Denton Bird Watcher

Have You Seen This Bird?

2014-06-08T11:52:00.002-05:00

You may have noticed a lot of birds around lately. I sure have. I keep seeing one bird in particular that always brings a smile to my face. I had not seen many of them before, and they seem to be everywhere this year. I see them on the sides of the highway, out on the country roads, in open fields, and flying around all over.

I’ll give you some hints to see if you can guess the bird. This bird likes to sit on fences and power lines. It has a long tail that sticks out. It has orange-salmon patches underneath its wings. Got it yet?

It’s the scissor-tail flycatcher! This is a bird that travels through all of Texas and uses this area as a breeding ground during the summer. They migrate through Mexico and spend the winters in Central America. During the spring, they wander across North America and have been spotted as far north as British Columbia.

They are a fun bird to watch in flight, because their tail opens and closes like scissors. They are amazing acrobats to watch as they flit around at fast speeds to catch insects and flies. One of their primary food sources are grasshoppers, which is good news for farmers! They nest in taller trees near open areas of grass and prairies.

Scissor tail flycatchers build their nests using grass, Spanish moss, plastic pieces, paper, string, cigarette butts, pieces of carpet, and almost anything else that they can scavenge from nearby. A study of nests in Texas found that 30% of the nest materials were man-made materials that the birds had gathered.

For more information, visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/scissor-tailed_flycatcher/id

Here are a few videos showing this beautiful bird:

Strange Windy Day With No Birds

2014-01-12T12:23:00.000-06:00

I put out peanuts and seed three hours ago and have had zero visitors. This is very unusual as I would expect at least the squirrels to come by and take the peanuts after this much time.

Most likely the lack of bird activity today is due to the high winds creating more moving stimuli that can be confused with other animals.

Yesterday I recorded a number of birds during the Google On The Air hangout. We had a combination of Blue Jays, Robins and Grackles.

Watching Bird Bath On 14 Degree Day In Denton Tx.

2014-01-06T14:56:00.000-06:00

Video of activity at our birdbath on a Frozen Morning. Fast forward the video to the 40min point just when it starts getting busy. You will see the initial few Cedar Waxwings waiting on the Starlings to clear out. Within 5 minutes the Cedar Waxwings have taken it over. Lots of beautiful birds and some nice sounds of nature and occasional wind noise

Birds Need Water Even When It is Cold

2013-12-05T11:48:00.000-06:00

Like all animals, birds need water to survive. With freezing temperatures many birds in urban areas are finding there regular bird baths and puddles frozen over. Do to this we see a large increase of birds in our backyard when a "freeze" hits.

This also means we need to change the water more frequently than daily because it will generally ice over during the day and make it difficult for the birds to get a drink.

An alternative is to get an immersion style water heater designed for bird baths which will keep the bird bath water from freezing. Try to pick one that turns off if the water dries up and make sure you connect it on a ground-fault interrupted circuit to eliminate the risk of electrical shock. (a ground-fault interrupted circuit is available at most hardware or electrical supply stores).

A homemade solution is to place a light bulb in a flower pot then put the bird bath on top of it. The warmth of the light bulb should be enough to keep the water from freezing.

8 Simple Tips For Keeping Your Pet Birds Health.

2013-11-13T14:20:00.002-06:00

1. Birds need to eat a nutrionally sound diet in order to live a long life. Improper feeding can lead to malnutrition and disease resulting in a shorter lifespan. Start off by feeding your bird right from the beginning.

2. Parrots and birds of the parrot family can eat a variety of different kinds of foods. Seeds should not be a parrot’s only food. This is a mistake many new bird owners make. Seeds contain mostly fat and not enough protein and very few vitamins.

3. Birds can eat most table foods but it is best to stick to healthy items including items containing whole grains, pretzels, and whole wheat pastas and bread. Foods high in fat should be avoided. Never feed them avocados as they are toxic to birds.

4. Good sources of nutrition for your bird include beans and legumes as well as various vegetables and fruits. Some birds resist new foods at first while others are open to trying many new things. Although it may take some time keep trying to introduce your bird to a variety of healthy foods.

5. Changes to a bird’s diet should be done slowly and progressively over time. Provide fresh foods twice per day for approximately an hour each time. Be careful not to leave fresh food in the bird’s cage too long as it will develop bacteria which can make your bird sick.

6. Your bird should be fed two times per day. This will result in your bird getting hungry which will make it more active. Also, a good appetite can make it more likely that your bird will try new foods. Feeding at set times twice per day will also allow you to be able to monitor how much your bird is eating. If your bird is not eating well this can tell you that it is not feeling well or has a health problem.

7. If your bird is a picky eater and you cannot get it to eat a varied diet you can try warming or cooking the vegetables. Take away seeds except at meal time until your bird starts eating healthy foods on a regular basis.

8. Just as water is necessary for people it is also necessary for healthy birds. Keep your bird’s water dish filled with fresh, clean water at all times. Bird bowls can become very dirty and should therefore be cleaned each day with hot soapy water. Once every other week you should clean your bird’s water dish with a solution containing bleach. Also make it a point to pick up some water soluble bird vitamins at the local pet store and add vitamins to your birds water daily.

Birds make wonderful pets for the whole family and they can live a long time if taken care of properly. Proper care of birds includes maintaining a healthy diet of seeds, vegetables and fruit.

6 things that we have to consider before buying a bird

2013-11-09T21:25:00.002-06:00

What to start with? First we have to consider the following:What can I afford? How much space will the bird need? Is there any free time for the bird? How noisy is the bird? Will the neighbors murmur?

What can I afford?

The price of on parrot varies in large bounds in dependence with the species. You can buy for example a budgie for less than 10 $. The price of the cockatiel varies between 25 and 35 $. An Amazonian parrot and grey parrot can be purchased for about 300 – 400$, cockatoo for 1,000 $...... and the price of some parrots reaches $15,000! This is one of the initial questions which you have to answer.

How much space will the bird need?

Larger birds and even some of the small ones are very active physically and need big cages and space in which to play.

Is there any free time for the bird?

Probably this is the most important question. Birds are intelligent, playful and mostly “ social ” creatures. Will you have time to play with your bird? To care properly of it? Will it have the chance to be a part of your family? Consider the fact that birds live fairly long. A small parrot cockatiel lives for 20 years and more! Amazona or African grey parrot can live for 50, 60 and there are documented cases for birds that lived up to the respectable age of 100 years! Can you devote to this? It is not unusual to inherit birds for previous generations. Don't buy a bird if you think that you will soon get bored of it.

How noisy is the bird? Will the neighbors murmur?

Budgies and cockatiel are comparatively quiet. They are suitable to look after in a flat. Moluxco cockatoo could live in flat just if you have neighbors around you and six floors above / below you that like listening screams to cracking their ear - drums. The African grey parrot tends to be one of comparatively non-noisy parrots. Certainly, there are individual differences between birds. Somewhere there could be cockatoo, that don ' t make noisy to heaven. If really there could be found such, an enterprising person could make a fortune of it. Remember that noise is a subjective and relative sensation. A bird can be considered as “ non-noisy ” only at the background of another one,considered as noisy.

How “ destructive ” could a bird be?

Do you possess peerless old furniture? Rare books? Remember that these birds have strong beaks,. Some of them are less inclined to “ nibbling ” than others, but nibbling is completely natural behaviour for them.

Does the parrot need special food?

Lory parrots, for example, need a specialized diet. Do you have an opportunity and means to provide it? Once you have made a preliminary investigation and have decided what kind of parrot you want, you can go looking for it and buy it. NEVER, NEVER BUY A PARROT IMPULSIVELY!

Releasing Plato (dove we raised) to the outdoors

2012-06-01T11:46:00.001-05:00

After 4 weeks of taking care of the baby dove we rescued he started showing strong signs of independence and a desire to join the dove outdoors. Today was the big day. Here are some pictures from the videos we will post later

Bird Nesting Season and Your Garden

2012-05-28T11:38:00.000-05:00

Here is a great video on how to make peace with your backyard birds during nesting season.

Baby Dove takes first bath

2012-05-27T09:26:00.000-05:00

A couple days ago our young dove started pecking at some "gourmet finch seed" and drinking water from a bowl. He then indicated he wanted to get into the small bowl he was drinking from. Seeing this as an indication he wanted a bath we put out a larger bowl with about an inch of water in it to see what he would do and filmed it.

Hand Feeding Baby Dove That Was Rescued from Killer Grackles

2012-05-11T15:16:00.000-05:00

Last friday, while on her way home from work, Rebecca saw a group of grackles attacking something in the middle of the road. They scattered as the cars approached revealing a small baby dove lying on the ground. She stopped the cars and rescued the dove. Fortunately there were no open wounds inflicted by the grackles. I went by a local bird shop in Denton and picked up some meal works and formula to feed the bird with.

This video was taken on monday morning. The bird is showing great strength and eating well. We keep it in a small cage near where a community of dove feed in our back yard and are working on weaning him off of the mealworm and formula to eating seeds. Soon as he is showing ability to forage for his own seeds under the feeder I will leave him out at the feeder in hopes he will integrate in with our local dove community.

Here is a video on him from Monday 5/7, two days after he was rescued.

This is the fourth day afer rescuing the baby dove. We are feeding the dove a formula avalable from petshops for hand feeding young birds.

One week since rescuing the baby dove. His feathers are looking much fuller. We are still feeding him the formula and introducing him to seeds that our local dove community enjoy. He is starting to peck at them but hasn't successfully eaten one...yet.

Mother Starling takes a rest from feeding young

2012-05-07T14:10:00.000-05:00

In this second part we can see how hard the Starling parents work at feeding their young. Notice how hard they are breathing. Fortunately, there is nice cool water in the birdbath!

Mother Starling Feeding Young

2012-05-03T18:36:00.001-05:00

Mother Starling feeding her young fledglings.

Early Bird Gets The Worm

2012-04-11T08:18:00.000-05:00

Robins enjoying our organic backyard with plenty of earthworms coming to the surface after recent rain. It is amazing how these birds, which hunt by sight, find the areas with worms surfacing and come to feed. I think they thought they found paradise with the abundance of earthworms, hackberries and fresh water!

Pennsylvania Garden : Robin Nest With Eggs

2012-01-03T21:31:00.000-06:00

From a friend in Pennsylvania "We have Robins and a nest with eggs in the Holly tree right next to our porch. I am able to set the tripod behind a wicker chair on the porch. It is another rare photo/video opportunity like this one a few years ago"

Hope you enjoy the video.

Winter Robins

2011-10-29T14:45:00.000-05:00

We woke today to find our backyard filled with robins, many that have come down from the northern states for winter. While we do see robins year round, the majority do migrate.

Early morning foraging

2011-07-29T08:45:00.000-05:00

Mockingbird and robin observed foraging for food one summer morning. Watch closely and you will see the mockingbird find one of the meal worms I put out frequently :-)

Grackles Preparing To Roost

2011-07-26T22:29:00.000-05:00

Video of grackles preparing to roost along University Drive in Denton, TX. Listen to the wonderful grackle songs as they prepare to settle down

Starling Hides From House Sparrows

2011-07-24T19:22:00.000-05:00

Young starling appears to be playing hide and seek from house sparrows. After the young starling finally flies off we get to see a mother sparrow feed its fledgeling with some suet cake.

Mother Grackle Teaching Young Grackle To Drink

2011-07-22T21:47:00.000-05:00

You don't see this everyday. A mother grackle has brought her fledgeling to the water bath for the first time to show it how to drink. Notice how the fledgeling keeps demanding food/drink from it's mother and how the mother will demonstrate how to drink then give some drink directly to the fledgeling's mouth.

The next day I noticed the same fledgeling again. Notice his mother isn't so willing to feed him this time.

Laura's Birding Blog: Chickadees

2011-07-19T18:42:00.000-05:00

Laura's Birding Blog: Chickadees: "(Transcript of For the Birds for July 8 ) I love watching chickadees every day of the year, through every season, and it seems especially..."

Young starlings and bluejays 7-15-11

2011-07-16T14:05:00.000-05:00

One young starling explores the hollow of the stump holding our elevated bird bath and bird feeder, the second is content to drink deeply. Next is a visit from a couple young bluejays, most likely siblings. One of the bluejays looks like it would like to eat some of the suet cake but then joins his/her sibing at the water. Their visit is ended abrubtly, probably by me coming out to check on the camera (doh)

The Early Bluejay gets the freshest suet

2011-07-15T21:45:00.001-05:00

I replaced the suet cake in our backyard yesterday and left the bloggie recorder monitoring it from the tripod under the peach tree. It wasn't long before one of our bluejays discovered it and allowed himself to be filmed on two seperate trips to the cake. In the clip below I play it at normal speed then again at half speed. Let me know what you think :-)

Susan Gets Native: Duck nuggets and pellets

2011-07-15T18:14:00.000-05:00

Susan Gets Native: Duck nuggets and pellets: "her predators come and eat the prey that is attracted to the insects, etc, that are attracted to the native plants. And the balance is achieved. Easy."

Bluejay and woodpecker birds at bird feeder 7-11-11

2011-07-13T08:33:00.000-05:00

Observation of morning activities at the elevated bird feeder in our back yard. Visitors include bluejays and woodpecker.

Then we had some adolescent starling, grackles and dove come join us

Visit my YouTube site for more videos

Hummingbird enjoying fresh food

2011-07-11T21:25:00.000-05:00

Hummingbird enjoys the new sugar water so much that he sits on the perch and takes 5 long drinks. On his third trip back he is disrupted from visiting by the intrusion of a hairy woodpecker who has a sweet tooth.