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Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 4:56 pm
by Harriet
Gotta love hummingbirds. You are so lucky to have more than one to choose from! The east coast only gets the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. Pretty as it is when there is only one choice it makes identification a "no brainer".

From quick research I would say Black Chinned is a good choice, but pictures show a more purple patch of color on the neck than the red in the picture, so I also looked at Calliope Hummingbirds ... Not so much a match as fun to research. Anyone else know for sure what it is?

I want to take a trip to the west to bird and cactus watch!

I need to get back to bird carving, here's one I did a while back...
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Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 6:44 pm
by Lair3514
Why, that MUST be a Ruby-throated Hummingbird! You MUST get back to carving. You do it really, really well. Beautiful.

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:41 pm
by daiv
Another great carving!

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 9:14 pm
by peter
WOW Harriet, very nice looking carving!

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2011 11:24 pm
by TimN
We have tons of humming birds here in AZ, locals and migrators. I'm always surprised how much noise they make when they're flying, and how aggressive they are. There's one little guy that takes on all comers at the hummingbird feeder. NObody get's any hummingbird juice when he's on duty!

About the only birds I pay attention to here are Ravens and other big stuff. There is a pair of Ravens living near me. They sit up high and make weird noises and clatter their beaks.

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:11 am
by Tony
Amazing carving Harriet! 8)
With all my gasterias and aloes blooming right now, my back yard is alive with competing hummers dive bombing each other ... AND ME! :shock:

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:03 am
by Peterthecactusguy
Harriet,
that carving is cool!:) you really should come out and see some cacti! we do have birds galore in AZ too! :)

TimN, at the in-laws house they have a Palo Verde tree that has a hummingbirds nest inside it. They attack cats and other birds all the time protecting their nest. I have a family of Ravens near me that I enjoy watching flying around.

Tony, you have to watch out for that, esp when you are trying to snap their pictures! :shock:

Posted: Mon Feb 21, 2011 10:25 pm
by Harriet
Today in my garden ... spring is winging its way north!
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Posted: Tue Feb 22, 2011 6:59 pm
by Lair3514
Don't see many robins in Tucson but I remember them from Indiana where I grew up. Nice picture. The promise of spring is awakening the urge to get some more plants in the ground...in a few weeks.

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:50 am
by Peterthecactusguy
Harriet,
ironically enough I saw a Robin when I went to PA. They must have been in for a rude surprise because two days later it snowed and was cold!

Today I saw a black-chinned humming bird at DBG and IT flew away before I could take it's picture, and the Quail there had the bad habit of hiding behind cacti :(

Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:05 pm
by Harriet
I'm not the only one who likes to visit the yard...
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Posted: Wed Mar 23, 2011 3:31 pm
by Bruce
In some ways it's disappointing but there's also a resident population of robins that live in the north all year, so they're not necessarily the harbinger of Spring. I see them all year on Long Island.

Last December, when the Christmas blizzard was finally over, a saw a large flock (20 to 30 birds) of robins taking turns sitting on a neighbor's car's hood. The car had been cleaned off but the roads hadn't been plowed yet, so the car hadn't gone off the driveway. I can only guess that the neighbors had warmed up the engine for some reason (it wasn't anywhere cold enough to freeze the block) and the birds where taking advantage of the heat in the hood.


Bruce

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 3:59 am
by Peterthecactusguy
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A few bird pics. 2 of them are of a Hummingbird, I didn't get a good enough look at to ID and a Thrasher.
(edit) BTW sorry for the low quality pictures, my new camera is a little lacking on the ZOOM function :(

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 1:15 pm
by Harriet
Yes, that's a Mallard, but can you spot the Wood Ducks?
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2011 4:26 pm
by Buckethead
I was looking for a grave in a local cemetery this past Sunday when I caught this robin.
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