Does anyone birdwatch? (easter)

[waacman]

Originally Posted by robtex

Geography may have a large impact on the answers given. In central and west texas for instance, there just are not a large variety of birds to watch. I mean we have birds..just not a large variety or lots of one with pretty colors.

Are you serious? I always thought that Texas was an amazing place to see migrating species. Texas is one of the few states that get the more exotic birds of Central America. Painted Buntings, Green Jays, all the weird warblers and such. Big Bend National Park is a birdwatchers paradise, especially in April and May!

[robtex]

Originally Posted by waacman

Are you serious? I always thought that Texas was an amazing place to see migrating species. Texas is one of the few states that get the more exotic birds of Central America. Painted Buntings, Green Jays, all the weird warblers and such. Big Bend National Park is a birdwatchers paradise, especially in April and May!

Big bend is pretty far from every metro in Texas with the exception of El Paso. I don't know much about the birds you are talking about but I bet many of them are in East Texas, near the Dallas area or on the gulf coast/valley. Texas is kinda tough cause it is so large. For instance to drive to big bend from where I am would take about 8-10 hours. Maybe I was ambigious but more the point I was trying to get across is that central texas may not be the best spot. Central Texas housing the metros of, Austin, San Antonio, San Marcos Waco, Belton, Killeen, Bastrop ect ect.....

[Seyorni]

I don't get a great deal of variety here in my yard, but I've got the numbers. A month ago the feeder two meters beyond the window I'm looking through as I type was rarely visited. Now there are often a dozen sparrows and house finches fighting for a perch with a dozen more perched on the wall waiting their turn. I have to refill it at least daily.
In the front of the house I scatter seeds on the lawn for several flocks of rock doves (sounds so much better than pigeons) that visit daily. The silly birds will land in or across the street and then walk ten or twenty meters to their breakfast.

[Jaymes]

Ooo, I love doves! We get lots of mourning doves here. I love to listen to them, they sound so much like owls...

I'm not sure what kind of bird it is, but there's a sandpiper-type that's decided to nest in a small tree in our yard. Once I walked up to it without knowing it had a nest in there, and immediately one of the parent birds flew up to me and did the "augh, I have a broken wing! Whatever will I do?" wobble on the ground to get me away from the nest. It does that whenever I see it, now, even if I'm a good hundred yards from the nest. Paranoid little thing.

[QTpi]

I love watching birds. We live in the country and really see a wide variety here in VA. Once we even saw a pair of bald eagles! I've seen blue birds, goldfinches, killdeer, turkey vultures, and all the common birds. One morning I watched a mother quail run across the driveway with four little chicks running after her all in a line.

[Sunstone]

I don't birdwatch, although I like watching birds. In the city where I live, there aren't too many species around, but outside the city there is quite a variety. If I go too long without getting out of the city, I begin to miss the species you can't find in town. It saddens me that there are so few species adapted to urban areas.

Once, I saw a pair of eagles in what I think was a courtship flight. They would lock together and cartwheel through the air.

Colorado is on a flyway and has a lot of species pass through each year.

[PureX]

Birds, ... ummm, that's them things with feathers, that fly around in the air, right? (Long time urban Chicago native, here)

The grain elevator across from my loft building had hawks living on top of it. They hunted rats and pigeons. And there is a park on the south side of Chicago where a group of wild parrots live, presumably begun by pets escaping their cages. But that's about the only bird action I ever noticed in Chicago.

Now I live in Pennsylvania, on Lake Erie, and I see all sorts of birds that I have no idea what they are. Seems like we have a lot of crows around here - I know what they are - and I kind of like them. They're big and obnoxious and remind be of the city. I also see long necked geese by the lake, and lots of ducks. I've seen some blue woodpeckers, and pheasants and hummingbirds around. And it sure is nice to wake up hearing birds singing, instead of "el" trains and car traffic.

[waacman]

Originally Posted by PureX

Now I live in Pennsylvania, on Lake Erie, and I see all sorts of birds that I have no idea what they are.

Oh how I wished I lived near Erie. Ever heard of Presque Isle? Its a great place to see Wood Warblers and other migrant birds. You also have alot of swamps in that area which also draw some really interesting species.

[PureX]

Originally Posted by waacman

Oh how I wished I lived near Erie. Ever heard of Presque Isle? Its a great place to see Wood Warblers and other migrant birds. You also have alot of swamps in that area which also draw some really interesting species.

Yes, I practically live on Presque Isle. I go down to the park and walk on the hiking trails all the time. I see lots of birds there that I can't name - it's sort of a taoist exercise to watch them without thinking "I wonder what kind of bird that is".

That reminds me of a wonderful story told by Robert Pursig (author of "Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance" and "Lila" [sanskrit word meaning "gods at play]).

Robert and his wife had gone to an American Indian reservation out west to visit a good friend of theirs. They were walking along a dusty road on the reservation with this old indian chief friend of theirs, when a dog happened to run across the road in front of them, and Robert's wife asked in passing; "What kind of dog is that?"

The chief suddenly stopped walking and stared at her with a somewhat puzzled look on his fact, and stayed that way for a long silent moment, then finally he said, "That's a good dog", and continued walking.

Later, Robert explained to his wife that the indians didn't conceive of dogs and being of different breeds, or types. And this is why her question had puzzled the chief. In the end, the chief decided that she must have been asking about the dog's nature, so that's how he answered her.

*smile*

Both the above mentioned books are excellent, by the way.