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On the Mississippi (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Tero
- Start date
Tero
Retired
Bob, Wisconsin IS more crane area than here, and there is a crane center North of Madison off the Interestate, if you can't wait to see the wild ones.
http://www.savingcranes.org/abouticf/default.asp
http://www.savingcranes.org/abouticf/default.asp
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Tero
Retired
Mystery bird, earlier note, was like the female here
http://www.skyenet.net/~wcassady/gallery/pigrf.htm
but the coloring on the head was brown, not the more olive seen here.
And no, it was not a juvenile Brown Headed Cowbird. Though I have been fooled by those before.
http://www.skyenet.net/~wcassady/gallery/pigrf.htm
but the coloring on the head was brown, not the more olive seen here.
And no, it was not a juvenile Brown Headed Cowbird. Though I have been fooled by those before.
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Tero
Retired
For several weeks there have been hardly any birds by the river, except 3-4 species that are resident.
Today lots of birds in action. A gull, juvenile Herring, flock of White Throated Sparrows, Northern Flicker..yellow shafted, Goldfinch..IDd from flight and song. Flock of Dark Eyed Juncos, not seen since spring. A pair of smallish birds of pray (too small for Red Tailed hawk) and some little birds that glean something off trees that have a little yellow. They never sit still long enough for me to get a good look. Also 1 Song Sparrow.
Joggers..they stick to it all year..tell me Bald Eagles can be seen in January only.
Today lots of birds in action. A gull, juvenile Herring, flock of White Throated Sparrows, Northern Flicker..yellow shafted, Goldfinch..IDd from flight and song. Flock of Dark Eyed Juncos, not seen since spring. A pair of smallish birds of pray (too small for Red Tailed hawk) and some little birds that glean something off trees that have a little yellow. They never sit still long enough for me to get a good look. Also 1 Song Sparrow.
Joggers..they stick to it all year..tell me Bald Eagles can be seen in January only.
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Michael Frankis
conehead
Hi Andrew,
It's Brown Creeper (Certhia americana). VERY similar to our Treecreeper (so much so that some older books treat it as just a subspecies of C. familiaris), but there are small differences in the wing pattern and slightly larger genetic differences so they are now treated as distinct species.
Michael
It's Brown Creeper (Certhia americana). VERY similar to our Treecreeper (so much so that some older books treat it as just a subspecies of C. familiaris), but there are small differences in the wing pattern and slightly larger genetic differences so they are now treated as distinct species.
Michael
Tero
Retired
Saw a falcon out here in the St Louis suburbs. The tail was quite
long, and the bird was huge compared to the Robins in the same tree. The best pictures I have of Falcons are in a book of Birds of Alberta. There it looks like the Prairie Falcon. That book has large drawings of the provincial birds, including most US Rocky Mountain birds.
I have never seen either falcon before, only Kestrels.
long, and the bird was huge compared to the Robins in the same tree. The best pictures I have of Falcons are in a book of Birds of Alberta. There it looks like the Prairie Falcon. That book has large drawings of the provincial birds, including most US Rocky Mountain birds.
I have never seen either falcon before, only Kestrels.
Tero
Retired
A news group poster suggested Cooper's Hawk for my falcon
It did look like this more or less like
http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php?photo=8710&password=&sort=1&cat=998&page=1
but there was some dark on the head and face that suggested a falcon to me. It was too far to see facial detail.
SO, to summarize, I have excluded Peregrine (due to length of tail vs wings), therefore it had to be the fairly well documented Cooper's Hawk or a rather odd Prairie Falcon sighting.
http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/nathis/birds/birdatlas/maintext/0400119.htm
Looking at numerous books, the tail I saw fits Cooper's Hawk better.
Somewhere, I found:
"Most wintering birds occur south of southern Washington, Idaho, and Oregon with some movement eastward into Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and central Texas. The winter range extends well down into Mexico including Baja Califfornia. Winter dispersal takes some birds into the mid-western states of Minnesota, Missouri, and Illinois with some records along the eastern seaboard into the Carolinas and Gulf coast."
(Prairie Falcon)
It did look like this more or less like
http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php?photo=8710&password=&sort=1&cat=998&page=1
but there was some dark on the head and face that suggested a falcon to me. It was too far to see facial detail.
SO, to summarize, I have excluded Peregrine (due to length of tail vs wings), therefore it had to be the fairly well documented Cooper's Hawk or a rather odd Prairie Falcon sighting.
http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/nathis/birds/birdatlas/maintext/0400119.htm
Looking at numerous books, the tail I saw fits Cooper's Hawk better.
Somewhere, I found:
"Most wintering birds occur south of southern Washington, Idaho, and Oregon with some movement eastward into Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and central Texas. The winter range extends well down into Mexico including Baja Califfornia. Winter dispersal takes some birds into the mid-western states of Minnesota, Missouri, and Illinois with some records along the eastern seaboard into the Carolinas and Gulf coast."
(Prairie Falcon)
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Steve Gross
Well-known member
Everyone should make the trip to Baraboo, Wisconsin, to the International Crane Foundation. All the world species of cranes are there, as is a family of Whooping Cranes, part of a captive breeding project there.
It's a wonderful place, and as I will never probably never hit all of the spots Matthiessen hit while traveling for his book research, it's the only chance I'll get to see those birds.
Steve Gross
Houston, TX
It's a wonderful place, and as I will never probably never hit all of the spots Matthiessen hit while traveling for his book research, it's the only chance I'll get to see those birds.
Steve Gross
Houston, TX
Tero
Retired
Went here Saturday, daughter's field trip for school
http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/areas/areas/bottom/
here you see the green spot, the washed over bottom lands, where the Missouri and Mississippi meet
http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/areas/areas/bottom/images/hiwaymap.gif
Several miles of conserved shore, sand banks etc.
Saw
Green Heron, 4 or 5
Herring Gull, flock of 20
Great Egret
Blue Heron
There were bunches of dark birds in the water after I put the binocs away when it rained harder. Probably also Green Herons.
Have seen Little Blue Heron another time on the river. Mostly I see birds headed to this area past downtown where I work. There are few natural shores there.
http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/areas/areas/bottom/
here you see the green spot, the washed over bottom lands, where the Missouri and Mississippi meet
http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/areas/areas/bottom/images/hiwaymap.gif
Several miles of conserved shore, sand banks etc.
Saw
Green Heron, 4 or 5
Herring Gull, flock of 20
Great Egret
Blue Heron
There were bunches of dark birds in the water after I put the binocs away when it rained harder. Probably also Green Herons.
Have seen Little Blue Heron another time on the river. Mostly I see birds headed to this area past downtown where I work. There are few natural shores there.
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Tero
Retired
Out here in the suburbs, 20 miles from the river (maybe 10 miles from the Missouri river), Cedar Waxwing and Tufted Titmouse this morning. They were singing, and can't say I recognize the song. A Cooper's Hawk right in my yard. I had seen it before, and this size is usually Cooper's, not Sharp Shinned.
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Tero
Retired
On the Meremac River
Our scout troop decided to camp and bike in November! I took my sons bike out there, fixed kids bikes, rode 10 miles, came home with bikes. Son is still out there till Sun...
The state park out there, Route 66 park (Missouri), offered us a view of the old Times Beach dioxin contaminated development, long since torn down. But you can make out the street layout. It looks like quite a bird habitat in summer. Think birds and Chernobyl, and you get the idea.
At the nearby county park, Chicadees and Red Bellied Woodpeckers, perhaps a Hairy as well.
Our scout troop decided to camp and bike in November! I took my sons bike out there, fixed kids bikes, rode 10 miles, came home with bikes. Son is still out there till Sun...
The state park out there, Route 66 park (Missouri), offered us a view of the old Times Beach dioxin contaminated development, long since torn down. But you can make out the street layout. It looks like quite a bird habitat in summer. Think birds and Chernobyl, and you get the idea.
At the nearby county park, Chicadees and Red Bellied Woodpeckers, perhaps a Hairy as well.
Hi Tero,
Sounds like you have to work pretty hard to find good birds there but I guess you are lucky to have a bit of natural habitat left. Some of the birds you mention sound pretty exciting to me having never been birdwatching in US. My knowledge of the area you are in comes from movies and novels so you could say I am pretty ignorant of the geography.
You mentioned that the river is still navigated. What sort of boat transport? Is it still used as a major form of transport for heavy good or is it just passenger ferries. I have old fashioned visions of the paddle steamers chugging along with lots of glamorous (but not virtous!) ladies in elegant gowns and sharp dealers swanning about.
But its not like that anymore.
Sounds like you have to work pretty hard to find good birds there but I guess you are lucky to have a bit of natural habitat left. Some of the birds you mention sound pretty exciting to me having never been birdwatching in US. My knowledge of the area you are in comes from movies and novels so you could say I am pretty ignorant of the geography.
You mentioned that the river is still navigated. What sort of boat transport? Is it still used as a major form of transport for heavy good or is it just passenger ferries. I have old fashioned visions of the paddle steamers chugging along with lots of glamorous (but not virtous!) ladies in elegant gowns and sharp dealers swanning about.
But its not like that anymore.
Tero
Retired
Mississippi
Barges go up and down the river, and even going up, they seem pretty heavy. Mostly coal I think.
Yesterday there were 5 gulls, ring billed guessing from their size.
Today no life on river, just birds on shore, Robins and White Throated Sparrows, plus flocks of Satarlings a hundred meters away from the river, and Rock Doves. In summer, see swallows and others, more interesting.
Nancy said:
Barges go up and down the river, and even going up, they seem pretty heavy. Mostly coal I think.
Yesterday there were 5 gulls, ring billed guessing from their size.
Today no life on river, just birds on shore, Robins and White Throated Sparrows, plus flocks of Satarlings a hundred meters away from the river, and Rock Doves. In summer, see swallows and others, more interesting.
GR Triever
Well-known member
Nancy said:
The river is still a major transportation route; in addition to coal, you'll find gas, chemicals, grain, etc. AND... there are (3) large paddlewheelers operating from New Orleans almost the entire length of the river (and the Ohio River), owned by the Delta Steamboat Line. The Queens (Delta, American, and Mississippi) are booked year-round for excursions ranging from 2 to 7 days, if anybody's interested in a river vacation.
Regards,
GR
