday. First time ever; it was an eventuallity, we've moved to the country and I commute 30 minutes each way every day on a major highway. I hit a crow, or a grackle. It was black, it hit and thumped and flew up over the car. <sigh> I looked for its body today and didn't find it. Usually the other birds leave birds alone... but I am sure it did not survive. I was going 115 km/hr