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

Many of the birding forums I am on have a continuing thread about everybodies' daily bird sightings. If anyone here is interested I thought I'd start a similar topic here.

"Knock, Knock."
"Who's There?"
"Wattburds."
"Wattburds, who?"
"Wattburds did you see today?"

Today, at my feeders I saw:

HOUSE SPARROWS - 30-40
HOUSE FINCHES - 3
CAROLINA CHICKADEES - 5
CAROLINA WRENS - 3
BLUE JAYS - 5
TURKEY VULTURES - 2
TUFTED TITMOUSES - 4
NORTHERN CARDINALS - 5
MOURNING DOVES - 2
COMMON GRACKLE - 1
EASTERN GRAY SQUIRREL - 1
COMMON HOUSE CAT (OREO) - 1
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD - 2

And the highlight of the day; for the FIRST time EVER at ANY feeder I've EVER had:

GRAY CATBIRD - 1

That's 14 different species of birds and/or mammals at my feeder in about a three hour period. They ate approximately one pound (1/2 kg.)of black oil sunflower seeds. The birds are now starting into their Wintertime feeding patterns.

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Thornius )

WOW! That is a lot of birds! I saw 3 crows in my yard today. They were enjoying the ends of bread I tossed out there.

I had to have seen a crow!! they are everywhere!!
a bluejay(stellars jay?)

who knows if I saw a seagull...so used to seeing them I dont even notice anymore.

I had black capped chickadees, tufted titmice, white breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers{m&f}. mr cardinal, a carolina wren. I didnt do a count of them. The goldfinch were adults and begging juveniles.

Mrs. Bradley and Triss, Y'all might keep an eye out for Magpies. That is one bird that Wrennie and I do NOT have here in the East. I saw Magpies as a boy when I spent the summer in Mackay, Idaho.

Thorny !
I saw the neatest little bird yesterday ! I've never seen it before-ever. I'm wondering what it was? It looked kind of like a tiny mockingbird, with a long tail, but it wasn't a baby. And wasn't grayish brown.
It was on the fence looking at me, so of course I said, "Hi". (I always talk to wildlife). : )
This bird was maybe the size of three average hummingbirds, light creamy brown, a long skinny beak, and made a LOUD chirp/squawk. Loud for its size anyway.
I wonder what it was?????? I hope it comes back, it was soooooooooo neat !

i saw a bird that reminded me of a crow, but it was dark tan/light brown with a black "jacket" on it. interesting bird, although i see them around here all the time.

Deborah, you probably have a wren or thrasher. Do a Google Image Search. But make sure you are looking at birds in your area.

Jiffy, your bird may be a Grackle or Brown-Headed Cowbird. I'll do some further research.

Jiffy if you can get a picture or some idea as to size and other physical characteristics it could help.

Today I saw, at my feeders:

MOURNING DOVES - 2
HOUSE SPARROWS - 30-40
HOUSE FINCHES - 1
DOWNY WOODPECKERS - 1 FEMALE
NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS - 1
CAROLINA WRENS - 1
TUFTED TITMOUSES - 2
CAROLINA CHICKADEES - 5
BLUE JAYS - 5
COMMON HOUSECATS - 1 (OREO)

Oreo is a neighbor's black and white tomcat that visits me every day for a full body massage and ear scratching. he has a sixth sense about when I will be coming outdoors and shows up shortly thereafter. Of course, I've always had a way with dogs, cats, and rabbits.

Thornius !
It's a California Thrasher !
I found a great photo at the Audubon Watchlist.
Thanks to your suggestion, I found and saved the site.
I've never seen this bird in my life ! Interesting !

You might want to try eNature.com. too. They have an online database of every known living creature, plant or animal in North America. Most birders use eNature or Google Image Search.

Dang git ! Why didn't I think of eNature??? I'm backyard wildlife certified, and have that site in my favorites.
Only bummer-I can't add species and notes to my personal little page, because I don't know how to add a cookie thingie.

yesterday (brrr)
1 mourning dove
Mrs. cardinal
the same bunches of titmice, goldfinch, and chickadees
2 catbirds in the shrubs across the road, multifloras and honeysuckles,
Mrs rose breasted grosbeak in the shrubs behind the garage. multifloras & 'raspberrys
at work
a boatload of house sparrows. They nest all over town and love the crumbs and tble scraps from the restaurants

oh, and turkey vultures are always a sight in the sky at work too

i'll try for a picture today.

I always have tons of house sparrows, but today I also had 2 Bluejays, a Cardinal, and 2 finches. I just started putting Suet back out yesterday too.

I treasure all of my many crows and feed them well.
They earn it and deserve it.
They chase away the hawks that are after the wild rabbits. The rabs are special to me, and so when God sends the crows immediately when the hawks appear, it's so special - I know He's thinking of me.

i saw lots of herons today. lots and lots. there is a pond/lake near where my husband works that we frequently drive by, and the trees were white with herons.

We have cranes, white ones, like the cranes in Japanese paintings. They walk around in our streams, right in housing tracts.
Are herons cranes?

This doesn't quite fit here, but a week ago, I had just returned from a vacation at Fairystone State Park here in VA. The cabin I stayed in was only about 20-30 feet from the lake, so I spent a lot of time out back at the picnic table with my binoculars. During the week I was there, I saw 23 different kinds of birds. The very first bird I saw was an osprey WOOHOO!!. I also saw:

mallards
great blue herons
crows
a family of bluebirds
nuthatches
titmice
a pileated woodpecker
a red-bellied woodpecker
a flicker
king fishers
green herons
a woodduck
pied-billed grebes
spotted sandpipers
a solitary vireo
American black ducks
a juvenile bald eagle
an unidentified hawk
pine warblers
a wild turkey
turkey vultures
Canadian geese
I also heard, but never saw, some chicadees.

Awesome !

Thorny,
havent seen any magpies to speak of. see lots of chickedees. the stellers jays come very close to the house and we see them often.

Obywan, the Solitary Vireo is now OFFICIALLY called the Blue-Headed Vireo. The name was changed about 10 years ago.

Wow, Thorny, you know birds !

I didn't have much time to watch birds today, but I saw the normal crows, titmice and turkey vultures as well as some migrating birds: cedar waxwings, yellow-throated vireos and a blackburnian warbler.

I was a little irritated at Audobon, but then I saw that my field guide was published 12 years ago.