chris
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Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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birds for me are a way to connect with nature and my own culture, I love to learn about them and I have found it to be a growing experience whenever I get to spend time with them or learn about them. Some of the things I am already doing is setting up bird habitat that is mostly bird houses and a few trees as well! As for the next step in my birdwatching I think I want to learn more about my local birds as well as the ecosystem they inhabit so that I can add to it in a way that is both healthy for the birds but also healthy for the ecosystem in general. I hope to spread my knowledge with my community some day as well once I have learned enough that I feel i can add to someones understanding.
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many of the birds in my area will have a "tell" where you will wonder what it is until you notice something about it. The Spotted Towhee has a distinctive call that my sensei calls "a dying cat call" its morbid i know but it works or a stellars jay may sound similar to a crow but has a blue body and black head as well as its crest. many of the birds have unique things that I only actually noticed because of my note taking such as a white spot on the back and just above the tail of the spotted towhee that lives in my apple tree. or a barn swallows orange belly and distinctive way of flying. I have also asked the person teaching me about birds about any clubs in the area and when i get some reliable free time id really like to sign up and learn about some habitat in the area to see different kinds of birds too.
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my favourate place to go birding is a mixed forest with a relatively dense shrub life and a nearby slough. We get too see many different types of birds here due to the wildlife trees standing in the forest supplying food for the woodpeckers and many other birds whome like to eat insects. There is a nearby eagle nest that gets used yearly and I even got the opportunity to see a juvenile spend time with its parents sqeeing over and over for attention or maybe food (I didnt have my binoculars with me when that happened :crying emoji:) the second spot I had in mind is a nearby hotspot on the other side of a mountain I live near. The expected birds there are quite different from here as they have a freshwater lake and a relatively old forest as well however there are a large amount of tourists in the area during the summer as there are resorts along the lake side. This causes many types of generalist birds to congregate and feed on the garbage that is left from these people coming through.
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Activity 3 - I like to wake up around sunrise (when its not at 5 am or something) and listen to the birds in my area, I can ID the common ones however I learn more every day and thats part of what I am loving about Birding. The birds I was able to ID by sound in my backyard are American Robin, Stellars Jay, Blackcapped Chickadee, and a Spotted Towhee. Using the Merlin app I was able to spot a Cedar Waxwing, Chestnut-backed Chickadee and a brown creeper. The local birds often come and go with the seasons however I am lucky enough to live a bit into the bush and get to listen to their songs in the morning whenever I am not feeling like a hermit.
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Activity 2 - I watched the Cornell Lab Feeder Cam for a while and paid attention to the bird species that showed up. The Grackles that where there got their pick of the litter in terms of seeds, scaring off blue jays that got too close and eating where and when they want until they fly off to do their own thing. Blue jays would show up sometimes alone and sometimes in groups and eat for a minute or 2 then fly off on their own. Red winged black birds tended to find their own corner to pick seeds from and fly off the quickest of the birds I can Identify. There where a sparrow or 2 as well however I am not as good at my sparrow ID skills.
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Activity 1 - I watched a Crow spread its wings and show its back to the sun on the roof of my neighbors house, This behaviour initially worried me as I assumed the crow was in distress however after a few minutes of open mouthed breathing and spreading its wings it got up and flew off like nothing happened. It did not take long to figure out the crow was sunbathing, something they do for thermoregulation and for self care on their feathers.
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The "likely Birds in my area" feature in merlin shows many different birds that visit my area and many that are also year round friends too! some of them are the Bald eagle, Red winged Blackbird, European starling and black capped chickadee's too. some of the birds that are seasonal visitors include cedar waxwings (they can be persuaded to winter here if we get enough berries aparently!), swainsons thrush and the Vaaux's swift. I have seen most of these birds before and some of them are even culturally significant because of my communities history with many of the animals that have traditionally been found here however I have yet to meet a Vaux's Swift and am currently looking to the sky for flying black specks to point my binoculars at to say hi to our flying little friend some day. some of the Birds we can expect in one of my favourate birdwatching spots are the Bufflehead and Mallard ducks as well as Canada Geese which all make sense as my spot in mind is along the shore of a slow moving slough and we often see all these species moving in large packs and floating along the water.
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2 American Robins where spotted on my walk, 1 cedar waxwing, 1 Northern Flicker woodpecker, 1 Pilleated Woodpecker?, a black capped chickadee responded to my whistle, 1 Brown Creeper making its way up a tree, I spotted a few smaller (between sparrow and robin sized) birds flying by with a forked tail and long wings. They wizzed by pretty fast but they looked relatively dark however this could very easily have been a trick of the light too so I have no idea what species they actually where. Many of these where actually on my Merlin list however some of them where not as well and there are also clear limits to my knowledge as I could not actually ID many of the birds that I saw and heard on my outing. I am looking forward to the day that I can ID the bird in my region and feel comfortable learning about birds in other regions as well. Birds That I didnt know passed through my area are actually more common than birds I did know passed through my area if im being honest so finding 5 of them was not too hard LOL. 1 - Eurasian Collared - Dove 2 - Common Merganser 3 - Bullocks Oriol 5 - Vaux's Swift It is really awesome to learn more about the places I have grown up.
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my favourate bird on the bird of walls definetly has to be King of Saxoony Bird of Paradise, This lil guy is so unique and foriegn from what im used to seeing out in western canada that it makes me excited at the prospect of exploring the world some more some day. What other unique situation has created some unique little buddies. My favourate local bird has to be the American Gildfinch because I get to see families of them feeding on the seed my mom likes to throw out. The small ones look the size of my thumb and will stay and eat seeds even as I walk up to them, so cute and fluffy. They are a small yellow bird with a short-wide beak, a black or darker forehead depending on plumage and gender with black wings with a white bar or 2.
Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)