Fantastic thinking! Thank you for sharing your “noticing” techniques! Stay safe. Be well. Lori
Sent from my iPhone > On Mar 30, 2020, at 7:31 PM, Allison Hilf <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Great suggestions Caleb. I've been watching some determined Northern > Flickers try to get some squirrels out of the next boxes they used last year. > I'm not sure if it was the right thing to "intervene", but today I put > Coyote Urine around the trees and around the nest boxes. I'll keep > watching. > > Allison Hilf > Aurora, CO > >> On Mon, Mar 30, 2020 at 6:49 PM Caleb A <[email protected]> wrote: >> Hello, CObirders! >> In light of quarantine during this year's spring migration, I thought I'd >> offer a few of my tips that I've used to enjoy backyard birding (and find a >> decent number of species). >> I know that it gets a little tedious when all you see is House Finches and >> American Robins over the course of fifteen minutes, but to cure my backyard >> birding boredom, I've compiled a list of things that have helped keep >> backyard birding interesting, but also very educational and help me improve >> in other facets of bird watching. >> 1) Use a scope! Granted, this could be a little weird to your neighbors if >> you're at really close quarters, but positioning a spotting scope away from >> homes and into an open field can wring in those extra three or four unique >> backyard species that you might not otherwise see with just binoculars. For >> example, I've gotten Chipping Sparrow and Horned Lark by using a scope in my >> backyard and aiming at a nearby open field. >> >> 2) Study the minute of the minute of details. Keep a list of all the unique >> House Finch calls you hear, or maybe pay really close attention to the >> behavior of birds at certain times of the day. Create mental bird clocks, >> tracking when the peak of daily activity is, and when it "dries up." A >> personal example of this is when I studied the flight styles of Red-winged >> Blackbirds and compared it to Common Grackles and European Starlings. Since >> their numbers were all but plentiful every single day, I was able to do >> careful observations of landings, takeoffs, flight-styles, and many nuances >> and exceptions. >> >> For example, I discovered that (in general) European Starlings favor a more >> linear flight, whereas Red-winged Blackbirds will often undulate slightly. >> This undulation occurs because Red-wings often do a flap-flap-tuck-and-glide >> on repeat, which emulates the American Goldfinch's undulating flight style >> as well. European Starlings on the other hand have a fairly constant rate of >> flapping, which makes them look a lot more dynamic and bullet-like when >> combined with their straighter trajectories. >> >> 3) Practice sketching birds. Drawing has never been a favorable skill to my >> clumsy motions with a pencil. However, when in the event of observing the >> same few species every day, we birders are given a relatively rare >> opportunity to study a single species in incredible detail. Sketching your >> local species that you see on a daily basis can help be an honest check of >> how much detail you really pay attention to on even common birds. >> >> 4) Stay on the lookout for nesting behavior. It's springtime, which means >> we'll be seeing evidences of nesting! For my personally, I've been tracking >> three pairs of House Finches who have been carrying nesting materials into >> three separate trees, visible from my yard. A pair of American Robins have >> been displaying and feeding together, and this morning I observed them >> copulating. (Not sure where they're building their nest, however.) Pairs of >> American Goldfinches have been more frequent, and I'm excited to see all the >> young birds that hatch this summer! >> >> So, let's stay positive, and use this quarantine to brush up and hone our >> fine-observation skills! And once this is all over, you may be impressed or >> surprised by how beneficial intentional backyard birding can be. I know I >> was; and the skills I learned in the yard only helped me enjoy my birding >> experiences later on in the Parks. >> The birds are happy, and so am I >> ~Caleb Alons >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Colorado Birds" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected]. >> To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/5b24c15a-6394-4435-954d-9dde91c99593%40googlegroups.com. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAHN%3DnEO_uR3YXpnUnBr9kv4F80%2BBa9xpy5zH5s3kDKtJTkh%2BBA%40mail.gmail.com. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. 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