I'm definitely not a twitcher but I am a very casual birder, meaning I only seek to ID the birds around my house.

This summer I put up three hummingbird feeders and now I have many fighting over what they don't know is an inexhaustible supply of nectar (sugar water). There's even enough for the woodpeckers. I have one feeder just outside the garage door and I get a lot of enjoyment watching them from my workbench. I also feed and water the birds, mammals, lizards, and anything else that wants a drink or a bite to eat.

Any serious (or not so serious) birders on BAUT?

ETA: Sorry, I just found this thread: A Bird Feeder and Watching Thread.

I'm a casual birder, as well...mostly around the house but when I'm out and about, too. I wish I had hummingbirds but only one species (Rufous) ventures this far North but it's a rarity in my neck of the woods. I've never seen one.

Here's a birdwatching thread from about this time last year, for your reading pleasure. There, I posted a short list of my sightings around the house.

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Brett
Peters Creek, Alaska
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Southern AZ is a hummingbird hotspot. I've been trying to ID them and, as with many birds, the females and juveniles are difficult.

Thanks. I just saw that right before you posted.

I'm also a casual birder, ID'ing the local birds around the feeders I put up. I now have only a sunflower seed and a thistle seed feeder. The house finches, goldfinches, and the chickadees like them, but the sparrows not so much. This is a good thing because when I had a feeder with a mix of seed, it was dominated by literally dozens of house sparrows (VERY prevalent around here), and the associated mess.

The only hummingbirds that I have positively IDed are the male Black-chinned and male Anna's.

I have a ground level feeder that holds about 150 lbs of cheap bird seed that is accessed not only by the birds but also by the mammals: rabbits, jack rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, pack rats, round-tailed squirrels, and the javelinas. We have plenty of house finches and desert sparrows but I'm not sure if I've ever seen goldfinches or chickadees. I also have what we call "the pond", which is shallow concrete with a small spillway on one end and constant water feed on the other. I built this several years ago when I got so upset seeing the baby Gambel's quail drown in the pans of water we used to use.

"Naked Gun 33 1/3"?

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Sean, Sean. Mind in gutter. Anna's Hummingbird

As some of you folks already know, I am also a birder ( I'm on the wrong side of the pond to call myself a twitcher). Currently, I have identified approximately 465 species, including the California Condor, which the AOU does not consider to be a "countable" bird. However, since it's my list, I make the rules. By far, the best find I've ever had was the only record of a Buller's Shearwater in the North Atlantic. If you click on the range map on the above link, you will see a small dot near the coast of New Jersey. That represents the bird that I saw (along with about 50 others who saw and photographed it from the same boat). I live in a suburban area, but nonetheless, over the years, I have identified about 100 species in my yard, or flying over my yard, or within earshot of my yard. Most recent addition to my list was an Indigo Bunting. Not an unusual bird in fields and meadows near me, but never in my yard until about 2 weeks ago.

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I would say so!

I haven't started a list. Maybe I will--but it will be a short one.

I did see two baby Greater Roadrunners following their Mom (or Dad?) down my driveway the other day. That was a treat.

Casual birder. We used to be much more serious about it, but never to the point of being really serious birders. We tended to specialize a bit in waterfowl, this being a good location for that, and the birds being more recognizable than the usual run of LBB's. *

I've been feeling guilty about not keeping the feeders stocked at the vacation house. My lame excuse is the constant raiding by &%!@#*! raccoons.

* LBB = Little Brown Bird

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I'm a pretty hard-core nature geek. I would not say I'm a hard-core birder, but I'm probably up a little from a casual birder. And, if you have met hard-core birders, you know them when you meet them.

As far as hummingbirds, we only have the one species in the Eastern US (Ruby-throated), but I always find it interesting how aggressive they are, at least to each other.

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Yes. They fight at the feeders and chase each other for a coupe of hundred feet. I want to tell them "Don't fight. There's plenty for all." My understanding is that they are VERY territorial.

We don't see any waterfowl here for the obvious reason. In fact, the 24/7 fresh water pond that I installed does as much to attract birds and animals here in the desert as the food.
We get raccoons once in a while--not often.

Raccoons can be a big problem up here if you leave any kind of food out, intentional or not. They seem to be the most numerous roadkill victims around here as well. Rats can be a big problem around bird feeders too. My feeders are 'squirrel proof'; meaning they have a cage around them that small birds can get through, but squirrels cannot. The most numerous birds around my place that I see/hear regularly are:

Finches (house and gold--the goldfinch is the state bird of Wa IIRC)
Sparrows (house sparrows as well as golden crowned, song, and white crowned)
Spotted Towhees
Chickadees
Juncos
Wookpeckers (Northern Flicker, Pileated, Downy)


And of course crows and sky rats (AKA pidgeons)



Last time I was in AZ (just east of Phoenix, visiting my snowbird in-laws; snowbirds seem quite common in AZ ), I saw a cardinal. Beautiful bright red bird. My Mother-in-law also fed the local roadrunner, usually with hotdogs or deli-style lunchmeat.

Tell me about it. When I lived back up East we had a house full one night. About 6 pretty good sized young ones came through the cat door and ended up in the kitchen. It really was kind of funny though. And those paws of theirs can open most anything.

Here's a list of the birds I see in my yard or flying over:

Great Horned Owl
Turkey Vulture
Raven
Great-Tailed Grackle
Bronzed Cowbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Greater Roadrunner
Gambel's Quail
Desert Sparrow
House Finch
Curve-Billed Thrasher
Canyon Towhee
Mourning Dove
White-Winged Dove (Summer only)
Cactus Wren
Northern Cardinal
Hooded Oriole
Lesser Nighthawk
Phainopepla
Scrub Jay
European Starling
Red-Winged Blackbird
Gila Woodpecker
Bushtit (or) Verdin (not sure yet)
Several different raptors but no IDs yet

I'm a moderately serious birder. I can't quite make myself keep a list, or even take notes, but most weekends I'll go birding to one of the "wild" local parks.

I'm pretty good at identifying warblers and vireos, only fair at sparrows, waterfowl, and buteos (hawks, or, for those of you not in the US, buzzards), and terrible at hummingbirds and shorebirds.

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I love watching the Turkey Vultures, trying to see when they will flap their wings next. I know they are not pretty up close but they are masters of the air.

I enjoy watching wildlife in general. We also have a fair number of lizards, snakes, and spiders which are also great to watch. Which reminds me, the tarantulas should be out shortly - they usually come out after the summer rainy season starts.

Here's my backyard list - updated from the old thread with new sightings (or things I forgot):

• Woodpeckers - We get lots: downy, hairy, red-bellied, occasional Pileated. I've seen flickers on the lawn once or twice. I've seen the signs of yellow-bellied sapsuckers (rows of holes in trees), but never the actual bird
• Finches - house, gold, occasional purple
• Titmice and chickadees (black-capped) - lots
• Sparrows - house, song, tree, chipping
• Cardinals - our town's high school team name is The Cardinals
• Juncos - winter time, on the ground under the feeder
• White-breasted nuthatch - my favorite. We never seem to get the red-breasted, though they are in the area in the winter.
• Blue jays
• Carolina wren once in a great while, mostly in winter
• Grackles, some starlings
• Robins around the yard
• Mourning doves around the yard
• Rose-breasted grossbeak once in a great while
• Indigo buntings once in a great while
• Occassional wild turkeys walking through the yard
• I watched a Cooper's hawk take a grackle off the feeder. We've had red shouldered hawks in our yard. I've heard Barred owls close, but haven't seen them (in our yard). Turkey vultures overhead frequently and occassionally roosting in our trees. Red tailed hawks overhead sometimes.

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I'm a pretty casual birder. We some bird feeders with seed and suet in our yard, and I've managed to identify most of the birds that we see.

The usual birds here are:

Cardinals
Sparrows
Downy woodpeckers
Red-bellied woodpeckers
Chickadees
White-breasted nuthatches
Tufted titmice
Mourning doves
Blue jays
Crows
Ravens
Robins

We've also recently had a gray catbird move into our yard. I got very excited one day because we had some red-breasted grosbeaks visit, but they must have only been passing through, because I haven't seen them since.

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My (abbreviated ) backyard list:

Frequent (in the appropriate sesason): House Wren, Carolina Wren, Mourning Dove, Robin, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee, White Throated sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-tailed Hawk, American Goldfinch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-Bellied Woodpecker,Song Sparrow

Occasional: Turkey Vulture, Northern Parula, Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Flicker, Hairy Woodpecker, Canada Goose,

Rare: Eastern Towhee, Black Throated Blue Warbler, Northern Oriole, Scarlet Tanager,

Only once: Swainson's Thrush, Fox Sparrow, Saw-whet Owl, Great Horned Owl, Eastern Screech Owl, Winter Wren, Osprey, Great Blue Heron, Wood Thrush, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Rose-Breasted Grosbeak,

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I am a casual birder, as it happens I just took a couple of pictures on my mobile phone today of some house sparrows hanging upside down on a fat ball feeder..

* watched the lesser spotted woodpecker and young sit on my parents fence almost daily, beautiful colouring to them.

*wrens visit my garden and feed on the spiders.
*long tailtits.
*bluetits are a common sight here.
*goldfinches.
*chaffinches.
*goldfinches.
*greenfinches.
*wood pigeons...loads of them here.
*turtle doves.
*king fishers.
*grouse.
*pheasants.
*herons.
*coots.
*mallards. they love visiting my street.
*kestrels, love watching them hover when they spot a mouse.
*sparrow hawk, this thing impressed me, it must have been hungry the other winter, it failed to catch some sparrows, so it killed a wood pigeon, I was just stood dumb struck watching it plucking the feathers of it only a few feet away from my window.
*osprey, when I was up in Scotland that was a sight to see.
*pied wag tail, there are loads of those little critters here.
*larks.
*peewits.
*gulls.
*partridges.
*tawny owls.
*swans.
*Canadian geese.

That is only a few birds I see quite regularly, man I sound more like a twitcher than a casual birder.

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My understanding is that a twitcher has the goal of seeing every single bird on the planet and will travel the planet to do so. I wish I had the time and money to be one.

SW Arizona is the destination of those that want to see hummingbirds.

I just realized that I haven't heard a Whip-poor-will in over 25 years--that's not right. I loved their incessant call, all night long.

BTW, here's a pretty good website: http://www.whatbird.com/ Go ahead and post others.

Not limiting yourself to birds has the advantage that even if the birding is bad, there will still be something interesting to look at. I know some hardcore birders that only go out during a migration. They're looking just for the exotics, and don't seem to care about the common birds, much less the wildflowers, insects, reptiles, amphibians and mammals that might be out there.


The Cornell Lab of Ornithology recently redesigned their public outreach site (includes an online guide): http://www.allaboutbirds.org

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Here are my meager lists of birds I've identified, updated:

Around the house:

• American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
• Black-billed Magpie (Pica pica)
• Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
• Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus)
• Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus)
• Common Redpoll (Carduelis flammea)
• Dark-Eyed Junco, Slate form (Junco hyemalis)
• Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)
• Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus)
• Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)
• Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
• Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Myrtle form (Dendroica coronata)

Out and about:

• Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
• Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)
• Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)
• Common Loon (Gavia immer)
• Common Raven (Corvus corax)
• Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
• Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata)
• Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos )
• Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena)
• Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
• Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
• Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta)
• Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis)
• Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus)

I definitely need to work on my lists.

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Brett
Peters Creek, Alaska
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You should see this herd of javelina (about 15-20) that come running when my wife goes out with several loaves of bread. She calls them her "little babies". Now these guys can weigh 90 lbs with razor sharp tusks. I'll have to post a pic I have of her standing out in the middle of them.

And thanks for that Cornell Lab link--that's a good one.

You can tell a real birder: scientific names.

I have to believe your list is a lot larger.

If I wanted to inform a lot of birders about a sighting, would I use Twitter?

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Actually, that's the exact word I would use to describe the sound of two hummingbirds fighting at the feeder.