Bird Watching

[Dotch]

Quote:

---

MT...Lol!.apparently i live in the middle of that.."black hole"..i've spent my entire life here in the hibbing area(56 years) and the surrounding areas...i have only seen 1 blue bird up here in all the years i've lived in this area.......no cardinals also... i've never seen a yellow headed black bird alive or dead...lol!..........honest

i.ve spent alot of time in the woods through those years here...but...apparently they eluded me...lol!..i have seen some of those birds you had on your list of species...but not near what you've seen but i also was not actually"looking" for them as a "birder" would do.....i did see the boreal owls this past winter and hawk owls in the zim area (posted a pic of the great grey here awhile back)...but....now that you've mentioned that they are here...i'll certainly be looking

---

I used to think the same about the area I live in and frankly was jealous of the folks who live in wooded areas, especially those in northern MN. Many of the birds we see here migrating through in spring & fall, northern MN and points beyond enjoy all summer. After looking around a bit though, began to notice that while we may not have some of the more exotic, colorful, birds, we have a lot of different kinds of sparrows, warblers and other oddballs if one takes a moment every now and then to ID them. Some are excellent singers and add wonderful background music to the rural landscape. Someone once called SC MN the "Black Desert" but that person apparently wasn't looking very closely. With more CRP, tree planting, prairie restoration and other habitat, the area has abundant variety. I really am not a birder per se either. Other than the weekly mentions from the column posted here, I don't make a point of spending time specifically to catalog them. Aside from taking a break at home to look at some habitat restoration & feeding the birds, just more or less stumble across them in the day to day goings on. Much like the insects and plants I find, I enjoy ID'ing the strangers I haven't seen before as well as seeing the regulars. BTW, great pics buzz & johnny!

[buzzsaw]

Thanks Dotch! I guess I'll post a few more... these are from today (Sunday)

and they just keep flying in.... I'm looking out my window at two orioles and a Red breasted Grosebeak as I type...

[Dotch]

Love the yellow headed blackbird. Geez he's gorgeous! Need a few more reeds and cattails in the pond area (they're coming; pond isn't 2 yrs. old yet) I think to get them to come back here. Seeing the bird (junco?) by your finger in the pic reminds me, had a pine siskin on the thistle feeder this morning that just sat there while I filled the sunflower feeder. It allowed me to pet it then flew off into the yew bushes. Thought it was a female house finch at first but that pointy little beak was a dead giveaway. Was a female hummingbird at the oriole feeder a little bit ago. As cold as it is, was surprised to see her. If you don't mind my asking, where did you find the jelly feeder, etc., setup? Looks pretty slick.

[jonny_redhorse]

Thanks dotch!....just really started getting into enjoying the birding since i acquired my digital!...envious of the different species of birds posted here......lol!....but...i took the camera too a local lake up here in hibbing this morning(hoping to see a drumming ruffed grouse or something on the tote roads adjoining the lake)...and managed tp get a pic of a sea gull........being so many kinds of em......any idea what kind this one is?......lake gull?.herring gull?...

[Dotch]

See? Now there you go. I don't see that many gulls save for in the fall or early spring when someone is working a field. They seem to come out of nowhere then I'm usually not close enough to get a good look. Others can agree or disagree on this one but thanks to the great pic you took, I'd venture to guess this is a ring-billed gull. The dark ring on that bill is a good field mark.

[jonny_redhorse]

Dotch...(or anyone one else that could answer this question)i took down my bird feeders about 3 weeks ago because flocks of local pidgeons were enundating my front yard....they were literally stripping the feeders dry!......sure an occasional bird (sparrow) would land with a handful of chicadees but once those pidgeons arrived...that was it!......how does a guy get rid of those "things"...not into feeding 20+ pounds of bird food each month solely for pidgeons....now that we're into "prime" returning song birds.i wish i could put the feeders back out...but.......afraid those pidgeons would be back....any ideas out there?....no ..i'm in the city limits so i can't harm em...even though they'd make good target practice (humane society would like that wouldn't they)

[buzzsaw]

Quote:

---

If you don't mind my asking, where did you find the jelly feeder, etc., setup? Looks pretty slick.

---

Dotch, go to http://www.wbu.com and look into the advanced pole system.

The store is called Wild Birds Unlimited and they're located in Burnsville, Eden Prairie, Maple Grove, Duluth, Rochester, Minnetonka, St. Paul and waite Park. The place has got the neatest set ups!! I only buy the feeder systems here and I order my bird food from Avian Acres who delivers from southern MN up to the cities to a few of us. So what is everybody's top two song type birds? I'll go with Red Breasted Grosbeak and Cedar Waxwing... although Hummingbirds are cool to see in action as well..

Nice seagull!

[Genofish]

buzzsaw, where did you get your feeder pole

[vern]

I saw 4 turkeys, a bald eagle, a great-horned owl & a lot of other interesting birds on the MN River today. The fishing was bad, but we saw a lot of cool wildlife, especially for being in the city & only 5 minutes from home. We launched at Ft. Snelling St. Park & fished various spots upstream. We also heard a few more turkeys around 9 Mile Lake in Bloomington. Pretty cool. - Vern

[Dotch]

Thanks buzz! will check it out. You sure ask some tough questions tho. Have to go with the goldfinches and orioles right now. The finches have taken a shine to the place the past couple years. When their colors change, it's always makes my day. I really enjoy tormenting the orioles by imitating their whistle. House wrens are a close third. Wish I could sing like that...

[buzzsaw]

Genofish,

See my last post for the answer on where I purchased my feeder set up....

http://www.wbu.com

then click on advanced pole system.... it also shows you all of the Wild Birds Unlimited locations. The stuff is not cheap but I really believe its worth it.

[M.T. Bucket]

JR,

That's your garden variety, Hardees parking lot scavenging Ring-billed Gull. Up here in the northeast, we can also expect to find a few Herring Gulls (larger than Ring-billed and with a red spot on the bill) as well as possibly Bonaparte's Gulls (smaller, with a black head and bill) and Franklin's Gulls (smaller, with a black head and red bill). I have seen all 4 of these species on Trout Lake in Bovey during migration. There are other gulls such as Thayer's, Glaucous, Glaucous-winged, and Iceland that you could see along the North Shore (or the Superior landfill).

If anyone has a way of keeping those @&%#$@ &$%$#^& %$#^%^ pigeons away from my $%^$@ feeders, please &^@@^*% fill me in! I can't blast 'em in town either.

Quote:

---

So what is everybody's top two song type birds?

---

That's not fair, only 2...can I have 3?!?! Good. Here are a few of the birds that have put a smile on my face...

Favorite 3 feeder birds - Scarlet Tanager, White-throated Sparrow, and Harris's Sparrow

Favorite 3 songs - Hermit Thrush, Winter Wren, and Yellow-headed Blackbird

Favorite 3 forest birds - Three-toed Woodpecker, Northern Goshawk, and Boreal Chickadee

Favorite 3 prairie birds - Eastern Meadowlark, Bobolink, and Black-billed Magpie

Favorite 3 water birds - Wilson's Phalarope, Wood Duck, and Green Heron

Bird that turned me into a "birder" - Yellow-rumped Warbler

[jonny_redhorse]

Thanks for the gull identification...MT and Dotch!...took that gull pic on carey lake here east of hibbing sunday........last year while crappie fishing i did get a pic of a gull with a black head(actually part black not "full" black if you know what i mean)...i did some homework on the net on gulls and i believe it was a "laughing gull".it did have a differnt well...."laugh"...lol! to its call....i think that gull was the reason i really started thinking about the different species of birds...i deleted that gull pic but i shouldn't have i guess.i found out they are an eastern variety of gull and don't frequent this area all that much....i haven't seen one since that day last year...also sitting within 6' of that gull was a tern(black pointy tail) not sure what variety it was....arctic maybe....as for the pigeons(spelled it wrong on the other post.lol!)..nothing i can do but tolerate em i guess!.lol ...wonder what they'd taste like

[jonny_redhorse]

MT....i clicked on buzz's wild bird unlimited site.(great site buzz!)...and found the birders count of the hibbing area....apparently there's someone in hibbing that is a member(members)....anyway..i looked at the species that the hibbing member listed and came up basically with about the same species of birds that i've been seeing...no...they also didn't have any orioles(i've seen these many times however) , tanangers.bluebirds or any cardinals or any of those (to me) exotics out of the iron range area on that list..just the common crows ,ravens ,chicadees.etc...well here's the page from that hibbing birders species count....now i don't feel so bad .....it really "is" a black hole".lol!

http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/report?cmd=showReport&reportName=CitySummary&city=HIBBING&state=US-MN&year=2005

[Dotch]

1st, checked out the HSOforum buzz listed-wowsirs! Lots of potential stuff for Mom on there. Much appreciated. 2nd, interesting to see the Wilson's phalarope listed MT. There was a pair wading near the wood duck house yesterday. Oddly enough, the females are the more colorful in the pair according to the guide. Lastly, what are you guys feeding those pigeons? They are tasty BTW.

[buzzsaw]

I took this down in Florida just south of Naples.... don't really know what it was?!

Heres a more native bird shot taken not too long ago...

[M.T. Bucket]

Buzz,

I take it you have high-speed internet

By the way, your Naples bird is a Black-necked Stilt. Even though it's a coastal bird, a stray one was seen in Minnesota a few weeks ago. We actually stopped at the marsh where it was seen when I was on that birding weekend to western Minnesota, but no luck.

[buzzsaw]

MT, I just got high speed (DSL) internet yesterday as a matter of fact. What a huge difference... I still only click on the most recent page of this thread because the download time is pretty extreme... but if you click on one page at a time (most recent) it wasn't too bad with a dial up connection. Good job figuring out what that bird was!

[hobbydog]

Some fishing opener pics....the fishing sucked about as bad as the weather. Despite the poor showing by the sun I did manage some good pictures. Hope you have high speed.

Loons

Trumpeters

Sawbills

Gulls

[buzzsaw]

The fishing was so bad because you were soooo busy taking those great photos! lol Great pictures!

Heres an Indigo Bunting from today... I am home on my lunch and it decided to stop in on it's trip up north... usually only around for a few days.

[buzzsaw]

I just got home and freaked out, this Scarlet Tanager was in the back yard! I've never seen one here so this was cool except it was dark and gloomy out today and taking a picture through the glass didn't make for a real great picture!

[The Grebe]

Hobby...Awsome pics! I have to admit that in all my time in the field, I don't believe I have ever seen a Sawbill duck? Not to my knowledge anyways? They look almost like a sea bird? In what part of the state did you see those things? Good looking bird.

[M.T. Bucket]

Hey Grebe! Those 'sawbills' are Common Mergansers. They are often known as sawbills because of the serrated edges of their long, narrow bills which help them grip small fish. You have certainly seen these birds around--they can be found on many types of water in Minnesota, but they seem to prefer large deep lakes with wooded shorelines, at least in my area. There are 2 other species of 'sawbill' in Minnesota--Hooded Merganser, a beautiful, small merganser that nests in boxes and hollow trees and can often be found in the same places as Wood Ducks; and Red-breasted Merganser, which is very similar to the Common, except of course for the red breast on the male (and a spiky green mohawk). Red-breasted Mergansers are less common than the other two and I usually see them on really large lakes like Superior and Winnie.

[The Grebe]

M.T...Now Merganser I understand...fish ducks...I've seen Mergansers before, but I'm still not so sure I've seen the ones in the picture?

Maybe I have seen them under different circumstances, when the clarity was different...even at that, it would'nt have been often!

I'm sure I would have remembered seeing such a good looking bird and I like to think I'am pretty observant for the most part? Maybe I better break out the windex for my glasses?

[hobbydog]

Yup, MT has it right and they are very common in the northeast part of the state. See a lot of them. I was lucky to get them to all line up so nice. I held the release down for 6 pics and only 3 of them had focus the others were not so great. There was no direct sun so I thought I did pretty good at 1/800 sec.