“Unusual Birds” & Trees in your area ?

Really nice shot of the pileated @pete3d.

I've done some bird pics with a camera attached to telescopes - 600mm f.l. f/7 (85mm objective) and 610mm f.l. f/5.8 (105mm objective.) Challenging for me, but I sometimes do get nice close-ups.
 
Unusual bird event just now. I was sitting on the front porch with the parrot on his perch/stand thingy an arm's length from me. I see a red tailed hawk flying low in my direction from across the street. The hawk disappears from view behind some azaleas, then reappears heading right for me and the parrot, 30 ft away and closing fast. As I hop up, the parrot bails off his perch into the shrubs (his wings are clipped, so he doesn't fly.) Hawk veers off just a few feet from us, without the African Grey meal he was hoping for. Quite a rush for me, more so for the parrot I'm sure. When I first glimpsed the hawk, I was not thinking about him trying to snatch the parrot. It's something I try to be aware of when I have the parrot outdoors, but the light bulb did not come on today as it happened so fast. Lesson learned.
 
We have a mature, spreading Amelanchier that's nice and open on the inside and have a couple feeders on it. Every year at least a couple times we'll get a juvenile Cooper's Hawk bombing through there to try and steal someone off the feeder, be it bird or squirrel. This is right outside our kitchen window so it is quite fun.
 
I picked up a little yellow-billed cuckoo off the ground in my front yard after a failed fledging attempt. Fortunately, the noise he made falling through tree leaves alerted me to his presence and I got him before our neighbor's cat. He was able to fly off shortly thereafter.
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I've had several fledglings that required a little outside assistance to make that successful first flight.
 
Woodpeckers !

I have lived in my house for 32 years. For 31 years it was cedar sided; I used to have ~ 10 bird feeders:
Thistle bags, Sunflower seeds, suite, etc. - - - they attracted a lot of birds out of the woods.
In the early years, the woodpeckers attacked every-single knot in the siding.
Initially, I replace siding panels. They then attacked bare sections to make nests in the insulation.
I covered the holes w/ colored aluminum siding squares using brads. (Estimate: 40 – 50 patches)

Last year I put on composite siding - - - no bird attacks ! (Everlast 7" siding; Azek trim)
 
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Dan Cobb said:
Unusual bird event just now. I was sitting on the front porch with the parrot on his perch/stand thingy an arm's length from me. I see a red tailed hawk flying low in my direction from across the street. The hawk disappears from view behind some azaleas, then reappears heading right for me and the parrot, 30 ft away and closing fast. As I hop up, the parrot bails off his perch into the shrubs (his wings are clipped, so he doesn't fly.) Hawk veers off just a few feet from us, without the African Grey meal he was hoping for. Quite a rush for me, more so for the parrot I'm sure. When I first glimpsed the hawk, I was not thinking about him trying to snatch the parrot. It's something I try to be aware of when I have the parrot outdoors, but the light bulb did not come on today as it happened so fast. Lesson learned.
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That reminds me of the time I was hanging out at a cafe patio in Tuscon. There was a mediumish saguaro cacti with a gila wood pecker nest.. I really enjoyed watch them come and go taking care of the young. One day when the birds were hard at it, I noticed a falcon on top of a building across the street as the woodpecker dived in their hole. There was a BUSY 4 lane city rd with a center turning lane between the two. It was obvious the falcon noticed the woodpecker nest, but I didn’t give it much thought as it seemed so undoable. Next thing that register in my brain was a explosion of feathers 8” from the nesting hole! That’s all the time the falcon needed from a near level perch to nail the woodpecker from that distance of nearly 100’. 8 fucken inches is all the woodpecker got!
 
It's always neat to check out the different bird species when in a different part of the country or a different country. I may love seeing some new-to-me birds that are ho-hum ever so commonplace for the area.

I remember camping next to a guy who was taking photos of some Canada geese. I commented "Isn't that about like taking a picture of a pine tree?" since they're so common. He replied "We don't have them at home!" Point taken.

Cactus nesting birds would be an oddity here.
 
Dan Cobb said:
It's always neat to check out the different bird species when in a different part of the country or a different country. I may love seeing some new-to-me birds that are ho-hum ever so commonplace for the area.

I remember camping next to a guy who was taking photos of some Canada geese. I commented "Isn't that about like taking a picture of a pine tree?" since they're so common. He replied "We don't have them at home!" Point taken.

Cactus nesting birds would be an oddity here.
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They are a odd breed but very similar.

Now Harris hawks are true badasses.. about the size of a small eagle and a family/pack structure (and brains) similar to wolves….
 
Dan Cobb said:
It's always neat to check out the different bird species when in a different part of the country or a different country. I may love seeing some new-to-me birds that are ho-hum ever so commonplace for the area.

I remember camping next to a guy who was taking photos of some Canada geese. I commented "Isn't that about like taking a picture of a pine tree?" since they're so common. He replied "We don't have them at home!" Point taken.

Cactus nesting birds would be an oddity here.
Click to expand...
Canada geese crap everywhere !
I used to work w/ a guy who had a small pond along a1000 ft asphalt drive. The geese made a real mess of the drive.
He "borrowed" a pair of nesting swans, from a breeding farm. (several years in a row)
The swans drove the geese away, AND stayed in the water.

My co-worker just had to provide "feed grain".
After winter froze the pond; the breeder walked out, gathered up the swans, & took them back to his farm.
 
My parents' back lawn extended all the way to a river. The geese were definitely a nuisance. One day we were all looking out the big windows they had and saw a white rabbit hopping around in their back yard. The rabbit started chasing the geese out into the river. It was hilarious. The rabbit chased every single goose out into the water and kept them there for at least an hour. We never figured out whose rabbit that was, but it sure was fun to watch.
 
Anyone know about Blue Birds ?
It seems that they must have extortionary eye-sight.
They feed by darting down from a branch, 30 - >40 ft high, pickup something in the yard grass, then instantly fly back up to some other branch. There is zero searching about.
I haven't figured out where they are nesting, but it seems to be in the adjacent woods.
Nice, pretty birds. Seems to be more individuals that normal here.
 
I've got a lot of wetlands around me.

Favorite birds include

Great blue heron
Some owls
Bald eagles
2 species of hummingbird. One is non migratory
Red winged blackbirds
Swallows
Ducks and geese

Don't care for the mourning doves
 
Wife and I are sitting on the front porch this morning drinking coffee. It's about quarter of 5 and the porch light is on low (It's on a dimmer.) All of a sudden, two owls swoop in and land on the lawn together, the closer one less than 10 feet from where I'm sitting. Startled me for sure!
 
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