Backyard Birding III

[SoTier]

More interesting bird sightings in my yard this weekend:

• I think I have catbirds nesting in  the arborvitaes that line the north side of my yard.  Last week I heard one calling from my arborvitaes.  Then Saturday I saw one in a lilac bush near the arborvitaes.  Today I heard one several times.  Gray catbirds have  a distinctive call.  It's supposed to sound like a cat (hence the name) but it sounds like a very sick cat or maybe a squirrel to me.  Previous years, the catbirds only showed up when the choke cherries fruited.
• The bluejays have competition for the peanuts.  Except for an occasional cardinal, they've pretty much had the peanuts to themselves.  A few days ago, a hairy woodpecker was working on getting peanuts out of the feeder.  I'm not sure if he liked the peanuts, but he's back to the sunflower seeds in the wire tube feeder.   A grackle has also been visiting the peanut feeder.  Unlike the jays who take the whole peanut and fly off to parts unknown, the grackle takes his peanuts over to the driveway and uses the hard surface to help crack the shells so he can eat right there in the driveway. 
• I also spotted a red breasted woodpecker at the sunflower tube feeder.

[Gugny]

https://m.facebook.com/100064322187148/posts/25081572288131262/?
 

[Sweats]

If by backyard "birding", you mean stand on your back porch and wave your junk at your neighbors?

 

Yes, i have been known to occasionally do some backyard "birding". 

 

[Augie]

2 hours ago, Sweats said:

If by backyard "birding", you mean stand on your back porch and wave your junk at your neighbors?

 

Yes, i have been known to occasionally do some backyard "birding". 

 

 

Seen any Wild Turkey lately? 

[SoTier]

Not exactly in my "backyard" but while driving back to Jtown from our family camp in the Town of Persia in northern Cattaraugus County, I spotted a bald eagle in the Town of Conewango.  He flew overhead and landed in a pasture.  He was really impressive.   While not exactly "common" like robins, cardinals or bluejays, bald eagles are numerous in Cattaraugus and Chautauqua Counties.   There are numerous nests in these counties including some right around Jamestown.

 

It wasn't always that way.  Bald eagles in the lower 48 states were almost extinct (along with other top level raptors like ospreys and peregrine falcons) in the 1960s when the insecticide DDT was banned.  In the 1990s, the first bald eagles were raised and fledged in NYS from eggs brought from Alaska, including a group that was raised and released in the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge between Rochester and Syracuse.  

[Bob Lamb]

On 11/16/2025 at 6:20 PM, SoTier said:

Not exactly in my "backyard" but while driving back to Jtown from our family camp in the Town of Persia in northern Cattaraugus County, I spotted a bald eagle in the Town of Conewango.  He flew overhead and landed in a pasture.  He was really impressive.   While not exactly "common" like robins, cardinals or bluejays, bald eagles are numerous in Cattaraugus and Chautauqua Counties.   There are numerous nests in these counties including some right around Jamestown.

 

It wasn't always that way.  Bald eagles in the lower 48 states were almost extinct (along with other top level raptors like ospreys and peregrine falcons) in the 1960s when the insecticide DDT was banned.  In the 1990s, the first bald eagles were raised and fledged in NYS from eggs brought from Alaska, including a group that was raised and released in the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge between Rochester and Syracuse.  

 

Bald eagles are now found in all 49 states. Not sure about Hawaii?  We watch the Eagle Cam at Big Bear Lake in California. There is a successful breeding pair caught on high def cameras. 

I live on Grand Island, NY now between Lake Erie & Ontario - lots of water and lots of woodlands.  We have nesting pairs of bald eagles and more hawks/ospreys than you can shake a stick at.  My personal backward count is 47 different now. Also around are trumpeter swans, herons, cormorants and there was even a pelican on Lake Erie last year. Wild turkeys abound. 

Bird watching is FUN!

 

Bob

[US Egg]

Pheasants have all but disappeared in the area. Use to see them routinely as a kid running through small fields.

[SoTier]

8 hours ago, US Egg said:

Pheasants have all but disappeared in the area. Use to see them routinely as a kid running through small fields.

 

Pheasants aren't native birds.  They were introduced in the late 1800s and early 1900s to establish populations in about 40 states, but changes in agriculture -- especially clearing hedgerows around small fields to create much larger fields -- has decimated those breeding populations, and so most birds used for hunting today are stocked birds.   Pheasants need the brushy areas between small grain fields (wheat, oats, corn) for protection and nesting.

[RichStadiumGuy]

On 11/16/2025 at 6:20 PM, SoTier said:

Not exactly in my "backyard" but while driving back to Jtown from our family camp in the Town of Persia in northern Cattaraugus County, I spotted a bald eagle in the Town of Conewango.  He flew overhead and landed in a pasture.  He was really impressive.   While not exactly "common" like robins, cardinals or bluejays, bald eagles are numerous in Cattaraugus and Chautauqua Counties.   There are numerous nests in these counties including some right around Jamestown.

 

It wasn't always that way.  Bald eagles in the lower 48 states were almost extinct (along with other top level raptors like ospreys and peregrine falcons) in the 1960s when the insecticide DDT was banned.  In the 1990s, the first bald eagles were raised and fledged in NYS from eggs brought from Alaska, including a group that was raised and released in the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge between Rochester and Syracuse.  

Bringing the baby birds here from Alaska in the late 70's and early 80's was a process called "hacking" and my best friend lived directly across the road from one of the major sites they had set up for this process at the Oak Orchard Wildlife Preserve on Albion Rd in Oakfield (just north of Batavia). Myself and my wife along with my buddy and his fiance spent a LOT of time over there watching the youngins growing up and we were there when they released all of them except for two while we were out of town. It was quite a process and I remember the first one that flew out of the cage landed on one of the posts supporting the cages while a red tail hawk was perched on the post right next to it... I was amazed at how much bigger that baby eagle was than the full grown hawk standing about 8 feet away from him! It's been an awful long time but if I remember correctly they released 14 of them from that particular site. Over the years I've seen a few flying around in that area while traveling through there and I have another friend that lives a couple miles from Oak Orchard that sees one sitting in the trees on the edge of his woods regularly.

[Augie]

Our old Veterinarian retired and started a photo shoot by boat deal on the waters around Hilton Head Island, SC. He’ll even provide the camera and do the touch up work before sending you your file. Cool experience.  This is one of several pics I got of this majestic creature. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

I live in a house that has been in the family for over 58 years, and I have fed the birds when I have lived here.  Finally after all this time of seeing many other woodpeckers and flickers, I saw a pileated.  Had no interest in the suet and seeds I offer at the feeder.  Paused high up in a maple, examined the bark for snacks, and flew off.  Lord, they're large birds!

[Augie]

1 hour ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

I live in a house that has been in the family for over 58 years, and I have fed the birds when I have lived here.  Finally after all this time of seeing many other woodpeckers and flickers, I saw a pileated.  Had no interest in the suet and seeds I offer at the feeder.  Paused high up in a maple, examined the bark for snacks, and flew off.  Lord, they're large birds!

 

My wife’s cousin rented up the street from us when we were first married. They had a GIANT pileated woodpecker who had pecked a hole in the siding and was living in their attic. The owner had someone put a sheet of metal over the hole, and the bird pecked a new hole right next to it and moved back into the attic. 

 

We were over there for drinks one night and he asked if we wanted to go upstairs and see Woody. It was at this point in re-telling the story years later that our close friend turned to her college age daughter and said, without missing a beat, “just so you know, the answer to that question is always NO!” 

 

 

.

Edited 3 hours ago by Augie

[US Egg]

I switched to golden safflower recently. Getting nice results already and minimal mess. No pest birds, unless one considers Finches pests. Lots of Cardinals, Nuthatches, Tutfted T’mouse, Juncos, Woodpeckers and Blue Jays….so far.