A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 What birds did you see today?

I have some kind of hawk too, at night.
It screeches. I see it fly over slowly, the wingspan is smaller than the owl's.
Both fly silently.

You have a Common Nighthawk I bet, Deborah. They're a member of the Nightjar and Goatsucker family, same as Whip-poor-wills.

What's the nighthawk looking for? Rats?

Nighthawks are insect eaters. They are not hawks at all they are just called that. Barn Owls are the champion mouse and rat eaters killing dozens a night per bird. Barn Owl numbers are decreasing seriously though.

But they look like hawks and they're big. ?
Also, what bugs are out at night? You mean like worms?

Thorny, I just thought of another question.
You told me about the California thrasher. Why is it called a thrasher? Does it thrash something? Like a bower bird builds a bower?
Also, I wonder why "towhee". About the origin of the name.

You got me. I don't know nuttin' 'bout no birds.

I searched, and so far I can't find the origins of "Thrasher" It was used for birds in England and Europe and, just a guess, maybe they hung around the thrashing floors to pick up loose seeds of grain. I have NO idea about Towhees either. Nighthawks eat flying nighttime insects like mosquitoes and moths. Nighthawks migrate to Mexico and South America also, so you might have seen a straggler. OR, you might have seen another owl. They look a lot like hawks when they fly. OR, it could have been a hawk trying to sneak and stay up a LITTLE later than its usual bedtimes without getting caught by its parents.

I was thinking that towhee might be an Indian word. Unless there are European towhees.
Thrashing floors-good thinking and sounds like it could be true.
The bird that looks like a hawk at night makes a short screech, while the owls hoot.
OR, do barn owls screech and hoot both?

Barn Owls make a loud spooky Hiss. Go to Google and type in Barn Owl Recordings to see if that is what you heard.

I saw rugy crowned kinglets eating aphids I didn't know I had until I took pictures of the kinglets. They are tiny only 4.25 inches long.

Oh darn I made a typo, that would be RUBY crowned kinglets.

Graet Pictures Gailo! The Ruby-Crowned are one of my favorite birds! And you were able to get their red caps, too!

wow great shots! I have to get a better digi-camera.

Now that is a really pretty bird ! I love the satiny green.
I wish our birds here had more color-mostly we have all brown birds with the occasional blue jay, very rare to see one where I live on the coast. Mostly they're in the mountain areas.
There's a road runner who lives in the canyon behind my condo, really cool.
Thornius, I always thought that robins are the ones in kids' books-black with red chests.
We have a sparrow here that has an orange chest and head, is that a robin? Does California even have real robins?

Oh you have tanagers,warblers, spotted towhee, orioles, meadowlarks and lots more. Plus you have GREAT shorebirds.

And you DO have Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, too, Deborah.

You DO have American Robins in your area, TOO. Your Sparrow with an orange head and chest sounds like a sub-species of House Finch. The males have a red head and chest but there is a sub-species with and orange head and chest.

Deborah. Here is a picture of BOTH sexes of House Finch. House Finches are found in ALL areas of the U.S. I took this picture on my front porch a caouple of years ago.

Male (Left) and Female (Right) House Finches

Thorny, that sure looks like the orange chested one, and yes, he always has the wife with him !
You mean the robin IS black with a red chest?
So then this orange guy isn't a robin, he's a finch.
I have to admit, I'm getting pretty darned interested in this bird thing nowadays. I think it's because I've never had a bird feeder in my life and now there all all of these guys showing up. It's alot of fun.

Gailo, I know we have meadowlarks, they're my second favorite bird, the first being the mockingbirds with their free nightly concerts.
The one I THINK is the meadowlarks I can hear from the fields/canyons-is it black with a yellow chest? Sometimes that one sits on the fence but they never get in the trees.
We have ruby-crowned kinglets here???? Never have seen one.
As for shore birds, I am dreadfully and horribly and lifelong afraid of the ocean and NEVER go to the beaches. In fact when it appears on the horizon when I'm driving, I have to look away, the phobia is that bad. Wouldn't go to Sea World if you PAID me !
So I will never know what shore birds we have, except seagulls which come to our malls.
We have an occasional white crane or egret who walks up the street sometimes. A lovely thing to see, and she? walks like a queen, slow and head up proudly.

Gailo, the towhees are great friends. A pair is here every day for food and water.
Talk about clean ! They bathe a long time, over and over, even when it's getting dark.
I notice that they refuse to eat from the feeder, so I put their seed on the patio floor.
Mourning doves eat off the ground too, and won't touch the feeder.
Our towhees are the suburbs ones, our mountain ones are endangered. I think it was Thornius who told me that.

Deborah. some birds, like Doves, Sparrows, Cardinals and Jays are platform (Flat surface, like a table, or the ground) feeders. Other birds are tube feeders, like finches. And some, (Finches included), just don't care as long as the food is available. It is best to offer a variety of food and different types of feeders and to use the food that is made for that type of feeder. The so-called Wild Bird seed (that has the white millet, like canary food) is best used on the ground for Sparrows, Juncos, Doves and other platform feeding birds. Black Oil Sunflower seed (the BEST overall seed to use, ALL seed eating birds LOVE it) can be used in platform OR tube feeders but works best in tube feeders.

If you are getting interested in getting more involved in birdwatching you will need good reference books and online sources. The best field guide in book form, (and the newest) out there, is The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of North America. They have an Eastern (mine) and a Western edition, although there is a lot of overlap between the two. They also have an edition that covers ALL of the U.S. and Canada. You will also need a good pair of binoculars 8X30 are a good strength to use. And I recommend the BEST digital camera YOU can afford. Mine costs about $300.00, but many members on Birders World save up for several years to get a digital camera system costing $2,000.00 or more. I have seen a very powerful one for about $500.00 that I have been drooling over.

My favorite websites to use for birds are, eNature.com and Google Image Search.

My favorite birding site is the forum at birdersworld.com. Both Gailo and I are members of that forum. We have some OUTSTANDING members there including a 13-year-old child birding prodigy named Lucas, who lives in Nova Scotia, Canada and goes by the name, Coppersmithbarbet. He was the youngest member EVER, asked to participate in a bird research camp this Summer.

Wow ! Impressive post and thanks !
About binoculars, the birds are right in my face, so I wouldn't need them. For now anyway.
Oh, so that's why some of the birds like to eat from the ground, they're platform eaters, like chickens.
That's cool about a young boy being interested, refreshing, isn't it?
I have a page in eNature but I can't use it because I can't log in to add species, I can't figure out how to add something called a cookie.
But my page is named and everything. I'm Backyard Wildlife Habitat certified and meet all the requirements. I'm proud of the certificate and have it framed on my desk here.
Sure wish I could do the cookie thing !

The food I use is Kaytee wild bird seed. Good or bad?
My Western desert cottontail rabbits LOVE it too.
The rabbits eat only grass, quartered apples and the birdseed.
I don't know if eastern rabbits eat your gardens, but here at least the storybook rabbits who eat carrots, spinach, lettuce and so forth is a myth, a story for sure. Mine won't touch any of that.
My favorite boy, 4 years old now, likes graham crackers, but I give him a small piece only occasionally as a treat.