Neighborhood Birds...

[birdguy 3,943]

This week I'm posting pictures of neighborhood birds.  These are just a few of the birds we see in our yard, in the park across the street, and at the wildlife refuge.  Every day when I was not at the refuge I became a fixture in the park.  That guy with a camera and a pair of binoculars hanging from his neck.  The Ladder-backed Woodpecker I got in our back yard on one of our pecan trees.

1 - American Robin

2 - Black Phoebe

3 - Blue Grossbeak

4 - Blue Jay

5 - Cassin's Sparrow

6 - Curved-bill Thrasher

7 - Eurasian Collared Dove

8 - Ladder-backed Woodpecker

9 - Loggerhead Shrike

10 - Mourning Dove

11 - American Roadrunner

[RichieFly 712]

Thanks for posting these. I have a similar mix of avian friends in my west Texas neighborhood.

[philmurfin 73]

Thanks for those, very interesting, they are very different to the birds here in the UK.

Best....  Phil

[Steve Dra 7,557]

The last pic of the roadrunner is totally fake!   We ALL know a real roadrunner looks like this:

[birdguy 3,943]

That's the more colorful Navy roadrunner that looks like the signalman has run up the code flags.  Mine is a Marine Corps roadrunner.  You can tell by the camouflage BDUs.   Ooorah!

Noel

[psolk 3,037]

We have 4 of these majestic birds that perch in our back yard.  We believe Mama Eagle is with an egg right now.  This morning one of the juveniles whose head has not turned white yet as 10 feet away from me in the yard... 

 

[JRBarrett 3,034]

I live near a river in upstate New York, and we do have breeding pairs of Eagles that are often seen near the water. 

I have always been amused by the Phoebe, which are plentiful around here in summer. I refer to them as “suicide birds” because one of their common calls sounds like “Here kitty kitty”

[JRBarrett 3,034]

A few years ago, the city erected a tall wooden pole with a cross arm on an island in the middle of the river in an attempt to attract nesting Ospreys. For a couple of years it was not used, but about 4 years ago, an Osprey did build a nest there, and now it is used every summer. Not sure if it the same bird each year - it might be.

[birdguy 3,943]

Eagles and Ospreys are pretty rare around here.  Have only ever seen one Osprey at the refuge and I got a picture of it.  It was pretty far away so the picture quality isn't that good.

I've seen a couple of eagles but never got a picture  of any.

Up in Wyoming it's not uncommon to see Osprey nests on the top of telephone poles.

Noel

Edited April 7, 2021 by birdguy

[psolk 3,037]

We are fortunate that the Bald Eagle population is growing here in the NE.  It doesn't even look like "ours" have been tagged yet.  The Osprey around here are LOUD!  Man can those things make some noise.  The most majestic of them all was a wayward Albatross that somehow ended up in the Northern Hemisphere.  Wingspan had to be 10 feet.  Our house is ~20 feet above the river with a bunch of trees that have limbs overhanging the river.  Quite often the Eagles will come by at eye level at full bore lining up a strike on something in the river and watching them is simply amazing.  We actually back up to a nature preserve so inevitably I've become a bird watcher 🙂  Yesterday the Juvenile was in the yard so it's head hasn't changed yet.  I'll post some pics later.