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This is a really cool project (only for US and Canada). The next one is coming up mid-February. http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/
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enthusiast
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Thanks.
I'll be able to do this on that weekend. It will be interesting to see the results, especially compared to last year. A neighbor started feeding birds this season for the first time, and apparently he's got the good stuff, as we see far fewer at our feeders this year. I'll be glad if it's no more than just a backyard decline in numbers.
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Thanks Annastrophic, for the heads up.
I'll be counting in Aladamnbama, why don't we share our observations here on Awad? You know, like kinda give bird time to Animal Safari.
I note with pleasure that Fultondale, Alabama was #8 in the number of reporting sites last year. Fultondale is a small town of less than 3,000.
Maybe last year every swinging Dick, Tom, and Harry, in Fultondale spent President's Day counting birds.
Oh yeah, don't tell Maverick. This project is just for bona fide residents of the US and Canada, and Maverick might want to count too.
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We had our own count underway today, Milo! It's an annual event.
This morning my two nut-feeding dispensers had not only the normal flock of small birds (mostly types of tits) but also no fewer than three big Great Spotted Woodpeckers.
I went out with my camera and crept as close as I dared - they let me get the lens almost on 'em before they flew into the trees, laughing!
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yeah, but did you get any pictures? 
formerly known as etaoin...
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they let me get the lens almost on 'em before they flew into the trees, laughing!
It is clear that Great Spotted Woodpeckers know a great deal more about the mechanics of photography and its timing than is credited to them by most.
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Hey Maverick, ever try to run over blackbirds as they feed on road kill? Don't bother, you can't. Once, back when I was kind, I slowed my pick up to keep from mashing them. The slower I got the longer they stayed at the kill, until finally I came to a dead stop until they finished. The lesson I learned is that birds live in an accelerated time world and obviously view we humans as lumbering creatures who move about through life like giant sloths. Later I read that the neural/muscle response times of birds are twice quicker than those of you cumbersome humans. You dolts. 
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Quote:
It is clear that Great Spotted Woodpeckers know a great deal more about the mechanics of photography and its timing than is credited to them by most.
What I have noticed previously and again today is that they definitely react to eye contact - one flew up when I was standing outside in the sun just reading and took no notice of me... until I looked at him. I had not moved my head or body at all, but as soon as we made eye contact he flew. I concur with Milo about birds of all kinds - they react amazingly quickly, and also (I believe) based on very subtle cues.
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I wonder about mourning doves, sometimes. Then there was some guinea fowl we met once.
Gee, Fred. What's that big thing comin at us?
I dunno, George. Lemme check in the manual… Wait, here it is; it's a car.
Wull … Does it say what we oughta do?
Lemme see, George. Yeah, here it is on page 145. It says "Get out the way!"
Oh, gee, Fred. Ya spose we oughta get out the way?
Yeah, parboly we should.
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addict
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Quote:
I wonder about mourning doves, sometimes. Then there was some guinea fowl we met once.
Gee, Fred. What's that big thing comin at us?
I dunno, George. Lemme check in the manual? Wait, here it is; it's a car.
Wull ? Does it say what we oughta do?
Lemme see, George. Yeah, here it is on page 145. It says "Get out the way!"
Oh, gee, Fred. Ya spose we oughta get out the way?
Yeah, parboly we should.
Sounds a lot like grouse. The story is that if you see grouse perched in a tree and start shooting them from the bottom ones up, you can get them all. If you start at the top, the ones below will be spooked by the falling birds.
A friend of mine went hunting for grouse. He had a good shot at one standing nearby, but the gun jammed or something, any whay, while he was clearing it, the grouse was watching him with a "what's he doing?" sort of air, then turned its back. Adam's thought "Good, I don't have to pick pellets out of the breast meat!" He got his gun fixed and shot it.
David and I were once throwing firewood in the bush and a grouse walked between us, apparently oblivious to flying logs. Unfortunately, my aim was not good enough to be sure of a hit.
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Definitely true of grouse, yes! but otoh, they are virtually human creations rather than wildlife, aren't they?! Nothing in nature could be that stoooopid and survive... 
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We used to have a grouse hung out around our place. Got the name: The Unruffled Grouse.
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Quote:
Nothing in nature could be that stoooopid and survive...
Right on, Maverick, not if you continue to define intellegence by the measure of the ability to survive, they certainly won't.
Catch 22.
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Quote:
We used to have a grouse hung out around our place. Got the name: The Unruffled Grouse.
Hey, that's right cute, Faldage, at times I chat with his mirror image...a ruffled grouch.
Last edited by themilum; 01/31/06 02:00 AM.
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Outdoor Canada Magazine sez, of the spruce grouse: "... their escape mechanism when dealing with natural predators is to remain motionless, relying heavily on their naturally camouflaged plumage. They did not evolve with man as one of their primary predators, so hunters often mistake this behaviour as a sign of stupidity."
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yeahbut this doesn't explain their poor judgement (in my experience completely typical) that I observed on a walk at the weekend. One was so effectively hidden in the undergrowth alongside the woodland path that I hadn't seen it - it could have flown early, or remained hidden completely. So disguised, it waited patiently until I was at the closest point to its secure bolt hole, then exploded into the air with all the grace and effectiveness of an exploding alarm clock. I could have had it with a stick, let alone a gun! btw, we are talking about the same boid, just in case this is another pond issue, are we?
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Quote:
btw, we are talking about the same boid, just in case this is another pond issue, are we?
Amazing - it looks like it's walked straight off the bottle.
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it's walked straight off the bottle. Who knew? The picture of the bird
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Quote:
btw, we are talking about the same boid, just in case this is another pond issue, are we?
whatta maroon! the only thing about that boid that's camouflaged, standing out in those rocks, is its feet.
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My mother, God rest her soul, used to use "maroon" as a silly way of saying "moron." I had forgotten after all these years.
tsuwm, are you my mother?
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Pooh-Bah
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Apparently your mother was Bugs Bunny. ) ( <meant to look like ears 
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Quote:
My mother, God rest her soul, used to use "maroon" as a silly way of saying "moron." I had forgotten after all these years.
tsuwm, are you my mother?
nah, I got it from Bugs Bunny.
say, is there some way to include .wav files here?
-joe (Whatta ignoranimus!?) friday
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> wav files
I think you'd have to host it or link to it somewhere...
formerly known as etaoin...
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Pooh-Bah
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We made our count a couple of weeks back and were startled at one moment to see 24 woodpigeons together in the back garden, some on the ground and some in the trees.
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I've seen nothing so far but a pair of crows. I guess the weather is too bad. 
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Same here, Anastrophic. I overfilled my feeder with designer birdseed for bon vivant birds and waited. Day I: No birds (rain) Day II: No birds.(bitter cold and rain) Day III: No birds until about 3:00 pm as I was leaving late for an appointment over in Walker County 60 miles away. Then suddenly the skies cleared and birds of all sizes and colors flew to my feeder in droves. I almost cried. Oh well, I remember that the next bird count is in April. _______________I'll be ready. 
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Pooh-Bah
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"_______________I'll be ready. " wait for them looking like that and you'll scare them off!
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Quote:
"_______________I'll be ready. "
wait for them looking like that and you'll scare them off!
I dunno, Zed, that look works pretty well for dove shoots.
___
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An observation that I forgot to report last month.
I think I saw a Carolina wren. Carolina wrens are said to be indicators of harsh winters, but since there are so many different types of wrens that visit Alabama, distinguishing them can be confusing.
Here is a description of a Carolina wren...
Carolina Wrens are small, big noise birds often seen near human habitation. Midway in size between the larger tufted titmouse and the smaller Caroloina chickadee, stocky Carolina wrens display a rich, rusty brown head, back, and tail; a white chin and a warm buffy wash to the breast and belly. The tail is often held cocked, and frequently "flitered". In perticular note the bright white stripe over the eye and the decurved bill.
Carolina wrens are entergetic singers and fill the air with their loud JEPETER-JEPETER-JEPETER (or TEAKETTLE-TEAKETTLE-TEAKETTLE) calls.
After mild winters these wrens can be seen almost everywhere but after harsh winters their numbers can drop by as much as 60 percent. It is not the cold that kills the wrens, it is their inability to aquire sufficient food to maintain their bodyheat. Carolina wrens eat insects, and specialize in spiders, which are vulnerable to a hard winter freeze.
Last edited by themilum; 03/12/06 03:37 PM.
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Today I ridgewalked in Shelby County in search of a cave that I had found twenty years ago. Ack! Ack! No luck! So I guess I will go to my grave not taking the location of my secret cave with me. Ack! Ack! But as I walked the backbone of the ridge I noticed a large white array of bird dropings. Being smart I looked up and saw (and counted) twenty large stick nests in the tops of three eighty-foot-tall pine trees. This was strange. Most big birds in Alabama are not that congenial. But then I saw them circling in flight...they were white ibises. White ibises are not particularly common this far North but they were unmistakable. Strangly they were nesting about two hundred miles from the coast, and that is the most convincing evidence of "global warming" that I have yet to see. But big deal. I think I'll go back and shoot a couple of ibises just to verify that they are worthy of the designation of being "endangered".
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Last edited by Father Steve; 03/20/06 03:22 AM.
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Ah, hell yes, Steve, but the reality is more than the presumption. Let's ride!
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Oops! Sorry, Father Steve, I must have been in my cups when I wrote "let's ride" and all that stuff. Remember, I'm to be in Seattle for a week this summer and I still have hope that you'll buy me a cheap drink at a cheap Seattle bar.
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