Conference clt::wild_birds

    I saw my first (Barn) Swallow of the year yesterday evening, flying
    over our garden (near Newbury, Berks UK).
    
    In the last few days there have been Blackcap and Willow Warbler
    singing outside DECpark, Reading.
    
    Mike
    

     I had a cardinal visitor yesterday, nice bright red.
    
    I just added this notefile to my directory.  My fiancee recently 
    received some bird feeders and a bird house at her bridal shower.  
    We hung one of the feeders up yesterday (Sunday 13-Apr) and later 
    in the afternoon we had a cardinal show up. This is in Manchester NH.
       
    	helge wensing.

    Well, I guess it's spring when you can get caught in the rain and be
    warm enough to not really mind all that much.
    
    Nice walk in Callahan State Park yesterday (Marlboro, MA, USA).  
    The rain chased away all of the mountain bikers and dog-walkers,
    leaving me a wonderful quiet forest.  When the sun came out, the birds
    did, too, and it was easy to imagine being a LOT farther away from town
    than just a few miles.
    
    Anyway, the birds:
    
    Black-capped chickadee
    Red-breasted nuthatch
    White-breasted nuthatch
    Brown creeper 
    Blue jay
    American crow
    Belted kingfisher (there's one pond)
    Ruffed grouse drumming, not seen
    Ring-necked pheasant
    Dark-eyed junco
    American goldfinch
    Downy woodpecker
    Tufted titmouse
    
    Nothing out of the ordinary, but pleasant nonetheless.  I don't
    usually get close to 3 creepers in the space of an hour.  
    
    Laurie
    

    Migrants now arrived in Berkshire UK:
    
    Garden Warbler 7 April
    Sedge Warbler 9 April
    Barn Swallow 10 April (you beat me by 1 day, Mike!)
    Whitethroat 15 April
    
    Chris

    there are now 8 heron nests by Kinball's (Littleton MA).  

    
    Saturday, 12 April 1997.  Location in Southern NH and NE Mass, USA.
    
    By Lake ??? in Merrimack NH
    
    6 prs of Pintail Ducks 
    1 Osprey looking for a fish dinner
    
    At the Plum Island wildlife Refuge, near Newburyport Mass.
    
    1 American Kestral
    2 Greater Yellowlegs.   -the legs are really YELLOW-
    1 pr Red Breasted Mergansers
    many Black Ducks
    2 Great Blue Herrons
    4 Green Winged Teal Ducks.
    1 Song Sparrow.
    3 Pheobes  -didn't hear the call so maybe an Eastern Wood Peewee-
    1 Great Egret
    1 pr of Mute Swans.
    
    note: Saw the first Tree Swallows yesterday,  Monday, 14 Ap 97.
    
                                 Bill P.

Re.652.4

The date looks very early for a Garden Warbler, is this usual in the UK? Here 
they do not usually turn up until about the first week in May.

Some interesting differences in dates as your Barn Swallows are a lot later 
than our first stragglers which turn up in March. We also have Nightingales 
since about 4-5 days but not the full numbers yet.

MikeB

     a first sighting from our backyard, Redmond WA.
    
    i saw 2 yellow rumped warblers (audobon's warbler) this morning.
    i've never seen any kind of warbler so it was very cool to watch them.
    also a couple of weeks ago i started to see a red-headed sap sucker. 
    this is also a first from our backyard.
    
    here's the current list
    
    black capped chickadee
    flickers (red-shafted and yellow shafted)
    song sparrow
    juncos
    pine siskin
    house finch
    varied thrush
    california quails
    mallard ducks
    banded tail pigeon
    green-violet swallows (can't remember if that's their real name)
    rufous hummingbird
    red-tailed hawk
    

    Did the dirty deed yesterday (ALL DAY) and took down all the 
    feeders and went to town with bleach and hot water.  By the
    end of the day all the clean feeders were up and running again.
    The nuthatch, chickadee, cardinal, and the ubiquitous blue jay
    all made runs to check them out so I guess I am all set for the
    upcoming season of having the birds back and chirping away.  I
    filled a few watering holes also.  The squirrels got their own
    feeders filled etc...  Should be nice to sit back and listen to
    all the activity when the trees leaf out.  My goal was to beat
    Mother Nature so the birds could find the feeders.  I was real
    lax this winter about feeding but got the bug yesterday and took
    advantage of it.

    justme....jacqui

    
    
    
    It's finally getting nicer here...spring sure comes slowly to New
    England.  Anyway, I took a walk in Delaney Wildlife Management Area in
    Stow, Mass. on Monday (state holiday here: Patriot's Day).
    
    I had read that Palm Warblers were back in the state...boy, were they. 
    I saw several groups, numbering at least 10 per group.  In one brushy
    area there seemed to be 3 or 4 Palms in every bush.  There were a few
    Yellow-Rumped Warblers (Myrtle variety) also, but definitely more
    Palms.  Very curious about me, too...not shy at all.
    
    There were 4 or 5 Ruby-Crowned Kinglets in the same area.  Now these
    are not uncommon birds, but usually I get short glimpses of them up in a
    tree.  These birds were singing loudly (I had to look closely to make
    sure it was them...I'm more used to the high "tsee" call and not to the
    actual song) and approaching within 5 or 6 feet.  Spring sure gets the
    birds acting frisky!
    
    All these bushes filled with birds are getting me excited about the
    full warbler migration ahead.  I'll have to warn my boss that I'll be
    wanting some mornings off in May on short notice...
    
    Other sightings at Delaney were 4 Great Blue Herons sitting on nests, a
    pair of Hooded Mergansers, 8 Ring-Necked Ducks (6M + 1F), 2 Hermit
    Thrushes.  Plus the usual suspects that are pretty reliable: 
    Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Cardinal, Downy
    Woodpecker (cleaning out a nest hole), Canada Goose, Wood Duck, Blue Jay, 
    Eastern Phoebe, White-Breasted Nuthatch, American Crow, Mallard and 
    American Robin.  
    
                                                               

    Hi
    
    Digital is moving out from Merrimack, NH (MKO) so I thought I'd post a
    last bird list. Seen so far this week:
    
    	Ring neck pheasant (who was in along edge of wooded driveway)
    	Song Sparrow
    	Purple Finch
    	Blue Jay
    	Chickadees
    	Hawks - red tail I think	
    	Juncoes
    	Titmice
    	Goldfinches
    	Crows
    	haven't seen the Oriole yet, still a bit early
    
    Susan
    
    

    A very large bird, evidently a hawk, has decided that the truss bar
    from our ham radio antennas makes a great perch from which to survey
    the neighborhood - I've seen this creature up there several times in
    the past week.  I'm no birder, however, so I don't know what species it
    is - I used to be more interested in birds when I was a kid, but I am
    so severely near-sighted that I can't make out most of them anyhow.  If
    I have time, next time I notice the large bird perched up there, I will
    drag out the binoculars and try to see what the creature looks like.
    For such a big creature, this fellow is an efficient flyer, too - it
    mostly just soars, doesn't need to flap its wings very often.  I
    suppose that the antenna makes a better perch for spotting prey than
    the only other tall structures in the area, a couple of big old pine
    trees on the top of the hill, since the view below is unobstructed.  I
    wonder if it has a nest in the area someplace, too?
    
    /Charlotte

    
    re:12
    
    Most Hawk, birds of prey, will sit high on a perch as you have observed
    on your antenna.  They are looking for dinner.  Sometimes dinner is one
    of those cute little songbirds you just fed at your feeder.
    Such is nature!  They perch for long periods of time and can be
    observed very nicely if you have a spotting scope or good binoculars.
    I've seen the birds at my feeder suddenly disapear in a second and 
    looked around to see a hawk perched on the top of a tree.
    Most of the time other birds will harass hawks as they perch nearby
    and drive them away.  Interesting how the smaller birds team up against
    a common enemy.   Watch the tail for id purposes, color, number and
    width of stripes if any.     
    
                                           Bill 

    Re .12	Sitting on an antenna it must surely be a TV (Turkey
    Vulture)	;-)
    Re .6	Yes Mike, that is early for Garden Warbler in UK, they
    normally get here around the end of April but that is the sort of year 
    it is (was). When the cold north easterlies started migration seemed
    to slow down and I haven't seen any since. BTW, thanks for the "trip 
    report".
  
    Chris

    I saw the hawk (or whatever) twice more over the weekend, and I wasn't
    even home much, so I guess this bird has taken up residence lcoally. 
    The crow colony that lives on the top of the hill gets very excited
    about the hawk.  Periodically several crows chase it away (causing a
    great commotion! - I'm no crow lover).  I'll try to take a look through
    binoculars next time I see it so maybe someone can tell which species
    it is.  It's not perching on the TV antenna - given the size of the
    bird and the current shape of my TV antenna (no one watches much TV in
    my house - never bought onto cable, and the antenna is very old and
    somewhat mangled by last winter and this winter's big storms - I keep
    meaning to climb up on the roof and fix it, but that's not a high
    priority), that's probably good, as I think the bird's weight would
    collapse the thing!  It sits on the truss for the big ham radio
    antenna, so it is about 90' above the hillside.  A good perch for mouse
    hunting.
    
    The cardinal pair is back too.  Last year, they nested in my neighbor's
    shrubbery.  The year before, they nested right in front of my picture
    window in one of my shrubs, and were a big hit with my indoor-only
    cats.   I haven't figured out where they are nesting this year, but I
    have seen both the male and the female cardinal (close enough that even
    I can easily tell what they are! - this pair has been around the
    neighborhood for so long that they aren't too concerned about humans
    working in the garden, etc.) so they are someplace nearby.  I hope the
    hawk isn't interested in cardinals!
    
    /Charlotte

I've got a Coopers Hawk living in my woods!   I had seen and heard a hawk
hanging around for a few weeks.  Wednesday, I saw it eating something or other,
hanging out on a dead limb of a pine tree.  It stuck around long enough to get a
positive ID.

Friday, I discovered why I'd been seeing so much of this hawk--there are two of
them!  I saw the pair of them, mating, on a branch near where they were before!
I'll go out into the woods soon and see if I can spot a nest.

According to the field guide, their primary diet is songbirds.  I wonder if I
should take down the bird feeder?

-Doug

    Re: .13
    
    When crows gag up and attack a raven OR
    when ravens gag up and attack a hawk,
    that is called "mobbing".  I've even
    seen blue jays mob a raven.  Gives meaning
    to the saying, "United we stand, divided we fall."

    
    saw a male Wilson's Warbler this past Sunday.
    
    also the goldfinches are yellow again. 
    
    jo (Redmond, WA)

    
    Re:16
    Are you sure they are Coopers hawks and not Sharp Shined hawks?
    
    Hard to tell the difference most of the time.
    I asked one of the bird guru's of the NH Audubon Soc about the difference
    and he said it is one of the hardest calls to make even for an
    experienced birdwatcher. 
    
    Not that I doubt you but I'm just curious.
                   
                                                           Bill  

> Are you sure they are Coopers hawks and not Sharp Shined hawks?

Not 100% certain, no, but close enough that I'm satisfied.  I've gotten some
really good looks, once or twice for 10 minutes at a time.  The key is the
tail--more rounded on the Cooper's Hawk, more squared-off on the Sharp-shinned.

-Doug

    the one identifier that i rely on is the head.  the Cooper's look like
    it got a haircut with the sides buzzed.  the Sharp-shinned doesn't have
    quite that delineation.  if the bird is perched, the Sharp-shinned tail
    has straight bands and the Cooper's bands are not.  i don't quite
    remember which is which but one is definitely smaller than the other.
    
    jo