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Monthly Archives: December 2008

How To Start The 2009 Birding Year

December 31, 2008 – 2:26 pm

Hopefully, all of you will have a great New Year’s Eve.  We plan on staying low and watching a movie, nothing too exciting for us this year  because we want to get up bright and early to start the 2009 birding year.

We figured we would start 2009 off right by recording the first bird we see and posting it here.  Nothing fancy just a way to document the start of the year.

I’ll post our “New Years Bird” sightings relatively early tomorrow morning.  If any of you want to join in the fun just comment on that post with the absolute first bird you saw in 2009, whatever it is.

See you next year! :-)

By Mark | Posted in Birdwatching | Tagged , | Comments (1)

Our First Official Birding Trip

December 27, 2008 – 5:51 pm

Today we loaded up our binoculars and field guide and took our first “official” birding trip away from our backyard.  OK, we didn’t go to South America or anything, just to the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell, GA.  The center is 127 acres in size and is along the Chattahoochee River.  It’s about 10 miles from our house and looked like an interesting place to go visit.

Misty And Cool

We arrived a little ofter 9AM with the weather cloudy and cool.  It was about 50 degrees and there was a very light mist/drizzle in the air.  We stopped in the visitor center and got a map of the grounds.  The center has a variety of exhibits including a number of large birds including owls, hawks and a Bald Eagle.  The birds are unable to live in the wild due to a variety of injuries or other problems.

Let The Birding Begin

We spent a few minutes looking at the caged birds then headed out on the many trails to see what we could see.  Here’s the list.  Most of the birds are the same as we see in the backyard.  But we did see some new species (Bolded) It’s easy to see new birds when you have seen so few :-) :

Species Number reported
Canada Goose 20
Mallard 2
Great Blue Heron 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 10
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 10
Carolina Chickadee 15
Tufted Titmouse 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 7
Brown-headed Nuthatch 3
Carolina Wren 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
American Robin 10
Northern Mockingbird 2
Chipping Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 12
American Goldfinch 1

The birds that we were most excited to see were the Red-shouldered Hawk, and the Great Blue Heron.  Were hoping to see more water birds but the marsh boardwalk was closed due to the wet weather (too slippery).  We’ll have to go back and try that out later.

We’re Getting Better At This

Both of us really tried to improve our “binocular handling” skills.  One of the hardest things for both Pam and I  is to be able to put the binoculars to your eyes and follow the movement of the birds.  We had lots of opportunities to practice and I think we’re getting better at it.

A Nice Way To Spend A Morning

We finished up around Noon.  I total we spent a little over 2 1/2 hours actively birdwatching.  It was a nice way to spend some time together.  We saw a lot of birds including some new ones, and got to practice our birding skills.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning!

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By Mark | Posted in Birdwatching | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

We Finally See The Great Horned Owl

December 26, 2008 – 10:11 am

Over the two years we’ve lived here in Atlanta, we have heard, but never seen, a Great Horned Owl.  We could sit out on our deck and hear them calling to each other back and forth through the pines, especially in the Fall/Winter.  A couple of times we’ve seen a brief glimpse of a big shadow flying between the trees but never saw the entire bird.  Well, yesterday that changed!

Sitting On The Deck Minding Our Business

It was a beautiful Christmas day with temps right around 62. We were sitting on our deck watching the birds come and go from the feeder when we heard the familiar call of the Great Horned Owl.  He seemed to be way off in the distance, a few yards over.  A couple minutes later the sound was much closer.  Most of the time we hear them at dusk, when it’s too dark to see anything.  This time it was 3PM and still very light outside so I kept my eyes open in case I might actually see something.

A Big Shadow In The Corner Of My Eye

All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a big bird flying to the top of the neighbor’s pine tree.  I said to Pam, “over there” and we looked over in the direction of the shadow to see the owl perch on the tippy-top of a pine tree, about 100 feet up in the air.  Fortunately we had the camera with us out there so I was able to take some pictures:

Great Horned Owl On Pine Tree

Great Horned Owl On Pine Tree 2

I had to use maximum (12x) zoom on the camera and crop the pictures quite a bit to get these but they came out great as far as I’m concerned :-) The owl sat up there for about 5 minutes turning his head from side to side to listen to the other owls call. We heard two others besides him. Finally he flew off the tree towards one of the other owls. We saw him again a bit later sitting partway down a tree right before dusk.

Worth The Wait

While it was frustrating hearing the owls for two years without seeing them, it was worth the wait!  We were able to get some good pictures of the Great Horned Owl as well as fantastic views with the binoculars.  There was enough light and it was a nice clear day.  That was the first time I had seen an owl in the wild since I was a kid and the 1st time ever for Pam.  She was very excited to finally see one somewhere else besides the Zoo!

Now that we’ve seen the Owl we hope to see him again very soon.  They are magnificent birds and I think it’s neat that they are living amongst all of us people like this.  It shows how much nature is right in your backyard if you listen, and look, long enough!

By Mark | Posted in Bird Pictures, Birdwatching, Significant Birds | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

Holiday Bird Pictures From Our Feeders

December 25, 2008 – 8:00 am

Merry Christmas

And

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Here are some pictures of the birds from our backyard bird feeder, our gift to all of you.  Thanks for reading and here’s to a great 2009!

This past weekend we “upgraded” our feeder setup.  So far, the birds seem to really like it.  One of the benefits to this setup is that it is a little easier to take photos of the birds as they sit and eat.  I’m still figuring out how to take the best quality pictures from the 2nd floor bedroom but I got quite a few and thought I’d share some of them:

Cardinal and Carolina Wren

Here’s a Cardinal and Carolina Wren sharing the platform feeder. We have a ton of Cardinals in our yard and they really seem to like the platform.

Tufted Titmouse

This Tufted Titmouse was just about to fly off as I took this picture.

Red Bellied Woodpecker

We have a couple of Red Bellied Woodpeckers that frequent the suet feeder. They are a very pretty bird and fun to watch.

House Finch

We have a lot of House Finches and the platform feeder has become their new favorite place.

Eastern Towhee

The Eastern Towhee stays on the ground and picks up whatever he can that falls from the feeders.

Eastern Bluebird and Cardinal

We have a lot of Bluebirds in our yard this Winter. They really like the suet feeder but for some reason this one was on the ground with his buddy the Cardinal.

Eastern Bluebird

Here’s an OK picture of a Bluebird on the suet feeder. My camera has a hard time focusing on the small area of the feeder so the picture is a little blurry.

I’m enjoying the challenge of photographing the birds that visit our feeders. Hopefully I can get better quality photos by tweaking the settings on the camera.

What kind of pictures are you able to get of the birds at your feeders?

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By Mark | Posted in Bird Feeding, Bird Pictures | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

How Many Bird Feeders Do You Have

December 23, 2008 – 11:46 am

OK backyard bird feeding people, this is for you.  We are deep into the heart of backyard bird feeding season and millions of us lure birds to our yards with all kinds of seeds and other edible morsels. So, if you love to feed the birds and your budget for seed exceeds the family grocery bill, let the world know about your fanaticism! Or, if you like to let the birds fend for themselves we have an option for you as well.

This poll is a very simple one: How many bird feeders do you have?  Count up all of the feeders you have in your yard and check the appropriate button. I’ve started this off with our answer, which is 4 feeders.

By Mark | Posted in Polls and Surveys | Tagged , , | Comments (3)
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