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

[Skycaptain]

@Tunhope, Small Tortoiseshells are recovering gently. Thirty years ago I saw them daily, then post-millennium I could not see any, that they're recovering is a good sign. Gatekeepers seem to have survived the weird weather well, Red Admirals and Painted Ladies are also having a good year 

 

[Muledeer]

Our two most common birds.  An American Robin and a broad-tailed Hummingbird.  The robin is likely the parent of a nest I recently photographed, which has now been successfully abandoned.  The hummingbird amazed me with her agility.  She was able to grip the smooth edge of the feeder cup and help herself to a bellyful of nectar without resting on a perch or flapping her wings.  This is the feeder mounted just outside my bedroom window so I wake up everyday to the morning buzz of hungry hummers.

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[LVG]

I saw what I think was an American swallow-tailed kite while I was visiting South Carolina last week. The sighting was very brief, and may well have been a different bird, like a tern, but it was still fun to see. 

[GeoAmy]

On Saturday I went to one of the national wildlife refuges near me.  I was amazed at the flock of Wood Storks I encountered.  The group started at about 20 and after an hour, there were over 100!  It was so cool to see them fly in.  These birds are about 40" tall with a 60" wing span, so slightly larger than Great Blue Herons.  Not the prettiest of birds though.  Their range is limited to the Gulf Coast in the US.

[LVG]

That is very cool. Definitely a bird I haven't seen.

[Tunhope]

I did the 'Big butterfly count' today. You spend a quarter hour noting species then send in the details . They're collated to get a picture, nationally. There was a profusion of gatekeepers ( 15 altogether at one time) and a smattering of small whites ( 3 at one time ) but none of the other things I expected to see. I'll do it again in a day or two. Perhaps it was just too hot.

[LVG]

I saw such an interesting sight today. There was a family of crows, and the young ones, I assume, were actually chasing a squirrel around a tree trunk. Every time it would move, they'd hop after it until it jumped onto the trunk. It was so funny to watch and fascinating to watch bird exhibiting play behavior. But given how intelligent crows are, I'm not that surprised. I've seen videos of them, along with ravens, playing in snow.   

[Muledeer]

Animals are just amazing with their behavior, especially cross species interactions.  One time, I watched a dog, cat, tortoise, and a bird all just hanging out in close proximity enjoying each other's company.  The marmots have been keeping me company all summer long.  Sometimes they chirp when greeting me but not always.  Every time I go out to the garden, they are just sitting on the end of the shed watching me, and the dog completely accepts them as they are.  In fact, my new profile photo is one of them.   The last dog had to bark at everything, even the smallest birds.

 

[Muledeer]

I had an extended moment with a ground squirrel today.  It was on alert just outside its den in the rocks by my compost pile.  We were about 5 meters apart and just stared at each other for as long as I could before I got bored with that game.  I kept approaching him to see when he would scurry down his hole.  About ten feet.  

I'm currently doing battle with the pocket gophers in my potato garden.   I don't believe the ground squirrels are currently threatening any of my food crops so we we have an uneasy truce.  I am using poison bait to control the gophers.  I hope the ground squirrels don't eat the poison.

This is a file photo of the Uinta Ground Squirrel:

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[Myssterry]

Lovely, @Muledeer and animal interactions are always interesting to see.  One of the most exciting I ever saw was between two nesting jays and a heron which landed on their tree.  They were incredibly brave flying at the heron to see it off, as when it opened its beak it looked more than capable of killing and swallowing them.

 

On a cuteness note, the squirrels that visit my garden have been back sitting on the fence with stolen peanuts from the bird feeder, and digging in the lawn for buried nuts.  The rain has made that possible again, the drought and extreme heat must have made life hard for them.

 

 

[Muledeer]

This morning, while driving to town (a half hour journey), I saw the following animals:

A large buck mule deer with four points on each antler, along with four other deer; a baby calf moose (didn't see its mother); a pair of cranes, grazing in a hay meadow; a sage chicken (grouse) crossing the road and I had to take evasive action to save its life; a pair of eagles (or maybe buzzards?)resting on fence posts, and lots of magpies.  I wanted to stop and take pictures, but I had to remind myself that this is just normal fauna in our (their) habitat and I was running late for work.

 

Now that I'm wearing my eyeglasses almost all of the time, I am seeing (and enjoying) more things! 

[Skycaptain]

I had a rather bizarre incident this morning. I'm stood beside my taxi on the rank when a pigeon comes past my shoulder flying on full reheat. Less than a second later a Sparrowhawk almost takes my head off, it passed that close, just touched the Transit bus in front and flew off, sans pigeon 

[Tunhope]

That would be in the town @Skycaptain ? Perhaps the sparrowhawk had youngsters and had to take to the streets to find food. They're one of my favourite birds cos they are so skilled at what they do , though this one messed up a bit.

[Skycaptain]

@Tunhope, Sparrowhawks are common in towns. I see many more in town than n the country

[Tunhope]

I didn't know that @SkycaptainI sometimes (rarely) get them in my garden.  

[Skycaptain]

@Tunhope, They go where food is. There's more pigeons, sparrows, starlings et al in the urban environment now. People in towns feed birds because the like them, people in the country don't like them as much because they eat crops.

[LVG]

I saw my first monarch butterfly today. That just means I'll be seeing more in the future.  

[Skycaptain]

6 hours ago, LVG said:

I saw my first monarch butterfly today. That just means I'll be seeing more in the future.  

Jealous - they don't exist here 

[Strange-quark]

[redacted]

[LVG]

Saw a couple more monarchs today. I also saw a pair of cedar waxwings (my avvie photo), which always brighten my day. 

[Madbluejay]

On 6/28/2019 at 2:19 PM, Muledeer said:

Look what I  discovered yesterday:  

 

 

A nest full of American Robin chicks!   I find it interesting that their naked skin color is the same hue of orange as the parent's breast feathers.  I've been watching the nest for the last two weeks but just captured a photo.

The “skin color” is actually nearly devoid of pigment....what you see is blood “irrigated” flesh, organs and muscle tissue.

Edited August 3, 2019 by Madbluejay
Correction

[Muledeer]

Mule Deer:

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[Myssterry]

@Muledeer - the second picture is so lovely.

[Nima]

I don't even consider myself "older", but yet, I'm here. I like the topic, walking and nature watching are two of my favorite things and the one nice thing about my flat is the birds. and bats. We have a large old chimney which is partially grown over right in front of our balcony and a huge chestnut tree as well as smaller diverse leafy trees. And they house quite a large diversity of birds which will drink and bathe in the crooked corner of the rain gutters, build nests and sometimes hop onto our balcony to check out what's there, empty the bird feeder ( especially the pigeons, which leave next to none for the others) and at twilight, the bats swoop by close to your face to scoop up insects, so I really appreciate them.

Besides city pigeons, we have crows (I'm never sure if they're crows or ravens, large beautiful birds) and gorgeous magpies, but also a ... umm ... titmouse? it's a European kind of Sperling. and sparrows. very rarely a pair of swallows. its one of the few reasons I haven't moved yet, the dinky bit of nature I  the city in front of my house. 

[Nima]

These beauties I took a picture of on  July 31st. in German they're called "Pfauenauge" which literally translates to "Peacock Eye". What are they called in English?

 

[Tunhope]

Peacock butterflies @Nima Kat so almost a direct translation. They are beautiful.

[LVG]

We don't have that species in North America. They're quite beautiful. Our most popular butterfly is by far the monarch. 

[Strange-quark]

On 8/22/2019 at 1:47 AM, LVG said:

We don't have that species in North America. They're quite beautiful. Our most popular butterfly is by far the monarch. 

You don't? 👀 In Finnish they're called "Maiden butterflies", in case someone's curious They're very common!

[pickles.]

On 8/21/2019 at 12:18 PM, Nima Kat said:

These beauties I took a picture of on  July 31st.

Gorgeous pic. That's quite the color combo on those flowers!

[Skycaptain]

It makes sense that species don't migrate laterally across oceans, particularly east to west against the prevailing wind. Also if some dolid make it across on a boat there may not be suitable food plants.