Wow, time flies when you’re busy and focused on other stuff.
We’re Still Here
Pam and I are still alive, we’ve just been distracted/focused on other stuff the last couple of months. Pam has been crazy at work, as have I, plus I’m getting into the meat of the cycling season. In addition, since late March I’ve been focusing, when I can, on a new blog called Video Beer Reviews that I’ve wanted to do for a while. I’ve been a lover of quality beer for 20+ years and now I am reviewing beers and posting the videos on the blog. So, if you like beer and want to see somebody babble on about why they like or dislike a beer feel free to go over there and subscribe. How does beer relate to birds you ask? Well we spend a lot of time on the deck enjoying beer and watching the birds so there you go
Birds We’ve Seen And Missed
In the last month or two we’ve seen a few new birds in our yard including Brown Headed Cowbirds, Magnolia Warblers, Purple Finches (pretty sure although they are “rare” in Georgia), Red Headed Woodpeckers (very cool bird!), Cedar Waxwings, and Blue Jays. We’ve also noted the return of the Ruby Throated Hummingbird to the sugar water feeder on our deck. The Goldfinches have come back as well. I think we’ve missed most of the Spring Migration. We were planning on getting out to bird with a group this Spring, especially for Warblers, but it’s May and most of them are gone. We’ll catch them in the Fall and next Spring I guess. Both our life lists are a little bigger than before.
Looking Ahead And Another Mystery Bird
We’re hoping to get back in the swing of birding more often and posting about our experiences. I’m also going to try to get some more pictures to post as well, including one of another “mystery” bird that we just saw yesterday. It was mostly brown, songbird sized, and had a thin white “crown” and white dots on the wing. The beak is short and stubby and might be slightly hooked at the end. It was hanging out at our feeders. We’ve looked through our field guides but can’t find anything close. We’ll keep trying and hopefully we will figure it out. If anyone has any ideas please let us know.
Anyway, I’ll try to be a bit more regular in posting. We really appreciate those of you that visit the site on a regular basis. Thank You!!!
The first day of 2009 was a nice relaxing day with a little bit of birding and exercise tossed in for good measure. Both Pam and I rode our bikes to get our exercise. Then we refueled and did a bit of birding along the Chattahoochee River and came home to find some Bluebirds in our new bird bath. An action packed day all around
Birding On The River
After we got our New Years bike rides in and ate some lunch we drove a few miles to where Peachtree Parkway (aka Medlock Bridge) crosses over the Chattahoochee River and parked at one of the many sections of theChattahoochee River National Recreation Area to do some quick birdwatching. We walked along the trail for about 45 minutes or so and saw a lot of the same birds that visit our feeders.
But we also saw a new bird that we can add to the life list and that was the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Pam and I saw a few of these flitting about in the trees next to the river. We forgot our Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America so we noted the colors, etc. and checked as soon as we got home. We’re getting a little better at least in identifying birds. Both of us narrowed it down to either a warbler or sparrow without the guide.
Activity At The “Bird Hot Tub”
When we got home, around 4PM, we noticed some visitors to our new “Bird Hot Tub” (as my co-workers called it when they saw I was getting Pam a heated bird bath for Christmas). There was a pair of Eastern Bluebirds hopping along the edge of the bird bath. I had the camera nearby and snapped a couple of pictures:
They seemed to be enjoying the fresh water. It was neat that the first birds I saw at the bird bath were the same as the 1st bird I saw for 2009 earlier in the day. It’s funny how things work sometimes.
A Nice Start To The Year
It was a nice way to start the New Year. We are hoping to see many more birds this year and we are looking forward to sharing our experiences with you through this blog.
Sometimes, out of the blue, you are hit with a realization or observation that impacts your life in some way, however small. That moment happened to me a few weeks ago when I noticed a bird doing something we had seen it do many times in the past but this time it was different.
The Significance Of A Bird
Birds are all around us but we usually don’t notice them. But, every once in a while we catch a glimpse of one and it has some significance to us, for whatever reason. I thought it would be interesting to write a short post about significant birds we have seen as we see them. So its fitting that the first bird to make an “impact” on me in my recent incarnation of birdwatcher was a woodpecker, specifically the Pileated Woodpecker.
Seeing Woody The Woodpecker
For both Pam and I the Pileated Woodpecker reminds us of Woody The Woodpecker, the famous cartoon character that originated in the 1940’s and remained popular through the 60’s and 70’s. It is a fairly large bird and it is easy to notice, especially as it hops down the trees in your yard. That’s exactly how I noticed it a few weeks ago. It was inching its way down one of the Sweet Gum trees in our backyard heading for our suet feeder. Once it got to within 10 feet or so it made the short flight over to the feeder where it immediately began pecking away at the suet. What was funny was how the suet was literally flying all over the place as he pecked at it. I don’t know how much he actually got but it sure was fun watching
Since that Saturday we haven’t seem him again. I’m sure he’s still around we’re just missing him. Hopefully he stops by our feeder soon.
Making An Impact
I don’t know what it was about seeing that happen on that particular day. Over the last two years we’ve lived in this house both of us have seen him do that same thing multiple times. Maybe it was the way he went about doing what woodpeckers do or maybe I was just more receptive to the nature that is all around us. Whatever it was, it made an impact on me and I was much more interested in it than the other times. I guess that’s when the spark went off and I became a birdwatcher again, and the Pileated Woodpecker became the first bird on my life list.
What About You
If you are a birdwatcher, what was your first bird and how did it impact you and motivate you to take up watching birds? If you aren’t yet a birdwatcher what would it take for you to become one?
I’m going to start a new, hopefully regular, feature on Birds In Your Backyard, that would be a poll or survey that we all can participate in. I did some research on poll/survey plugins and found Survey Gizmo. It seems to have a lot of features and it looks like it will work well. Hopefully you find this fun.
Numbers Please
Let’s kick this thing off with something that every birdwatcher has, a life list. From what I gather so far, birders are a rather obsessive bunch (I mean that in a good way). We like to keep statistics and see where we compare with everyone else. The life list is a good way to measure ourselves against others. I’ll kick it off by “voting” my life list of 24 birds and Pam’s 14 birds. Those should be easy numbers for many of you to beat
The survey will be open for a few days at least. I’ll do a follow up post summarizing the results. I’m interested to see how many birds all of you have on your lists.
Today was a perfect November day in Georgia with temps in the low 60’s and clear blue skies. My parents are in town for the holiday and my Father has been a birdwatcher for 55 of his 75 years so he was more than ready to help me identify some new birds. So, I took the opportunity to spend some time walking around the yard with him to see what I could see.
Some Skill Involved
We spent about 45 minutes walking around the yard. All around us there was activity. The problem for me was actually seeing what the birds were. I’m finding that it takes some skill to be able to get the binoculars up to your eyes and be able to see what you thought you saw before you put the binoculars up. It definitely takes some practice.
We saw a lot of birds in a short time. My “Life List” is now up to 21 species. Here’s what I saw:
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Brown Thrasher
Pine Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
House Finch
American Goldfinch
It was an enjoyable time walking around the yard with my Father. He has a ton of experience and was quickly able to get me oriented as far as what birds were what and their songs, etc. I’m getting a little better at spotting the movement of the birds and being able to get the binoculars on them but I need a lot more work at it.
All in all It was a good time. Oh, I forgot to mention that near the end of the day we all spotted a large bird sitting on our dinner table. It looked so good that we just ate it up. I think it’s called Turkey or something like that. Can I add it to my Life List?
so we noted the colors, etc. and checked as soon as we got home. We’re getting a little better at least in identifying birds. Both of us narrowed it down to either a warbler or sparrow without the guide.
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