Did it appear to have long pointed wings or rounded ones? The former would be a falcon (if it's not a Chimny Swift :wink: )
I looked up peregrine falcons on google and didn't feel I could make a positive ID. I can't believe I'd confuse a pigeon for a bird of prey, though.
It did have pointed wingtips, but it didn't look entirely hawkish. The images I saw online all had very fanned tails feathers which this guy didn't have. But, those pics may have shown the birds manuevering.
Had to post this for bird lovers everywhere....I live on 2 1/2 acres in Citrus County, Florida. This is about 80 miles North of Tampa & 80 miles east of Orlando, about 25 miles from the coast.
Sandhill Cranes live around here, we can see maybe 30-40 flying at one time, and they dance in the yard....hubby once saw six walking down our road, I thought he meant mechanical cranes blocking the road, not "real" ones(!) They live in the neighborhood & hang about in yards, always in pairs or more. I've never seen one alone.
We see ducks & geese flying over, but they rarely land.
Birds I've seen on/around our property include: Red-Shouldered Hawks, Pileated Woodpeckers, Barred Owls, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Ahingas, Great Blue Herons, White Herons, Louisiana Herons, Egrets, Vultures (Turkey & Black), Bluebirds, House Wrens/House Sparrows (nesting in shed), Titmice, Chickadees, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Robins, and Wild Turkeys. Many unknown migrant birds, too.
We have a pond on our property, so see a lot of water birds....two local Ahingas now make noise when I walk by. They used to fly away when I walked by, now they just talk.
Other birds I forgot, which I had to look in my "Florida Birds" book to recall: Redwinged Blackbirds, Ospreys, Kingfishers, Limpkins, Grackles, Mockingbirds, Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers (which seem to like our trees), Tree Swallows, Towhees, Vireos (with green bellies), Whipoorwills (whcih can keep us awake at night with their calling), Waxwings, Carolina Wrens, Swallow-Tailed Kites, Bobwhites/Quails (which walk about the yard), Catbirds, Cowbirds, Crows, Mourning Doves, Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds (which love our Canna flowers), several kinds of Finches, some Zebras & some with yellow bellies.
Have heard and been annoyed by the Limpkins, which will soon start "singing" at night, in early Spring. More like a scream than a song, if you ask me. We also have "Mudhens" in the pond, little black & red guys, can't remember their real name.
We've also had Great Bald Eagles reported at the local landfill, though I haven't seen them myself.
We bought 2 1/2 acres with a trailer, and now want an even more remote place. Think: shack in the woods. More critters! Joy! Birdlovers paradise!
My favorites: Vultures, believe it or not. I've seen them flying ahead of summer storms, clearly playing in the winds. They live in the most remote and most populated areas of this state, from downtown Tampa, where they roost on the tallest buildings, to the most remote wildlife areas. They often glide, just hanging in the air like kites, and make it look so fun to fly. They're rarely afraid of cars, and will hang around a roadkill until they have a chance to drag it off the road. They're awkward on the ground and full of grace in the air, and they are BIG. Every single trash day I have to spray our trash, when I put it outside, so they don't open it & eat it all. I count them as the garbagemen of the bird world....somebody has to do it!
my parents sent a picture of a sharp-shinned hawk hanging out on the hook they hang the bird feeder on - about 10 feet from the house and 5 feet off the ground.
The local woodpeckers are drumming their territory for spring nesting.
Nice photo Littlek, looks like he's wondering where all the tasty purple finches went.
Or the resident bluebird.
BorisKitten sounds like you're having a great time birding your neck of the woods. Nice report, thanks. An interesting aside about vultures is they are one of very few species that are naturaly monogamous.
I believe Sandhill Cranes are too.
I live in a town of 100,000 and we have so many that there are Sandhill Crane crossing signs on the roads.
Here's one of my favorites in my neck of the woods: White-necked Jacobin
Spring is on the way. A pair of swans returned to the neighborhood yesterday. Great horned owls start nesting this week. Saw a wild turkey on the side of the road while leaving home yesterday. My pal Mike told me geat gray owls spotted on north shore apparently heading north. All this with about a month left before you're into the thick of nesting. It puts a smile on my face.
Loved the photos! For all the birds we have here, I hardly have any photos. I've never seen Hawks perch anywhere near our feeders....maybe Red-Shouldered Hawks don't do this?
I did get a brief video once of, um, small swallow-looking birds, thousands of them flying into & out of one small tree. Used the "video" feature of my digital camera. Migrants, certainly. More birds than Hitchcock's film, honest. Never saw anything like it before or since!
Hummingbirds are so little I usually mistake them for big bees, and have never been fast enough to get a photo.
Never knew that about the Vultures!
Oh, and for all our birds, we have NO Swans. Waah!
We have a pair of white swans in the little mystic river who were here all winter and only left when the river froze over. They came backas soon as it thawed. I wish I'd gotten a shot of the great blue who did likewise.
hello
hello everyone,
here is a list from what i've seen from around where i live:
American Magpie with nest material (always seems early in the season)
Western Meadowlark singing (also seems early in the season, but they know what they're doing better than me!)
Dark-eyed Junco
Pygmy Nuthatch (by call)
Mountain Bluebirds
American Kestrel
Bald Eagle
~gringorio
Joy: A Carolina Wren has started visiting the suet.
Sadness: A red-bellied woodpecker just flew into the window and is sprawled in the snow. I'm afraid that his neck is broken.
Update: The woodpecker is gone--under his own power since there are no tracks in the snow.
Here are six life birds I got today at Laguna De Sonso an hour north of Cali:
Southern Rough-winged Swallow
Ruddy-breasted Seedeater
Green Kingfisher
Streak-headed Wood creeper
Yellow Oriole
White Necked Heron
Rusty Margined Flycatcher
The Heron is like a Great Blue but black and white.
At the farm up in the mountains I've now seen thirteen hummingbird species.
Pitter--
I envy you the variety of hummingbirds.
