Saturday, May 22, 2010

Birds in the springtime

Well, it must be springtime when the sparrows start acting like this. At first I thought these two birds, the one being fed and the one closest to the camera, were females in a courtship ritual, since the bird with its tail up in the air was feeding them both. But these must be the first fledged sparrows of the spring, because according to this Wikipedia article, this is typical feeding behavior. These "babies" are actually bigger than the parents, but maybe it's just the fluffy down, what do I know? (Click to enlarge.)

Anyway, the springtime frenzy of birds in the neighborhood is amazing. They are flitting from place to place, and all kinds of new birds are singing in the trees around the apartment. I sometimes stop in amazement and listen to the cacophony of birdsong. The chickadees are constantly calling in their two-note song (which sounds to me like "pick me"), and with the sun coming up so early I am awakened every morning now by the constant sparrow chirp, chirp, chirp. Their song is the same note repeated over and over. Some of the other birds have beautiful songs, like the house wren. It stops me in my tracks when I hear it, and you can't help but think the bird is happy.

For those of you who have not been following the Hornby eagle cam in British Columbia, one of the eggs did not hatch, but the growth of the eaglet that did hatch and that is now less than a month old is amazing! Yesterday I watched Dad fly into the nest with five herring, and Phoenix (the eaglet's official name) ate one whole! Eagles put their food into a "crop" and his little guy gets his (hers?) so full he can't stand up! If you are interested in seeing this amazing hotspot video, click here! The main Hornby Eagle cam is available at the first link in this paragraph.

This picture of Phoenix and Mom is from the Facebook page for the Hornby Eagles, and I think it was taken yesterday. Phoenix's feet are now almost as big as Dad's! Eagles usually fledge around 85 days after birth, so we're looking at somewhere around the end of August for Phoenix to take wing. When we had that windstorm a few days ago, as soon as it was light I checked to see if Phoenix was all right. With his parents in their mid-twenties, I guess they know what they're doing. What did I do with myself before I started bird watching? Oh yeah, now I remember: skydiving. I'm going tomorrow, so I might not have a post up, but don't worry, I'll be back!
:-)

16 comments:

  1. DJan, as you know I've been watching since you first posted about Phoenix. I had the cam up but I missed the moment when s/he swallowed that entire fish. That was amazing! The parents are usually pretty careful to break up the food into smaller bites. LOL!

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  2. The birds are so much fun to watch.
    Have fun skydiving tomorrow and stay safe. We'll be out doing what makes us feel free: Riding our byke.. It'll be a good day for us all!

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  3. Wow, loved that video of the feeding!!! Thanks for sharing. Did the parents shove the unhatched egg out of the nest? Or did they eat it, or what? Anyone know?

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  4. I check in on Phoenix, Mom and Pop about once a day. Phoenix is as fat as pig. I'll have to see if I can find the whole fish episode.

    At the moment, I have two barn swallow nests with babies and one scissortail nest. There are a couple of tree I haven't checked to see what is there. Last year I found some Wilson warblers, I think.

    Yesterday, I bought a bird id card for quick reference -- looking through the Texas bird book takes too much time and there are no pictures of some birds which is irking. :D

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  5. Dear little sparrows. Strange isn't it how the babies look so much bigger than the parent. Must be the fluff. Also, at this stage, the parents start to look very bedraggled don't they, presumably because they have had not much time to dedicate to their own toilet!
    The baby eagle is growing fast, especially so because it gets so much attention.
    Blessings, Star

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  6. Wow! Skydiving!! You are amazing. Have a great time. Is this tandem or solo, btw? Still, quite amazing either way.

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  7. I told Bob a day or so ago that that eaglet was too ugly for even a mother to love. Bob watches it faithfully. Yes, I love all the birds in flight these days. Have fun tomorrow.

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  8. The eaglet is so cute. It's fun to watch it grow.
    Hope you enjoy your day in the sky flying like a bird.

    If you were a bird...what bird would you choose to be?

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  9. Wonderful capture of the bird feeding its young and that eaglet? AWESOME!~
    I hear our birds around 5:30 a.m. now, on Thursday, we heard one singing at 4:30am! YIKES...it kept me awake..but I know that come autumn alot of the birds will leave us, it will be cold enough that I won't have my windows open and I will miss them!

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  10. That was pretty great watching that!

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  11. Watching the birds, or flying through the air with them, you are The Bird Woman!

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  12. The circle of life - it is an awesome spectacle and so fascinating to watch.

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  13. You awakened the eagle watching spirit in me, DJan!! I watch the Hornby eagles daily, so does hubby. I have sent the link to my grandkids and friends too. I am so addicted to watching them. It has increased the bird watching in our back yard too. The robins don't even take off any longer when I go out the back door and we have so many different types of birds coming to eat the bird seed we put out there each morning we don't know the names of the birds. Sometimes there are about fifty different birds in the small patch of grass.

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  14. Yes, the Hornby live cam is amazing. I have visited this site several times and you actually experience their weather conditions too.

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  15. I enjoy the birds song too..and they are singing earlier in the morning..but who can blame them we have had some beautiful weather. :)

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  16. I've been checking in with them several times a week since your first post. It is amazing to watch Phoenix grow.

    I thought I heard some little birds a week or so ago when I was in my yard but I couldn't locate the nest.

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