Birding / nature / photography ~ Older Asexuals for light walking and hiking nature adventures ~

[Muledeer]

After looking at all of these posted Jays, I believe the birds I saw on Friday were actually a pair of Stellar Jays.  They must have been passing through, because I have only seen mountain bluebirds bearing blue plumage at that location.

I saw four elk today.  Two cows and a calf crossing the river, then a large bull followed them about ten minutes later.

[Skycaptain]

Surely on AVEN the most common one is the David Jay 

[daveb]

15 hours ago, Skycaptain said:

Surely on AVEN the most common one is the David Jay 

Maybe cited, but rarely sighted though.

[Skycaptain]

I just had a pleasant surprise. Driving along a wooded country lane near home and a Sika Deer crossed in front of me. I've never seen one in the wild before 

[Elftober Country]

51 minutes ago, Skycaptain said:

I just had a pleasant surprise. Driving along a wooded country lane near home and a Sika Deer crossed in front of me. I've never seen one in the wild before 

I'm guessing the deer was luckier than the pheasant from the other week!

[Muledeer]

5 hours ago, Skycaptain said:

I just had a pleasant surprise. Driving along a wooded country lane near home and a Sika Deer crossed in front of me. I've never seen one in the wild before 

I just googled that species and realized I had already researched them last summer when I saw some large spotted deer on my property, which turned out to be just Mule deer fawns.   Sika Deer are an introduced species to Britain.   They are native to Japan and eastern Asia.  Do you have a native species of deer?  How about other large ungulates like elk or moose?  

[Skycaptain]

We don't have native large ungulates. I think we have native deer, but species have been introduced into Britain since the Roman times (rabbits) if not before, so remembering which are native and which are introductions gets confusing. 

[Tja]

Saw a beautiful bald eagle fly across the highway, as I was driving.

Never saw one, in person, before. Majestic!

 

Off topic:

Sent you a PM, @Skycaptain. 

[Myssterry]

@Muledeer  The UK native deer are the roe and the red.  Fallow deer were introduced in the 11th Century or possibly earlier, so are regarded as native now.  The deer rut is happening now, mainly posturing and the males pushing each other, but the red deer fight for real and can fight until one male is mortally injured.

 

The autumn colours are developing.  The pic is of a tulip tree in the local park.

 

 

 

[LVG]

I love tulip trees. Their flowers are so interesting. I'm considering getting a tattoo of one in the future. 

[daveb]

Saw a loon today. It let us get up real close.

[GeoAmy]

I always thought that snipes weren't real and were just a silly hoax (i.e. snipe hunt).  Turns out they are a thing.  Saw this one this past weekend at a park not too far from my house.  It's a Wilson's Snipe.  I also continue to be amazed at the variety of birds here in Texas especially since many species migrate through here in the spring and fall.

[daveb]

On 10/16/2017 at 7:50 PM, daveb said:

Saw a loon today. It let us get up real close.

Maybe it wasn't a loon?

[Blackthorn]

I love the autumn colours.  The local woods are beautiful at the moment.

 

Two robins visited the garden today.  Not sure if they were a pair or competing for territory!

I saw a nuthatch in my garden the other day - first time I have had one visit, though I have seen them in nearby woods before.

[LVG]

I saw a praying mantis today. Such an amazing insect. 

[teatree]

Out walking in the woods yesterday with my dogs, I spied a HUGE wasp nest attached to a rather spindly tree. I didn't have my phone on me so couldn't take a picture, but it was at least two feet deep and and maybe 15 inches across. (Sorry, can't think in metric....) I stood for a bit and admired all the lovely whorls--nature is so amazing. 

[GeoAmy]

We had a perfect day in Houston today so I went for a bike ride after work.  Saw my first ever American Kestrel.  It was during the "golden hour" so he had a nice glow.  And I had packed my camera in my backpack so I was able to capture the moment.  The variety of birds in the park behind my neighborhood continues to impress me.  Seems like I see something new nearly every time I go there!

[Muledeer]

A Mule deer doe and her two fawns have been sharing my surroundings with me all summer, but in the last few weeks we have become quite friendly.  They are not afraid of me or my German Shepherd.  The dog lets them be and doesn't even bark at them anymore.   These deer are not quite tame enough to hand feed, but they don't run away like most deer and as long as we are about 25 feet apart, they just hang out and watch us.  The fawns are very cute and they have lost their spots by now.  Yesterday I watched the whole family graze on my lawn for about ten minutes.  It is the only green grass left in the area and I am amazed that they can still find enough to eat as it has been heavily grazed by wildlife and livestock .   I have a ton of photos so will be posting them when I get the chance.

 

[LVG]

Caught this guy wandering my neighborhood. Sorry the quality sucks. Phone camera zooms are crap.

 

 

[Elftober Country]

14 hours ago, LVG said:

Caught this guy wandering my neighborhood. Sorry the quality sucks. Phone camera zooms are crap.

 

 

Oh my god! That's amazing  

 

I'm out in the countryside this week. There are lots of Jays around. I'll try and get a half decent photo to post  

[Elftober Country]

Not exactly exciting, but I found this little dude when I was collecting logs...

Spoiler

 

 

[daveb]

4 hours ago, October Country said:

Not exactly exciting, but I found this little dude

I know one AVENite that probably loves that.

 

Here's a photo of the bird I saw in Montreal that I thought was a loon. Anyone know what it is?

[GeoAmy]

@daveb Double-crested Cormorant  It will be headed south soon if it hasn't already.

[daveb]

OK.

It looks different from the double-crested cormorant pics I can find - they don't show a white throat. And the bird we saw didn't appear to have any crests.

[GeoAmy]

Juveniles (1st year) have the white throat.  And they don't have a crest so not sure why they are called that!  Often the juveniles of many birds are a different color making them difficult to ID.  Breeding and nonbreeding plumage makes for variations that add to the ID challenge as well.  I use the Sibley guide to Birds for ID of north american birds.  Its one of the better books you can buy.

[LVG]

Also, Cornell University's All About Birds website is an amazing reference for birds. They feature everything from sound clips to different plumage pictures. 

 

They also have an app called Merlin. 

[daveb]

Thanks, @GeoAmy and @LVG!

 

(I do better with west coast birds of North America)  but I'm still a rank amateur  

[Elftober Country]

I had a pretty interesting day, yesterday. I saw a fox and a stoat (or weasel) not sure which?

 

Spoiler

Q. What's the difference between a stoat and weasel?
A. A Weasel is weasily wecognised and a stoat is stoataly different

3

 

Also went to the Eden Project, here are a couple of pics...

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

1

 

[Skycaptain]

@October Country, Yays for the pictures

 

 for the gag 

[Myssterry]

Was excited to see a small flock of redwings in the garden trees.