Yes! I am the pits at bird identification and we don't have a bird feeder so I enjoy watching your birds. There is, I believe, a local hawk because I frequently see a hawk-like bird circling high overhead in the neighborhood (we live at the edge of town), but I'm pretty sure that even with binoculars I wouldn't be able to tell what kind it was.
I tend to identify all hawks as redtails because that's the first hawk I imprinted on. I don't even know if redtails live in the area! There's a hawk or two that hang out on streetlights about half a mile or so down the road, and the usual complement of turkey vultures.
We once spotted a small hawk sitting on our back fence, but I don't remember anything about it other than its tail was barred (horizontal stripes).
The Merlin app on iOS is a bird-ID app, although I don't remember how much it cost offhand. (I think you have at least one iOS device?)
Does the critter on the fence have a crest, or is that just a photo artifact plus my eyes? Also, the posture is somehow un-mocker-like to me.
At my sister's this weekend, the feeders were hosting red wing blackbirds, cardinals, and downy woodpeckers, as well as grackles, sparrows, and mourning doves.
I think that's just an artifact. Our mockingbirds have a tendency to flick their tails up in an almost wren-like position a few times after they settle on something.
Cool! My car once almost had a close encounter with a red-winged blackbird--I was driving and it got so close to my windshield that all I remember was a large (seeming!) blur of black with a bright red patch. Luckily I didn't hit it! Toby and my mom were both in the car with me and neither of them saw it, more's the pity!
I've also seen cedar waxwings and scissortail flycatchers recently, but not in our yard. I finally got to see the scissortails (relatively) close when I was at a stoplight--there were 4 sitting on a fence. Usually they're up on power lines so all I see is their silhouette. They're really gorgeous up close.
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We once spotted a small hawk sitting on our back fence, but I don't remember anything about it other than its tail was barred (horizontal stripes).
The Merlin app on iOS is a bird-ID app, although I don't remember how much it cost offhand. (I think you have at least one iOS device?)
no subject
At my sister's this weekend, the feeders were hosting red wing blackbirds, cardinals, and downy woodpeckers, as well as grackles, sparrows, and mourning doves.
no subject
Cool! My car once almost had a close encounter with a red-winged blackbird--I was driving and it got so close to my windshield that all I remember was a large (seeming!) blur of black with a bright red patch. Luckily I didn't hit it! Toby and my mom were both in the car with me and neither of them saw it, more's the pity!
I've also seen cedar waxwings and scissortail flycatchers recently, but not in our yard. I finally got to see the scissortails (relatively) close when I was at a stoplight--there were 4 sitting on a fence. Usually they're up on power lines so all I see is their silhouette. They're really gorgeous up close.