Re: Totally OT: Birds

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Tink" :

]We just LOVE our Gorsbeaks! Rosebreasted? We haven't seen any babies ]though... You are SO lucky!!!!

no, these are the bright, bright, orange variety. man, they were certainly prolific this year!!!! it was as if mom and dad were taking them on the rounds of the local restaurants!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

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Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.Regime Change in 2004 - The life you save may be your own.

Reply to
vj
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The ravens have been making a racket. I love all the sounds they make.

Tina

Reply to
Christina Peterson

We have both crows and ravens -- I can only tell the difference by the sounds that they make since, unless you can get them to sit side by side, there's no way to tell which is the larger. I had the same proble with the downy and hairy woodpeckers.

At any rate, I was sitting at my beading table, and chanced to look up out the balcony door and there was an immense black bird sitting on the railing. I thought it was a huge crow, but after hearing the ravens in the neighborhood, I'm not so sure.

Arondelle

Reply to
Arondelle

WOW!

We moved last year and have a very naturalized back yard. Still discovering what will attract the critters and a couple months ago discovered that Cedar Waxwings and Oregon Grape go together like PB&J! We had a huge flock of the birds swarming all over the plants - we just stood in shocked silence watching all of them! And we're gonna plant more of the stuff this fall...hee hee hee.

Also enjoy watching all the hummers at the Rose of Sharon.

Reply to
Barbara Forbes-Lyons

Oh Wow! Hummers like Rose of Sharon? I have countless numbers, and they're all starting to bloom this week!

Reply to
Tink

and they ignored it. I put up the old feeder in a new location, and they couldn't find it. Finally, I moved the old feeder back to its old location, and they were all over it.<

I think they're related to my hummers, Anne, LOL!

Carol in SLC My eBay auctions:

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Reply to
Carol in SLC

vj wrote: > oooooh - i love the "jewel green" ones. i have one with a red band > around his throat.

Do you live east of the Rockie Mountains? It's probably a ruby-throated hummingbird: there aren't any other varieties east of the Rockies.

Arondelle

Reply to
Arondelle

We have a stand of choke cherry trees just across the driveway from my building. Every morning they're alive with birds of all sorts, even the large, grey, fuzzy ones. I even spotted a pair of crows chowing down, which was hysterical because they're so heavy that the branches bend and bob all over the place as they try to pick berries.

Arondelle

Reply to
Arondelle

I miss seeing hummers. We saw them all the time when we lived in CA but since moving back to IL in '85, I've not seen a one. DH has seen a few tho. I kept a feeder in CA and those little buggers are kinda territorial about them. There was one who used to chase all the others away that tried to get close to it. I may just have to buy a new feeder.

Jo Jo

Reply to
SmartAlecBlonde4

bushes between the freeway lanes. the birds start dive bombing the cars.<

Those berries are poisonous, aren't they?

Carol in SLC My eBay auctions:

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Carol in SLC

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Tink" :

]

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we're all in trouble.

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

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Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.Regime Change in 2004 - The life you save may be your own.

Reply to
vj

No, but there are nasty thorns, which can cause irritation in addition to the stabbing and scratching they do. The berries taste like very bland, mushy/grainy apples (they're related).... Kaytee "Simplexities" on

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Reply to
Kaytee

Dr. Sooz wrote: >> Y'all need to see what this crow does: >>

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> What does he do? It takes forever to download on my ancient > computer.....

This was on CNN about a week ago.

There's food in a little basket at the bottom of a tube. The crow has figured out (apparently all on his own) that if you take a piece of wire and bend it, you can use it as a hook to lift the basket out of the tube and get the food. The crow did this over and over, once he made his first tool.

People and apes are not the only creatures to make and use tools. There are some finches on the Galapagos Islands who use thorns to spear termites and extract them from the termite mound, but this crow is the first to be photographed actually creating a tool from something not found in nature (i.e., the piece of wire).

CNN also had a segement on an African Pied Crow who was trained to pick up bits of litter, like a soda can, and stow them in a recycling container.

Arondelle

Reply to
Arondelle

I wish the local crows would learn this. There are lots of them, and they would be doing a welcome public service. Not to mention really entertaining to watch...

Deirdre

Reply to
Deirdre S.

We aren't the only critters who are (potentially) constantly evolving.

Loren Eisley did a wonderful essay speculating that if humankind were wiped out, squirrels might easily be the next in line as the most sentient and adaptable species when it comes to intelligent problem solving.

Deirdre

Reply to
Deirdre S.

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