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Bird I've never seen before

D

DimensionDude

Experienced Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2005
Messages
363
Location
Arkansas, USA
The other day I saw a bird that I've never seen before in my backyard. It was bright yellow with black on the wings. Rather small, like a sparrow. By the time I had slipped outside with a camera it had flown away. Don't know what it was, but I hope to find out, and also to find out if they're common here in Arkansas.

Kent
 
Here I go replying to myself again :)

What I saw was a goldfinch. Present in this area, according to the Arkansas Audubon Society. But, in my 43 years of living in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi I've never seen one before.

Just Google goldfinch picture to see one. Striking enough to make me think "wow, look at that" and get my camera.

Kent
 
DimensionDude wrote:

> Here I go replying to myself again :)

> What I saw was a goldfinch. Present in this area,
> according to the Arkansas Audubon Society. But, in my
> 43 years of living in Arkansas, Louisiana and
> Mississippi I've never seen one before.

> Just Google goldfinch picture to see one. Striking
> enough to make me think "wow, look at that" and get
> my camera.

Wow, rare bird eh?

Hope you don't like rare birds? Their rare because either
something is chasing them out of their natural habitat (and
dying as a consequence) or are loosing their habitat - and
still dying - either way their dying.

If you present your property with natural vegetation -
particularly species which attract that bird species - sure
enough you may see more of it.
Exotic Birds (birds which are generally introduced) are found
around properties which have exotic plants - which generally
becomes a problem when their seed it disperced & becomes an
environmental weed!

CP/M User.
 
Not really a rare bird, I think, just one that doesn't appear very often in human populated areas.

Indeed I did present an attractive area for birds, in that I hadn't mowed my yard this season. Doggone weeds were knee-high.

In the process of mowing I found two juvenile mockingbirds, too young to fly. Apparently they had been blown out of the nest by the foul weather we had recently. I thought that they'd be cat toys by now, but the mother bird is watching over them and feeding them. I didn't bother them, I'll let nature take care of 'em.

Kent
 
On the subject of rare birds, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was thought to be extinct but has been found in Arkansas. I personally haven't seen it, don't think that it's in this area.

Kent
 
Not rare at all up here in northern Canada. My hedge is usually full of them in the summer. I have seen a rarer one tho. It's a bit smaller than a Robin but it's colors are more pronounced than the common varieties. They seem to like the pine trees.

Lawrence
 
Micom 2000 wrote:

> Not rare at all up here in northern Canada. My hedge
> is usually full of them in the summer. I have seen a
> rarer one tho. It's a bit smaller than a Robin but
> it's colors are more pronounced than the common
> varieties. They seem to like the pine trees.

I haven't been to Canada (yet alone Northern Canada), but
aren't Pines generally found naturally occurning there?

We have Pinus radiata (radiata pine) & Pinus pinasta (er?
something Pine), but were introduced natually enough - and can
be something of a weed - particularly in certain areas where
it can invade.

The closest thing's we get to natural pines are She-Oaks. Lots
of people seem to think they look dead when they see a Male
plant (yes there's Male & Female plants) in flower!

But yeah, the birds in Canada would use the tree merely for
food & perhaps a nest - remove the trees & you remove the
birds strictly speaking.
 
Yeah quite common here. I've got 3 60-70' ones in my yard. Manitoba (Black) Maple, Birch, Poplar, some Elm (which survived the beetle plague) and of course scrub brush are the main types here. It's basically in the Boreal (Coniferous) zone. Manitoba comprises 65.0 million hectares of prairie, lake and forest. About 25 mil. is forest and another 15% is lakes. I live just north of the 50th parallel so it can get pretty cold in winter. Only the hardy plants survive here.

But we are on one of the major N.A. flyways so the varieties of birds here are considerable. I usually always have game in my freezer altho I don't hunt myself. My village is at the base of a 125 mi. long lake. Commercial fresh-water fishing is one of the local industries.

Lawrence
 
Micom 2000 wrote:

> Yeah quite common here. I've got 3 60-70' ones in my
> yard. Manitoba (Black) Maple, Birch, Poplar, some Elm
> (which survived the beetle plague) and of course
> scrub brush are the main types here. It's basically
> in the Boreal (Coniferous) zone. Manitoba comprises
> 65.0 million hectares of prairie, lake and forest.
> About 25 mil. is forest and another 15% is lakes. I
> live just north of the 50th parallel so it can get
> pretty cold in winter. Only the hardy plants survive
> here.

> But we are on one of the major N.A. flyways so the
> varieties of birds here are considerable. I usually
> always have game in my freezer altho I don't hunt
> myself. My village is at the base of a 125 mi. long
> lake. Commercial fresh-water fishing is one of the
> local industries.

Sounds fantastic - I'd like to Google Earth your neck of the
woods, but I'm not sure how far North you are.

I was just wonderning if there are any other Mapping Systems
(besides Google Earth) which might have simular effects - our
state is somewhat privilieged in that the Govt have setup a
series of interactive maps which when on the right settings a
map with Satellite Imagery at a Scale of 1:50,000. It's quite
ingenious & works well on a Dialup internet account. But yeah,
Google Earth seems to be right up there (some images seem to
be more detailed than others) - still pretty good though!

CP/M User.
 
You could try googling Winnipegosis. There is also an extensive Manitoba Government mapping site with topography and other stuff but it's on another of my "newer" (W98 with P1 233meg)computers, an IBM PC350 that I am working on getting operational again.

XP, 2K ? We don't need no steenking XP or 2K "bleeding edge" crap.

Lawrence
 
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