Breakfast in an Atlanta woods

[Edisto_Tiger]

What kind of wood peckers? Red bellies? Hairy's? Downy's?

 

[H2S]

What kind of wood peckers? Red bellies? Hairy's? Downy's?

yessir! with the occasional Red-head.

btw...there's been a mated couple of Pileated woodpeckers making their home in our back yard pines for the past 10-12 years. When we first moved into our house, I was talking on the phone with my dad while looking out the back window...a Pileated flew up and clung to the trunk of a pine tree not 35' away...I'd never seen one...started screaming: "There's a fucking black and white pterodactyl clinging to my tree!" s'the most awesome damn bird I've ever seen.

about 8 years ago I set a bowl of live grubs near their tree...hadn't walked 40' away before mama and two juveniles (about twice mama's size - and mama's as big as a crow) flew down and gobbled grubs. they're supposed to be way shy; these guys sure weren't.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

lol. Pileated are big ass woodpeckers and can make it sound like you're in the jungle when there's a few of them around squawkin'. And I love catchin a glimpse of the red heads. Not nearly as common as the red beliies, hairys , and downeys. And they are cool ass birds.

Do you get involved with the "Audobon Christmas Bird Count"?

 

[H2S]

v'never heard of the ACBC...pretty neat, thank you...might give em a call.


btw, imo, you're living in bird heaven...forests, marshes and seashore...migration rest stops an sech. I envy you geechee guys.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

v'never heard of the ACBC...pretty neat, thank you...might give em a call.


btw, imo, you're living in bird heaven...forests, marshes and seashore...migration rest stops an sech. I envy you geechee guys.

We do get lots of looks at a variety of birds here. And lol @ you knowing about the geechees. Good stuff. And if you like birding, do yourself a favor and go on one those Christmas bird counts. They'll pair you up or group you with some really knowledgeable birders. It's a blast. All you need is a pair of binoculars and a field guide. It's basically birding 101. I think I participated in 4 or 5 of them before I had kids. Lots of fun.

One of my favorite birds that comes here during the spring and summer:

 

[da55bums]

yeah, these birds aren't that tasty, carry on.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

lol

 

[H2S]

Cheshire used to point them out to me...

swallow tailed kite?
as beautiful in form and function, grace and speed as can be imagined.

There are only two places on earth that I wish I'd been raised (instead of where I grew up) and, to this day, can never get enough of: Kapaa, Kauai and Charleston, SC. Charleston's closer...and the food is better.

Cheshire was one of the best friends a guy could have, and I had him for 28 years. Citadel grad, old old Charleston family...streets & boulevards named after you kinda old...richer than gawd, but humble, unassuming and fished every day of the year because that's just what old Charleston family men did!...and at least once per year for 12 years he'd take me out with him. It was while shrimping the flats for bait one morning that I remember him pointing out my first swallow tailed kite...I remember thinking it reminded me of an F-111 - my favorite "bird" of the day.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

swallow tailed kite?
as beautiful in form and function, grace and speed as can be imagined.

There are only two places on earth that I wish I'd been raised (instead of where I grew up) and, to this day, can never get enough of: Kapaa, Kauai and Charleston, SC. Charleston's closer...and the food is better.

Cheshire was one of the best friends a guy could have, and I had him for 28 years. Citadel grad, old old Charleston family...streets & boulevards named after you kinda old...richer than gawd, but humble, unassuming and fished every day of the year because that's just what old Charleston family men did!...and at least once per year for 12 years he'd take me out with him. It was while shrimping the flats for bait one morning that I remember him pointing out my first swallow tailed kite...I remember thinking it reminded me of an F-111 - my favorite "bird" of the day.

nice. Very cool.

 

[H2S]

I reciprocated his fishing trips by teaching the sumbitch how to ski at Big Sky...bwahaha...he was a game chicken though, after several years of spectacular crashing he could actually ski the double blacks with us without breaking something.


Guar-on-tee he was one of the best skiers from the low country though. Miss that boy.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

I reciprocated his fishing trips by teaching the sumbitch how to ski at Big Sky...bwahaha...he was a game chicken though, after several years of spectacular crashing he could actually ski the double blacks with us without breaking something.


Guar-on-tee he was one of the best skiers from the low country though. Miss that boy.

I hear ya. I tried skiing in my 20's. I made it to Snowshoe once but mostly skied the NC mountains. I was never too good at it. I mean, I could ski just fine on the green squares and what not, but I wouldn't dare tackle a black diamond. I don't think anywhere I skied had a black diamond except for Snowshoe though.

 

[H2S]

I hear ya. I tried skiing in my 20's. I made it to Snowshoe once but mostly skied the NC mountains. I was never too good at it. I mean, I could ski just fine on the green squares and what not, but I wouldn't dare tackle a black diamond. I don't think anywhere I skied had a black diamond except for Snowshoe though.

Skiing the South is to skiing the Rockies like drop fishing inshore chop is to trolling offshore rollers. It is night and day...unless your legs are already gone, Get West young man!

I've skied my whole life...used to be crazy, should have died a hundred times...now though, in my dotage?...just give me three feet of Utah fluff and a 30° slope...if I die?...shit, it'd be just a short step from one heaven to another.

 

[da55bums]

sorry but Jackson Hole or Bust...actually for all year round, thats heaven...any duck marshes are the clouds.

 

[H2S]

old dog teaching us new tricks...

We live on a sloping lot...driveway is a rather steep 100'...

I taught Bubba to fetch our paper years ago...open the door, say 'get the paper' and he's gone...runs down the hill, takes a couple of extra minutes sniffing around, pissing, then grabs the paper and brings it home. I give him a doggy biscuit.

Sometimes, though, there won't be a paper down there. Doesn't matter to him, he'll just grab one of the neighbors' papers. I give him two doggy biscuits (for initiative .)

Tonight he lugged up the neighbor's 3-pound Sunday edition of the ATL JRNL Constitution. (They're on vacation)...so...

He got THREE doggy biscuits!!!

 

[H2S]

IceAggedon 2014...down by the ribba

Bubba and me just took a hike in our little forest along Nancy Creek (a feeder, prone to frequent flooding -so, can't be developed- to the Chattahoochee River) that borders our neighborhood. Saw a great blue heron fly off just as the dog spooked it...ditto a small group of deer and a nice barred owl (the dog's not very 'stealthy'...haha...even I make less noise than he does.) Pretty coo, all this wildlife and outdoorsy stuff, in the middle of urbanized Atlanta.

 

[packerzrule]

nice pics

in spite of all the recent chaos, I bet it is a treat getting a little bit of snow


me personally, I'm fucking sick of it

 

[H2S]

Pterodactyls are back.
Was a nifty progression of feeder ownership this morning:
1. Chickadees & Goldfinches are bullied off by
2. Carolina Wrens & Tufted Titmice, who are supplanted by
3. Downy Woodpeckers and Eastern Bluebirds, who get spooked away by
4. A particularly brutish Mockingbird, who vacates within seconds because the baddest muthafuckr in the forest wants his seat...

and when she left, the Chickadees and Goldfinches were first back. (this whole sequence took all of 3 minutes this morning.)

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

Nice. No chipping sparrows on the ground under those feeders? Or song sparrows or white throats?

 

[R.J. MacReady]

Was playing golf in Queens last year and a Falcon got a squirrel dead to rights on open ground.

It was pretty sad to watch for it is brutal way to go out for a squirrel. I'm thing birds go into shock and die before they suffer as much.

 

[mrwallace2ku]

Never "feed" wildlife just for a chance of seeing them, wether it be for birds or whatever. Much easier just to landscape food sources (trees, shrubs and ground cover), which is far better AND less expensive in the end.

Great thread and I loved the "bat box" idea as a way to control squitos. Good idea.