Bird Sightings 2014 - 2015

[NwMtGardener]

Oh yes we have pileated woodpeckers year round here. I saw one when i was xc skiing in the Park in january. They're BIG!

I, embarrassing, have not seen your varied thrush! And i KNOW they're here, a friend who lives only 5 miles from me just posted some pics of them in her yard.

 

[digitS']

How about Bullock's Orioles (link), Heather?

I can't imagine them being aggressive (or stupid) about windows. They seem kind of like passive black birds and show up along the river now and then.

Steve

 

[NwMtGardener]

Nope, havent seen them either!! I looked them up in ebird, they have been spotted here. We have 294 species reported for our county on the website, since i've started using this website i've only recorded 38. I have a LOT of birding to do!

 

[thistlebloom]

That little thrush is a regular here now. I'm so glad! I just love hearing his call.
Even though he doesn't eat from the feeders, I see him hanging out under them every day.

But I would really love to see one of those Pileated guys.

 

[buckabucka]

We have pileated woodpeckers here, too. You'll see them occasionally, but I love their call. The sound like a jungle animal to me!

 

[digitS']

SeedO's Kingfishers have that "jungle" quality, also.

I'm surprised how very seldom I see Kingfishers here. They used to be quite common on the Rogue River in Oregon. I wonder if that is still true.

Steve

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Those Kingfisher's are colorful little critters! Hearing their calls always brighten up my day, and they do have that "jungle" quality. No matter where you live you can usually find something unusual and "exotic". Ever seen an female Ichneumon wasp? Concerning the Kingfisher's I saw another one today, but was working and didn't want to risk bringing my camera and ruining it on something.

I have never had the pleasure of seeing a Pileated Woodpecker. I'm sure that they're around here, they must just be secretive. Their are plenty of large trees around here. I've seen many ancient Ironwood trees at higher elevations (a pre-columbian Native American camp could have stood at their bases) and many old Buckeye and Maple trees at lower elevations, along with a few really old apple trees.

Last fall, I've seen some really colorful birds among the willows. They looked like grosbeaks, maybe finches, and they were in a huge flock when I saw them. There were many dull brown birds, I'm thinking the females, but the others were extremely colorful - yellow and blue, maybe a little bit of red. (I've only seem them once, we couldn't help but to gawk at them.) The closest thing that I could come up with was Painting Bunting, whose range is way too far south to be possible and the colors on this bird were arranged differently. Any suggestions? Maybe a (very) recent introduction from China?

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Bay should have those Green Kingfishers in her area. (I think?)

 

[NwMtGardener]

SeedO, I checked ebird - there are a very few (4) reports of painted buntings in Ohio, all of them were northern OH, 2 right on Lake Erie. So I guess a remote possibility, although it sounds like those sightings were individual birds, not flocks, in all cases.

What about a blue grosbeak? ebird shows sightings all across Ohio, even though the All about Birds range map only shows them coming as far north as southern Ohio. His wing color is not really yellow, but might look different in various light conditions. The females are dull brown too. A variety of warblers have blue and yellow, but I'm a little stumped beyond that!

I've seen Green Kingfishers along the Rio Grande in southern Texas, not sure how far north they go though.

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

I'm surprised that there are any sightings in Ohio. I thought that they stayed around the southern states and migrated south during the winter, but I guess that a few birds could drift off course during migration - but north?

Blue Grosbeak is more likely to be it. I thought that they had more yellow than blue though? It was a while back so I could easily be mixing things up. If they return I'll have to get some pictures. They did stay for a few days and then disappeared, so it's possible that they could have been on their way somewhere.

I think that the Green Kingfishers stay around the Rio Grande area extending down into Mexico. We have Belted Kingfishers here.