edm@vrdxhq.verdix.com (Ed Matthews) (02/11/91)
I thought I would engage in a little stream of birding here... I was out this weekend at one of my local parks, Manassas Battlefield National Park, and noticed that the Park Service had cut down every snag that could potentially ever fall in the direction of one of the trails, including some that Pileated Woodpeckers were actively feeding from and some nest sites that I'd staked out last year to watch this spring. As the song goes, "When will they ever learn?" Ever been walking around and say to yourself "I've never seen X around here" when voila X appears? Happened again this weekend beside Bull Run (of the Battle of Bull Run fame) with a Great Blue Heron. I uttered the incantation and presto! a GBH took wing from a limb about twenty feet up in a sycamore tree. Didn't even have the manners to grok at me. Don't they sound just awful? Ever notice how hard it is to ID birds when they're flying head on at you at eye level? My wife and I were crossing a bridge when we saw a really long winged creature come flying straight on at us. As it veered to the side, the long Great Blue Heron neck came into view. The Tufted Titmice have been singing in the tree tops for two weeks now: Peter-Peter-Peter. The Eastern Blue Birds have joined them for about the last ten days. Is it my imagination or are the male blue birds more spectacularly blue this winter than ever? One of the most rewarding sights for me has to be sitting up on cliffs or bluffs above a river and have Canada Geese come winging by at eye-level. In the summer, I go out to Mather Gorge on the Potomac just north of Washington DC. At 6-6:30 a.m., it is generally foggy enough so that you can hear the geese coming for a few hundred meters before you can glimpse them for twenty meters. Splendid sight. Got to see one of my favorite birds this weekend, Certhia familiaris, the Brown Creeper. They are hard to spot and uncommon as well. Checking my logs, I saw only one last year, in Whitchurch, Hampshire, England. Makes me wonder why the familiaris. Taking up the recent Pileated Woodpecker thread, I'll keep watching them while the rest of the world argues about *the one correct way* to pronounce the name. We are blessed here to have a large population. I have seen hundreds and saw five more yesterday without looking for them. Before you get jealous, know that I have never birded west of the Atlantic Coast of the US, so there are tens of birds, probably in your back yard, that I have not had the chance to see. Can't wait for that three week trip to the San Francisco Bay area this fall. Back to the original thread, if you want to see Pileateds, they love sycamores, are likely to be found near water/swampy ground, and are most active between sunrise and nine in the morning. After that, they seem to get reclusive, except in breeding season. Back to nemesis birds. Red-Headed Woodpecker. I have *never* seen one, despite hours and hours of looking at known sites. What gives? Hey, I just noticed that "our" (notice how we get possesive of birds?) baby American Bitterns made page 1121 of American Birds, winter 1990. It sure was fun watching those guys grow up -- they really have neat plumage changes as they grow. I'm an unabashed Turkey Vulture fan. People look at me funny when I admit that. Oh well, there's not much to beat them for grace and majesty on the wing (at least here on the east coast). We have a roost about 300 meters from my house where twenty or more birds spend the night. They leave before dark and come in to roost at 4 p.m. give or take ten minutes every day. You can set your watch by them. One morning as I was walking my dog at about 5:30, it was really dark, but just barely light enough with the moon to see seven TVs come drifting over my house at twenty feet off the ground, looking for thermals. Yesterday I watched them come in, spilling wind from their wings to lose altitude. Looked like they were playing. Speaking of just barely off the ground, I used to play soccer after work, directly on the flight path of the local Canada Geese. Besides being treated to some wonderfully lush and green grass (they sure are messy!) we got to see Vs of honkers come in at ten feet off the ground directly over head at good speed. The whistle of their wings and the breeze they made was fantastic. Enough musings... -- Ed Matthews edm@verdix.com Verdix Corporation Headquarters (703) 378-7600 Chantilly, Virginia
sid@jato.jpl.nasa.gov (Sid Johnson WB6VWH) (02/13/91)
In article <46369@vrdxhq.verdix.com> edm@vrdxhq.verdix.com (Ed Matthews) writes: >I thought I would engage in a little stream of birding here... > >I was out this weekend at one of my local parks, Manassas Battlefield >National Park, and noticed that the Park Service had cut down every >snag that could potentially ever fall in the direction of one of the >trails, including some that Pileated Woodpeckers were actively feeding >from and some nest sites that I'd staked out last year to watch this >spring. As the song goes, "When will they ever learn?" > Know what you mean. In the past two months I have been to 2 desert wildlife refuges, Piute Ponds and San Jacinto refuge. Both are supplied with waste water, or used to be. Both are nearly bone dry. Three of the pons at San Jacinto were completely dry, the 4th had just enough water to cover a ducks foot. Needless to say there were few birds. Now, if you don't put that water in the refuge what do you do with the stuff, especially sewer pond outflow? > >Ever notice how hard it is to ID birds when they're flying head on at you >at eye level? My wife and I were crossing a bridge when we saw a really Same goes for flying directly away. Happenes to me all the time.. > >One of the most rewarding sights for me has to be sitting up on cliffs or >bluffs above a river and have Canada Geese come winging by at eye-level. I'd love to see that sight. Karen and I saw several large (600-1000birds) flocks of Snow Geese at Salton Sea last weekend. They are impressive on the ground. When the whole flock takes to the air it is positively awesome. > >Brown Creeper. They are hard to spot and uncommon as well. Checking my >logs, I saw only one last year, in Whitchurch, Hampshire, England. Makes Sometimes I think that is like the word comman. There are lots of comman xxx species that are not comman in CA. Creepers are tough though, here too. Three or four a year is a good score. >Back to nemesis birds. Red-Headed Woodpecker. I have *never* seen one, >despite hours and hours of looking at known sites. What gives? Well, everytime I go to Louisiana there are no Pileateds, but you have to beat the Red-headeds of with a stick. Lets see now....there are Pileated in VA and Red-headeds in LA....so if you go to LA and I go to VA it figures that you will see Pileated and I will see Red-headed. Isn't that how it works? >majesty on the wing (at least here on the east coast). We have a roost I agree TVs are really a fantastic bird. Problem is that here in the SW there are so many. Ravens too, everywhere. That means you have to pay attention to every single one, even if you have seen azillion that day. If you don't you will miss something important. At San Jacinto I noticed a bird soaring, quit high and nearly a mile away. I started to mark it off as another TV when it started to flap its wings. Mighty unusual for a TV at that altitude. Turned out to be a Golden Eagle. Now if ravens, TVs, hawks and eagles would all fly around together so you could judge the relative size things would be easier, but they all *know* that and only do it when you are not looking. Speaking of birds knowing things.... There is a Lewis Woodpecker that has taken up residency at the entrance to the south parking lot at JPL. Same telephone pole, everyday, alll day. You can drive right up to that pole and watch that woodpecker watching you for 30 minutes. Now, just *try* pointing a camera at him and you will see an instant disappearing act behind the pole. All woodpeckers know the same trick. Where do they learn this stuff? Also, have you noticed that an unfamiliar bird will stay still till it sees you reach for your field guide. Then ziip its gone. Some are more cocky and wait till you are ready for your 2nd look. They can be tricked sometimes. We did it two weeks ago at San Jacinto. A bird popped up onto a tumble weed about 20 ft away and started singing. It looked vaguely familiar but we couldn't place it. Karen got behind me where the bird couldn't see that she was using the dreaded tome of Peterson identification. I kept it in the binocs and described what she had missed. "Got it! Sage Thrasher!" she whispered. The words "got it" were barely out of her mouth when the bird bolted for cover. I suppose it will now have to go to some kind of bird remedial school as punishment for allowing such a thing to happen. >Enough musings... Nay, never enough. >Ed Matthews edm@verdix.com >Verdix Corporation Headquarters (703) 378-7600 >Chantilly, Virginia Sid Johnson Jet Propulsion Laboratory sid@jato.jpl.nasa.gov
sandee@sun16.scri.fsu.edu (Daan Sandee) (02/13/91)
In article <1991Feb13.021823.13039@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> sid@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Sid Johnson WB6VWH) writes: =In article <46369@vrdxhq.verdix.com> edm@vrdxhq.verdix.com (Ed Matthews) writes: = =>Back to nemesis birds. Red-Headed Woodpecker. I have *never* seen one, =>despite hours and hours of looking at known sites. What gives? = =Well, everytime I go to Louisiana there are no Pileateds, but you have to =beat the Red-headeds of with a stick. Lets see now....there are Pileated =in VA and Red-headeds in LA....so if you go to LA and I go to VA it figures =that you will see Pileated and I will see Red-headed. Isn't that how it =works? = or both of you could come here ... I have Red-headed year round in my back yard, and a trip in the woods usually turns up Pileated. Red-cockaded needs a little work, though. Daan Sandee sandee@sun16.scri.fsu.edu Supercomputer Computations Research Institute Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052 (904) 644-7045
misan@ra.abo.fi (Annika Forsten DC) (02/14/91)
In article <46369@vrdxhq.verdix.com> edm@vrdxhq.verdix.com (Ed Matthews) writes: > Got to see one of my favorite birds this weekend, Certhia familiaris, the > Brown Creeper. They are hard to spot and uncommon as well. Checking my > logs, I saw only one last year, in Whitchurch, Hampshire, England. Makes > me wonder why the familiaris. Well, Linne named many birds in the 18th century. And in Sweden the Brown Creeper (or Treecreeper as it is called over here) is quite common. The Short-toed Treecreeper is a rarity in Scandinavia, but is common in Western Europe. It is called Certhia brachydactyla. annika forsten, finland