peteyfoozer
Garden Addicted
I assume they are sparrows. I’m not very well versed in ornithology, but they are a small greyish brown, non descript bird who builds nests in inconvenient places and poop alot!
Birds
- Thread starter AMKuska
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Branching Out
Deeply Rooted
Yesterday morning I was up early, and at 5am a spectacular rainbow began to form so I went outside to admire it. Suddenly there was a big thud, and I noted that a bird had crashed in to our front window. It was lying in a messy heap on the deck, and looked pretty beat up. Talk about two worlds colliding-- the fleeting beauty of a rainbow, and the tragic (and quite literal) collision of the tiny bird and the glass. I monitored it and after a bit the bird was able to sit up and eventually stand. After hanging around for a few hours to build up its energy it flitted about and disappeared. A happy ending hopefully.
I am not sure what kind of bird it was. It may have been a Swainson's Thrush perhaps.
www.allaboutbirds.org
I am not sure what kind of bird it was. It may have been a Swainson's Thrush perhaps.
Swainson's Thrush Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
More likely to be heard than seen, Swainson’s Thrushes enliven summer mornings and evenings with their upward-spiraling, flutelike songs. During fall and spring migration, their soft, bell-like overhead “peeps” may be mistaken for the calls of frogs. These largely arboreal foragers pluck...
www.allaboutbirds.org
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flowerbug
Garden Master
Yesterday morning I was up early, and at 5am a spectacular rainbow began to form so I went outside to admire it. Suddenly there was a big thud, and I noted that a bird had crashed in to our front window. It was lying in a messy heap on the deck, and looked pretty beat up. Talk about two worlds colliding-- the fleeting beauty of a rainbow, and the tragic (and quite literal) collision of the tiny bird and the glass. I monitored it and after a bit the bird was able to sit up and eventually stand. After hanging around for a few hours to build up its energy it flitted about and disappeared. A happy ending hopefully.
I am not sure what kind of bird it was. It may have been a Swainson's Thrush perhaps.
Swainson's Thrush Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
More likely to be heard than seen, Swainson’s Thrushes enliven summer mornings and evenings with their upward-spiraling, flutelike songs. During fall and spring migration, their soft, bell-like overhead “peeps” may be mistaken for the calls of frogs. These largely arboreal foragers pluck...
scares us every time!
usually they seem to recover.
once in a while i have to bury one.
digitS'
Garden Master
A good thing about closing off the West window in the living room with the AC and my "artistic" insulation board on the glass above it -- is that birds, that are so active during the Summer and so often very young, do not try to fly "through" that corner of the living room. It happens fairly often during the weeks of Spring.
Difficulty in Identifying ... Those "little brown jobs" (LBJ's) that are so common. I struggle through the seasons trying to recognize what I'm seeing. I can remember being frustrated about any confidence regarding ID'ing Cassin's Vireos. Then, one day years ago, I'm walking down a city sidewalk. There it was -- a Cassin's Vireo dead on the sidewalk in front of me. Not especially high buildings nearby -- one of 3 stories but it is a government building and had to be rather "grand" altho only 3 stories. And, there was a building of about 7 stories across the street.
Buildings in cities are said to be a major risk to migratory birds. Notice sometime how bird numbers decrease the further you travel into a city. It is heartening that some birds can live in close proximity to human populations and benefit, somewhat. But, urban human/avian density are really the antitheses of one to the other. Perhaps there are some ideas out there about discouraging birds from hitting windows. They often aren't just dropping a few feet into the hydrangea bush outside one of our living room windows.
Steve
Difficulty in Identifying ... Those "little brown jobs" (LBJ's) that are so common. I struggle through the seasons trying to recognize what I'm seeing. I can remember being frustrated about any confidence regarding ID'ing Cassin's Vireos. Then, one day years ago, I'm walking down a city sidewalk. There it was -- a Cassin's Vireo dead on the sidewalk in front of me. Not especially high buildings nearby -- one of 3 stories but it is a government building and had to be rather "grand" altho only 3 stories. And, there was a building of about 7 stories across the street.
Buildings in cities are said to be a major risk to migratory birds. Notice sometime how bird numbers decrease the further you travel into a city. It is heartening that some birds can live in close proximity to human populations and benefit, somewhat. But, urban human/avian density are really the antitheses of one to the other. Perhaps there are some ideas out there about discouraging birds from hitting windows. They often aren't just dropping a few feet into the hydrangea bush outside one of our living room windows.
Steve
flowerbug
Garden Master
we're getting into drunk bird season which is when a lot more birds are flying into things. netting over the windows hanging from the eaves would probably help but we don't want to block the views.
Pulsegleaner
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Each year, regular as clockwork, one of the local nurseries is enhanced by a few families of barn swallows who set up their nests under the eaves. You actually have to dodge the parents regularly as they swoop back and forth getting food for the chicks (which, by the time they are almost ready to leave, are about twice the height of the nest and so crowded you wonder how they can even move.)
Thanks to the river next to it, you also often seed shorebirds like plovers and such walking around the trees in the back (maybe they use it as a waystation between the sound and elsewhere.)
Thanks to the river next to it, you also often seed shorebirds like plovers and such walking around the trees in the back (maybe they use it as a waystation between the sound and elsewhere.)
ducks4you
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The way Our house is set up, the "view" windows are all south facing. I keep lace curtains or blinds on them--the curtain above the large LR window AC is a blackout/thermal curtain, and it is now safety pinned up to not inhibit the AC from working and draped.
ALL OF these curtains deter birds from crashing into the windows which would otherwise reflect their images and the image of the sky. That is why they crash--they see the sky and not the window.
ALL OF these curtains deter birds from crashing into the windows which would otherwise reflect their images and the image of the sky. That is why they crash--they see the sky and not the window.
ducks4you
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My barn swallows nest in the barn!
digitS'
Garden Master
I just happened across this website. If you think that a bird that you are hearing and seeing is in a certain family, it may help with identifying more quickly. It has a direct route to the bird sounds.
Bird sounds and bird calls in USA & Canada (602 species)
Discover all the birds of North America through bird sounds and pictures. Works perfectly on your tablet and phone!
www.bird-sounds.net
flowerbug
Garden Master
I just happened across this website. If you think that a bird that you are hearing and seeing is in a certain family, it may help with identifying more quickly. It has a direct route to the bird sounds.
Bird sounds and bird calls in USA & Canada (602 species)
Discover all the birds of North America through bird sounds and pictures. Works perfectly on your tablet and phone!
i'm not here long enough this evening to do a full looksee on that site, but i'll ask just in case you know offhand. does it have sounds on it that are not birds that sound like birds? i ask because sometimes there are toad and frog sounds that i sometimes think are birds.
*ribbet* <-- is not one of them...
