# Do Any Seniors Here Do Any Bird-Watching?



## SeaBreeze (Aug 29, 2014)

I don't do any serious bird-watching, but I have a lot of birds in my yard that I enjoy watching from the window.  When we go camping, I like to take my binoculars and get close up looks at some of the nice birds I see.  This is a hobby that is inexpensive, and can be a great pleasure.  I do have a tiny bird book to help identify some that I'm curious about.  http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2014/08/29/birding.aspx


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## SeaBreeze (Aug 29, 2014)

Red-tailed hawk in my backyard...


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## SeaBreeze (Aug 29, 2014)

Mallard duck at the park...
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## SeaBreeze (Aug 29, 2014)

Loggerhead Shrike in wild...


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## Raven (Aug 30, 2014)

Beautiful bird pics!   We are not real bird watchers but do have two feeders in our yard and feed and watch
the birds that come in fall, winter and spring.  It is interesting to watch from a window and if an unknown 
bird shows up we try to find it in the bird book.  It's just a small hobby to help pass the time during our long
cold winter months.


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## Pappy (Aug 30, 2014)

We use to have bird feeders at our house before we sold it. We had Cardinals and many species of birds that used it. You could hear the Blue Jays coming as they make a terrible squawking noise.

After a year or so, we had a huge crop of sunflowers growing under the bird feeder. Must have grown from the seed the birds spilled.


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## oldman (Aug 30, 2014)

Here is a picture of 1 of 2 hawks that 'lived' in our backyard for awhile until the food supply also ran out or away. We are really not bird watchers per se`, but do watch birds that we don't see too often like he gold finch, blue jays, cardinals. I told my wife about a month ago that I had noticed the robins were leaving early this summer, which to me means we could have an early fall.

The hawk had just landed on something, maybe a squirrel or rabbit and it appears that he is killing it with his talons. After the hawks made their home in our backyard for awhile and I would mow, there would always be fur and bones from whatever it was the hawk had killed and eaten. I would get off of my lawn tractor and pick up the remains and throw them in a garbage bag. Smelled terrible.


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## Twixie (Aug 30, 2014)

SeaBreeze said:


> Red-tailed hawk in my backyard...



Wow Seabreeze...What a shot!!


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## Twixie (Aug 30, 2014)

I'm not really a birdwatcher..I just love birds..

I have a large garden..I leave the bottom part overgrown..I have robins..wrens..sparrows..owls..jackdaws..and coal tits..

The latter make me laugh, as during mating season they attack their own images in my windows..for about 2 weeks I can hear them banging on my upstairs windows..I have opened them..and they are so furious I could pick them up...


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## SeaBreeze (Aug 30, 2014)

oldman said:


> Here is a picture of 1 of 2 hawks that 'lived' in our backyard for awhile until the food supply also ran out or away. We are really not bird watchers per se`, but do watch birds that we don't see too often like he gold finch, blue jays, cardinals. I told my wife about a month ago that I had noticed the robins were leaving early this summer, which to me means we could have an early fall.
> 
> The hawk had just landed on something, maybe a squirrel or rabbit and it appears that he is killing it with his talons. After the hawks made their home in our backyard for awhile and I would mow, there would always be fur and bones from whatever it was the hawk had killed and eaten. I would get off of my lawn tractor and pick up the remains and throw them in a garbage bag. Smelled terrible.



Good picture Oldman!  I was a hawk fly out of one of our back yard trees once, carrying a snake....exciting at the moment, would have liked to get a pic of that.


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## Pam (Aug 30, 2014)

Some lovely photos!

Grandson and I take our bird spotting book with us when we go out on our walks etc. and he loves birds of prey, peregrine falcon being his favourite. During the summer holiday we have been to a couple of bird watching sites and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's his birthday in October so I think a good pair of binoculars will be his present this year. It's only through him that I have become more interested.


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## Meanderer (Aug 30, 2014)

We enjoy watching the birds as well.  A scarlet tanager had to be the brightest (a florescent orange with black wings)  he largest was a Great horned owl, who was passing         through (5 foot wingspan). My favorite is the Mocking bird (Over 50 songs on their  "playlist".  binoculars really bring them in to see detail. Good pictures are hard to get.  We also have a couple pair of red-tails who hunt regularly, and woodpeckers.   We have not had feeders out the past few years, as the  deer and squirrels do them in.

scarlet tanager


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## Pam (Aug 30, 2014)

What a pretty little bird!!


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## SeaBreeze (Aug 30, 2014)

Here's a picture of a baby robin, I didn't take it, but it is cute.  Lots of robins in my yard, I hate to see those beautifully colored blue eggs fall from their nests and break apart on the ground.


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## Meanderer (Aug 30, 2014)

Recently, I took this picture of five crows having a meeting. 
View attachment 9379

Sparrow in daylilies
View attachment 9380


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