Navigation

Tag Archives | birds

Ryan Kieffer: Get to Know Your Local Birds!

By on December 9, 2020 in

Peregrine Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) has those experts who can help bring us a step closer to our goal to bird identification. Join us on Tuesday, December 15 at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom when Ryan Keiffer will point out distinguishing field marks of our Ukiah area birds. He will discuss and illustrate the sparrows and finches, jays and blackbirds, ducks and waders, as well as the raptors, the hawks and owls, all in living color.

Zoom in with your tough questions for the experts. What birds can I expect in my back yard this winter? How do sparrows and finches differ? Is it really possible to see eagles in the Ukiah Valley? What are the ducks and gulls at Lake Mendocino? Anyone interested in bird calls? Our speaker can help with that too.
Peregrine Audubon  offers help in the field. Beginners and experienced birders will benefit at the Zoom Meeting on December 15 meeting at 7PM and the sign up for the CBCount which takes place on Saturday, December 19. Ryan will explain how the Christmas Bird Count is going to work in this age of a pandemic.
Yard-birding has become much more popular this year and we are hoping this will be a way for many of you to safely participate in the Christmas Bird Count. A Tally Sheet showing expected species and those requiring further documentation will be available to those birding from home. We ask that you get your tally sheets to your area leader within 24 hours after the count! Certain area leaders might be willing to delegate birding regions to individuals if you reach out to the area leaders themselves, or contact Ryan Keiffer. Above all, you must follow all local Health Orders, maintain social distancing, and proper masking.

Ryan will also give a presentation that he, Bob Kieffer and Matthew Matthiessen have put together over the last few years.

Many  of us will be counting at home this year if we live within the 15-mile diameter count circle (which includes Ukiah). By all means, contact Ryan Keiffer (707-671-5834) or Bob Keiffer (707-744-1160) for details.

Join Zoom Meeting Info.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81804643206?pwd=WWk1UVlZQjFVNmRobmpWZDRZRVpTQT09

Meeting ID: 818 0464 3206
Passcode: 167994
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,81804643206#,,,,,,0#,,167994# US (Washington D.C)
+13126266799,,81804643206#,,,,,,0#,,167994# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 818 0464 3206
Passcode: 167994
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcpEtPWzuh

This Peregrine Audubon sponsored presentation is free to the public, though donations will be welcome. To join Peregrine Audubon Society please send $20 to PAS, P.O. Box 311, Ukiah, CA 95482. For more information, news letter and programs on a wide variety of topics related to birding in Mendocino County please go to www.peregrineaudubon.org.

0

Dave Jensen & Tim Bray Present: Winter Birding the Mendocino Coast

By on December 6, 2020 in

Pine Siskin

Our mild winters and varied habitats mean we get to enjoy a wide variety of birds all winter long. Some are familiar and obvious; others are furtive and tricky to identify. David and Tim will present a visual and audio guide to some of the birds that winter here, focusing on those that can be difficult to distinguish or are easily missed, and emphasizing the connection to habitat.

Learn to identify those mysterious sounds in the treetops, how to quickly distinguish which “little brown job” is hopping through the bushes, and what to look for when a raptor flies past you. This is always a fun and informative presentation that helps us all get ready for the Christmas Bird Count season. Even if you don’t take part in the Counts, you are sure to learn something that will help you enjoy the birds around us.

David and Tim are the compilers of the Manchester and Fort Bragg Christmas Bird Counts, and also past and current Presidents of the Mendocino Coast Audubon Society.

At 6:45 PM click this zoom link or enter: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81913453120?pwd=ZHFIVkpOZVFDbzJZVFZoQVFkbVk5QT09

We are requesting that you to click on the link 15 minutes prior to the start of the event, so that you can make sure that your audio and video are working properly. If you have never used Zoom before, you might need to download and install the Zoom app. If there are still problems, check which release of Zoom you have installed. You may need to upgrade to the latest version.

If you cannot join by computer, tablet, or smart phone, you can dial the number below from any telephone and listen to the presentation:

1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose) or

1 253-215-8782 US (Tacoma)

Meeting ID: 819 1345 3120

Passcode: 349761

0

Christmas Bird Count Prep Talk and Photo Sharing

By on December 4, 2020 in
Anna's Hummingbird Male

Anna’s Hummingbird Male

Due to the pandemic, this year’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) will be unlike any other in the count’s 120-year history – but it will happen! Veteran CBCer, Ken Burton, will lead an interactive discussion of various aspects of the CBC including its history, methodology, and scientific value; this year’s modified protocols; tips for counters, especially effort tracking and estimating bird numbers; local counting opportunities; and bird identification as requested. The content and direction of the program will be driven largely by participant input. We can discuss anything relevant to the count; what would make you a better counter? The program will conclude with an opportunity to share a few of your local bird photos from the past year, so pick out your favorites!

Ken Burton has been deeply involved with RRAS since moving here in 2005. He is the author of Common Birds of Northwest California and A Birding Guide to Humboldt County, both published by RRAS. He coordinates the chapter’s Saturday morning Arcata Marsh walk program. He has participated in the CBC almost every year since the mid 1970s, including counts in Arizona, California, Indiana, Mexico, and New York.

Visit rras.org to find out how to get involved with the CBC this year.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82255170040

Meeting ID: 822 5517 0040
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,82255170040# US (San Jose)
+12532158782,,82255170040# US (Tacoma)

Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
Meeting ID: 822 5517 0040
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kd1xJP9GtL

0

Southern Africa’s Birds and Wildlife

By on November 25, 2020 in
Purple-crested Turaco

Purple-crested Turaco

Both Judee and Bill Adams have been birding for over 40 years traveling to numerous birding locations in Alaska, Canada, Central and South America, Australia, East Africa, and Europe. They will be presenting a photographic wildlife journal of their most recent trip to Southern Africa including a self-drive tour of the world famous Kruger National Park.

Wintu Audubon Society is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Southern Africa’s Birds and Wildlife
Time: Dec 9, 2020 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/92044713582

Meeting ID: 920 4471 3582
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,92044713582# US (San Jose)
+12532158782,,92044713582# US (Tacoma)

Dial by your location
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
Meeting ID: 920 4471 3582
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/abM1gFb4qi

 

0

American Kestrels, Looking for a Good Home

By on November 21, 2020 in BirdWords
American Kestrel Male

American Kestrel Male

American kestrels are striking, with burnt-red backs and tails, steel-blue wings on the males, and bold falconid markings, black and white on the face. All this is packaged into a little hawk that could perch on your finger, and can inspire fascination in children and their attentive elders. And these rainbow dynamos are pretty to watch in action, too.

American Kestrel Female

American Kestrel Female

They will leap from a field-side post or overhead wire and flap forward until, spotting possible prey, they will fly in place, maybe twenty feet in the air, awaiting the chance to strike. Their prey may be a grasshopper or spider; or perhaps a vole. Vole trails are decked with their rodent urine, making pathways to dinner that kestrels see clearly with their UV vision.

Kestrels do not truly hover, as they cannot flip their wings over like hummingbirds in front of a flower, but they face into the wind and flap at an angle to hold their heads motionless, able then to discern the important motion below them. Their descent to that prey is not a peregrine dive but rather a wing-raised drop, ending, the bird hopes, in clutching a meal with its noodle-thin but wire-strong talons.

The kestrel may dine right there on the ground, or carry the meal to a higher perch. It may stash extra food in a handy clump of grass for later consumption. Or it may feed its hungry chicks.

Kestrels nest in cavities, where for a month the male brings food to the female while she incubates four or five eggs. Both parents then feed their nestlings for another month, when the young fledge. At that point, if food is abundant, the female may start a second clutch. The male will continue to feed both the fledglings and his mate.

Many songbirds are able to keep a relatively clean nest. Their young defecate in fairly dry packets that parent birds can lift and remove. Kestrel nestlings, alas, release a more liquid poop; but they do, at least, raise their tails and squirt against the cavity walls, keeping their nestling area as clean as possible.

Kestrels live year-round along open country across most of the US.  Some migrate, to nest as far north as Alaska and winter as far south as Panama. Older folks may remember them as the common “sparrow hawk” of farms and fields, but over the last fifty years American kestrel numbers have dropped by half as other Americans have paved and built on the fields, sprayed pesticides that have killed their prey, and cleared old cavity-bearing trees that provided nesting sites.

But Americans can offset these losses, too. To help counter the habitat change, you can put out nesting boxes for kestrels and other birds. Construction directions can be found at nestwatch.org; click “All About Birdhouses.” Do it now, and then see who comes along in the spring!

0