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billfromlaketravis

By billfromlaketravis
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hookem2010

hookem2010 2700

Posted
Posted (edited)

Barn owl x2

White-tailed hawk

Red-shouldered hawk

Wilson's warbler

Cedar waxwing

Scissor-tailed flycatcher 

Dickcissel

Red-shouldered hawk

Red-headed woodpecker

Black-bellied whistling duck

Barred owl

Great horned owl

Leucistic red-tailed hawk?? (Incredible!)

Edited by hookem2010
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Patricio Swayze

Patricio Swayze 17058

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, hookem2010 said:

Barn owl x2

White-tailed hawk

Red-shouldered hawk

Wilson's warbler

Cedar waxwing

Scissor-tailed flycatcher 

Dickcissel

Red-shouldered hawk

Red-headed woodpecker

Black-bellied whistling duck

Barred owl

Great horned owl

Leucistic red-tailed hawk?? (Incredible!)

You get a 100 and an additional 10 bonus points for the leucistic hawk.  I would see her near my house for a couple of years.  They built a big church where she would hunt and I haven't seen her since. 

Alright, just twist my arm already, here are a few more...

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Walser

Walser 1125

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A couple weeks ago I attended the North America Falconry Association yearly meet. Unfortunately, it was in Lubbock. More unfortunately, I wrenched my back on day one and spent the rest of the week lying on my back in my motel room. I'll post some pics of the birds.

There is something surreal seeing a guy check into a hotel with a hooded Golden Eagle.

Edited by Walser
really needed clarification there
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hookemATL

hookemATL 12241

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Owls are about as badass as animals get. Just completely fascinating and awesome creatures. I’ve seen a couple of Great Horned Owls out on my parents property and they are super impressive birds. Big mofos. Barn owls are just incredibly beautiful. So cool. 
 

I have a bit of an obsession with hawks and my dad always said he’d love to be reincarnated as one. 
 

csb - was golfing with friends at MoWilly and one of them biffs one into the woods. We drive over to try and find it and see a red tailed hawk chilling on a lower branch. All kind of pause and watch then out of nowhere another larger hawk lands next to her, mounts her and they birdfuck. Literally have been watching and looking at hawks my entire life and never seen them mating. Fast forward 2 days and I’m walking around my folks place hitting the one hitter and just relaxing. I see a very nice red tailed again on a branch and watch for a bit, then AGAIN another larger RTH lands next to the female and climbs on up for some more birdfucking. Very strange to see those two incidents so close to one another. Mostly was just glad I didn’t get an erection either time. 
 

 

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Walser

Walser 1125

Posted
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NIce. I've been around raptors my whole life and never seen it in the wild. 

Red-tails are such wonderful adaptable birds. Way back in the day when I was an apprentice I had one named"Isabeau" for a couple years. Named after the hawk in the movie  Ladyhawke. Yes, I'm a huge nerd.

Birds are a white gyrfalcon, peregrine, Martial Eagle (I think) good ol' Red-Tail, weathering yard, and a rehabilitating Screech Owl. BTW, NOW is the time to put up a screech box. They are already pairing off.

Wish I took more pictures but I expected to have all week.

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Edited by Walser
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hookem2010

hookem2010 2700

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I'm obviously not a photographer, but here is a picture of the first ever US record of bat falcon from this January. I didn't find it, but made the 6-hour drive to the valley to see it, along with 2 other birds rarely seen in the States. Got to enjoy it for all of about 60 seconds before someone drove past and honked, scaring it off for the rest of the day. Good thing I left the house at 2:00 AM instead of 2:02. Such a reasonable, rational hobby...

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Spaulding Smails

Spaulding Smails 1610

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I'm not a birder, but I'll give @Patricio Swayze's second post a shot.  Amazing photos!

Yellow Crowned Heron (gorgeous one, BTW)

Eastern Bluebird

Ribeye of the Sky

Rough Legged Hawk maybe?  Have never seen one in person.

Pileated Woodpecker?  Maybe a RedHeaded Woodpecker.  Can't remember the solid vs stripe on the head.

No clue on this one.  Maybe some sort of Flycatcher?

Stilt Bird (think that's right but not sure it's the correct name, that's what we've always called them, could always tell by the red legs)

Painted Bunting (my mom's absolute favorite)

Roseate Spoonbill

'Murica!

 

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Patricio Swayze

Patricio Swayze 17058

Posted
Posted
I'm obviously not a photographer, but here is a picture of the first ever US record of bat falcon from this January. I didn't find it, but made the 6-hour drive to the valley to see it, along with 2 other birds rarely seen in the States. Got to enjoy it for all of about 60 seconds before someone drove past and honked, scaring it off for the rest of the day. Good thing I left the house at 2:00 AM instead of 2:02. Such a reasonable, rational hobby...
Screenshot_20221223-143115_Photos.thumb.jpg.2f2414c295903d768aa6c965a1983a39.jpg

My dad drove down from Rockport to try and get a shot. No dice.
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Patricio Swayze

Patricio Swayze 17058

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4 minutes ago, Walser said:

I'm thinking belted kingfisher after the woodpecker. NASA area was lousy with them when I was growing up.

@Patricio Swayze You have any Ivory-billed woodpecker pics on your roll? 😉

I had to look that one up.  Looks like I would need a time machine to catch one. 

I don't consider myself a birder, more of an opportunist.

Here are some more (hopefully no repeats)...

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Walser

Walser 1125

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Though I've been out of falconry for decades now, I am still very much in tune with ecology. When I was in Austin in the 90s you pretty much only saw Red Tails on phone poles and Kestrels on wires. Now, I know there were others, but I noticed starting around 2009 a proliferation of more rare birds. Saw my first Coopers Hawk in my area in southwest Austin shortly after buying my first house. Very anecdotal of course, but I see these all the time now:

Red-shouldered hawk

Sharp-shinned hawk

Caracara like you have pictured

Rough-legged hawks

even a rare Goshawk

Great-horned and Screech owls

It is inexplicable to me why I see them more and more, especially since I am no longer looking for them! I hope it's a good sign.

Thanks for the pics!

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Patricio Swayze

Patricio Swayze 17058

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Wow, @Patricio Swayze is this a hobby or profession. And generate speaking, what is your setup for equipment?

Thanks. This is just a hobby. We need Doug in here. His bird photos blow mine away.

For these shots my setup is a Canon EOS R with a Canon 100-400mm lens. Sometimes I would borrow a 1.4 extender.
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Prepuce of Doom

Prepuce of Doom 21285

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We've had a kestrel box in the corner of our back yard for almost two years now and have yet to attract any occupants aside from some occasionally curious sparrows and black-capped chickadees. I've seen kestrels around occasionally, but wonder if our yard isn't large and open enough for their liking, or if perhaps we're too close to O'Hare for them to nest. We have a lot of food opportunities for them though. 

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We have three feeders in our back yard as well - black oil sunflower seeds (sometimes have to take it down for a while when the raccoons set their sites on it...), a thistle/nyger feeder, and a suet cake feeder (finally found one that seems to keep both squirrels and grackles away). 

Doomlet is a pretty avid bird watcher. He's lost a bit of his interest from his peak about a year ago, but he is pretty good at identifying birds. Of course, I wouldn't necessarily know when he's wrong, but he certainly speaks with confidence. 

We have both Cooper's hawks and sharp-shinned hawks take rabbits and squirrels out of our front yard on a somewhat regular basis. We have a bit of snow right now, but there are often little bits of gore here and there. I accidentally interrupted a kill by opening up our front garage door a while ago, and the "crime scene photos" with wing marks, tufts of hair, a surprising lack of blood, etc., were pretty interesting. When I barged into the scene, the bird took its meal up into a tree across the street. 

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Edited by Prepuce of Doom
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DougO

DougO 5265

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On 12/22/2022 at 9:32 PM, deadshank said:

Looks like a dust mop. 

I'm leaning this way, but i can't really tell what the hell I'm looking at. Zoomed in on the pic as much as I could, looks like a mop with the head of a Cooper's hawk, due to the dark cap. Probably some kind of non-binary morph transitioning into household product or something. 

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DougO

DougO 5265

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On 12/24/2022 at 12:21 PM, Coach pop a bitch said:

I've switched from black oiled sunflower seeds to safflower seeds to keep the squirrels away. 

 

 

Good for some birds, but for more variety you need different seeds. I bought one of these feeders from tractor supply a few years ago when they were $30. Well worth it. Still undefeated vs squirrels, and has held up really well and going strong.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/stokes-select-squirrel-proof-cage-feeder?cid=Shopping-Bing-Product6806022-&msclkid=74e9adf9f64c1071dedace51210f258c&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping - All Products&utm_term=4585375807245420&utm_content=All Products

 

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CycleTex87

CycleTex87 3036

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During the work from home period I was at my desk staring aimlessly into the backyard and happened to see a hummingbird fly through the yard. That encouraged me to get a hummingbird feeder and I’ve been interested In watching them ever since. Today my wife gave me a book on hummingbirds for Christmas. It’s been kind of fun keeping track of them. 

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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11821

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On 12/25/2022 at 5:27 PM, Prepuce of Doom said:

It doesn't do shit against raccoons, but I have had good success against squirrels with the Brome line of products (double suet feeder and Squirrel Solution 200).

https://bromebirdcare.com/busterproducts/

https://bromebirdcare.com/squirrelsolution200/

 

Gracias. I have an aforementioned plump/clever squirrel that eats all of the bird seed within a couple days. 

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DougO

DougO 5265

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On 12/29/2022 at 5:19 PM, hookem2010 said:

Merlin is great, better at confirming suspected birds than being solely reliant on it. Anybody developing a serious interest in birding should get on eBird. No better way to find out where you can expect to find things. That's how my interest really took off.

True. Ebirds was the number one tool I used for discovering birds and places to go to find them. You can go out knowing what to look for by what others have seen at a particular location and time of year, so you are far more aware and prepared. Do some pre-scouting through eBird and get familiar with those birds you might see by studying various online sources, mainly the Cornell sites. Then when you go and see them live in person it becomes a familiar thing.

Merlin is a great tool, highly recommended for anyone out birding. It's a big help, but you don't want to depend on its accuracy. Don't call it confirmed because of Merlin. The photo app and sound ID app can be way off, but can also be a big help to getting clues to what you have seen. Use it to study the sounds of birds when you go looking for particular targets. Ear birding is the best way to find more birds and become a better birder.

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Patricio Swayze

Patricio Swayze 17058

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A few more from down on the Coastal Bend.  This is the foggiest I can recall it being down there (well, that foggy plus nearly a week of it).  It screwed up some of the better shots of a Kingfisher I have managed to get.  Those fuckers and Kestrels are so hard to shoot.  At least for me.

Speaking of...I have a blurry flight shot that would have been amazing if it was sharp.

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This Osprey was fishing, but I couldn't manage to get a shot of it diving.  I have never caught a raptor head on like this first shot.  I wish it had been much closer.

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hookem2010

hookem2010 2700

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Getting a close look at a kingfisher is very difficult. Finding and seeing them is not so hard, given how loud and distinctive their rattle is, but they don't hang around for extended binocular views or photos. I remember thinking it was so cool that we had kingfishers in Texas when I first started birding. They seemed more tropical or exotic to me for some reason.

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