Backyard Birds Challenge

[RogueDiscus]

You folks sure have some nice backyards!
Pretty boring activity around here lately, but I need to get that camera outside anyway.

[brewmaster15]

Steve do you have any parks near you? You might want to see if theres any birding groups in your area too. They are a good source.

CT is kind of a small state so I have a real good handle on where to go at what time of year here.
Al


Are these resources any help..
http://www.birdingpal.org/or.htm

https://audubonportland.org/go-outsi...oregon-birding

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...=1570656960203

[Second Hand Pat]

Last one and probably my best shot of the week even though its a crummy picture. This is a bird I have heard hundreds of times on hikes but rarely have I seen it. I did not expect to see it on a small spit of land surrounded by ocean and marsh. Its more a deep woods bird.

Meet Mr. Oven Bird..


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hear its calls here,,, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ovenbird/sounds


Its just a really cool little woodland bird. I wish I had more time to photo it but a runner/dog combo spooked it.

al

Al, please repost this guy.
Pat

[Second Hand Pat]

One of my favorite birds to shoot...the Reddish Egret

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[Second Hand Pat]

Little Blue Heron, these guys are beautiful but especially so in breeding color.

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[brewmaster15]

Nice shots Pat.. I wish I had reddish egrets up here. The little Blue I posted several posts back is still hanging around the marsh as of this weekend. Ive run into a bunch of birder/photographers trying to get a good shot of him. Im hoping I get another shot before he moves on down south. Time will tell.

Al

[Dave Cal]

Al, nice shots. It does look like a Marsh Hawk, a white rump band would clinch it.

[RogueDiscus]

Steve do you have any parks near you? You might want to see if theres any birding groups in your area too. They are a good source.

CT is kind of a small state so I have a real good handle on where to go at what time of year here.
Al


Are these resources any help..
http://www.birdingpal.org/or.htm

https://audubonportland.org/go-outsi...oregon-birding

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...=1570656960203

I was just making a joke.
My backyard is a little slow right now, but I sort of expect a bird-hawk to show up soon. I've started putting seed out again. Being ready to catch a pic is something else.
Thanks for the suggestions. If I made the effort there actually are very many nice places nearby.

[Dave Cal]

I've been waiting for Pat to post, always really good photos.

[Second Hand Pat]

Nice shots Pat.. I wish I had reddish egrets up here. The little Blue I posted several posts back is still hanging around the marsh as of this weekend. Ive run into a bunch of birder/photographers trying to get a good shot of him. Im hoping I get another shot before he moves on down south. Time will tell.

Al

Thanks Al, send them down here. Lots of chances to get really great shots of the little blue heron. Best to wait until spring. Their breeding colors is to die for.

[Second Hand Pat]

I've been waiting for Pat to post, always really good photos.

Thanks Dave, been a bit hard to get out lately. The birds are just starting to return so things are getting more interesting.
Pat

[Second Hand Pat]

We were rolling down the road at Blackpoint Wildlife Dr. and saw a dark bird flying towards us. It was an eagle and flew right over the truck. I reversed the truck a good half block or more and the eagle had landed in the trees where they normal hang out. It's kind of far away.
Pat

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[Second Hand Pat]

One more, these guys are just returning to the area, a belted kingfisher female I think (males are smaller and do not have the belt). These guys are small and fast. Tough to shoot well.

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[FischAutoTechGarten]

These fotos that you folks are all submitting are just INCREDIBLE!!

Al. We don't get Chachalacas in Arizona USA. We do occasionally see the odd one in southern Sonora Mexico around Alamos when the Selva Seca (dry jungle... yeah such a classification exists) gets reinvigorated by the monsoons. But we don't have the really pretty varieties you see in much more tropical settings. We do get this really cool bird that I want to get a video of this winter...

We still split out time between Alamos, Sonora, Mexico and Green Valley, Arizona, USA. both locations are in the Sonora Desert. However, we will be spending much more time in the US moving forward. I love this website... http://www.wildsonora.com/ because it represents the Sonora Desert and all of it's variations, regardless of whether it is on the US side or the Mexican side, with some of the content in Spanish, but most in English.

Liz,
The home in Green Valley is just a modest town home in a retirement community right in the desert (called Desert Hills of all things). (We bought it when we were far too young to live there when the economy just started to recover in 2013. So it was a good price, which we needed as a way to transition back to the US to prepare for caring for parents.) Our back yard is enclosed by a fence and small perimeter wall to keep out coyotes, javalinas (like a boar / pig), cougars, mule deer, bobcats (well, not really they climb good), rattlesnakes, etc.. So, that photo is just showing the raised bed we've built as pare of the entire back yard permitter. I put really big stones in it around the plants because my dogs kept digging everything up! I guess the boulders and rocks are a mulch of sorts.

Okay.. Enough talking.. let me show you a terrible foto I took last night with my cell phone.... The quality is terrible, but the subject is interesting... A huge Great Horned Owl perched at the top of a Cyprus tree that is about 50' high. This guy had to be the full 20" these things can attain here (everything is just a bit smaller in the desert... lack of water restricts growth in animals too). just huge... Was right at dusk and he was hunting.. He flew off before I could get a better photo. (maybe I'll share a few better photos of other wildlife here in the desert in another thread someday)
GreatHornedOwlinDesertHills.jpg

[brewmaster15]

These fotos that you folks are all submitting are just INCREDIBLE!!

Al. We don't get Chachalacas in Arizona USA. We do occasionally see the odd one in southern Sonora Mexico around Alamos when the Selva Seca (dry jungle... yeah such a classification exists) gets reinvigorated by the monsoons. But we don't have the really pretty varieties you see in much more tropical settings. We do get this really cool bird that I want to get a video of this winter...

We still split out time between Alamos, Sonora, Mexico and Green Valley, Arizona, USA. both locations are in the Sonora Desert. However, we will be spending much more time in the US moving forward. I love this website... http://www.wildsonora.com/ because it represents the Sonora Desert and all of it's variations, regardless of whether it is on the US side or the Mexican side, with some of the content in Spanish, but most in English.

Liz,
The home in Green Valley is just a modest town home in a retirement community right in the desert (called Desert Hills of all things). (We bought it when we were far too young to live there when the economy just started to recover in 2013. So it was a good price, which we needed as a way to transition back to the US to prepare for caring for parents.) Our back yard is enclosed by a fence and small perimeter wall to keep out coyotes, javalinas (like a boar / pig), cougars, mule deer, bobcats (well, not really they climb good), rattlesnakes, etc.. So, that photo is just showing the raised bed we've built as pare of the entire back yard permitter. I put really big stones in it around the plants because my dogs kept digging everything up! I guess the boulders and rocks are a mulch of sorts.

Okay.. Enough talking.. let me show you a terrible foto I took last night with my cell phone.... The quality is terrible, but the subject is interesting... A huge Great Horned Owl perched at the top of a Cyprus tree that is about 50' high. This guy had to be the full 20" these things can attain here (everything is just a bit smaller in the desert... lack of water restricts growth in animals too). just huge... Was right at dusk and he was hunting.. He flew off before I could get a better photo. (maybe I'll share a few better photos of other wildlife here in the desert in another thread someday)
GreatHornedOwlinDesertHills.jpg

Peter,

When Bird watching its good enough just to document the sighting. Its the key difference between "photography" and "birding" You nailed our first owl of the challenge! NIce!
al