† Requires Javascript
Copyright © 1997-2009 Demand Media. All rights reserved.
|
| Member | Message |
|---|---|
 |
Posted: Apr/25/2009 8:15 AM PST
I was looking out my back window this morning, hoping to see either a hummingbird or oriole at my newly hung feeders, when I noticed a strange bird foraging around my yard. I grabbed my bird book and flipped through it. The bird was a female eastern towhee.  I always love seeing a new bird. It just doesn't happen very often here in the suburbs.It sucks I haven't seen a hummer yet(I know... be patient) even though there have been several sightings in the area the last couple days, and the orioles aren't quite here, yet, but it has been a good morning... In addition to seeing the towhee, a rarely seen brown thrasher was also foraging in my yard. |
 |
Posted: Apr/25/2009 10:04 AM PST
Top picture is male, bottom female. Attachments:   |
|
|
Posted: Apr/25/2009 10:19 AM PST
Would have been nice to see a male as well. I tried to get a few photos of the female, but the weather was pretty blah this morning and my camera sucks for taking bird photos. The max zoom is only 3x so I can't get a close-up photo. |
|
|
Posted: Apr/25/2009 11:03 AM PST
Had the pictures in my pictures. I looked them up last summer because they was eating the tent caterpillars and i mean they love those things. |
 |
Posted: Apr/26/2009 1:55 AM PST
ah HA! So something DOES eat the tent caterpillars. Maybe that's why I had a visit from the towhee the other day. Fairygarden ID'ed it for me on her blog. I had hoped the Carolina wrens would be gobbling them up too. Those caterpillars are EVERYWHERE right now, crawling on my shoulders, up my britches legs, just everywhere. I will see if I can spot the towhees eating them. So far, it appeared they were eating the dropped sunflower seeds on the ground. How about bluebirds? Do they eat tent caterpillars? |
 |
Posted: Apr/26/2009 6:40 AM PST
We call our Towhees "scratchy" because they go under the azaleas and scratch like crazy. You can see the dirt and mulch flying when they get started. Attachments:  |
|
|
Posted: Jun/26/2009 4:52 PM PST
Saw another new bird late this afternoon at the edge of the city while on a bicycle ride. I was racing down a hill when a strange bird flew in front of me and landed on one of last year's remnant corn stalks in the soybean field next to the road. I turned onto the next street to get a better look. It was uniform dark on top and white underneath, with a white-tipped tail. As I tried to get closer it kept flying to other stalks. According to my Iowa bird book it was an eastern kingbird. They apparently like to hunt for insects in open fields. There are corn/soybean fields everywhere along my normal route, and I've been going on rides for many years, but I had never seen a kingbird. |
|
|
Posted: Sep/24/2009 6:47 PM PST
This has been a banner year for new birds in my yard. Until a few weeks ago I had never seen a warbler. Since then I've had a pair of yellow warblers and a pair of nashville warblers searching my plants and trees for insects. The nashville warbler is the first bird I've ever seen that is not in my 'Birds of Iowa' book. They fly from Canada to Mexico for winter and I just got lucky they stopped for not just lunch, but a week+ of lunches. As if the warblers weren't enough, today I saw a ruby-crowned kinglet near my bird bath. |
|
|
Posted: Sep/25/2009 7:51 AM PST
Its alway exciting to see new birds. |
 |
Posted: Sep/25/2009 11:34 AM PST
I almost hold my breath when I see this beauty in my yard. They were here long enough to have babies and then I don't see them very much. Will have to look for info on how and where they make their nests. |
† Requires Javascript
Copyright © 1997-2009 Demand Media. All rights reserved.
