“Unusual Birds” & Trees in your area ?

I can’t remember if I mentioned the trumpeter swan who got lost or slept in when the flock left. It spent 2 winters in the wetland down the street. And this spring it seemed to have found a mate! Well the mate left, and shortly after it was found dead.. the local paper said it was from a broken heart. But not too long later it’s rumored to have died from the avian flu
 
evo said:
I can’t remember if I mentioned the trumpeter swan who got lost or slept in when the flock left. It spent 2 winters in the wetland down the street. And this spring it seemed to have found a mate! Well the mate left, and shortly after it was found dead.. the local paper said it was from a broken heart. But not too long later it’s rumored to have died from the avian flu
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I worked in Ireland for ~ 11 months in 1984. I started fly-fishing to pass some of my free time on the Black River.
I had flocks of trumpeter swans fly over me; very loud; and very impressive !
 
New to me. Was camping on a sea island near Edisto and heard a Jet flying low and fast nearby. Caught movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a turkey vulture in an extremely high speed dive! They can dive at over 60 mph and do this as part of their courtship ritual. I watched a couple of these awesome birds repeatedly dive several times. The sound is amazing, and the speed is spectacular to see.
 
Mike Islander said:
New to me. Was camping on a sea island near Edisto and heard a Jet flying low and fast nearby. Caught movement out of the corner of my eye. It was a turkey vulture in an extremely high speed dive! They can dive at over 60 mph and do this as part of their courtship ritual. I watched a couple of these awesome birds repeatedly dive several times. The sound is amazing, and the speed is spectacular to see.
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I have lots of turkey vultures in the area. (Does that mean I have lots of dead animals around ?)
I have never seen one “dive”; interesting.

Several years ago, a vulture picked up a racoon carcass from the woods behind my house. I found the vulture on the peak of my house roof dismembering the racoon.

Disgusting & very messy ! ! !
 
GregManning said:
I have lots of turkey vultures in the area. (Does that mean I have lots of dead animals around ?)
I have never seen one “dive”; interesting.

Several years ago, a vulture picked up a racoon carcass from the woods behind my house. I found the vulture on the peak of my house roof dismembering the racoon.

Disgusting & very messy ! ! !
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First time I've seen it in 41 years of hiking these parts. Must be a bit rare. Man it is awesome, especially the sound.
 
Mike Islander said:
First time I've seen it in 41 years of hiking these parts. Must be a bit rare. Man it is awesome, especially the sound.
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I think I have mentioned previously, I’ve had actual Wild Turkeys roost in the trees directly behind my house. They must “glide” into the tree branches at night, because I do not hear them.

However, in the morning when they leave the roost, they make a terrific racket as their wings hit branches to get into flight.
 
GregManning said:
I think I have mentioned previously, I’ve had actual Wild Turkeys roost in the trees directly behind my house. They must “glide” into the tree branches at night, because I do not hear them.

However, in the morning when they leave the roost, they make a terrific racket as their wings hit branches to get into flight.
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Yes, a very different thing that they do that is loud. I've also had them fly up off the ground and out of a heavy pine woods hedgerow without making almost any noise at all. This can be a very "exciting" experience when they suddenly pass in front of your face when you are hiking into the deer stand.
 
I get all excited when I see vultures everywhere around me they are common, but we don’t get the thermals they need on the island! From the 15 years I’ve been here I’ve only seen them 3 times. The last being last summer, we watched about 30 of them balled up in the sky riding the thermal.
 
I cleaned up some storm damaged trees from within the fenced area around a cave entrance. Two black vultures were nesting at the cave entrance and were not fazed by a running chainsaw. I needed to fell a standing spar that was only 12 ft away from them. I tried to keep one eye on them, one eye on my work in case they felt the need to defend their nest. Black vultures can be aggressive and can kill calves, goats, etc. Fortunately, they stayed put for the hour while I was cutting near them.
 
Dan Cobb said:
I cleaned up some storm damaged trees from within the fenced area around a cave entrance. Two black vultures were nesting at the cave entrance and were not fazed by a running chainsaw. I needed to fell a standing spar that was only 12 ft away from them. I tried to keep one eye on them, one eye on my work in case they felt the need to defend their nest. Black vultures can be aggressive and can kill calves, goats, etc. Fortunately, they stayed put for the hour while I was cutting near them.
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They are bad ass birds! Now eagles are just over glorified seagulls….
 
I was at a clients house a few months back, they had a very elaborate garden, including several human made rock outcroppings. While touring about we were informed to beware the nesting turkey vultures ( they were using the rock outcroppings) as they could be territorial and projectile vomit if we got too close. I had no idea they could do that, and didn’t stick around to experience it firsthand!
 
Nighthawks!! Only see them during migration and not every year. Only a handful this evening doing their acrobatics chasing insects, hopefully more on the way.
 
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