Birds Birds Birds

[Lussi05]

There seem to be different species of Jays around the world, but so many act like jays. When I first saw the Eurasian Jays at the pig cam, I knew they were jays, because they acted so much like the ones I knew.

I am feeding the Eurasian Jay on my bird feeder place in the winter. Sometimes they are fooling us, because one of their sounds are very similar to a Buzzard..we hear the call and look anxiously up at the sky waiting to see a Buzzard..and there comes the Jay
Eurasian Jay = Nøtteskrike, in norwegian (directly translated to: Nut-Scream)

[alice44]

Our jays, more the Steller's Jay than the Scrub Jay, but both of them, imitate the call of the Red Tailed Hawk, a bird that seems quite similar to the Buzzard. (In American movies when a Bald Eagle flies over and they play a call, they play the call of a Red Tailed Hawk)

Images of Steller's Jays
http://www.google.com/search?q=steller% ... 54&bih=833

Both of these jays are are sometimes seen in my yard, but the Steller's jay is more at home in a fir forest than in town.

[Lussi05]

Our jays, more the Steller's Jay than the Scrub Jay, but both of them, imitate the call of the Red Tailed Hawk, a bird that seems quite similar to the Buzzard. (In American movies when a Bald Eagle flies over and they play a call, they play the call of a Red Tailed Hawk)

Images of Steller's Jays
http://www.google.com/search?q=steller% ... 54&bih=833

Both of these jays are are sometimes seen in my yard, but the Steller's jay is more at home in a fir forest than in town.

What a very special and beautiful bird!!! Our Jays also belongs in the woods. It is so interesting to see the difference between birds of the same species, looking very different from each other, but still have all these similarities. And the birds that I find very special and unusual are very common for you, and reverse..

[alice44]

I really should not post this as it is out of focus and so small, but you can see that brilliant flash of red



I think it is a Rufous Hummingbird.

and here is a closer image from Wikipedia


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufous_Hummingbird

http://www.google.com/search?q=rufous+h ... 80&bih=821

They move so fast and are so tiny and the red of the throat only shines like this when the light hits it just so.

[Lussi05]

A tiny and beautiful bird. We don't have those of course, but the norwegian name on Rofous Hummingbird is Rødkolibri. (rød = red) I imagine that the bird is so tiny, that it almost looks like a large insect when it move so fast??
The smallest bird in Norway is Fuglekonge, Goldcrest in english, (regulus regulus)
We see them when we are walking in the wood, but even if I live close to the wood I never see them on my bird feeder place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldcrest
( direct translated: Fuglekonge = bird king )

[alice44]

We have a bird the Golden Crowned Kinglet (and a Ruby Crowned Kinglet)-- so similar.

in Wikipedia


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden-crowned_Kinglet


http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gold ... Kinglet/id

Lots of pictures
http://www.google.com/search?q=golden+c ... d=0CD4QsAQ

Our Bush Tit is even smaller. (but maybe the kinglet is bigger than a Goldcrest?)

Rufous Hummingbirds are rather fierce. Often I can hear them when I cannot see them. They buzzz/click as they fly and they fight with one another.

[alice44]

I went to the coast today -- a good summer day on the Oregon coast. It was pretty warm, hardly any wind and I got a bit of sun burn.

Our Bird List
Peregrine Falcon
barn swallow
pigeon guillemot
pelagic cormorant
western gull
American crow
common murre
brown pelican
song sparrow
Brandt's cormorant
European starling
Turkey vulture
Osprey
Caspian tern
Black oystercatcher
white-crowned sparrow
Black Turnstone
spotted sandpiper
great blue heron
whimbrel
Glaucous-winged Gull
northern flicker
Arctic Tern
cedar waxwing
double-crested cormorant
American robin


Gaggle of Three by alice_knitter, on Flickr

These are Western Gulls.

[alice44]

A Great Blue Heron (they seem very similar to the Grey Heron) in the Newport Harbor, Oregon and some more Western Gulls.


Great Blue Heron by alice_knitter, on Flickr

[macdoum]

And - I saw an eagle! The show there also shows a golden eagle and I just came at the right moment to catch a glimpse

Edit: in the meantime I came to know that this eagle is an Kazachian (biggest sub species of the Golden Eagle - Aquila chrysaetos daphanea) and his name is Adonis

The eagle's name is Adonis but what is the name of the er, Homo erectus

[Felis silvestris]

The eagle's name is Adonis but what is the name of the er, Homo erectus

Mathias Bartek
(http://www.tierpark-hellabrunn.de/index.php?id=156)

[Lussi05]

I had a guest on the field outside our house last weekend. We do not agree of what bird it is, can anyone help? The picture was taken from a distance, and became a bit unclear, but I post it and hope someone have a sharp eye despite of that..

- the chest was lighter with stripes.
- my suggestion is a young Cuckoo..

[Felis silvestris]

At first glance from the outline I though of a swallow or swift, but the banded feathers are saying something else. The light and the distance might fool me

here's a young cuckoo
http://img.fotocommunity.com/photos/12379844.jpg

[Lussi05]

When I see the picture I think it must have been a Cuckoo. I have been looking for a good picture, but not found it, thank you Felis...And yes, it could have been a Swallow or a Swift when you see the shape, but it was much bigger.

[alice44]

Well now I do not feel so silly because my first thought was definitely a swallow -- a tired swallow. But it does share much with the identified picture of a cuckoo -- little beak and barded tail -- and even the slight angle that made it seem swallow like.

[alice44]

I did not get to go to the coast today but my dad sent me this from his trip.

Wandering Tattler

[Brit]

Beautiful photo! Thank you Alice for showing and to your Dad für shooting it!

[Lussi05]

I agree Alice, beautiful photo...

[alice44]

Ame made a trip to the "Trotting" grounds (for horses) just outside of Turku after reading that a WTE was hanging out there and making forays to the dump to hunt gulls and other birds, there.

She was not so lucky to see the eagle but she did get some pictures and audio of what she did see and hear, which she posted in the WTE thread.

here's a link to her report viewtopic.php?p=115561#p115561

[alice44]

Beautiful photo! Thank you Alice for showing and to your Dad für shooting it!

Brit I seem to remember that not so long ago Birgit had a picture of European Tattler but maybe I imagined that. I always find it interesting to see the similar and not so similar birds of our continents.

Our Tattlers nest in western Alaska and into the North west territories of Canada and then migrate down and to winter from Central California to to coasts of Peru and Northern Argentina.

[macdoum]

Alice do you have wildfires there near you ? Somebody from Oregon said they could smell the smoke.