These are tiny little burrowing owls, about fist-sized:
I can never see them without the Dead Milkmen's ranting song "Stuart" popping into my head:
You know that Johnny Wormser kid,
kid delivers newspapers in the neighborhood?
Some of the neighbors say he smokes crack,
but I don't believe it.
Anyway,
for his tenth birthday,
all he wanted was a burrow owl. He kept pestering his old man,
"Dad, get me a burrow owl, I'll never ask for anything else as long as I live!"
So the guy breaks down,
and buys him a burrow owl.
Anyway,
the other night,
I go out in my yard,
and there's the Wormser kid
looking up in a tree.
And I said, "Whatcha lookin' for?"
And he said, "I'm looking for my burrow owl."
And I said,
"Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick --
everybody knows
the burrow owl
lives
in a hole
in the ground!
Why the hell do you think they call it a 'burrow' owl, anyway?!"
Now, Stuart,
do you think
a kid like that
is gonna know
what the queers
are doing
to our soil???!!! _________________ An apple a day....
Turns out my dad and his wife have turned into amateur birdwatchers; I went up to their cabin in the mountains today and they pointed out such small wonders as grosbeaks and red-headed finches, Mexican jays (similar to blue jays, but with gray patches), and of course, the hummingbirds that came to the feeder outside the window. We also saw such large wonders as turkey vultures, huge ravens, and wild turkeys. And I could hear (if not see) what had to be either a woodpecker or a flicker. _________________ An apple a day....
It's amazing where you can spot wild birds. Recently I went to a rather big sewage reservoir collecting sewerage from a nearby factory. The water in this 'pond" was preliminarily cleaned but still it was giving out rather nasty smell. However, it didn't disturbe wild birds from nesting there. I saw a coot, a female mallard with young ducklings and I took a picture of the Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus). I came across at least four of them, and heard the voice of another eight-ten. This bird's voice is very characteristic - if you can try to find the sample of it in the Internet, it's really interesting.
Great Reed Warbler:
A few days ago, the first Common Swifts returned to my town and they are flying around in big flocks giving out a loud screech. They look like swallows but they are not related. They spend most of thei time flying - they can even copulate while flying.
Andre, I've read that most of the local population of swifts winter in South Africa.
Temporarily - it's just a little getaway for weekends and such. It was originally a hunting cabin, so my dad is on a mission to renovate some of it -- tear down bunk beds and build shelving and so on. But they still have their main house in Albuquerque. _________________ An apple a day....
It's amazing where you can spot wild birds. Recently I went to a rather big sewage reservoir collecting sewerage from a nearby factory. The water in this 'pond" was preliminarily cleaned but still it was giving out rather nasty smell. However, it didn't disturbe wild birds from nesting there. I saw a coot, a female mallard with young ducklings and I took a picture of the Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus). I came across at least four of them, and heard the voice of another eight-ten. This bird's voice is very characteristic - if you can try to find the sample of it in the Internet, it's really interesting.
Great Reed Warbler:
A few days ago, the first Common Swifts returned to my town and they are flying around in big flocks giving out a loud screech. They look like swallows but they are not related. They spend most of thei time flying - they can even copulate while flying.
Andre, I've read that most of the local population of swifts winter in South Africa.
Ah yes, the Europese windswael! (litt. European wind swallow)
No, I'm not that clever, had to look it up! Funny that we consider them to be European birds, despite the fact that they spend summers [your winters] here. _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
No, I'm not that clever, had to look it up! Funny that we consider them to be European birds, despite the fact that they spend summers [your winters] here.
I'll tell you why: in the world of birds the most important thing is where they have their nesting sites. The swifts lay eggs only once a year - in Europe.
I have photographed and identified more birds in my area but most of the pictures are of rather bad quality - I'm keeping them just for documentation purposes.
... and a great abundance of other birds either seen or heard: chafffinches, blackbirds, orioles, cuckoos, great reed-warblers, reed warblers and some unidentified species of gulls and two birds of prey (probably common buzzards, but I'm not sure - they were too far away from me plus identification of birds of prey is a higher level of knowledge.
Location: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula
Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 5:00 pm Post subject:
I bought a hummingbird feeder last month which I hung out on my balcony, but I hadn't ever seen any hummingbirds around. But then yesterday when I returned home from work, I saw my first one! I was so excited.
(photo not mine, but the feeder base looks like the one I bought. I wasn't quick enough to snap a picture)
Elaine, that's good !
At the beginning I was also very excited when for the first time I saw a bird I was looking for. I didn't know that birdwatching could bring about such satisfaction!
This week I dedicated every spare moment to birdwatching.
This period of time (i.e. the middle of June) is here still the time when bird singing is heard everywhere. However, you see more and more this year's offspring. I could see white stork's babies (still in the nest) and young yellowhammers and rooks which have already left their nests. They are, however, quite clumsy - cannot fly properly, and what's more, they are not too afraid of humans or cats which can end up very badly for them.
I haven't seen too many rare species of birds, but I apparently entered the breeding ground of two Yellow Wagtails. They were nervously flying around me and shrieking loudly they were trying to deter me. I didn't want to disturb the nice birds so I quickly took two pics and sneaked out of the area.
Male:
Female:
And this is a picture of the Common Redstart (male):
Well, I have neglected birdwatching for the past few months due to the winter season. I am looking forward to seeing the Spring coming and the wave of migratory birds coming back to their breeding grounds. Currently we have very few birds but still there are some interesting "visitors" from the North (Scandinavia) such as waxwings. Waxwings are very interesting birds, they fly in great flocks up to hundreds of individuals and feed on rowanberries.
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(litt. European wind swallow)
Funny that we consider them to be European birds, despite the fact that they spend summers [your winters] here. 
