Bird watchers on RIU???

i wondered if there where any bird watchers on RIU? it would be nice to share the birds in our gardens!!

last summer i had a norhtern mockingbird near my patch and a couple of boreal chicade,,

peace

I wish I knew more about the different species, because their really cool to look at. Once in a while I like to grab a chair and chill by my garden and I trip out on the birds. The ones I like the most are the goldfinches. Really tiny birds that hop around and hide in the bushes. We also have white throated sparrows..

yeah, im a "bird watcher" whenever the DEA catches me in the forest and asks me what im doing.

The cardinals will come and eat the bugs off of my plants.

I live along a migration path and have quite a bit of natural habitat, so i get whole flocks of different birds coming in at different times of the year. Some of them come in nice and polite, others like locusts...

Mainly though my natives are abundant, and because of the density of birds and squirrels, I have lots of Hawks and Owls.

its not inn my garden but heres my blue and gold macaw hes lonely so he molts he is a room away from my garden

WhiteWiddow said:

its not inn my garden but heres my blue and gold macaw hes lonely so he molts he is a room away from my garden

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im about 6'2 the cage is taller than me just so you can get an idea of the size of that bastard

My mom was given a Quaker Parrot by her sister, who somehow felt she needed a bird (??). So my mom, to whom I have living in one of my homes, brings a bird on her return from said sister. Then mom tries to tell me that I should take the bird, but I'm like, no way. I don't kow what possessed my mother to take the bird, but after awhile it was plain to see, they were not getting along. The bird got nasty with her, and my mom started to ignore it all day. Maybe that was the plan, but finally I took over reluctantly, for the sake of the bird and my moms fingers.
Anyway, after a week, I let him out of his cage and have the run of my 900 sq foot sun room. His disposition completely changed for the better (he couldn't fly). So, pretty soon, he would only come to me and no one else....we bonded so to speak. I have a bunch of acreage so after awhile I started taking him outside.... he came to me clipped, but that was the end of that barbaric method. Not in my home. He started to learn to fly again, maybe for the very first time. Once he able to fly up to a tree branch, he about flipped out. Watching the other birds, he would go crazy with joy. Pretty soon he was flying from tree to tree, but would never leave my area. He figured out his place with the other birds, that took some doing, he was a social misfit because of his captivity. Not a real bird.

Then he met Mr. Hawk, who I never heard coming..... I used to stand outside for 20 minutes before bringing him out. Usually if they aren't on the hunt, they make themselves known. This one slipped in under my radar, which is pretty good. Well, that Parrot (I never named him) flew like all get up. Like a pro. Off he went squawking the whole time, which I felt was not a help to him. After awhile his call dwindled away as he was far far away. I waited and called for an hour, but no bird. I went for a long walk and called, but nope.
Maybe 4 hours later, just before dusk, I heard him coming, louder and louder ... (big smiles) ... until he flew right on my shoulder, tired but a bit wiser. It's not all chuckles on the other side of the window.

Anyways, my Aunt who is a bird NUT, was furious that I was not clipping the bird and letting him outside to be free (go figure).

i have buzzards mainly. big ol' gnarly buzzards.....just sitting in the treetops all day long....waiting for the next unlucky bastard of a possum...or squirrel...or cat....or deer to get hit by a car. happens ALL the time. buzzards are all humongous because of it! sometimes i am afraid for my children!






naw i'm just kidding! seriuously, i like watching a couple different redbirds that stay around here. last spring for about a month str8 a redbird kept coming to the east facing window and "fighting" himself! lol. at first it freaked me out. bastard eventually quit.
we've got several woodpeckers around here too. really all kinds...too many to mention but i've thot about trying to put some kind of feeder out to attract more. and maybe keep the redbird away from his 'nemesis' in the window come spring! any suggestions on best types of feeder?

doowmd said:

i have buzzards mainly. big ol' gnarly buzzards.....just sitting in the treetops all day long....waiting for the next unlucky bastard of a possum...or squirrel...or cat....or deer to get hit by a car. happens ALL the time. buzzards are all humongous because of it! sometimes i am afraid for my children!






naw i'm just kidding! seriuously, i like watching a couple different redbirds that stay around here. last spring for about a month str8 a redbird kept coming to the east facing window and "fighting" himself! lol. at first it freaked me out. bastard eventually quit.
we've got several woodpeckers around here too. really all kinds...too many to mention but i've thot about trying to put some kind of feeder out to attract more. and maybe keep the redbird away from his 'nemesis' in the window come spring! any suggestions on best types of feeder?

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i like the long tube feeders there about 4" diameter and 4' long with multiple dispensers so you can have a lot of birds on one feeder, plus it holds a ton of seeds, i buy neiger, sunflower, and any cheap mix seed bags,, most birds have theyr prefered food,

great post crackerjax! that really is a neat story man! w/ a cool ending even! i was thinking the poor old bird got jacked up by the hawk....u provided perfect suspense in that story then whammo! hit us w/ the return! lol. good one man. brings to mind the old proverb "if u love something set it free...etc....." would rep ya if they'd let me for it!
and ty u plantsinpants for the feeder suggestion!

He was definitely rattled when he got back... and tired.

But was out the very next day! After I took a long time scouting....

I lost a great pet Rooster to a hawk, so I know they are crafty.

I had to wrestle a hawk so it would get off of my chickens. I usually scour the skies for them before I let them out of the pen but I slacked off and it dove right into it so I tackled it, and I mean tackled it they are BIG birds. Anyways, my chicken ended up losing a wing and a foot but the people that buy my eggs say that she has the best tasting eggs ever. Lol. Her name is lucky, go figure.
But I smarted up and made a fenced in area for them to roam and eat, and I put some chicken wire over the top just in case. Lol.

connorbrown said:

I had to wrestle a hawk so it would get off of my chickens. I usually scour the skies for them before I let them out of the pen but I slacked off and it dove right into it so I tackled it, and I mean tackled it they are BIG birds. Anyways, my chicken ended up losing a wing and a foot but the people that buy my eggs say that she has the best tasting eggs ever. Lol. Her name is lucky, go figure.
But I smarted up and made a fenced in area for them to roam and eat, and I put some chicken wire over the top just in case. Lol.

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haha you should set up a camera cuz i guarentee those hawks will still try and go straight into the fence.
you gotta be careful with that chicken with that wing problem.
my friends dad does the whole auction thing and one rooster in his pen had an injury and the others ate him it was pretty fucked up i kinda couldnt stop watchin tho

Two things.... first, have you ever seen a moving chicken coop? Self contained and on wheels, you can move it around, say your garden and let the chickens hit the insects and fertilize ... then move it the next day.

Second,....

This fertilizer salesman is driving up to a new farmer for the first time in the hopes of making him a customer. As he drives up, he sees a three legged pig. Having never seen one before, he mentions it right after introducing himself to the farmer.
"so, what's with the three legged pig?"

Well, the farmer exclaims, let me tell you something about that pig. Last month, that pig was near the driveway and the tractor overturned on my son and he was injured. That pig dragged him out from under and came and got me. Then last week, the house was on fire and that pig broke down the door, woke everyone up and saved all of our lives!!

The salesman was stunned!!

But why does he have three legs, the salesman asked....

Well the farmer replied, you don't eat a special pig like that all at once.

hahahahah, that was a good one, man.

Farmers......

Now this is a true story ... I was there.

I visited my cousins many times in Virginia and they had a big place leased from the neighboring farmer, who was a huge man with beautiful daughters... no lie. All that fresh air and hard work must have paid off. But that's not the story.
Now the farmer loved his Cadillac cars and bought one every two years. So I'm over there one afternoon helping out and getting an eyeful of busty girls when I hear the guy yell and curse and come bolting out of his big arse garage. He proceeds to tell everyone to gather up the cats and bring them to the garage. So we all walk in with cats and drop them on the floor. He shuts the door and proceeds to shoot one with a 12 gauge. I'm like .... well I don't know what I was like.... flabbergasted I suppose. Then the youngest girl Jackie yells out "Why Pa?"

He shows us the roof of his brand new Caddy, completely scratched up and ruined.

So I asked him how he knew which cat did it?

He informed me he didn't know, but that wasn't the point. Now they all know not to come into the garage anymore.

Farmers.......

Farmers....
I like your bird story C.J. I had a farmer uncle who raised a few wild crows in his day and same thing they would roam the village( 2 miles long farms down each side). It would hang with all the other crows but would duck back into the barn for food and night. As kids we would see a flock and call him out, he would fly right down and land on us, it was pretty neat, he had a few over the years.

Haha funny story. But yeah, I set up a deer camera just to catch the video if the hawk smashes into the fence lol and my hens are all in separate pens just because they get jealous. Lmao. Another story for ya:
I have a friend that is major major major redneck. They have pigeons and one day his mom comes running in the house and says "Grab a gun, we got some friends!" So I flip out and grab a gun thinking it was some thugs or something but noooo, they are some big as vultures sitting next to the cages and I about shit myself when I saw that so, being a city boy I had never shot a gun, I just went trigger happy and ended up shooting my friend in the leg. Lol.

I was able to raise a bluejay last year which fell out of one of my Oak trees. My dog was running around with it in her mouth, gently. I left it on a nearby table out of reach of the ants hoping the mother would show, but nope. It dawned on me that the bird couldn't get back up that tree and perhaps the Mom knew that much and wrote it off. I finally took it inside and cleaned it up a bit and made a shoebox home. Mixed up bread and some goat milk, and the bird ate heartily.
Next day, much to my surprise, the mother (who must have been watching) was waiting on me. I feed them so they know me. It was quite a morning..... but that baby couldn't fly, so I watched the Mom come and visit and feed the baby and sometimes I did the same later on near dusk before bed. After a couple of weeks of this.... Mom was now willing to stand next to me on the table. .... flying school commenced. Within two days that bird was flying pretty good. A week later, she flew off.

Mexi, I've always wanted to raise a Raven or a Crow. They are so smart.