Birds
There are a lot of birds where I live. Some live in the trees around the house and others stop by on their way to wherever they go. I see the birders out in Sam Smith Park all the time with their monster lenses, and I even saw one fellow in full camo gear. I'm no birder. I'm not very good at identifying them at all, but I want to learn.
Some of the birds I've seen around the place that I can identify:
junkos
mourning doves
cardinals
baltimore orioles
grakles (they sometimes swoop down at the cats)
red-winged black birds
blue jays
robins
I've also seen all kinds that I can't identify, not because they are difficult to identify but because of my lack of knowledge.
8 comments:
Around here I can only ID the robins, blue jays, blue birds, magpies, crows, and of course those damned woodpeckers that keep eating my house.
Hi Mr. Anchovy,
I just got a fancy birdfeeder for my birthday, and Ingi and I have really been enjoying watching all the visitors. We are just starting to learn to identify some birds - our most frequent diners are purple finch - the male is very distinctive, and has a lovely rasberry coloured head and chest. I'll bet you have some of these around your place too.
I hear a lot of mourning doves as well as woodpeckers. The birders are an odd lot; but they keep the parks populated. I walk a lot and hate it when it's deserted.
More blue jays means less West Nile: I think?
I don't think I've seen the purple finches yet, but I'll keep an eye out for them.
Patience, I see mourning doves around here all the time. We saw a woodpecker one day some time ago, but I don't know which type.
I want to learn too. Now that we live next to a park (or practically in it) there are all kinds of birds I'd like to identify.
One curious thing that I've noticed is what people refer to as Blue Jays out here are actually Stellar Jays. I found that confusing at first. There are no Blue Jays out here that I've seen.
I highly recommend the Nat'l Wildlife Federation's Field Guide to Birds of North America!
Feeding and watching the birds in our yard is one of the greatest joys of our lives!
Hey Mr. A - I just discovered this great on-line field guide put together by the ROM to common birds that you can customize to any area of Ontario - it's got photos and sounds, and you can also use it to identify fish and amphibians:
http://www.rom.on.ca/ontario/fieldguides.php
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