Ken
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I've been involved in citizen science related to birding for nearly 20 years. I started with the Great Backyard Bird Count, then Project Feeder Watch. I've been using ebird.org for 14 years, but this course introduced me to some of the features of the site that I wasn't as familiar with. I will be definitely taking the Ebird Essentials free course next. By education I am a plastics engineer, but I am not a fan of plastic bottled water. I keep a yeti thermos bottle filled with filtered tap water next to me at all times. One tip - the plastic ring holders used on six packs of soda pop are a particular concern for shore birds and marine life. Take a few seconds and snip the rings with scissors before tossing them in the trash. We have a second floor deck patio door and have experienced bird strikes up close and personal. (In one case a cardinal hit our door and while stunned a hawk came down and swooped it up. My wife is still traumatized...) A web search brought us to the American Bird Conservancy list linked in this lesson. After researching the list, we opted for the Feather Friendly DIY adhesive dots. Super easy to install and almost invisible from the inside. Put them up at the start of this summer, so far no casualties!
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Some house wrens have set up shop in a nest box attached to one of the pillars of our 2nd floor deck so we have been able to really observe them closely over the past few weeks. The male started by sitting on top of the box endlessly whistling his beautiful mating song. Since finding a mate and building a nest we've been constantly hearing their tsk-tsk-tsk scolding song. The female (I'm guessing) sticks her head out of the box and gives the song, then I hear the mate answering her from one of the trees on our property or from the woods along the back. The most interesting habit we've observed a couple of times is one of them trying to "mix it up" with the squirrels that like to climb up to the feeders on our deck. The wren will "dive bomb" at the squirrel, flying back and forth sometimes seeming to peck at the squirrel as the bird makes its pass. The squirrels don't seem to be paying a lick of attention, but eventually saunter off just to get the wren off its back. Just today (Aug 1), about a month after first seeing them, I heard the little chirping of the hatchlings from inside the box. Can't wait to see if they'll poke their little heads out the hole!
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I want to give a shout out to one of my favorites, the mourning dove. They are just so chill! Love to watch them strut around our deck gobbling up the millet and such that other birds drop from our hopper feeder. Or they'll just sit on the rail taking in all the flurry of action at the feeders. Nothing fazes them (except maybe another mourning dove that tries to grab their seed). And then they'll go back to the woods and start cooing away. Love their round gray medium sized bodies with the black spots (including the big round dark eyes), their big feet and stubby little legs.
Btw, CLO has a neat online page called "What Bird are you Most Like" https://cornelllabpgstore.com/what-bird-are-you-most-like-all-outcomes/. I was a great horned owl and my wife was the mourning dove, so there you go!
Very much enjoying the course that my son (with two degrees from Cornell!) got me for my birthday.
I want to give a shout out to one of my favorites, the mourning dove. They are just so chill! Love to watch them strut around our deck gobbling up the millet and such that other birds drop from our hopper feeder. Or they'll just sit on the rail taking in all the flurry of action at the feeders. Nothing fazes them (except maybe another mourning dove that tries to grab their seed). And then they'll go back to the woods and start cooing away. Love their round gray medium sized bodies with the black spots (including the big round dark eyes), their big feet and stubby little legs.
Btw, CLO has a neat online page called "What Bird are you Most Like" https://cornelllabpgstore.com/what-bird-are-you-most-like-all-outcomes/. I was a great horned owl and my wife was the mourning dove, so there you go!
Very much enjoying the course that my son (with two degrees from Cornell!) got me for my birthday. Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)