Comments for Outside My Window

Comment on Anatomy: Culmen by Karen

Karen — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:11:18 +0000

Very helpful. I’ve long intended to do something similar but never managed. Thank you for taking this on!

Comment on Anatomy: Culmen by Diane

Diane — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:23:21 +0000

This is a wonderful idea. Thanks so much.

Comment on Fight! by Marge VanTassel

Marge VanTassel — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:25:11 +0000

That is entertaining…Margaret and Lee and I watched 3 crows mob a Red-tail last spring as we were heading up Ridgetrop Trail at Yellow Creek. I’ve seen a few encounters at Crooked Creek, too.

Comment on Fight! by Janet

Janet — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:11:44 +0000

We once sat on our deck and watched a group of crows run a sharp shinned hawk out of the neighborhood. The crows were very clever about it. One crow sat at the top of the highest tree as lookout. Two crows chased the hawk zigzag down the road in and out of the woods. They kept losing him so there was alot of searching and squawking going on. When they’d find him, they’d flush him and he’d dive into the woods on the other side of the road. After a bit, the two crows doing all the searching and chasing would land in a yard to rest and the two crows that had been resting would take over so the crows were always fresh and the hawk was getting exhausted.

Comment on Budding Opportunities by Dianne Machesney

Dianne Machesney — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:07:59 +0000

According to “Poisonous Plants of PA” published by the PA Dept of Agriculture,

“The fruit of all species of Aralia are poison when eaten raw BUT are infrequently cooked as jelly, which is reported edible.”

I’d be too chicken to try it, but if your friends does, I’d be curious to know what they taste like.

Comment on Who’s singing? by kelly

kelly — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:53:36 +0000

the carolina wrens in my residential neighborhood in coastal new jersey have been super-vocal lately, diligently going through entire repertoires it seems loudly and proudly. the other morning i counted the descending “cheer” call of one bird who repeated the call w/out pause over 200 times. then, i lost count. seriously.
one of my favorite birds, for sure.

Comment on Who’s singing? by Rachel

Rachel — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:54:00 +0000

I am far too north now to have Carolina wrens and I miss their chatter and call. They have been one of my favorite birds for many years now.

Comment on Junk Birds in Las Vegas by Christine

Christine — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:31:57 +0000

Thanks very much for the confirmation. I always love watching them when I’m on vacation in Vegas. They have quite the antics and even in the evening, they seem to be active.

Nice website. I’ll have to keep visiting now that I stumbled upon it on the “mystery bird” search.

Comment on Junk Birds in Las Vegas by Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:56:31 +0000

Yes, you saw great-tailed grackles! The females are brown, the males are black. That’s a nice picture of a female great-tailed grackle at the Wynn. I’ll bet she was looking for potato chips.

Comment on Junk Birds in Las Vegas by Christine

Christine — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:51:50 +0000

I think you may have solved a mystery for me. I love Vegas and always take notice of the different vegetation and birds that I see there. It’s amazing what one takes notice of when they look beneath all the lights and sounds of the Strip.

Anyhow there’s this one type of bird that has always amused me. There are lots in the Wildlife Habitat at the Flamingo and there are often a bunch in different trees, especially conifers. They’re a good sized bird and very animated but I had no idea what they area. We definitely don’t have them where I live. One of their calls almost sounds like they’re laughing at me. Another call is a whistle that goes up in pitch as it crescendos. I never see the black ones in your photo though, only brown ones. I think it’s a Great-Tailed Grackle as you called it.

There is a picture of one hanging out at the Terrace Point Cafe at the Wynn (good taste these birds have. lol) http://www.flickr.com/photos/30078953@N08/4099345762/
I didn’t take the photo but it’s from a Tripadvisor review I was just reading. It looks like what’s in your photo except it’s brown like all the ones I normally see.