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

[Earthling]

I'm over 50 - my hobbies are birding and photography. If you want to go for a light early morning nature adventure in the Sacramento area drop me an e :0)

Yesterday I saw 2 Bald Eagles and a Great-tailed Grackle which is most unusual because we don't have those here ! :)

[Mz Terry]

I go out birding in the UK. :) Today's excitement - male and female goshawks flying overhead.

[Earthling]

:D That's awesome ! I love birds of prey <3 Used to work in rehab with them. I love all birds, and animals <3 Wish we lived closer :)

[the bumbling rotifer]

Unfortunately Earthling I'm also in the UK; if I lived closer I'd definitely be up for meeting up to do some birding.

I'm going on a boat trip to see sea eagles fishing next week. :D There should also be lots and lots of Manx Shearwaters, since a third of the global population nests on the island neighbouring the one that I'll be visiting.

[Earthling]

Oh ! I will be with you in spirit !!! Sea Eagles <3 and the Shearwaters <3 Is it possible to share photos in these threads ?

[the bumbling rotifer]

It is!

You'll have to upload any pictures to an image sharing website first, since you can't upload photos directly to AVEN. I use Google web albums, but that can sometimes be a little bit fiddly with privacy settings. I believe a lot of people use Imgur. Other folk will be able to tell you what they use :).

Once you have uploaded a photo, you'll need to copy its url (address). You can then insert it into a post in two ways:

- If you're on a computer there's a wee picture icon (I think it's an image of a tree) above the text box that will let you paste in the url.

- If you're on a mobile, you have to do it manually: you type (img=example), substituting "example" for your link address. You'll also need to use square brackets instead of round brackets.

I've probably only confused you with this :p. If you need any more help, please feel free to drop me a message :).

I'm afraid that I'm unlikely to have any photos of the sea eagles and shearwaters, though. My bird photography is appauling; I much prefer photographing butterflies and dragonflies. :D

[HomeBirdJen]

The resident blue tit returned to my window mounted feeder this morning, along with a small group of sparrows! There is a rowan tree just outside the window of my flat so they often sit in there and have a good ol' chirp!

Off to Scotland in a few weeks time to reconnect with nature and my creative side, hopefully I'll get to see some red kites and perhaps get a bird of prey to come to perch on my arm-where we're staying I think they still do that there :)

[Earthling]

All my fellow birders are in the UK ! I'm in the wrong country :D Red Kits so cool ! We have White Tailed Kites, I love the way they hover when they're hunting - makes for a beautiful picture. The other day I had an Osprey glide over my yard and do circles ever flying higher and higher - they are a fishing eagle <3

[Autumn Sunrise]

I guess I'm in the wrong country too, Earthling :( All those birds of prey - omg! At the moment the nearest I get is the calendar on the wall with (stunning) pictures of owls :)

Oh, the other day, while I was parked outside the Post Office, I did see two wedge-tailed eagles riding the air currents above me for several minutes before they moved on

[stonehengegirl]

I love hiking and looking at nature. I'm on the other side of the US though.

We have a ton of blue herons here.

[Earthling]

Autumn Sunrise I have never seen an owl in the wild ! I have worked in rehab with them, so they are on our bucket lists !!! :0) stonehengegirl I LOVE Blue Herons !!! We have them here and they often fly over me when I'm mucking the horse stalls :0) Today I was over run with Wild Turkeys - they come down the hill in the evenings - maybe 30 of them - and they eat all by bird feeder seed --- I'm always chasing them away with my hat waving :) I love them too <3 haha !!

[the bumbling rotifer]

:o Earthling you've never seen an owl in the wild?

Tawny owls are very common in the UK, and I get quite a few short-eared owls where I live, along with the occasional barn owl. I suspect that Miss Terry & co. also see quite a few little owls.

Tawny owl

Short-eared owl

Barn owl

Little owl

[Earthling]

Oh I LOVE owls !! You're so lucky tbr ! And.... how do you post pics in your thread ? How do we attach photos ? I'm an avid bird photographer and would love to share photos and see birds you all are seeing !!!

<3 !!

[DexM]

:o Earthling you've never seen an owl in the wild?

Tawny owls are very common in the UK, and I get quite a few short-eared owls where I live, along with the occasional barn owl. I suspect that Miss Terry & co. also see quite a few little owls.

Tawny owl

Short-eared owl

Barn owl

Little owl

I have only (and briefly) seen one barn owl in my life, a stat that in my opinion is too low. Such magnificent creatures! All owls are in fact.

Miss Terry and I have been sharing our birding stories for a while now, and although my activities ceased to be a hobby some years back, I do enjoy keeping my (eagle) eyes open whenever I'm out and about. The lake district, in particular Ennerdale, are some of my favourite places to go, and I regularly see buzzards circling the woods up towards Black Sail YHA.

[Finding myself]

I am not a birdwatcher, BUT I love seeing birds when I am out walking, and also love the birdsong. I also love taking photos of the natural world.

This thread is great. Thank you for starting it off Earthling.

[vervain]

I was so delighted to see my very first shortie ever on holiday in Scotland a few weeks ago

I guess you are all familiar with the way you go round all the famous reserves where the stuff is allegedly reliable and abundant, see absolutely nothing, and then drive off in disgust and hen harriers or shorties or whatever the local speciality is just throw themselves across the road in front of you.

If we ever had a real-life AVEN birding adventure in the UK I'd definitely be up for it.

[the bumbling rotifer]

Oh I LOVE owls !! You're so lucky tbr ! And.... how do you post pics in your thread ? How do we attach photos ? I'm an avid bird photographer and would love to share photos and see birds you all are seeing !!!

<3 !!

I may have read your mind and explained it in the spoiler in this post :P

[Skycaptain]

I'm not an ornithologist, but I like walks in the country. My hobby is lepidoptera, but I really appreciate birdsong whilst walking through the meadows and woodlands. Just don't expect me to identify them

[Earthling]

Oh thank you tbr :) I will try and find a wed site this weekend. That would be fun to share photos. That would be amazing for all of us to get together and go birding ! LoL vervain ! - I spent a day at a huge wildlife refuge with not a bird of prey only to have a female and a male Northen Harrier (here in Califronia US) zoom by and seemed to float on the wind and say Hi :0)

[Autumn Sunrise]

Bumbles, those owl pictures are beautiful - thank you! I think my favourite is the eagle-owl - those burning orange eyes are amazing, and the ear tufts look so cute (not that "cute" is a particularly apt description for such a powerful predator :D ) I've only seen one eagle-owl in captivity, years ago when I was in England, and I could hardly tear myself away from it!

We do have owls in Australia, and I'm sure that some of the noises I hear when I'm lying in bed at night are owls, but I've never actually seen one (yet :) ) We do also have tawny frogmouths (and I have seen them), which look rather like owls but are a separate species and are more closely related to nightjars.

The thought of an AVEN birding adventure in the UK is almost enough to make me jump on a plane and head north - how fantastic would it be? :) :D

[Salmacis]

I used to love going birding as a child. I was in my local RSPB children's group; we used to go on walks in the local area and get taught how to identify different species. I distinctly remember being taught the difference between a Mistle Thrush and a Song Thrush (though I still get them mixed up sometimes).

I live in Japan now - there are some beautiful birds here that we don't have in the UK. I do miss Wood Pigeons though. :P

[DexM]

I'm not an ornithologist, but I like walks in the country. My hobby is lepidoptera, but I really appreciate birdsong whilst walking through the meadows and woodlands. Just don't expect me to identify them

That's one of the hardest parts of appreciating birds, hard in the sense of recognising, not annoying, and I learned to just let them all drift in and soak them all up. Lapwings, black birds, thrushes, tits, robins, pigeons, finches and a few others, are all birds that I instantly recognise, but estuary and sea birds are completely baffling to me.

Autumn Sunrise - We got to see a tawny frogmouth at a local wildlife park, and it was the most perculiar bird I've ever seen. I will have to dig my photos out, but even they look weird as he refused to pose for the camera.

[Earthling]

Oh yes, the owl photos are beautiful ! No, I have never seen an owl in the wild. I ran a rehabilitation center and they were brought to me injured - I had a Great Horned owl, and a few Barn Owls, and a little Screech owl. I also had hawks a few falcons. I like to hike and am always looking for owl nesting holes in trees :0) They are huge on my bucket list !!

I've never heard of a Tawny Frogmouth - I'll have to look those up :)

My newest bird I'd never seen before and that came to my feeders a few days ago is called a Black-headed Grosbeak. An orange bird, I thought it was a Bullock's Oriole at first - a pair had visited the week before - but the orange wasn't as vivid and his whole head was black. I was very pleased to find it was something new :) !! It had come back and brought his mate and I am putting out more seed than usual.

It's funny, when I go out to fill the feeders a few "watcher" crows are waiting and then they call and all their friends show up - haha, makes me feel special ~

Cheers Everyone !! Go get some nature this weekend !!! Love to hear what you all see, I'm going birding on the American River tomorrow. Very fun !

:)

[daveb]

I'm not a birder either, just another person who likes seeing birds and recognizes a few species (or genus?) when I'm out and about. I have seen quite a few different kinds over the years - in the wild: owls, hawks (sparrow and red-tailed), egrets, crows*, Canada geese, ducks, seagulls, roadrunners, quail, blackheaded phoebes*, California blue jays* (also called scrub jays. They don't have crests.), mockingbirds, sparrows, robins, woodpeckers, California blackbirds, just to name a few.

(* I see these ones especially often in my neighborhood)

[Butterfly Belle]

I love animals too. We get owls in our yard at night sometimes. A while ago we had a Tawny Frogmouth sitting on our clothes line, and I got to have a good conversation with him. We have a lot of birds in our yard and in the neighbourhood. We get boring old sparrows but also Willy Wagtails, Doves, Galahs, Cockatoos, Kookaburras, Fairy Wrens, Honey Eaters, Peewees, Magpies, Crows, Lorikeets, Mickey birds, Indian Myna's. We've had Willy and Wilma the Willy Wagtails nest about 4 times in probably the last 18months or so in trees just at the back of the house and each time they've successfully hatched 3 babies who I usually name also.

[the bumbling rotifer]

I'm not a birder either, just another person who likes seeing birds and recognizes a few species (or genus?) when I'm out and about. I have seen quite a few different kinds over the years - in the wild: owls, hawks (sparrow and red-tailed), egrets, crows*, Canada geese, ducks, seagulls, roadrunners, quail, blackheaded phoebes*, California blue jays* (also called scrub jays. They don't have crests.), mockingbirds, sparrows, robins, woodpeckers, California blackbirds, just to name a few.

(* I see these ones especially often in my neighborhood)

Roadrunners are real? How did I not know this?!

[Earthling]

daveb - I see you're in southern Ca - have you seen a Great-tailed Grackle !! They just showed up here - i LOVE them !! They are LOUD and comical :0)

I've never seen a Road Runner in person but had a friend that sent me a photo - I'd love to see one !!

Ange, I looked up the Tawny Frogmouths - wow they are cute !!

Getting ready to head out with my camera and fun munching food !!! Have a great day everyone !! Go take a nature walk and see what you see !!!

:)

[daveb]

Oh, yes. Roadrunners are real (but not much like the cartoon). I saw one just a few blocks from where I live, near some orange groves, a while back. I've never seen a Great-tailed Grackle, as far as I know. I have seen herons, mourning doves, meadowlarks, and swans (the last, when I was traveling in Europe, not around here).

[Earthling]

I saw the female Grackle this morning - I heard her first, they are LOUD ! I have a park pass so I go before work often - I think they are nesting near and I'd love to see some babies !!

There were babies all over today - Spring has sprung - a lot of baby Canadian Geese - so so so cute !!! I took a bag of peas - I read an article that it's better to feed them peas than bread. They don't like peas - haha - not one bird would eat them, or eat 2 :) And they sink ! So I will probably go and get some duck food. My birding friend is 93 and she likes to feed the birds and have them come in close . They were getting ready for a big national collegiate long boat rowing races ! The boats and rowers practicing were impressive on the water. Was a fun festive day. I hope you all get a chance to get out this weekend and see some birds !!!

:)

[DexM]

The Tawny Frogmouth. He was, at one point, expertly camouflaged against the tree. It wasn't until I saw a brief head movement that I saw that him.

There was also a carnivorous duck and a very long legged moorhen, who's legs seemed to bend the opposite ways to that of most birds.

@daveb - I have always wanted to see a roadrunner. I do sometimes get envious when there are people who regularly come into contact with birds and animals that I have waited to see all of my life. But I guess that's the beauty of our planet. :)