I've seen and heard a lot of Baltimore Orioles the last few days. I saw a pair preparing a nest yesterday at a local trail.
Saturday night was a great flight night for migrating birds. Sunday morning we had 80 species, including 15 warbler species. A friend of mine was at John Heinz NWR in Philly and had 101 species and 20 species of warbler. Epic morning all around.
Chad
^^ Nice!
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
I had never noticed them around our house either. The woman who owns our local Wild Birds Unlimited talked me into buying an Oriole feeder a couple of years ago. I was very skeptical, but bought it anyway. I put simple syrup in the feeder and put grape jelly on top and the next day we had orioles. It was like magic. They LOVE the grape jelly. Now I put the feeder out every spring and we've attracted them ever since.Originally Posted by Fracktured
Here's some Oriole shots from this afternoon.
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And a few American Goldfinches. I particularly like the last one. It looks like someone is getting yelled at!
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Excellent oriole!
^^ Great shots!
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Temperature dropped about 20 degrees and the orioles have gone silent.
As I was getting my previous shots, I caught a few of a bluebird on the power lines. Here's an outtake:
bb-flight.jpg
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
I was almost home earlier and a big white heron flew over the rooftops. I see grey ones a lot but never a white one.
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS!
That would be a Great Egret (formerly known as the Great White Heron). The other is a Great Blue Heron.
Actually, the Great White Heron is a white (leucistic) phase of the Great Blue Heron. Generally found in Florida, where several white herons/egrets are found together, and can be confused with one another (alongside the snowy egret, cattle egret and the white phases of the reddish egret and Little Blue Heron).
EDIT: Courtesy link.
Last edited by Progbear; 05-09-2020 at 11:35 PM.
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
Actually, not true. While the Great Egret used to be referred to incorrectly as a Great White Heron, the GRHE is actually its own species that resides in southern Florida.
https://www.sibleyguides.com/2007/11...a-color-morph/
Can the Baltimore Oriole get up to Long Island in NY? I have seen bright yellow birds in seasons past zipping around the area. Always thought it could be they.
Great post. A white heron that is not a Great Blue or a Great White is an Egret
Those are likely goldfinches. The males are almost completely yellow. Orioles are black and orange.
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Whatever they are it would be hard to get a picture. They are Fast.
Today was Great Blue Heron day on Wilde lake[emoji41]
I tried to post a small video here but couldn’t.
I got it on youtube[emoji106][emoji41]
https://youtu.be/2jaqe6-McE0
A pair fly by[emoji41]
https://youtu.be/eSgj7QOj1W0
Cool stuff!
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
Great stuff Firth. We see a fair amount of GBHs in our neck of the woods. And every single sighting is a treat!
I watched two Mallard Ducks land in our neighbour's pool today. And then watched my neighbour come running from his house to try and scare them off. The ducks just flew from one end of the pool to the other, while he ran back and forth chasing them. It was freaking hilarious!!
Education for me tonight - I heard this call (below) and could not figure out what it was. I even tried listening to coyote calls on YouTube, but that wasn't it.
My wife finally nailed it - it was a barred owl.
(Excuse the piss-poor recording via my cell phone.)
The calls were actually about 45 to 55 seconds apart - I kept hitting pause on the phone recorder to condense the timeline. (I'm sooo high-tech!)
I lived in Africa for a long time, and I knew ALL the calls. I need to gen-up on the calls here in the USA...
Regards,
Duncan
We always had a mallard pair spend the last month or so of the time our pool was still covered, using the water that collected on top of the cover as a pond.
Last fall we got a safety cover that doesn't allow water to collect, so no ducks. My wife is sad about it and our parrot will probably drop quack-quack from her repertoire.
This pool is also still closed and it was actually the water in the cover that they landed in. There's probably some delicious mosquito larvae in that water.
Baltimore Orioles go as north as southern Canada to breed, so yes, they certainly appear on Long Islan.
Range map - https://ebird.org/science/status-and...lori/range-map
The young males and females are more of an orange-yellow while the adult males are a strikingly bright orange with black wings, head and back.
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