calling all wild bird feeders!!

[sourland]

Well, it's a bird feeder, right? My feeders are located in or close to brushy areas. I even put the Christmas tree close to one of them for cover. Just looked out the window and watched a male Cooper's hawk trying to work his way into a matted down multiflora rose clump. Had to be a couple of Juncos or Song Sparrows hiding in there. I intervened and chased him off - go eat someplace else!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Sourland saves the day!

 

[sourland]

Several years ago I heard a cock pheasant squawking and carrying on. Rushed outside and found that again a male Cooper's had him pinned against our porch and was doing his best to kill the pheasant.

 

[kbarrett]

In the last few months I've been seeing what I'm 99% positive are coopers hawks more often than I ever have. Yesterday I caught sight of one leaving the neighbors yard empty handed I was surprised to see the Jays giving chase and hollering at it. I saw him land in the wood line maybe 75 yards from my house. I had the big lens on the camera and with some cropping got a couple pics of it.

Most mornings there is a red tailed hawk a bit deeper in these woods. He's easy to spot when he goes in because of the 4-5 ravens giving chase and harassing him/ her. They are extremely abundant around here. I know I've been really lucky with free ranging my chickens, knock on wood I've never had a hawk attack, though last summer my husband spotted one sitting on the corner of my run looking down at the girls.

 

[duluthralphie]

I have to admit I cannot tell the difference in a lot of hawks, especially Coopers, Harriers and Kestrels. The kestrels are smaller otherwise they all just mean danger to my poor chickens. However, other than large red tails I do not think we have a lot of hawks here. That could be because we are over run with eagles.

The last few years they have expanded their numbers at a alarming rate. There is not a day goes by I do not see at least one juvvy eagle or adult.

That is not to say I do not have hawks at all, I did lose a chick to a Kestrel last summer. I am fairly sure it was a kestrel as it sat right where it killed the chick and attempted to eat it until the dogs chased it off.

 

[kbarrett]

One of the reasons other than I love to take photos, is that I'm hoping for a really clear shot for identification purposes. Once I start looking on the wildlife sites it's amazing how many similar looking birds there are. My neighbors refer to it as a sparrow hawk, but while there are species of that name in many variations, they are not indigenous to this area and sparrow hawk is also known to be a slang term that can encompass most small to medium birds of prey. Kind of like the term chicken hawk, that is a common term that includes any type of bird of prey that will go after chickens...

Growing up I cannot recall ever seeing an eagle in these parts. In the last few years I have seen bald eagles at least 1/2 dozen times. My son & I saw this one on New Years Day. I spotted it at the last moment so I turned around and went back so he could snap some pics on my phone. I didn't upload any of the other pics as they were blurry but there was also a juvenile further in the trees...

 

[smccuen]

I spotted this Red Bellied Woodpecker living in a dead pine across the street.

 

[smccuen]

Goldfinch and Pine Sisken have discovered the thistle socks.

 

[duluthralphie]

I spotted this Red Bellied Woodpecker living in a dead pine across the street.

I spotted this Red Bellied Woodpecker living in a dead pine across the street.

Goldfinch and Pine Sisken have discovered the thistle socks.

Great pictures! I love the one of the red bellied woodpecker!

I am trying to learn bird Identification, I use an app on my cell phone "merlin".

I did not know that sparrow looking one was a pine sisken. I get them all the time I thought there were some kind of sparrow, I have literally hours trying to figure out what they are!

Thanks

 

[smccuen]

The website whatbird is helpful