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| Author |
Message |
danr
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Birds of a Feather
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Aug 5 23:50 UTC 1991 |
(I can't believe morel hasn't beaten me to this item.)
About a month ago, I had a remarkable birding experience. I was out
cycling (with Brian Dunkle no less) northwest of here. As we turned
onto Reithmiller Rd. from Waterloo Rd. there in front of us were two
Sandhill Cranes.
The Sandhill Crane is one of the largest birds, if not the largest,
found in Michigan. They are about 3 feet tall, and have an average
wingspan of more than six and a half feet.
I would guess that the pair we saw were no more than 50 feet in front
of us right in the middle of the road. It was hot out, and that
stretch was well-shaded. They did not want to move. They let us get to
within 20 feet before they decided to take off.
Watching them unfurl those big wings and take off was a real treat, too.
And they treated us to their call, too. To me, it sounded like a gross
between a warble and gobble.
Now, tell me about some of the birds you've seen.
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| 253 responses total. |
bad
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response 1 of 253:
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Aug 6 00:05 UTC 1991 |
(we saw a big mother of a turtle on that ride, too, but I guess that's
another item :)
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morel
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response 2 of 253:
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Aug 6 15:55 UTC 1991 |
Hmmm... Lately the only interesting bird sighting was the Red Tailed hawk
that flew across M-14 at about windshield level. Neat, but I thought for
sure I was going to hit the sucker.
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bad
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response 3 of 253:
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Aug 6 17:46 UTC 1991 |
I've been seeing (and hearing, the weird part) seagulls at Kroger lately.
Or, some seagull-type bird. Sea bird. Whatever.
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chelsea
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response 4 of 253:
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Aug 6 20:47 UTC 1991 |
While rafting down the Snake River in Wyoming we were able to
see bald eagles at close distance both perched and in flight.
Amazing birds. The guide estimated their wingspan at about eight
feet.
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jdg
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response 5 of 253:
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Aug 6 20:52 UTC 1991 |
On M-28 about in the middle of the U.P., we were driving and saw off in the
distance what looked like a fat turkey sitting on the shoulder watching
traffic. As we drew closer, we saw that it was an adult bald eagle,
counting cars!
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sno
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response 6 of 253:
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Aug 7 03:32 UTC 1991 |
Re 4: You lucky dog! The eagles were not there when we went by.
The only disappointment of the trip!
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morel
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response 7 of 253:
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Aug 7 03:54 UTC 1991 |
(Nancy and I saw a bald eagle flying over Huron River Drive just west of
Maple road back in January. It was the day congress voted to give the
pres the power to flatten Iraq. We assumed it was a sign.)
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bad
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response 8 of 253:
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Aug 7 11:40 UTC 1991 |
re #5 - was it taking license plate numbers, too? :)
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katie
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response 9 of 253:
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Aug 9 02:50 UTC 1991 |
Sandhill cranes are very plentiful in the Waterloo/Grass Lake area.
They visit my alfalfa field 2 or 3 times a week. Maybe there will be
some at the Picofest.
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joni
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response 10 of 253:
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Aug 9 13:14 UTC 1991 |
Years ago at the krogers in Westgate shopping center there were
pigeons (sp?) That had built nests in the Krogers sign (like in the O).
Don't know if the birds or the nest are still there though, as I don't
get to that side of town very often.
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anna
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response 11 of 253:
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Aug 13 17:37 UTC 1991 |
Not only were there no pigeons there, Joni, but the Kroger's sign was
gone, too. I had to ask a passerby if the store was still a Kroger's as
it wasn't apparent from the parkinglot.
We saw a flicker flying into its tree at the botanical gardens. They're
much smaller than I had imagined. Also, there were meadowlarks and
bobolinks in the field north of UMTRI on Huron Parkway the last time
I walked by...
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danr
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response 12 of 253:
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Aug 14 00:38 UTC 1991 |
I've been seeing lots of goldfinches lately on my bike rides.
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morel
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response 13 of 253:
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Aug 14 02:33 UTC 1991 |
Re #11: The flicker was smaller than you expected? My god, what did you
expect? Something the size of a Pteradactl? ;-)
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morel
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response 14 of 253:
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Aug 15 01:32 UTC 1991 |
Well, today was a moderatly interesting birding day. This morning saw a
great blue heron flying over the Huron River at the bend just west of Maple
Rd. Nothing too unusual about that, but on the way back about an hour
later, there it was, still at the bend of the river, sitting on a snag,
preening. That was pretty neat. Then while driving around the highways,
saw two great egrets. One was in the pond on the north side of I-94
between State Rd and US-23 and the other in the pond north of M-14 by Nixon
Rd. While taking the pup for a walk in the neighborhood, saw a coopers
hawk that was being mobbed by a flock of small birds. As it continued to
circle lazily, I don't think it was bothered *too* much by bombarded by
the little birds. Then early this evening, I had just parked the car in
the garage and heard some chickadees in the pine just outside. At first I
saw about four, and started "pishing" at them. (Some of the smaller, more
curious birds, especially chickadees will come and investigate where the
odd sound is coming from if you make a soft psssssssht psssssssht sound.)
Soon, I was surrounded by 8-10 curious chickadees, several within arm's
reach.
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bad
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response 15 of 253:
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Aug 15 05:21 UTC 1991 |
I hope you didn't make any sudden moves :)
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danr
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response 16 of 253:
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Aug 15 11:38 UTC 1991 |
Neat! I'll have to try this next time I see them around here.
We spotted a hawk on an electrical wire right next to the road on
our Tuesday night bicycle ride. Unfortunately, I did not get a good
enough look to really identify it.
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bad
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response 17 of 253:
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Aug 15 12:16 UTC 1991 |
There was something that looked like a Stork (I dunno my birds) flying
around Island Park this morning. Big sucker.
Also some 5-10 lb. fish that seemed to like swimming half out of the water.
I cought those on video.
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morel
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response 18 of 253:
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Aug 15 15:10 UTC 1991 |
Brian, what did your "stork" look like? Was it all white? If so it most
likely was an egret. Could have been a sandhill crane, but by the location
it's much less likely. If it looked light blue or grey, it was a great
blue heron. On the Huron River, west from Main St. (I'm sure you ride your
bike along there, everyone else in Washtenaw county does!) you can usually
see a GB heron if you watch carefully enough.
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bad
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response 19 of 253:
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Aug 15 17:22 UTC 1991 |
White or light grey, neck about two or three feet long.
I wanna know what these fish are, though - I watched the video...they're
eerie.
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fes
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response 20 of 253:
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Aug 24 22:10 UTC 1991 |
About 8 years ago I saw a goshawk waste a mallard hen on one of the greens at
Leslie golf course. It was pretty spectacular. The goshawk was probably around
because it was pretty cold up north at the time. It hung around for about 3
days and stashed the mallard in a pile of leaves on the fence line. I called
my brother-in-law (a certified bird freak who worked at Baraboo and hung out
on the Galapagos watching finchesfor a few months) and told him about it. That
was a mistake because HE hung around for about three days (we lived right next
to the golf course then).
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kentn
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response 21 of 253:
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Aug 29 15:13 UTC 1991 |
We just got back from Macinac Island, where were fortunate to see several
hummingbirds. Neat! (Not ruby-throated, but still not sure exactly which
kind).
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morel
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response 22 of 253:
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Aug 30 02:23 UTC 1991 |
If they *weren't* ruby-throated hummingbirds, I hope someone who can
identify birds saw them, because r-t's are only hummers that appear east
of the Rockies. Actually, I'm fairly certain what you saw were female
and/or immature r-t's wich don't have the red throats.
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kentn
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response 23 of 253:
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Sep 3 03:36 UTC 1991 |
Maybe I should have said we didn't see any red...just a lot of green!
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hexagon
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response 24 of 253:
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Sep 3 13:10 UTC 1991 |
I seen a pair of hummingbirds a month or so ago. On three different times.
We had this plant on our pourch. And they would be buzzing around it.
I was within a few feet of them. One had the red neck. The other was green.
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