owl Archives -

Birds of 2013: Week 28

RidgetopFarm&Garden — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 06:39:11 +0000

This week we had a great bird experience. We were driving home when I saw an owl in the road. Maybe it had caught lunch? I’m not sure why it was there, but as we got closer it flew into a tree on the side of the road. So, the kids & I watched it. I took pics with my phone & my son happened to have his camera, so he took pics too. When the owl flew away, it flew a little further up the road to a tree that had another owl in it. Eventually they flew off again up the road and into another tree & we continued to watch them until they flew off the last time too far for us to see.

I believe they were Barred Owls. They were such a fun, unexpected surprise on our way home. It was right around noon. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see owls in the middle of the day. A couple times we’ve seen owls swoop in front of our car when we’ve been driving home at night. But, to actually get to watch & observed the owls was a rare experience.

BIRD SPECIES SEEN IN 2013:

SEEN SO FAR = 82 of 100

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Birds of 2013: Week 10

RidgetopFarm&Garden — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 04:08:44 +0000

The birds this week are from around our house. There are only 4 new birds, but I’m quite happy with these finds.

I have only seen the Northern Pygmy Owl one other time around our house & I didn’t get very good pics of it. This time the owl was almost at eye level & it was twilight so these photos turned out much better than last time. This species of owl is quite small, only about the size of a sparrow.

I only recently realized that a couple of the “crows” hanging around aren’t really crows, but ravens. I associate ravens with more exotic places than our home. The first time I knew I was looking at ravens, not crows, was at the Tower of London in England. There were also many ravens on our trip to the Grand Canyon. Because of these fond memories associated with ravens, it excites me to know we have a couple around.

The grouse hangs out down the road a little ways. I see it off & on throughout the year, but never have I been able to get a pic of the bird. They are very flighty & are almost invisible when they get in amongst the brush. One lucky morning I had my camera with me & it didn’t fly off right away, so I was able to get a couple photos.

Northern Pygmy Owl

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Common Raven

Ruffed Grouse

BIRD SPECIES SEEN IN 2013:

SEEN SO FAR = 46 of 100

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Birds of 2013: Week 9

RidgetopFarm&Garden — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 04:50:16 +0000

I went to The Duck Pond again to find this week’s birds. I saw some great birds, including what I thought was a Red-tailed Hawk, but turned out to be a Cooper’s Hawk. My favorite birds of the week, though, were 2 juvenile Great Horned Owls I saw up in a nest. I haven’t seen many owls & this was only my second time catching them on camera. They didn’t hoo-hoo or even make a peep. There was a mess on the nice, clean path so I looked up & saw the nest. I investigated more & saw the 2 owls. That totally made my day!

Also, just in case you’re keeping count – I didn’t skip week 8. I logged it as the Great Backyard Bird Count instead.

Acorn Woodpecker

Killdeer

Cooper’s Hawk

Canvasback

Green-winged Teal

Great-horned Owl

BIRD SPECIES SEEN IN 2013:

SEEN SO FAR = 42 of 100

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