Bird Watchers here?

thank you.
yes i do live in western canada, british columbia.
it got extremely hot here in june, upper 80's - 90's which is unseasonable, so i think youre right about southern migration (perhaps early).
incredible little birds arent they

Oh yes one of my favorites (hummingbirds). As I speak now that little female is at again in my gladiolus. Like clockwork every 20-25 minutes. That Nature documentary (about 53 minutes long) on Hummingbirds is incredible to watch, it's free online.

I think whoever planted our main garden intended to attract them. We've had everything bloom in sequence from Penstemon, to Gladiolus, and now more Penstemon (different variety) are getting ready to bloom.

thats brilliant garden planning!
ill have to check out the video

a new page so here's one more (out of 100 that didnt turn out haha)

Nice, I tempted fate since my hummingbird seems fearless just now and moved into a squatting position very close to the garden. Sure enough she shows up but I was wearing a bright pink t-shirt so I think she was somewhat befuddled by my presence. Either that or scared because she actually parked it on a Gladiolus branch.

In my excitement of actually being close I was a complete dumb-ass. I A) forgot to charge the camera so it was dying as I was snapping pics, and B) Was so excited being close that I forgot to change my setting to Marco for closeups. so basically I got about 10 blurry pics of her parked literally 3 feet in front of me. I mean how often do you get that close to a hummingbird sitting 3 feet in front of you not moving and you mess up the shots? Will try again later I guess, I just don't want to frighten her thinking our garden is now unsafe. Here are two that sort of came out:




So stupid I take tons of toy pics really close up (macro) and I could have really gotten some nice clear (non blurry) shots! Doh!

regardless those turned out great
the funny thing is, i did the exact same thing when i shot mine.
i got caught up in the moment and forgot all about the settings as well lol

i wonder if you could hand feed yours?
wouldnt that be awesome. just make sure you have one hand free to take photos

I would be ecstatic if I could hand feed her!!! Wouldn't even know where to begin on how to do that one. I tried going out there again with Kim's Nikon D90 but I spooked her. Luckily she came back again (just saw her from the window). She seems to like perching in there for some reason. Maybe it's her designated rest spot?

I keep hoping for some males to show up but no such luck. Oh in that pic those flowers are about half the size of a thumb. So basically the bird is the size of a thumb!

I like crows. Otherwise not a bird guy. Although it was cool when this bird showed up as we sat on a cliff.


California Condor

Wow craziness! So I was watching the female hummingbird I took pics of and out of nowhere another female ruby throated shows up. Hummingbirds are fiercely territorial of food sources, and an aerial dogfight ensued of course. I thought there might be two birds because one looked slightly browner than the other. Anyhow the one I took pics of returned after chasing the other away, kept feeding and parked it several times. Usually she is there for 2-3 minutes tops but this time kept perching and stayed for 10 minutes.

After flying away I walked over just to see how the blooms were doing and get an idea how long this show will last, then had to quickly duck because the two hummingbirds zoomed over my head chasing each other again!

Sounds like you have the hummingbird spot Lixx. Thanks for sharing those shots. I love that the one keeps coming back and defending her territory. What an honor.

I got to hand feed hummingbirds in Costa Rica and it was obviously a very cool experience. It was incredible how well you could feel the wind from their wings on your hands. Imagine a very large insect wing buzz or something. Went something like this (not my photo though):



Great condor shots too SaintOfSpinners. Very impressive. How big was it?

Congratulations Chris! I also love hummingbirds. The drought in California is really bad. Our garden is literally on the verge of death, dry as a bone, due to watering restrictions and the price of water itself. It's really odd that in some cities/towns, water is un-metered, but where I live, it's definitely metered! In a way, it's a good thing, because it "encourages" water conservation. Anyhooo... I only water the garden once every 1-2 weeks, or after an extremely hot day. When I do get out the garden hose, the hummingbirds come swarming up to me, and I adjust the hose nozzle to very fine. They dip in and out for a drink and a bath, and then fight which each other because of territory violations . I suppose we aren't too much of a threat to them, because by their perspective, we move in "slow motion" . It's really fun to see them up close, especially when they buzz right up in front of you and look you in the eye!

because by their perspective, we move in "slow motion"

i never thought of that before, i wonder....

those condors look like real life skeksis lol

It's funny you mention drought because we went over water cost and usage in my Water Resources class this past semester. Basically the west is screwed. We definitely pay far less for water here. It's very minimal. I honestly don't know how you guys are doing it with this ongoing crisis. I mean you hear about wildfires (a byproduct) in the news all the time but the real crisis is this drought not letting up. I mean how much longer can the west survive like that? It's effecting everything as most of the US produce is grown in that valley. No wonder the hummingbirds flock to you when you water, it's like they haven't seen water in weeks!

We're lucky to live right next to Lake Erie but believe it or not we're having a minor drought here as well.

California Condor is pretty rare I thought. Great sighting.

I was close to the Condor sanctuary. Where they started bringing them back to nature with some good success. I think he was about 2 ft tall. He came for my backpack.

In Costa Rica I left the trail to watch a fight between a Coatamundi and some Spider Monkeys. The vultures where quick to follow hoping for leftovers of whatever was going on (Coatamundi was trying to steal a baby).

Our water crises is insane. But the fires create a more global catastrophy as the ashes will fall on places like iceland which cause an increased rate in ice melt thereby increasing the rise in sea levels, global warming, and earthquakes. That's a whole new thread though.

It's getting desperate out here. I was listening to a news report about farming, and the state is going to cut-off their delivery of water! That means farms and factories will be affected and some will close and lay-off many workers. It's surprising how many Californians are in "head-in-sand" mode about water useage. i.e. in the gym, there are "ladies" that will take +30 min showers with the water on full blast , what are they doing in there! I make a point of taking navy showers and turn off the water between soapings.

This might be a nice graphic way to show some of our water reservoir capacities:
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp ... ain.action

One of our biggest resources, the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite, has capacity tracked here:
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/quer ... pan=1month

P.S. to bring us back on to the topic, apparently, you can buy hummingbird hand feeders! Just google up the proportions on how to make your own feeding solutions for the hummers (i think it's one part sugar and 4 parts water, but don't quote me on that )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM8PyDbhOqs

Sounds like you have the hummingbird spot Lixx. Thanks for sharing those shots. I love that the one keeps coming back and defending her territory. What an honor.

Yeah she's a champ. Apparently her aggression extends to other birds as well! Just now I saw a House Sparrow land on the electrical wire well above the gladiolus garden she visits. Too close for comfort for her, so she stopped feeding and buzzed over to it and pecked at this sparrow until it left! As she did that the rival maurader hummingbird tried to get to the food source and before you could blink she chased her away! I love her tiny little aggressive self.

i put up a new feeder the other day and those buggers have already eaten 1/2 the bag

i wanted to attract them and get some practice on my photography
they move so quickly though and its mostly blurry photos but this one is alright

was anyone else planning on doing some winter feeding?

I love that my internship is pretty much professional bird watching now. I get to drive a state vehicle going from site to site doing bird surveying. Dream job! So yesterday I watched Bald Eagles mating and nesting on an island in Niagara river, did waterfowl (duck) counts, drove to check out an active Peregrine Falcon nest under the Grand Island bridge, and finally out in the sticks for a second day in a row to see about Short Eared Owls.

These owls have been quite elusive and I've spent 3 weeks looking for them with my intern partner Max. Short ears only make it this far south in the dead of winter looking for prey they can't find way up north in Canada. We were just about ready to call it a night as the sun set and low an behold as we're driving away I caught sight of one out of the corner of my eye! I never jumped out of the truck so fast (that I banged my knee and shin-ouch!). Me and Max have a bet on how many we'll see this semester I went with 4 he said 2.

Here's a video which basically shows what I saw (not mine- since I did not have any cameras with me):

Looks like you're enjoying field work. Happy to hear it. Some of the best 'work' around, ain't it? Always jealous of good birders, those little suckers move too fast for me.

Field work is not all fun, but when it's good, it's really, really good.

It's a treasure hunt much like toy collecting.

Yeah it's really enjoyable when moments like that happen. I mean we were ready to call it a day, sun had just about set and there pops out the owl! One of the DEC people was out there today and text me to ask for exact location I saw it. Gave the feedback and the time I saw it (6:10pm) sure enough I get a text back that it came out at the exact same time in the exact location. So it wasn't my imagination because it sure felt like a dream seeing it! I have really good far vision, to the point where I can make out birds almost a mile away. Hold something within a foot of my face it's blurry as shit though lol.

What an insane day for birds! I was watching three Red Tailed Hawks duel in the bright sky this morning (just the other day one landed in our backyard and crows were going crazy trying to eradicate it). Red Tailed Hawks seem to be following me. The other day I watched one repeatedly catch mice and then land on a telephone pole above me and tear it to bits.

Anyhow today one of the crown jewels of the songbird kingdom (and one of my faves) a flock of Cedar Waxwings showed up in my backyard. I went nuts trying to snap pics but have a crap point and shoot. Here is the best one:

Nice Chris! Cedar waxwings are always fun to encounter. They are such gregarious birds. I always chuckle when I run into a flock of them in the woods- they raise so much hell you can't miss em! They also look very foreign compared to most native North American birds.... quite beautiful.

Have you gotten into learning songs and calls with your music background?

Have you gotten into learning songs and calls with your music background?

I know common birds like Cardinals, Red Winged Blackbirds, Goldfinches, some raptors and woodpeckers but funny you should ask. I applied for a Avian Surveying job thinking I know my damn birds but was then tested on silouettes (all made the same size so I could not tell size difference) and about 25 songbird songs and really struggled. Did not get the job although they said I was pretty knowledgable (I guess for the ID on sight part). Apparently they love people that can do breeding surveys on energy sites that can identify birds just by song. I call bullshit on that- I'm extremely adept at spotting even the smallest birds from great distances and I usually can hone in and pinpoint their location after one or two calls. Oh well it was "on call" anyhow.

Need to find a job I swear getting a environmental job is such bullshit. People get nervous if you seem enthusiastic and might know more than them in the private sector. And any state or fed job is like a zillion hurdles to go through before you can get even a whiff of a job.

I've been in Amherst State Park for 4 days now (well I hike there-sometimes twice a day) and it's pretty much a migratory bird sanctuary. Now is the time for Warblers and they are so fucking hard to find and get pics of. In fact my crap point and shoot rarely captures good shots. I have seen a ton of different warblers, Baltimore Orioles galore, a life time looking for bird which I finally found- Scarlet Tanager, Bluebird, just tons of stuff. ebird is fun!:

Scarlet Tanager:


Baltimore Orioles:



Bay Breasted Warbler:


Great Blue Heron:


Cedar Waxwings:

Last edited by Lixx on Fri May 20, 2016 8:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Wow Chris! What a great job! It must be great to spend so much time outdoors in the sun, surrounded by so many critters. That GB heron pic is very nice! Keep posting pics! Lucky you, until it snows

I wish I was doing it as a job! No I'm just brushing up on bird song ID skills (and well I love birdwatching). I found out the hard way bird surveying involves more than being able to spot birds and ID them, sometimes they want you to just know what every bird is by sound. Besides I'm sending my fitbit into over-drive. 30000 steps -2 days ago. Averaging around 18000 steps a day! I'm so sore. I really need to just stop and look for work.....or sell all my toys and go live in a cabin in the woods (kidding kidding).