Although I haven't had a whole lot of time to tinker with the audio yet, I suspect my nighthawk footage is not salvageable (such are the hazards of bringing along a person to whom ceaseless talking is more important than cool nature stuff when camping - ah well). I'll get together a post about them regardless!
On another note, bird news from the local paper! Crows up in Washington caused a fun hazmat scare that detoured traffic for over an hour! Those loveable scamps! :)
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Ochoco National Forest Birdliness is Forthcoming!
Nighthawks do the most amazing thing this time of year. I need to do some work on the audio quality before posting it so you can hear it clearly, but it still won't blow your mind the same way as hearing it right above your head.
To quote my Good Sir Love Love, "That little fucking bird does THAT?!"
Stay tuned!
To quote my Good Sir Love Love, "That little fucking bird does THAT?!"
Stay tuned!
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Slight alteration.
I'm obviously not too big into worrying about what language I use in a blog, but the title "FUCK YEAH! BIRDS!" shall become slightly censored as a vague, half-assed attempt at politeness. I almost changed it to "HELL YEAH! BIRDS!" but that lacks a certain manic glee.
Anyway!
Unless something birdly of note happens soonly, my next post shall be an extra-special Central Oregon Bird Adventure Party Time Fun post, subsequent to an upcoming camping trip! If I never post again, it will be because certain loved ones left me for dead in the wilderness for not shutting up about birds.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Crow + Kestrel VS. Huge Hawk! I saw it LIVE!
I enjoy hearing about temporary "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" truces in nature, and I was lucky enough to see one today!
A crow that lives around here flew overhead, giving the caw that appears to mean either "IMMA KICK YOUR ASS" or "HELP ME! TINY BIRDS ARE KICKING MY ASS!" depending on the context (or, more logically, it probably just simply means "RAWR, BAD THING"), so I watched it to see what it was doing. It zoomed across the field toward a big hawk I hadn't noticed (maybe Red-Tailed, but hard to identify at the distance). The hawk landed in the top of a tree, and proceeded to not give a shit while the crow repeatedly swooped at it, its dives bottoming out several feet away. WOO! TERRITORY DISPUTE!
Suddenly, high-pitched peeping!
Enter an American Kestrel that's been hanging around lately! It shot across the field toward the conflict from nearby, and upon reaching the hawk, took turns with the crow to dive at the hawk's head in a very nicely timed manner. Unlike the bigger crow, Mr. Angry Kestrel appeared to actually make contact with the hawk's head a couple times, eliciting some kind of hawkly equivalent of "Dude, ow" but little else.
Eventually, the crow came back to land in a tree closer to the house. Facing north, the direction from which the usual crows come and go, it gave a different sort of call. Based on documented mobby crow behaviors it's not unreasonable to presume it was trying to draw the attention of more crows. The kestrel backed off a little - to a tree to the south - as soon as its backup was away.
No more crows came, however, and the crow resumed his solo mobbing, joined once again shortly afterward by the kestrel. A Brewer's Blackbird passing through took a single shot at the hawk's head on its way to its ultimate goal of bitching at us for being in the yard when it wanted the feeder.
I wish I'd caught a video of this stuff. It's almost too weird to be true.
I don't believe kestrels and crows are natural allies. Crows are known to eat kestrel eggs. The only reason I know of that they would team up like that is that both have claimed territory here, and each evaluated the issues presented by a hawk in their space to take precedence over their issues with each other. I wonder if I'll see crow vs. kestrel battles soon, and if it'll be the newly resident kestrel or the long-established crows that win out.
Also, I'd imagine a Brewer's Blackbird wouldn't like either one, so that was pretty neat to see him join in for a few brief seconds.
By the way, both the crow and the kestrel eventually gave up. The hawk left the area of his own accord as soon as they left him alone.
A crow that lives around here flew overhead, giving the caw that appears to mean either "IMMA KICK YOUR ASS" or "HELP ME! TINY BIRDS ARE KICKING MY ASS!" depending on the context (or, more logically, it probably just simply means "RAWR, BAD THING"), so I watched it to see what it was doing. It zoomed across the field toward a big hawk I hadn't noticed (maybe Red-Tailed, but hard to identify at the distance). The hawk landed in the top of a tree, and proceeded to not give a shit while the crow repeatedly swooped at it, its dives bottoming out several feet away. WOO! TERRITORY DISPUTE!
Suddenly, high-pitched peeping!
Enter an American Kestrel that's been hanging around lately! It shot across the field toward the conflict from nearby, and upon reaching the hawk, took turns with the crow to dive at the hawk's head in a very nicely timed manner. Unlike the bigger crow, Mr. Angry Kestrel appeared to actually make contact with the hawk's head a couple times, eliciting some kind of hawkly equivalent of "Dude, ow" but little else.
Eventually, the crow came back to land in a tree closer to the house. Facing north, the direction from which the usual crows come and go, it gave a different sort of call. Based on documented mobby crow behaviors it's not unreasonable to presume it was trying to draw the attention of more crows. The kestrel backed off a little - to a tree to the south - as soon as its backup was away.
No more crows came, however, and the crow resumed his solo mobbing, joined once again shortly afterward by the kestrel. A Brewer's Blackbird passing through took a single shot at the hawk's head on its way to its ultimate goal of bitching at us for being in the yard when it wanted the feeder.
I wish I'd caught a video of this stuff. It's almost too weird to be true.
I don't believe kestrels and crows are natural allies. Crows are known to eat kestrel eggs. The only reason I know of that they would team up like that is that both have claimed territory here, and each evaluated the issues presented by a hawk in their space to take precedence over their issues with each other. I wonder if I'll see crow vs. kestrel battles soon, and if it'll be the newly resident kestrel or the long-established crows that win out.
Also, I'd imagine a Brewer's Blackbird wouldn't like either one, so that was pretty neat to see him join in for a few brief seconds.
By the way, both the crow and the kestrel eventually gave up. The hawk left the area of his own accord as soon as they left him alone.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Sirocco, the Endangered Sexual Harrassment Parrot
Few things make me laugh as hard as bird sex does. Why? Who knows. It's just funny. It's especially funny when it's bird sex that makes no apparent sense, like when my budgies go crazy on a pair of dice.
On that note!
You may have already seen the following video clip of a Kakapo, Sirocco, making unwelcome sexy bird time on zoologist Mark Carwardine's head (it's been viral for a while now), but in case you haven't, courtesy of the BBC, a clip from Last Chance to See:
The Kakapo is a highly endangered, flightless parrot from New Zealand. They were having a pretty good time on their food-rich, predator-free islands until human colonists came along, accompanied by various carnivorous mammals (cats and various stowaway rodents, for instance), which were pretty psyched to find a lot of big, meaty, relatively helpless birds hanging around.
Today, the 126 living Kakapo (up from only 50 in 1995 according to the Kakapo Recovery Project!) are kept on three islands that remain predator-free and are carefully monitored.
I hear that they smell good.
A couple links for more info on Kakapo, one of my favorite species of fatass bird:
The Kakapo Recovery Project
Kakapo on Wikipedia
And by the way, Sirocco has a facebook page!
On that note!
You may have already seen the following video clip of a Kakapo, Sirocco, making unwelcome sexy bird time on zoologist Mark Carwardine's head (it's been viral for a while now), but in case you haven't, courtesy of the BBC, a clip from Last Chance to See:
The Kakapo is a highly endangered, flightless parrot from New Zealand. They were having a pretty good time on their food-rich, predator-free islands until human colonists came along, accompanied by various carnivorous mammals (cats and various stowaway rodents, for instance), which were pretty psyched to find a lot of big, meaty, relatively helpless birds hanging around.
Today, the 126 living Kakapo (up from only 50 in 1995 according to the Kakapo Recovery Project!) are kept on three islands that remain predator-free and are carefully monitored.
I hear that they smell good.
A couple links for more info on Kakapo, one of my favorite species of fatass bird:
The Kakapo Recovery Project
Kakapo on Wikipedia
And by the way, Sirocco has a facebook page!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
So yeah.
There I was, listening to the mournful sound of a male Eurasian Collared Dove trying (and, as happens like twenty times a day here, failing) to get some lady dove action, when I realized, "Hey, I'm not good at updating blogs."
So here's a crappy picture of a leucistic (not quite albino but still more white than normal) Eurasian Collared Dove that was hanging out in my yard a few weeks ago. AREN'T YOU EXCITED?
So here's a crappy picture of a leucistic (not quite albino but still more white than normal) Eurasian Collared Dove that was hanging out in my yard a few weeks ago. AREN'T YOU EXCITED?
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sweet and innocent budgie says, "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK FUCK FUCK" in an adorable manner!
While I get my content sorted, please enjoy this find on YouTube! Posted by user menisrepla.
I have watched this five million times and it still makes me go "AWWWWWWWW!"
I have watched this five million times and it still makes me go "AWWWWWWWW!"
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