The thread for birds and birding

[Proud2baLaker]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

Check out USFWS_Migratory Birds on Facebook. Lots of cool bird stuff. (no I don't work for the USFWS...I just like birds a lot; I'm a fish culturist)

[burd]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

Check out USFWS_Migratory Birds on Facebook. Lots of cool bird stuff. (no I don't work for the USFWS...I just like birds a lot; I'm a fish culturist)

What's a fish culturist, Proud?

[Proud2baLaker]

What's a fish culturist, Proud?

Aquaculture...ie fish farming. On a public scale it's state and/or federal fish hatcheries that raise fish to stock in waterways for sport fishing or for species restoration. Private hatcheries raise fish to stock in private waters (like farm ponds) but may also help stock public waters. Many private hatcheries also raise fish to adult size destined for the dinner table. I'm in that last group. I work as a fish health technician for the worlds largest producer of rainbow trout. I'm responsible for monitoring fish health at my farm from the time the tach until the time they go to our processing plant.

[FreshFish]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

Wow!

We just saw an eagle!

Sitting on a branch of a tree next door.

Not a common sight in this area, to say the least.

[FreshFish]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

Even more wow!

We saw a second eagle!

The first one had a white head, the second a brown one, and was perched on a branch eating a fish. Then they were both in the same tree together.

If this turns out to be a mating pair and they settle near here, that would be amazing.

[LynahFan]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

Even more wow!

We saw a second eagle!

The first one had a white head, the second a brown one, and was perched on a branch eating a fish. Then they were both in the same tree together.

If this turns out to be a mating pair and they settle near here, that would be amazing.

Assuming they're both bald eagles (and if you saw a bald and a golden sitting together in the same tree - quadruple wow!), then I'm pretty sure the brown head is a juvenile, not a female. It can take up to 5 years for them to reach full maturity, so chances are they bred years ago someplace else.

Where do you live?

[FreshFish]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

Assuming they're both bald eagles (and if you saw a bald and a golden sitting together in the same tree - quadruple wow!), then I'm pretty sure the brown head is a juvenile, not a female. It can take up to 5 years for them to reach full maturity, so chances are they bred years ago someplace else.

Where do you live?

Central coastal Connecticut, between New Haven and Rhode Island. We'd seen eagles in the wild when we lived in Wyoming (one actually flew alongside us for about 100 yards eight feet off the ground, totally off the charts wow!), but this is the first time I've seen them here.

[St. Clown]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

Central coastal Connecticut, between New Haven and Rhode Island. We'd seen eagles in the wild when we lived in Wyoming (one actually flew alongside us for about 100 yards eight feet off the ground, totally off the charts wow!), but this is the first time I've seen them here.

Go down to a local landfill, they will often live close to those places as rats will live in them. There's a landfill in Burnsville, just south of the Minnesota River is where the landfill is located. Along the southern side of the landfill is a bald eagle haven. The eagles can be seen soaring some 100 ft above the mounds, and then swooping down every so often.

[aygwm2]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

How Birds Count: Interesting N Y Times video.

[The Sicatoka]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

My winter time neighbors (and the local aerial apex predators) are back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_horned_owl

[The Sicatoka]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

Go down to a local landfill, they will often live close to those places as rats will live in them. There's a landfill in Burnsville, just south of the Minnesota River is where the landfill is located. Along the southern side of the landfill is a bald eagle haven. The eagles can be seen soaring some 100 ft above the mounds, and then swooping down every so often.

Normally if I want to see bald eagles I'll look at Garrison Dam in western ND. They tend to soar the tail waters there.

However, the most recent one I've seen was near a bridge over the Red River on the south edge of Fargo. I've also seen one soaring over I-29 about where the two branches of the Elm River cross it (south of Hillsboro) in the last year or so.

[theprofromdover]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

Saturday morning I saw a bald eagle in Apponaug, RI. First one I've seen here since I moved in June.

[Proud2baLaker]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

If you don't already check it out. Head over to allaboutbirds.org (it's the Cornell bird page) and check out all the "cams" available right now. A few are set up looking at feeders all day and night. One is set up on a great horned owl nest in Georgia and they just hatched out 2 owlets last week. There should be more cams coming online in the near future too.

[leswp1]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

With all this snow I am seeing birds regularly at my feeder that I had only seen once or twice before- house and marsh wrens, the red breasted nuthatch, yellow bellies, downies and hairy wood peckers. I have ground feeders perching- juncos- that I have never seen on the feeder before.

[FreshFish]

Re: The thread for birds and birding

Saturday morning I saw a bald eagle in Apponaug, RI. First one I've seen here since I moved in June.

There was a story in the local paper last week saying that this is eagle season in New England. They even have bird-watching tours on the Connecticut River.