Birding!

[The Masked Shadow]

Black-footed Albatross?! This one was on the smaller side, and another person on the boat identified this bird from a band on the leg (not visible) as one coming from Midway Atoll or another Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Chain (Wake, Laysan, Kure, or Kaula would be the others in the chain that they nest on), which means this bird is well over 2,600 miles from home. There are transplant breeders to Guadeloupe Island in Mexico, which is significantly closer to San Diego, but they have different bands. Despite being so far away, it isn’t necessarily rare to see one coming from nesting grounds to forage off the coast, ive seen them other times too, just haven’t gotten a picture before.

 

[Chet E.]

Question:
Just over a week ago, this psychotic little bird arrived at the window.

Beginning June 27th he has been continuously fascinated with himself.
.
Hours every day spent flying against the window, sitting on the rim and biting at his reflection. At first it was interesting, but soon became worrisome... Why? He ought to spend some time eating too.
.
I hold out the possibility that he's defending a territory, a nest perhaps, but I haven't seen one, the Maple trees near by are quite dense, but it seems odd he does not learn his reflection is not a worthy rival.
.
Are American Gold Finches that territorial?
.

 

[Deadeye]

I had song sparrows attacking the windows of my car - I always figured they were eating the pollen off the glass.
Maybe it is a territorial display - more knowledgeable birders could probably chime in better than I can though.

 

[FINWIN]

Cutest and adorable story!

A (I think sparrow) has made a nest on my porch in one of the large planters! I've been cleaning the porch for summer and a bird would fly past me and through the solar curtains to get away. The first time I thought birdie was getting out of the heat. It wasn't until day three I figured it out...She'd built a nest in a raised planter over the sphagnum moss.

I peeked inside and saw 5 small speckled eggs tucked away. With all the trees around here I have no idea why she went to so much trouble to set up a family on my porch! Will try and grab a couple of pics.

 

[FINWIN]

Here's mama's nest. Look on the left side of the planter. In the second pic you see her eggs. Birdie tucks up in the space behind the eggs.

 

[jjohnwm]

Here in Manitoba, American Pelicans are a common sight during the warm months. People don't take notice of them at all; but even after more than 10 years here, I cannot help but be amazed when I'm around them. I was fishing this morning at a nearby spot that is a common gathering/feeding area for them, and since the bite was slow I decided that a giant bird with an 8 or 9 foot wingspan, flying past fairly slowly in good light and not too high overhead...might be a photo op of which even I could take advantage.



As usual for this spot, there were hundreds of pelicans around, including a large raft of them feeding aggressively on schools of small fish directly under the churning overflow of the dam.

This mass of birds was concentrated above the fish, and periodically a dozen or more would plunge their heads under the water, wings spread, engulfing water and fish in their monstrous expandable bills and then ejecting the water while carefully retaining the fish. Many of them tossed the larger fish into the air to align them for easy swallowing. This was a violent, splashing maelstrom that lasted only seconds. A couple of times much larger fish, perhaps 2 feet in length, became the object of a squalling, grunting, bickering mass of giant birds all vying to be the lucky one who got to risk choking to death on an easy meal.

 

[Deadeye]

Spotted a green heron at a local park.
Not a rare bird, but certainly something you don’t get to see every day. Generally you only get to see them in very healthy environments, so it’s nice to know they’re nearby.

 

[jjohnwm]

Nice pics, of a bird that isn't rare but not really seen that often. I love those first two pics; they both make the thing look like it's had waaaaay too much coffee...

 

[jjohnwm]

It saddens me deeply to report that a close birding friend of mine has passed away. After many years of shared adventures, my first Tilley Hat has finally gone on to its next life.

I received this Tilley as a gift from my wife for my 30th birthday, making it almost 38 years old now. For the first 25 or so years of its life, it was sitting on my melon for many wonderful outdoor days spent fishing, birding, gardening, hiking, shooting, vacationing and just about anything else one can think of. It's been with me on an African hunt, fishing in numerous places around and beyond Canada and the U.S., and countless birding forays. It has endured probably 100 or so launderings, ranging from automatic washing machines to manual scrub-boards. It's be worn while painting, mowing grass, cutting and splitting firewood, construction (and destruction!...) projects, it's shaded my face during numerous naps on long airplane flights, and it's perched jauntily on my head while simply sitting on the deck and enjoying a cool drink.

At about that 25-year mark, it developed a tiny hole in the fabric right in the front centre area of the crown. By this time, my wife had progressed from loving it...to tolerating it...to hating it for its increasingly bedraggled condition. Despite frequent washings, despite several dye-jobs to rejuvenate its faded complexion, it looked like hell. On a visit to Toronto, she insisted that we visit the Tilley plant/store and take advantage of their lifetime warranty.

I agreed, although I wasn't convinced that it was bad enough to qualify for a free replacement. We stepped inside the store, the clerk at the counter took one look at it...marked with paint and blood and sweat and who-knows-what-else...and said "Oh, yeah...you need a new hat!"

Did I? My head had spent over two decades teaching that hat exactly what shape it needed to adopt to fit me perfectly, to shade my eyes and to look the way I wanted it to look; did I really need a new hat? As the clerk showed me the current offerings and helped me to find the correct size, I was growing increasingly agitated at the idea of walking out...even in a new hat...and leaving my old friend behind. I think the girl was familiar with the phenomenon; the hat was older than she was, and she could discern my attachment to it. She casually remarked "Don't worry...you get to keep the old one too!"

My wife was horrified; the whole idea was to make me bid adios to my old hat, and now she had learned that it wasn't actually going anywhere. To ease her mind, I told her "Don't worry, Honey, this will be the hat I use for the Hallowe'en scarecrow". We always set up a scarecrow on the lawn for the holiday, and this hat looked the part.

So the hat was on the scarecrow's head later that month, and it looked great. In fact, it looked so great that I decided I wasn't done wearing it yet. So it started to join me on some of the wilder, woolier or just plain dirtier activities in which I indulged. Specifically, fishing and birding.

So, another decade passed. I wore the new Tilley when we went into town, or otherwise were in polite society, but for serious hat stuff the old Tilley reigned supreme.

Yesterday, I joined a buddy for some catfishing on the Red River, with the old girl scrunched down on my head as per usual. I turned my head just the wrong way, the wind gusted just the other way, and off into the river flew my aged treasure! The current is swift there, and the hat was rapidly disappearing downriver when a kindly soul who saw me racing after the hat deftly cast out his line and snagged it on the first try. He reeled it in and presented it to me with a smile; I thanked him profusely, shook off the hat, pulled it onto my head...and just about ripped the crown from the brim. The old fabric had pretty much rotted away, and my hat was no more.



We got home, and I was crestfallen when I told my wife what had happened. She grinned an evil grin, and gloated that it would finally be thrown away. I looked at her like she had lost her mind. "This hat is going nowhere! It will live in a place of honour forever!"

And so it shall; not sure yet where, but it's likely gonna be in the fishroom where my wife rarely goes...and it's gotta be high enough that she can't reach it.

 

[jjohnwm]

Hat problem solved! Presenting Two-Face, a wild boar that represents some of my finest DIY taxidermy. He lives high up on the wall above the stair leading down to the dungeon...er, the basement...and is inaccessibe even to me without carrying a ladder halfway down the stairs and then carefully standing it up on the correct stair and leaning against the wall.


The hat is now safe. As far as Sharon is concerned...it might as well be on Pluto! In fact, she may never even notice it at all.