What or who is Bird Reynolds?

Birdspeak for Burt Reynolds.

cigale, I don't think I have seen any Canadian Geese down here. I thought most things Canadian flew to Florida :D

We live right behind a storm overflow/wildlife pond and have egrets (great and snowy), great blue herons, the occasional night heron, bitterns, wood ducks (a large group now), pheasants, and a whole lot of Canada geese. This year they have presented us with 63 goslings, more or less. We love to watch them grow and ultimately learn to fly.

For the last two days, here in Raleigh, we have had house finches, the same "couple," sitting on top of the hummingbird feeder, seemingly peering into the family room! We guess they are Republicans, watching the Reagan Farewell on the TV...........:-)

The flying variety: Alot of hawks, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, raven, turkey,(puddle jumpers) and their is an eagle in the neighborhood. Non-flying variety: Foxes, rabbit, skunk, deer, big turtles, big snakes, and an occasional bear. (Although I don't see as many snakes ever since the neighbor down the road got a bunch of cats)

I went to hit a Canadian Goose with my Canadian Club but dropped the bottle. Ever see a drunken goose? It ain't pretty. [-X

Kal, would the drunken goose have been a Grey Goose? ((D))

My parents live in Lake County, FL, and the birdlife is amazing. Their community is very garden oriented and the birdlife is amazing. I especially love the sand cranes that come strolling through with their song and dance act. My parents have had some flycatchers nesting in their yard, but I think they're gone now.
Here in Brussels, I am always fascinated by the magpies. They are so stiking looking and full of character. There is one group of them that sits in a particular tree saying "dix huit" over and over to each other in deep gravelly voices. They must have picked it up from the chain smoking workmen nearby (I don't know if magpies are talkers like ravens can be, but they did figure out this one sound).
Right now the people in our local park are oohing and ahhing over the arrival of a few Canadian geese. They are considered quite exotic here. Wait til they learn that the Canadian geese are the ultimate Guest Who Never Leave.

Every morning as I drink my coffee on my lanai I am treated to a wide range of birds. Many of them live near my lake and many are passing by on their way to Ding Darling over on Sanibel.. We have the usual suspects daily: great blue heron, regular heron, snowy egret, great egret, ibis,and night heron.

Occasionally a pair of Roseate spoonbill will show up and we often get a bald eagle checking out our lake for something good. Right now I have two mother ducks with their broods: muscovy ducklings are very cute and their families are very protective but still we have only 4 left from a family of 12. The other mother is less "into" her babies but they still number 3 and are large enough to probably survive. I believe the eagle and the turtles get them. We also get otters in our little retention pond and I have seen a fox a few times. He's on the move as development in Fort Myers sends him in search of a new home.

Everytime I see the crowds lined up to get into Ding Darling I am happy to think about my retention pond with my own personal wildlife refuge. LMF

I just came across this link on another BB, chronicling in pictures a hummer birth from nest building, to eggs, to the day of the first flight. 4 pages in all.

She had two eggs, both hatched, but that nest was so small. Both lived for a while, then there was just one, but by the time he was ready to fly, he filled the entire nest--there never would have been room for the other baby. Makes me curious about whether there is normally only one egg or usually two, but one is more or less a "back-up".

http://community-2.webtv.net/hotmail...est/index.html

Olive Oyl,
Thank you SO MUCH for that!! I had not considered how a hummingbird must sit on a nest, like all birds, since they are continually flying! I wonder - do all birds go from egg to flying in only 2 weeks or is the hummingbird accelerated?
What a wonderful experience for the person who took the photos too!

BTilke,
I saw my first magpies in Hampstead Heath, years ago. I wish I could see them again :)
Are 'flycatchers' the small birds that look like terns, with no tails?

LilMsFoodie,
I always liked Ding Darling and the mangroves where the birds that I cannot remember the names of would hang themselves out to dry after diving for food.
What a wonderful place that is! (and your yard too~)

We had a hole in the yard, by a large live oak. The landscaper thought it was an armadillo..we never saw any sign of an armadillo..now that I have heard of such a thing, could it have been a Burrow Owl? What a treat to see that!!
Happy Weekend ((F))

"birds that hang themselves out to dry"
Cormorants :)

Olive O,

Our daughter (an avid birder) sent us the link to that hummingbird story and pics last week...Wonderful pictures!

I understand that finding a hummingbird nest is very rare, at least here in Alabama where we have only Ruby-Throats (usually--sometimes people report seeing other types).

What delightful little creatures!

Byrd

"birds that hang themselves out to dry"

Could you also mean ahingas? They're the black birds that sit at the edge of the water with their wings completely open.

Black bears in the BACK yard.

Ohmygosh! This is such a long thread I was going to avoid it! But noone has mentioned the famous parakeets of Hyde Park in Chicago!

The parakeets have nested in Harold Washington Park, just north of 53 St at L. Shore Drive, for over 20 years. Apparently, it all started when a crate of tropical parakeets cracked open at Kennedy Airport in 1967! They slowly have made their way across the country. Who'd have thought these tropical birds would survive and even thrive in Chicago, with its frigid winters?

These parakeets have huge nests of twigs in the trees and they just keep on multiplying. I have fond memories of my father showing me the nest for the first time. We'd walk by it every time I visited and observe their progress. Now that he is gone, I take my children to see the nests when we visit my Mother. The park district may not appreciate the parakeets, but I don't think Hyde Parkers will ever put up with their removal.

We had a family of hummers nesting in the ficus trees in our courtyard just steps from our front door.

My husband and I watched the parents build a nest made mostly of shreds of soft, corky bark from our melaleuka trees out back. With binoculars, we could see inside the tiny nest from our upstairs window--there were 2 eggs. Shortly after, there was only 1 baby bird in the nest, so we thought the other had fallen out--it seemed likely since the nest was too tiny for two. We watched mama teach the little one to fly.

One day, mama flew into our living room, way up into our tall cathedral ceiling and couldn't find her way back out. She was going crazy and so were we. We finally went to the hardware store, bought a hummer feeder, filled it with food and draped a red napkin next to it (we had heard they were attracted to the color red) and placed it on the floor near the door. It worked! She finally saw it and flew out. Days later, the whole family was gone--the empty nest blew down, and we placed it back in the tree, just in case they or some others might want it.

Scarlett, you need the book I picked up at Barnes & Noble when I wanted to find out what kind of birds were around our part of Florida. It's "Birds of Florida, Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela.
It's divided by color so can go right to the main color of the book and flip through the beautiful color photos of all sorts of birds.

We had a pair of Swallow-Tailed Kites flying around our neighborhood for awhile. Very pretty bird.

Someone, maybe you, mentioned that you had seen no Canada geese down here...no, this is way to far south for the Canada goose. At one time they only migrated about as far south as the DelMarVa peninsula. Some have adapted and stay in the cities and further south now. My hubby is was/is a hunter of waterfowl, so I've learned some of this stuff by osmosis ;)

What part of Florida to you live in. We are about 20 miles east of Ft. Myers.

Jacksonville :)

I will go to Barnes and Noble right away~Thanks!