Birds Birds Birds

[Lussi05]

Because of the cold and changing weather, it has been very busy at my birdfeeder this Easter:
- Yellowhammer:

- Blackbird:

- European Goldfinch:

- and Squirrel in trouble, clinging to the feeder, I could almost hear her/him think: how can I get away from this scary women??? (we woke up to snow on Good Friday morning)

[Lussi05]

Bullfinch preening in the afternoon sun:

Bullfinch ladies:

Brambling:

[Manu]

@Lussi : Thanks for all this nice pictures of the birds and the squirrel. So many different birds, great

[Kitty KCMO]

You have beautiful birds, Lussi! Thank you for sharing them with us.

[alice44]

Lussi, such lovely birds!

Over Easter I also got to see a rather special bird -- we used to go on drives looking for them but this one I saw on a walk in my parents neighbourhood. I don't think any of the images are quite sharp -- but they exist!

A Turkey

[Lussi05]

WOW Alice, a Turkey in the neighbourhood...very special. I think the pictures are great
(here we have Turkeys in the same way as we have hens, in captivity)

[Kitty KCMO]

Ha! Lucky, Alice! We had a turkey in our neighborhood for a couple of years & it was fun to see it. Someone was feeding it, because it would come right up to our car at an intersection by our nearby city park & beg for food. You'd better not have your window down, because it would peck at you hoping for a handout. We didn't see it last year, so I don't know if it moved on or if perhaps the city came & caught it for relocation (I hope one or the other).

[Felis silvestris]

What wonderful birds!

I have news about the sparrowhawk we had in front of our window before Easter! I saw him today and he seems to be well and sound - he most probably had hit a window above us.

[alice44]

Today when I was walking to work -- a smallish bird, probably a starling was being chased at top speed by a hawk, probably a Sharp-shined hawk and they were both being followed by a third -- maybe the starlings' mate (?). The following bird was calling loudly. It was so exciting.
I think the starling had a chance since the hawk must have missed it in the initial swoop and the hawk was just a little bigger than its intended prey.

Picture not on the English page so ...
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerikansk_sparvh%C3%B6k

Sharp shined hawk

[Felis silvestris]

We again had visitors today

The Mrs. right after landing


Looking for something nice to eat


then flew up on a tree (and one of my colleagues asked if we have to get the firebrigade to get her down again)


but she nicely managed on her own


and the husband, a bit shy and stayed mostly in the shrubbery

[Lussi05]

Great pictures of Mr & Mrs Mallards, Felis
Alice, the Sharp shined hawk has similarities to our Sparrow Hawk (Accipiter nisus).

[alice44]

Great pictures of Mr & Mrs Mallards, Felis
Alice, the Sharp shined hawk has similarities to our Sparrow Hawk (Accipiter nisus).

I have been wondering about this. I looked them up (your sparrow hawk and our sharp shined) and they do look a bit similar, is there another similar bird? Here we have Sharp Shined (Accipiter striatus) and Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii), which are very similar. The sharp shinned are smaller -- but it is not always possible to judge sizes and a large female sharp shined might be quite close in size to a small male Cooper's hawk

Cooper's on the left -- sharp shined on the right (drawings from 1908)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp-shinned_Hawk

(And just to add confusion -- maybe when Kitty returns she can confirm or deny this -- I think the old term for our Kestrel was Sparrow hawk)

[alice44]

Mom and I followed these fellows around the outside of the local highschool. A little creek flows through the grounds, but these guys were on a walking tour.


The Guys by alice_knitter, on Flickr

[Lussi05]

I have been wondering about this. I looked them up (your sparrow hawk and our sharp shined) and they do look a bit similar, is there another similar bird? Here we have Sharp Shined (Accipiter striatus) and Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii), which are very similar. The sharp shinned are smaller -- but it is not always possible to judge sizes and a large female sharp shined might be quite close in size to a small male Cooper's hawk

Cooper's on the left -- sharp shined on the right (drawings from 1908)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp-shinned_Hawk

(And just to add confusion -- maybe when Kitty returns she can confirm or deny this -- I think the old term for our Kestrel was Sparrow hawk)

The Sparrowhawk is the smallest hawk here, as I see the Shaped shined hawk is one of your smallest. It can be mistaken with its nearest relative, the Goshawk ( Accipiter gentilis) who is larger. The Goshawk is unfortunately categorized as vulnerable in Norway, as the population has decreased over the last decades. Probably because of modern forestry. We used to have Goshawk here (they were constantly looking for our hens) but unfortunately they disapeared, and the Buzzards has taken over the area.
- Sparrowhawk on one of its many visits to my birdfeeder this winter/spring:

- Tomorrow I am going to visit Germany and Berlin for the first time together with my colleagues. I am really looking forward to it. Good night and enjoy all the cams. It will be very exciting to see what has happened when I get home

[alice44]

What a cutie!

I hope you have a super fantastic trip.

[macdoum]

Lussio have a super trip,enjoy ! You should have hot weather 'they' say,if you can believe it

Alice i'm afraid someone will get hungry when he sees that turkey. He had better scamper real quick.

[Felis silvestris]

Lussi - don't know if you still read it before your trip - have a great time and enjoy the city!

Great photos!
I saw that sparrowhawk in America is Falco sparverius and in Europe it is Accipiter nisus
The latter is what is flying around here recently and landed in front of my colleague's window the other day. The American one is called "Buntfalke" (means "coloured" falcon) or "American falcon" over here, the second is "Sperber". Goshawk would be Accipiter gentilis - Hühnerhabicht, the name already implying the habit of catching hens, which is the reason why people are after him over here as well.

Ducks - I see ducks flying now for the last few days every day in the morning when I go to catch my bus.

[alice44]

I just stumbled on this picture -- a buzzard cleaning its beak.

http://1x.com/photo/46889

[Felis silvestris]

That's a beautiful photo!

[alice44]

I was at my parents house eating dinner at the pick-nick table when a rufous humming bird visited the spot where his feeder was meant to be hanging. He had first visited the apple tree and the flowering current and some other plants, but he seemed really disappointed that there was NO feeder.

After we finished eating and went inside he continued to visit the missing feeder, but then flew nearer to the window as if to say get on it, get my food back in its place.

The food is back