Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2
#153978 01/16/06 07:52 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
I'm a beginning birder, and am very excited about sightings of the ivory-bill woodpecker in Arkansas and a pair of pileated woodpeckers in my own back yard. Recently on NPR I heard of a sighting of an owl I hadn't known of before, the northern hawk owl, right near here. According to local news reports, several dozen people went out yesterday and photographed him/her, but so far I haven't found any local pictures. Apparently this bird up to now has only been seen in upper Canada and Alaska. Maybe global warming isn't as bad as we thought? What are your thoughts?

#153979 01/16/06 07:59 PM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
B
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
I found this on a website ASp...

Largely nomadic, northern hawk owls move across their range in response to prey availability and climatic conditions. When the weather is severe and prey availability is low, northern hawk owls may move southward towards the more temperate latitudes of Alaska, Canada and the northern continental United States. These southern movements are referred to as "irruptions" and may span thousands of miles.


So your town has been the fortunate victim of an irruption.

#153980 01/16/06 10:17 PM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
M
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
M
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Cool! What got you interested in birding, B? Hope you get a sight of this exotic visitor. I am in the delighted stage of blsissful ignorance of the complete dabbler - I can just about recognise a hawk from a handsaw But I know what a thrill it is when you see a close sight of some majestic creature, in complete mastery of its own element. The re-introduction of Red Kites across Wales over the last 15 or so years has given me endless pleasure.

#153981 01/17/06 12:08 AM
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Z
Zed Offline
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
Z
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
I can just about recognise a hawk from a handsaw
If you see a flying handsaw - DUCK AND COVER!

Get yourself a feeder and birdbath if you possibly can. Even the most common of birds is fascinating to watch when they hang for a bit.

#153982 01/17/06 10:36 AM
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
I haven't seen any Northern Hawk Owls this far south, so I guess it's not too cold up there! This time of year is great for bird sightings in the Caribbean. I love watching the sea eagles and hawks and such when they find a good thermal near my house. I have seen a few birds here that are endemic to my island group, a woodpecker and an ani. We have several kinds of hummingbirds here as well. I really need to get myself a book of Caribbean birds...

#153983 01/17/06 01:36 PM
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 389
enthusiast
Offline
enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 389
I really don’t know what to think about global warming – whether it’s a direct effect of pollution or a natural cyclical type of thing. I’m cartoon-Ostrich like when it comes to these scary potential-extinction-of-the-species things, not that most of us, present company excluded, don't deserve it.

Other members of my family have seen an Ivory-bill and Pileated woodpeckers. This is good news indeed. I don’t keep a life list, but I’ve never seen a Hawk owl. A very cool irruption indeed! What a great combination of hawk-owl looking bird they are. I have seen Snowy owls, Great Horned, Barn owls, Spotted owls and Barred owls. These last are the ones that I hear around my home the most. I very rarely see any owls. When I do it is cause for quiet celebration. There are lots of Red tailed, Red shouldered hawks and Cooper’s hawks around as well as Vultures and a few Peregrines. I’ve never seen one, but there are reliable sightings of Bald eagles nearby. I think I saw a couple of Cuckoos last year, but I can’t be sure, although I had lots of time to view them as they perched way up top of the white pine, 100 feet or more. I use to see lots of Kingfishers from my office window that overlooked a little river, at my former place of employment. There are plenty of sea birds along the Rhode Island shore, which is only about 50 miles away, but I don’t get there much. I should. Quail, Grouse, Turkeys, Hummingbirds (only the red throated) too. Many more… Maybe I should start a life list for my own amusement!
There is an empty, third growth wood behind our home that covers a few hundred acres, so the Barred owls have enough room to stick around. There is also an influx of “city folk” into town who like to build ugly 3000 sq. ft. houses for 2 or 3 people to live in. Many have riding horses, or whatever you call them. I worry about the future of my dear owls and the nasty Fisher cats, the few otters and the rest because of habitat destruction. We can tell when there is new construction within a few miles by the way the creatures of the wood behave and the types and numbers that we see right from our kitchen window. This is a source of sorrow and concern. In Rhode Island there are no real wilderness areas, but the Situate reservoir property is about 3000 acres. That helps.
My two favorite bird times were these. When my oldest son was just a year or two old, my wife was holding him in her arms, looking at the berries of a Haw Lantern. As I came out onto the back porch of the house (circa 1754) that we were renting and was walking toward them, a flock of Cedar waxwings perched on the bush and started devouring the berries, which are poison to us. They were within inches of my dear humans. The moved on after eating about half of the berries, which took only about 2 or 3 minutes. How magical and lovely. A few years before, we were sitting in a friend’s backyard. There was a big old mulberry tree there and it was fully ripe. All afternoon Waxwings, Scarlet tanagers, Baltimore orioles and other less showy birds came to feast. Lovely and magical. It was good that we were not sitting under the tree though. That tree is gone as is the farmhouse next to it, and the apple orchard, and the fields, and the mill/skating pond.
We used to get hoards of pretty, tough looking yellow Grosbeaks making a mess of the seed in the window-mounted feeder in the old house. I don’t see them very often in the little swampy valley where we live now.
Good advice – to watch out for flying hand saws, especially the Swedish Bow.
I’m going to visit my brother in Georgia, near the mouth of the St. Mary River, in March. It’s not the Caribbean, but he tells me that there is great birding there. I’m looking forward to it.

#153984 01/17/06 01:42 PM
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500
E
addict
Offline
addict
E
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500
I found a Northern Hawk Owl hit on the road a few years back - identified it from its plumage when I checked my Peterson's guide. Last winter we had an influx of Great Grey Owls. I was driving down highway 129 and saw a huge bird flapping about in the snow. My first thought was that it was a vulture, but they don't stay over the winter here. Besides, it was the wrong colour. As I drove by it flew up onto a telephone pole. I stopped and went back for a closer look, and saw what it was immediately. Enormous birds!
Later on CBC there were several phoned-in sightings of Great Greys, and the Ministry of Natural Resources asked people to report them to the office. I saw four separate owls that year in just the little area where I drove.
I wouldn't call myself a birder, though I do like to identify what I'm hearing or seeing. The bird feeder's a good idea, as long as it's out of Sam's and Lilith's reach!

#153985 01/17/06 04:14 PM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
M
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
M
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
> The bird feeder's a good idea, as long as it's out of Sam's and Lilith's reach!

Yep, that's my challenge too, plus the depradations of the squirrels. Quite a few times we find a woodpecker hanging improbably from the nut feeder until she spots us - and even the magpies frequently hang on the mesh, to the chattering fury of all the small regualr feeders. One of the year-round entertainments here is the contest between the rooks and the buzzards. The latter's majestic command of thermals is less effective at low altitude when they are raiding around the hedge-tops, and the social smaller birds make up in group efforts and individual bravery what they lack in terrifying claws and beaks - it's like watching a first world war dogfight! Other regular notable encounters are with owls - I hear them most evenings, and have seen them numerous times too, once nearly having a barn-owl fly into me when walking in the field - he was clearly as shocked as I by the near-miss!

#153986 01/18/06 01:45 AM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
B
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
B
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Awwww. I had to take my feeder down. When I moved here, I brought the feeder I had in the city with me and was excited to see a greater variation of birds than I'd ever seen in the city.

Unfortunately, all of a sudden I started finding eviscerated or beheaded birdies strewn around the feeder. The neighbourhood cats had discovered this congregation place.

I was so saddened at the thought that the only thing I was doing was attracting the poor birdies to the slaughterhouse, that I took it down.

#153987 01/18/06 03:00 AM
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Z
Zed Offline
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
Z
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
My feeder was on my city apartment balcony with regular visit by an extended family of sparrows (2 the first winter, then with their 5 chicks the next summer and then 12 the following spring.)that hung around and partied in the birdbath. The black capped chicadees by contrast would dart in for a single seed and take off again. I also got to watch the house wren cocks grow steadily more raspberry colored thru the mating season.
Then the #&^*#*! pigeons showed up and made such a mess the owners made me ditch the feeder.
(don't tell them I still have the birdbath)

Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,912
Posts229,283
Members9,179
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV, Heather_Turey, Standy
9,179 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 442 guests, and 3 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,510
LukeJavan8 9,916
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5