Birds!

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What a cute little bird! I love it’s golden crest!

Farther north, we have the ruby-crowned kinglet, but I have never seen it myself.

https://ebird.org/globalbigday?utm_sour ... -327466856

Click just to see the awesome graphic of birds of the world. This is sponsored by Cornell University.

I finally caught a good look at a White-eyed Vireo who flitted down into the lower canopy where I could see it. I confirmed that the song I associated with the White-eyed Vireo did come out of this bird's mouth.

So I watched and s/he sung while flitting around and all was grand until...suddenly...what came out of that birds mouth was a ruckus of different sounds, notes and tones that sounded like a catbird's mimics. But this was not a catbird. I got to watch this vireo for quite some time and I thought I was going mad.

Learning to identify birds is such a different game now than it was when I was coming up. Now I can google, lying in my hammock, songs and calls of the White-eyed Vireo and listen to my choice of four featured videos. And yes, they do make this cacophony of sounds.

White-eyed Vireo

Beautiful duck, that common pochard. We have some similar ducks, but I have never learned fresh water fowl very well so can't pullup up a name.

The mandarin duck, now there's a spectacular bird. We have the wood duck; the male is the closest we get to something like the mandarin.

I was quite blessed in regards to learning bird calls. One of the happiest times of my life was when I was taking classes at the Kibbe Field Station. Classes were completely in the field. For ornithology, we had to be able to identify birds by sight and sound. Nothing replaces going into the field with an expert who is pointing out this and that and opening a wonderful world.

Cornell University has a bird program and in it there is an online class on how to learn bird songs. I did not take it as I have little spare time and it also cost $. You might find it interesting.

I can't see my songbirds in the canopy either.

I have a good assortment at the feeder, Redbirds,Mourning Doves,Goldfinches,various sparrows,Bluejays, Cowbirds,Crows,Towhee,and various woodpeckers.
No Hummingbirds yet,when they show up the Baltimore Orioles won’t be far behind.They like sliced oranges so I put some out for them.
There are spring warblers out but they are hard to identify in the trees.
When we had a major drought years back canopy birds were coming to the bird bath to drink.Scarlet Tanagers and Raincrows, birds that usually don’t come to the ground.
The best sighting this year was a snow goose .I guess he heard my domestic geese and was lonely.He was standing in the yard by their coop and when he saw me he just walked down the hill to the river.Amazing.

MissLizard, we saw rafts and rafts of blue-winged teal on the Buffalo River. I was able to paddle up fairly close to one group, so beautiful. And at dusk, great numbers in the sky flew over our tent.

I did have a bird question for you: On the 3rd and 4th nights on the Buffalo (ie, getting closer to the White), just past dusk and quite dark, I heard a distinctive bird call. The night calling birds that I am aware of are: Whip-poor-wills, Chuck Wills Widow, Nighthawks, and occasionally mocking birds will call into the night. The owls I recognize by call are: Barred, Hoot, and Burrowing. I can definitively say, the call was none of those.

Any other birds you know of in the area who call after dark?

Possibly a Night Heron?
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bla ... n/overview

I've heard some house finches, white-crowned sparrows, and Bewick's wrens around lately.

Saw a couple of grey wagtails perched on the roof at work. I'd caught the odd glimpse of one, but hadn't realised there was a second. I hope they stick around when people start coming back post-lockdown. They're more colourful than the name suggests- they've got more yellow on them than the "yellow" wagtail. Grey wagtails have good associations for me- on days off I sometimes visit Knaresborough, where you can watch dozens of them chasing insects above the rapids on the River Nidd.

Two treecreepers on the same tree. They were funny to watch: each would walk up the trunk a few feet, then flutter down and start again, but they were doing it out of phase with each other so the effect was like some kind of mechanical toy. I only saw them because I was staring vacantly into the trees at the right moment.

I had a nifty sighting last week. I was in a parking lot near the bay and soaring overhead was a Magnificent Frigatebird. They are not often spotted closer to shore. They are more pelagic. Very unusual to see one actually over land, even if the Gulf was nearby.

I wonder if the red tide is killing too many fish....

^Amazing!

Rather more mundane: this week I saw my first Canada goose and barnacle goose goslings of the year. The barnacle goslings are pale grey and have an enormously thick coat of down. This is because they're normally hatched on remote clifftops around the Arctic Circle, and have to immediately jump off the cliff to get to their feeding grounds. Many don't survive. This flock lives year round on a glorified duck pond in Yorkshire, so they have it easy.

Summer Tanager singing right outside the living room window!!I could couch watch it.

^ I live in southish-centralish Florida. That day, I was at the doctor's office which is pretty close to the Gulf Coast.

I have seen them before in the Everglades. What I haven't seen is a male with his big red throat ballooned out.