The Hummer Thread

[thijsdegraaf]

Is this a non-indigenous type bird?

Wisconsin we have no flocks of the infamous, escaped, "feral budgie" that's found in Florida and California, but we have Ring Necked Pheasants, Chucker Partridge and some others that were brought in for game farms, that have established small feral populations.

I've seen and non-lethally "shot" some of those feral budgies in southern Florida, and I understand they're in south Texas too.

Also once saw and "shot" a pair of green parrots on the Pacific Coast, near Malibu. And once came upon a little cabal of charming, fast-moving Chukars in Utah. They made for some lively chasing!

There are Ring-necked Pheasants almost everywhere in the US. I've "shot" 'em here in New Mexico.

The pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) also lives in the Netherlands. Sometimes called an exotic, because it was probably introduced by the Romans and crossed with other pheasant species. There are many subspecies. They used to be bred for hunting, but luckily that is no longer allowed. I occasionally come across them in the dunes, but they occur all over the Netherlands.

[Wilm]

The topic is not nearly as big as on the Shutterstock forum. I was reminded of it yesterday and today when I saw Rose-ringed parakeets (Psittacula krameri) in our garden near the peanuts for the tits.
The bird does not belong in the Netherlands, of course, but it does feel at home there and even causes nuisance in large groups.
I had never seen them. This one in the photo was in the back of the garden. Today there were a few close to the window, but it is a foggy winter day, so shooting (photo) is not possible. I hope to be able to take another photo suitable for stock when it is sunny.
It reminds me of the large groups of parrots that I saw looking up a tree in Australia at night.
Now I have to wait for feral hummingbirds!!!   

Hello Thijs,

thank you for reminding me. About 45 years ago we had close to 50 of these parakeets in our garden in Heidelberg. That was quite exotic at that time. Today the birds are part of city life there. But there are none up here in the north. It's probably too cold for them here.

[Uncle Pete]

Is this a non-indigenous type bird?

Wisconsin we have no flocks of the infamous, escaped, "feral budgie" that's found in Florida and California, but we have Ring Necked Pheasants, Chucker Partridge and some others that were brought in for game farms, that have established small feral populations.

I've seen and non-lethally "shot" some of those feral budgies in southern Florida, and I understand they're in south Texas too.

Also once saw and "shot" a pair of green parrots on the Pacific Coast, near Malibu. And once came upon a little cabal of charming, fast-moving Chukars in Utah. They made for some lively chasing!

There are Ring-necked Pheasants almost everywhere in the US. I've "shot" 'em here in New Mexico.

Yes, I've never hunted anything, unless digging worms and fishing counts. I've shot many clay pigeons and paper targets over time. So I'm shooting wildlife as you do, photos only.

Interesting thing is, wild turkeys, almost extinct in the 1950s, have grown to millions across Mexico and the US and have a wider range than they originally did, before the Europeans settled the continent. They are common and populate 49 of the states now. I see them grossing the roads fairly often. Another bird making a comeback is the Sandhill Crane. Nearly extinct in the 1800, they were eventually protected by the migratory bird act of 1916. Slowly making a return, now numbering over 100,000. And I can tell you, I hear them and see them, like I never did when I was younger. Noisy and interesting, with a 6 to 7 foot wingspan.

I haven't gone out intentionally "shooting" them yet. Most common during Spring and Fall migrations.

[S2D2]

Is this a non-indigenous type bird?

Wisconsin we have no flocks of the infamous, escaped, "feral budgie" that's found in Florida and California, but we have Ring Necked Pheasants, Chucker Partridge and some others that were brought in for game farms, that have established small feral populations.

I've seen and non-lethally "shot" some of those feral budgies in southern Florida, and I understand they're in south Texas too.

Also once saw and "shot" a pair of green parrots on the Pacific Coast, near Malibu. And once came upon a little cabal of charming, fast-moving Chukars in Utah. They made for some lively chasing!

There are Ring-necked Pheasants almost everywhere in the US. I've "shot" 'em here in New Mexico.

The pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) also lives in the Netherlands. Sometimes called an exotic, because it was probably introduced by the Romans and crossed with other pheasant species. There are many subspecies. They used to be bred for hunting, but luckily that is no longer allowed. I occasionally come across them in the dunes, but they occur all over the Netherlands.

We have pheasants in England.  They are really good at stepping into the road just as you are driving close to them and then waiting there especially to be run over.
They don't seem to be very intelligent.
Sadly, we still have a pheasant shooting 'season' from October to February.
For fear of causing offence, I won't say what I think of this kind of 'shooting' 

[cascoly]

.... Another bird making a comeback is the Sandhill Crane. Nearly extinct in the 1800, they were eventually protected by the migratory bird act of 1916. Slowly making a return, now numbering over 100,000. And I can tell you, I hear them and see them, like I never did when I was younger. Noisy and interesting, with a 6 to 7 foot wingspan.....

they must have had a goodyear! current estimate is 650,000 https://www.fws.gov/birds/surveys-and-data/webless-migratory-game-birds/sandhill-cranes.php


Great place to see them during spring migration is Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in less visited Southeastern Oregon; also pelicans, marsh birds & ducks


then there's Richard Powers' The Echo Maker, with the Dakota migration as background (the story concerns a man with Capgras syndrome - in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent, or other close family member (or pet) has been replaced by an identical impostor.)

[Uncle Pete]

People around here are looking and asking "are these Sandhill things good eating"?  I have to say, the sounds they make are crazy and interesting. I'm still ready with the digital audio recorder, maybe some day I'll get a good capture.

For anyone who doesn't know, I live in the left-center of that orange area, Wisconsin, 4 miles from the lake, along the migratory bird flyway, which often follows the Eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Annually, more than five million migrating songbirds, (and others like hawks and cranes) numbering over 300 varieties, pass up and down the coast of Lake Michigan.

Snapshot, in the Spring, on the way to work one morning, not very special.



And yes we do get hummers now and then. They are not that shy and come up to hanging Petunia baskets on the front porch.

[thijsdegraaf]

The Rose-ringed parakeets are now in the yard every day. This one was on a peanut net a few meters from my house. I was able to photograph him through an open door with my macro lens.
Unfortunately it has been foggy or cloudy for days with little or no sun. So the picture could be better. Adobe accepted him and Shutterstock... focus. 
But.... my crow (photographed in Novembmber  https://www.shutterstock.com/nl/image-photo/western-jackdaw-corvus-monedula-coloeus-on-2107605044 ) on the roof was rejected by Adobe and accepted by Shutter in the same week.
I think they will stay in the garden all winter. So a better photo should succeed once in a while.

[S2D2]

Lovely photo Thijs.  I envy you.  I would love to have them visiting my garden.
I've never seen one wild like that but there are about 30K living in London.  I have just read that they are living in Sussex too, the adjoining county to ours, but still, I have never seen one.
We live in a town and over 14 years I have observed 26 different type of birds come to our feeders, so that's cheering, despite some of the populations being endangered.

[thijsdegraaf]

Lovely photo Thijs.  I envy you.  I would love to have them visiting my garden.
I've never seen one wild like that but there are about 30K living in London.  I have just read that they are living in Sussex too, the adjoining county to ours, but still, I have never seen one.
We live in a town and over 14 years I have observed 26 different type of birds come to our feeders, so that's cheering, despite some of the populations being endangered.

Thank you. You might see them again. Always nice to see new species.

[cascoly]

we have bald eagles in several Seattle parks - a pair would fly over my house every day, later accompanied by a young one.  You can see their nest just off the freeway. used to have ospreys, but havent seen one in years.

[S2D2]

we have bald eagles in several Seattle parks - a pair would fly over my house every day, later accompanied by a young one.  You can see their nest just off the freeway. used to have ospreys, but havent seen one in years.

I am envious.  I'd love to see an eagle.  The white-tailed eagle has been reintroduced in England on the Isle of Wight.  The farmers aren't very happy about this.

I live close so maybe one day I will see them.

The other birds of prey I see frequently are buzzards, harriers, sparrowhawks and red kites.  Hard to photograph though.

[cascoly]

we have bald eagles in several Seattle parks - a pair would fly over my house every day, later accompanied by a young one.  You can see their nest just off the freeway. used to have ospreys, but havent seen one in years.

I am envious.  I'd love to see an eagle.  The white-tailed eagle has been reintroduced in England on the Isle of Wight.  The farmers aren't very happy about this.

I live close so maybe one day I will see them.

The other birds of prey I see frequently are buzzards, harriers, sparrowhawks and red kites.  Hard to photograph though.

We often see a variety of hawks along highways, perched on a fence, watching the cars go by.

We were staying in Newport OR & every morning a bald eagle would sit in the snag about 50' away - then at 10 o'clock there'd be a shift change & a flock of turkey vultures would arrive.

Just north of Squamish, BC there's a river along which a dozen or more eagles gathered in winter/spring

[cascoly]

for insectophiles, there's a great new book - 'Super Fly'
https://seattle.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S30C3668098

[Sheila_F]

Hello to some I recognize and some I don't. I was a regular poster on the SS Hummer thread (I thought of it more as the humming of voices in conversation at a cafe more than just about nature - not sure what the original intent was). Anyway, we get a lot of hummingbirds. Just planted Pineapple sage last year and they love it.

https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/annas-hummingbird-drinking-nectar-vibrant-600w-2065722428.jpg

Also just started getting wild turkeys walking up and down our street last year. They nested here and this year we had even more. For those that don't know, I live on a small island next to Oakland, CA with a view of San Francisco (on the Bay Bridge side).

Here's a clip of three turkeys getting ready to cross the street in my neighbors driveway

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-1085249771-4k-hd-video-close-four-juvenile-wild

[S2D2]

Great photo and video Sheila.

We don't have very colourful birds in England.  The most colourful one that visits our feeders is the goldfinch.

I just sold 3 photos of a Scottish Wildcat to one buyer.  That was pleasing.

A very endangered puss 

[Sheila_F]

Congrats on the sales Deb. Living in California, we have a diverse array of colorful birds (and other wildlife, not so colorful). We've had to start putting the flap cover on the doggy door to the backyard because Racoons are coming into the house to steal the cat food and dog food in the kitchen (and one of the Racoons attacked our dog several times. the first few times we weren't sure if it was a Racoon, stray cat or a possum, but my kids and husband got out there the third time pretty quick and the Racoon had jumped on our dogs back and was holding on and peeing on him at the same time - not fun to clean up. I missed the commotion because I was on a long assignment working at the border).

[S2D2]

Thanks Sheila.

That's really worrying about the racoons, especially for your pets 

We fitted a microchip cat flap for Coco after she got a badly infected leg from a cat burglar attack.

The only concerns we have for Coco now (and visiting cats) are the urban foxes.  They walk through our garden regularly and are always hungry.  I'd love to feed them but don't want to encourage them to hang around.  Beautiful animals.

Do you still foster kittens?

An urban fox on a neighbour's shed roof:

https://wirestock.io/debra.osborne-pursglove/portfolio/2098341

[thijsdegraaf]

Thanks Sheila.

That's really worrying about the racoons, especially for your pets 

We fitted a microchip cat flap for Coco after she got a badly infected leg from a cat burglar attack.

The only concerns we have for Coco now (and visiting cats) are the urban foxes.  They walk through our garden regularly and are always hungry.  I'd love to feed them but don't want to encourage them to hang around.  Beautiful animals.

Do you still foster kittens?

An urban fox on a neighbour's shed roof:

https://wirestock.io/debra.osborne-pursglove/portfolio/2098341

A beautiful fox photo Debbie and wild cats in the garden is very special. Of course we can't compete with the animals in Sheila's garden. 
 Nice to see you on Microstockforum Sheila!   
I think our most beautiful bird is the Eurasian jay. I have peanuts hanging on the rotary clothesline 2 meters from the sliding door, which we don't use now anyway. It's raining or it's cloudy. In the summer, the rotary dryer is in the back of the garden.
There are jays every day, but they are very shy. When I walk through the room they are already gone. I took this photo through the window.
Furthermore, every year in winter I have a heron in the garden, who watches for the frogs in the pond. He also keeps a close eye on me. You get used to your own birds. Great tits, for example, are also beautiful birds. Now that I see the ring-necked parakeets every day, I'm starting to think they are almost ordinary birds. 
More and more animals that were extinct are returning to the Netherlands. The beavers and otters are doing very well. The wolf is back. Wild cats and even lynx have been spotted. Often along the border of Belgium and Germany. I saw the fox in our garden once.

[S2D2]

Thank you Thijs.

The cats that visit us aren't wild, they belong to the neighbours, but have adopted us.

We get jays very occasionally.  They are lovely birds.  Sadly though, no parakeets.

Glad to hear about the nearly extinct animals returning.  Sadly, the Scottish wildcat is not fairing at all well.  I don't think it has a viable population in the wild any longer 

My photos of the Scottish Wildcat were taken at a Native Wildlife Centre (in captivity) but on a photographers day so you could go in with the animals, which was lovely.  I even got to stroke a fox.

[thijsdegraaf]

Thank you Thijs.

The cats that visit us aren't wild, they belong to the neighbours, but have adopted us.

We get jays very occasionally.  They are lovely birds.  Sadly though, no parakeets.

Glad to hear about the nearly extinct animals returning.  Sadly, the Scottish wildcat is not fairing at all well.  I don't think it has a viable population in the wild any longer 

My photos of the Scottish Wildcat were taken at a Native Wildlife Centre (in captivity) but on a photographers day so you could go in with the animals, which was lovely.  I even got to stroke a fox.

Too bad, I also read now, that those cats are rare.
Coincidentally, there was a video today of wild boars attacking a wolf. And that in the small Netherlands. https://nos.nl/index.php/artikel/2415679-zwijnen-gefilmd-bij-aanval-op-wolf-op-de-veluwe
As a child, a wolf was a beast from distant lands or from fairy tales. 

[Sheila_F]

Deb, yes. I still foster. Just had a litter a few months ago. I started working for a state run agency though so i sometimes take "deployments" as they call them and those run several weeks so I can't always foster as often as I'd like. I'm sure I mentioned before that I'm also an RN, so I've been doing covid relief work working at care facilities that are impacted by the disease as well as vaccine clinics and border screening sites (I prefer the last two over the first as they are less stressful IMO). Some groups of kittens are more cooperative than others. I use those images mainly for my greeting card site, but also submit to stock.

We don't get nearly as much wildlife as Sari does. Love watching her trail cam compalations. The racoons normally don't go in the backyards (or at least we never noticed them before). I never leave food outside for our animals, but I do leave water on the back porch so they might be coming for that. We have inside/outside cats as well (which is who we put the doors in for) and we've had one neighborhood cat come in the house to check out the place. My cats were not impressed and he didn't do it again that I'm aware of. The side door, my dog can't get through (he can just pop his head out) so only the cats can come in and out that one. It had a micro chip reader but the battery died and the unit seems to have failed so it's a moot point now. my cats would rather use the windows as doors and they'll sit and holler at the upstairs windows sitting right outside wanting in. I try not to encourage that though. LOL.

[cascoly]

i have annoying racoons visit my veggie garden - i dont mind sharing & dont use any anti-pest tricks, but the racoons take a few bites out of several tomatoes rather than finishing one!

[cascoly]

I think our most beautiful bird is the Eurasian jay. I have peanuts hanging on the rotary clothesline 2 meters from the sliding door, which we don't use now anyway. It's raining or it's cloudy. In the summer, the rotary dryer is in the back of the garden.
There are jays every day, but they are very shy. When I walk through the room they are already gone. I took this photo through the window.
Furthermore, every year in winter I have a heron in the garden, who watches for the frogs in the pond.....

One of my favorite birds is the Steller's Jay ( Cyanocitta stelleri )Deschutes River Trail, Bend, Oregon

Camprobbers are common in the mountains - they're quite tame and will perch on your hand - actually 2 species Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) and the Gray Jay or whiskey jack, ( Perisoreus canadensis ) -- here in Mount Rainier National Park


we have herons that nest in large numbers Seattle each year.
Great Blue heron fledglings   (Ardea herodias)

[thijsdegraaf]

I think our most beautiful bird is the Eurasian jay. I have peanuts hanging on the rotary clothesline 2 meters from the sliding door, which we don't use now anyway. It's raining or it's cloudy. In the summer, the rotary dryer is in the back of the garden.
There are jays every day, but they are very shy. When I walk through the room they are already gone. I took this photo through the window.
Furthermore, every year in winter I have a heron in the garden, who watches for the frogs in the pond.....

One of my favorite birds is the Steller's Jay ( Cyanocitta stelleri )Deschutes River Trail, Bend, Oregon[

Camprobbers are common in the mountains - they're quite tame and will perch on your hand - actually 2 species Clark's nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) and the Gray Jay or whiskey jack, ( Perisoreus canadensis ) -- here in Mount Rainier National Park


we have herons that nest in large numbers Seattle each year.
Great Blue heron fledglings   (Ardea herodias)

That is indeed a beautiful jay!!! I didn't know that one.
Here's the Gray heron (Ardea cinerea), which I photographed on a neighbor's roof last winter. The same day he ran off with a frog from our pond. Then I put bamboo and a net over the pond. I don't see him in the garden in summer.
 https://www.shutterstock.com/nl/image-photo/grey-heron-ardea-cinerea-longlegged-predatory-1952098831

[cascoly]

yes, i remember seeing that grey heron a few years ago in Zaanse Schans,