Posted on Sat, 05/03/2008 - 10:00 — by roygur
We seem to be blessed with a covey of Quail and Killdeers lately. Quails inhabit our backyard, visiting us on the deck and roof each day, strutting around, so cute! Can't believe from those little bodies comes a call so loud that it sounds like a voice from a bird 10x their size! Killdeers fight with the crows and win the confrontation, ganging up in twos. The stupid bluejays that peck at our bedroom slider when they see their reflection in the window are something else. Peck, peck, peck, no response. The owl in back that hoots at all hours is equally entertaining, much to the consternation of our neighbors, I'll bet. So glad we have a mini farm with all sorts of entertaining creatures, albeit, I'm glad the racoons and possums haven't been here for awhile. The ground squirrels are another story.....
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 1147
We've had some Robins pecking at their reflections in our windows as well. A lot more than in years past. We figure it's because it's nesting season and they're getting territorial. A lot of Quail on the hill behind us. A few loud Bluejays, little finches and when the date palm in the neighbor's yard starts producing fruit, the crows will return with all their racket. Two doves are back checking out the real estate in our tree in the back yard. They come back every year and drive our cats crazy.
Watch out Roy. This kind of thread infuriates Clayton since it isn't controversial or newsworthy enough. Is there some way we can tie in an environmentalist angle to it to give it an edge?
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 529
How about if we convert all open land into bird sanctuaries, demand that everyone has bird feeders and bird baths in their backyards, and require Clayton to join the National Audubon Society?
For some reason so far this year I don't seem to have the same number of birds around the feeders. I've had a few Gold Fenches, Hummers, and Mourning Doves. I'm just wondering if the Scrub Jays and Mockingbirds are chasing them off. We shall see as the summer goes on.
Joined: Jul 2006
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Cowboy - Your comment about the Scrub Jays and Mockingbirds chasing the other less aggressive birds off seems to provide a convenient allegory for what's happened on these forums....if you catch my drift.
Sorry for hijacking your thread Roy. I promise to calm down and behave myself.
Joined: Jan 2008
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But remember like birds, the many can overcome the few.
That's just my opinion, but I could be Wrong.
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No problem stoney. :-)
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com
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Finches, Mourning Doves, Jays, Mockingbirds and Crows. These are a few of the birds in my yard. Racoons and possums and roof rats are roaming. This is the wildlife I see most days. Then I also have pigeons and Chinese quail and finches and diamond doves in averies. Just last week I got a notice from the city that a complaint was made about my birds It seems they are a nuacnse to the neighborhood and are a contributing factor to the rat problem. It could have cost me $100 per day if we hadn't contacted animal control and took care of the matter. Some people just don't appreciate nature.
Joined: Oct 2007
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Wow, what a great place to be! How are the rats a fault of the birds??? Besides it sets them up to be possum and raccon bait. At least these "wild" creaures aren't high on dope or roaming the streets breaking into houses and cars! Maybe the neighbors who move out here need to live in the unglamorous, dull city with wild pigeons that cra* on everything with noone to clean up after them.
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Well, now we have some mentaly-challenged birds here at the ranch: A beautiful dove committed hari-kari this afternoon by trying to fly through our bedroom slider. I gave CPR, to no avail. He was a goner.
While moving my irrigation hoses this afternoon , I came accross two kildeers that wanted me to think they were wounded, dropping their wings and pirouetting all over the place in a spriral pattern to draw me away from their nest, which I never found. Damn, they probably put their nest (eggs) right in the mower's path for next week. I'll try to find their nest again next week and move it out of harm's way, but they probably won't like that either. Regardless, I'll have to mow the orchard and just hope I miss their nest. Too cute birds!
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com
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I must have missed their nest when I last mowed the orchard, because, today I have three new chicks running around the orchard with their mom and pop! Cute birds!
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com
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Those stripes make him look like a jailbird! I guess he's cute though.
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Not sure if that's a HE or a SHE, I don't discerne a difference between the two! Maybe I should take a closer look, but that may be a problem: they're very territorial and shy and getting close enough may be a problem. Boy, can they run!
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com
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Posts: 1851
I'll have to look in my Sibley guide, but I thought mother nature dealt a bad deal to all female birds and made them all plain janes whereas male birds got all the nice distinctive coloring?
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Usually, that's the case, but I'll be damned if I can tell a male dove from a female....Maybe I need to get out the binoculars?
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com
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Even mother nature's laws have a gray area and the Doves are in it.
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The male dove is the one with the beer can under one wing and the remote control under the other wing.
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And the female is the one with the honey do list, the furrowed brow, and tapping her foot.
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Okay, now I know how to differentiate the two. Thanks for the clue, Smokey.
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 409
Mowed the orchard today and noticed I have a crop of corn and sunflowers coming up where the birds missed their treats. Will leave that alone and grow my own for the birds! Saw a dozen doves in the driveway today peckin' and a grinnin'. Hope they stick around this summer and avoid the fall slaughter. Sure cute to watch. One lone quail today out back savoring new food mix I threw on the ground. Feeders in the backyard visited daily by blue jays, doves, and sparrows. Cute. Hummers all over the honeysuckle by the shop building. Have missed the annual flight of snipes this year, usually here during the first watering of the orchard in March/April. Must be too urban for their liking now. Seen a pair of Mallards this year, and each year at the first watering, but not after that. Cute birds.... Crows, daily, not cute...
Roy Gursky http://gurskyranch.com