What are your most amazing bird sightings?

[Paul Hood]

I don't mean specific birds. I mean what amazing things have you seen birds do? I've seen little birds near my local grocery store actually get on the back of red tailed hawks which must have been close to their nest. And I don't mean they were just flying close, these birds were sitting on the back of a hawk and pecking at him as he flew.

[semillama]

1. A large flock of Tree Swallows

They were feeding above a pond at dusk. and what they would do is dive down at the water and bounce off the surface then fly back up. No one who was with me had ever seen anything like it. Must have been easily 500 swallows.

Then there's this:

http://www.ohiobirds.org/news.php?News_ID=172

[Paul Hood]

2. Swallows are amazing.

I used to see them on a golf course skimming the ground and making 180 degree turns in the space of a few inches.
Great link too, it's good to see young eagles know how to have fun.

[oldcoot]

3. I had a western bluebird land and perch on my head

while I was walking outside a wildlife refuge visitor center. I was able to identify it by looking at our reflections in visitor center's window. I do not think that it was trying to defend its nest because it was an immature bird.

[primavera]

4. Eagle cartwheeling

Where they lock talons and spiral downwards, amazing sight to behold.

[Goldeneye]

5. My dad and I

were watching a merlin chasing a crow from our front yard last year. It was the first Merlin I'd ever seen, so that would have been a good enough siting, but there was more. A hummingbird was buzzing along after the Merlin. One of the smallest birds in the world chasing a merlin...totally bizarre.

[Quakerfriend]

6. One of the neatest things I've ever seen is a

crow playing in the snow. It seems that they love the snow!! Especially, in the early spring when there is still wet, granulated snow on the ground. They will spend hrs sliding on their backs in the stuff! Years ago I saw a picture of crows doing just this in National Geographic Magazine. Otherwise, I am not sure I would have noticed them doing it in our yard.

[Paul Hood]

7. Cool

I remember seeing two crows pushing a soccer ball all around the back yard. They got it moving pretty good and would be hopping after it pushing it with their beaks.

[BeFree]

8. A fluttering of wings caught our attention...

..and as we turned to look, we saw a Osprey heading right towards us, just 30 feet away.

Talons extended, the Osprey flew right onto a dead branch, talons grabbing hold, the branch snapped off and the Osprey flew away with the stick in it's grasp!

One figures that's how they gather their nesting materials - huge piles of sticks high up in the pines and similar trees.

[mourningdove92]

21. Thats cool!

[blindpig]

9. well, one time...

I was standing on a little bridge over a cypress creek right at sunrise in Appalachicola NF looking at a water mocassin laying on some floatsam when a LARGE Barred Owl snatched the snake up and carried it up into the trees.

We were sitting just above the high tide line on Cumberland Island. To the right, about 200-250 yds, was a hugh ensemblage of shore birds, Sanderlings to Greater Black Backed Gulls, hundreds of birds. From our left a raptor that I'm pretty sure was a peregrine, flew at tremendous speed across our field of view about 3' off the ground towards the flock. When it was about 50yds away the birds "exploded", and to be honest I couldn't tell shit from shinola after that.

We were walking on the beach at night in Trinidad. We had no lights on as we were hoping to find nesting Leatherback Turtles. Something seemed to be going on in the pitch before me so I switched on the Maglite to see a Giant Fishing Bat(wing span about 3')hovering before us! OK, not a bird but it had wings.

[Quakerfriend]

10. WOW!

Those are awsome experiences! You truly have a knack for being in the right place at the right time!:9

[blindpig]

11. not really

it's all a matter of frequency, if you get out enough you're bound to see some cool stuff. I've been birding and reptile hunting for over 35 years, bound to see something. Plus we have no kids which gives me the ability to get to some places that I would have neither money nor time for otherwise. Field work is by far my favorite thing to do. The experiences that I recounted occurred over a period of about 15 years. And sometimes you don't have to go far, 2 years ago I saw a red fox and a bobcat within an hour by the Tyger River, an hours walk from my house! Get out and have fun!!

[BeFree]

12. Great Blue Heron

Had just caught a 10 inch bass and was headed to dry land with it as he knew it was gonna take some time to get the fish lined up right so he could swallow it whole.

Just then a Red-Shouldered Hawk flew in and snatched the fish right from the beak of the Heron.

The Heron, quite pissed by the turn of events, stammered and strutted about for a minute or so before returning to the water.

[blindpig]

13. nice!

surely a camera free moment. That's the way it usually works for me.

[BeFree]

14. No camera

But it's neat to see a thread like this about birds... made my brain remember it! Another one comes to mind:

I think it may not have been the same Red-Shouldered, but it was something unbelievable.

I was sitting in a boat on the same body of water as the Heron escapade, when before me appeared a Red-Shouldered on a branch over the water. He was within 14 feet, and I don't think he saw me, as I had been motionless for some time and had blended in.

He looked down at the water for a few seconds, then plunged. I couldn't see the splash, as there was a huge log between us, but he quickly returned to the same spot on the branch he plunged from.

In his talons was a 5 inch long bluegill thrashing for dear life!

The Red's beak ripped into the fish ending the battle, and off the Red flew, the small fish dripping blood.

[blindpig]

17. that's pretty damn unusual

didn't know they did that sort of thing.

[BeFree]

18. Yeah, unusual

If someone told me that story, I'd have a hard time believing them.

As I am sure you know, blindpig, seeing something like that comes only because the human goes un-noticed. It was only because I had been still and absolutely quiet for 10 minutes at least, was the bird un-aware of my presence.

One simply scares off wildlife by making a commotion. And it helps to be in a "blind" situation, too. But great rewards have come my way often times by virtue of silence and and blending in.

All this brings yet another remembrance: After having set quietly for what seemed like an hour, leaned up against a large tree, in the bottom of a dry season swamp, I heard a soft, barely audible 'Cluck' behind me and the tree.

Moving ever so slowly, I peered around my left shoulder, leaning over a bit at a time.

Much to both of our surprise, ol' Tom Turkey stood not 5 feet away! He had, for some reason, headed straight for that tree while 180 degrees opposite me. Had I made a move or a sound in the last 5 minutes, our acquaintance would have never made DU.

[blindpig]

19. I'll match ya

Can't say too much about sittin' quiet.

Upthread I mentioned seeing a bobcat and red fox on the same afternoon, it happened like this: After accidentally flushing the bobcat near the river I walk up the creek that I followed and stopped for a break to sit on a log that was perched on a small rise in the bend of the creek. Sitting there I noticed movement in the herbaceous growth in the flat on the other side of the bend. That movement became a red fox bounding thru the growth, it stopped and gathered itself and sprang across the creek(about 4 ft) and scrambled up the steep bank about 5ft up. All of this while I'm sitting quiet.When the fox reached the rise it was arms length from me but oblivious to my existence. As my camera was in my pack(of course!) I turned and said "how ya doin'?" The fox near jumped out of its skin and made for the thick growth, no doubt embarrassed as hell.

[HeeBGBz]

15. I was fishing at the lake once

I caught a small perch that I was going to toss back. There was a crane standing on the bank about 10 feet away. He started squawking at me so I threw the fish to him and he snatched it up and swallowed it whole.

[Fleurs du Mal]

16. Bald Eagles, talons locked

When I was at the University of Washington we used to go down to what is now called the Union Bay Natural Area for a quick birdwatching fix. Every now and again we'd see a pair of Bald Eagles circle up over the bay to a thousand feet or so where they suddenly locked talons and started spinning, like those helicopter seed pods from trees, to the ground. They would fall with wings outstretched, spinning increasingly faster, until about thirty feet above the ground where they released one another and glided out of it. A rather breathtaking spectacle!

[mourningdove92]

20. I've been birding for years and years and have lots of stories.

One of my favorites.

Sitting on my porch one day ( I live in the country, lucky me!) and straight ahead, looking past my property onto my neighbors, I could see a snake just a hightailing it towards my place. He was serously moving....only took a second to find out what he why he was in such a hurry......from above he was being dive bombed by a Mockingbird...as soon as the snake made it under my wire fence...Mr Macho (my pet name for all Mockingbirds) felt he had done his duty and went back to his sentry post.

My nieces have heard me refer to Mockingbirds as Mr Macho for so long, they don't really even know what kind of bird it is...they just call them Macho birds. Always makes me laugh. They are a truly amazing bird. Love to see them dive bomb. They don't care what it is. I have seen them dive bomb my cats and my dogs...but only once have I seen one chase a snake.

[semillama]

22. not a sighting per se

but last night I was out with a local Audubon group, trying to listen for woodcocks, and we heard a short-eared owl give its hunting call. Fantastic!!!

No woodcocks though. I'm going out Thursday to a local park that is having a program to look for them.

[Habibi]

23. An incredible number of crows

surrounded a Great Horned owl in the big oak in our front yard once. Cawing and threatening to beat the band. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Apparently crows will gang up like that on their enemies.

[mourningdove92]

24. I saw the same thing last weekend, only kind of reversed.

We were on our way to Granbury, when we stopped at a little country store. I could hear some Blue Jays thowing a major hissy fit. I went over to their tree and looked up. Yep, a great Big Crow. Those two Blue Jays dive bombed and dive bombed, getting more and more physical each time. Mr Crow finally decided the tree looked greener in the other pasture and took off. I loved it.

[Quakerfriend]

27. Yes, it's called "mobbing"

You'll notice it quite a bit...."mobbing' of hawks, and the like.

[jpak]

25. 30 million Dovkies descending en mass on their Arctic breeding grounds

Spent 4 months on a Canadian icebreaker in the Kane Basin between Ellesmere Island and Greenland in 1999.

One day I was on the bridge looking south and spied a plume of smoke. I thought to myself "WTF - is there a ship on fire out there?" We were VERY far from any shipping lanes and in some heavy ice to boot.

As the "smoke" raced northward and it became apparent it was not the result of any combustion but a HUGE flock of dovkies. They literally blotted out the sun and when they landed they turned the surface of the open water black.

It was amazing!

The other experience was a close encounter with a Stewart Island Kiwi at dusk.

There were two of them doing one their pair bonding rituals at a nest burrow - all you could see was their bills waving around in the air (and they were quite noisy too).

Finally, one of them came out into the open and walked to within 10 feet of me.

When he/she saw me, he/she took off running. It look like Groucho and it was all I could do to keep from busting out laughing.

Also had a Takahe (a large and spectacularly-colored flightless New Zealand rail - and one the world's most endangered species) walk right up to me on Kapiti Island. The NZ Dept of Conservation transfered a few pairs of them to Kapiti from Fiordland National Park.

I saw a pair of them in the tall grass about 50 feet away and got my camera out from a ziplock bag.

Apparently the scrunching of a ziplock bag means "someone -has-food-for-me" in Takahe because they both came running full tilt right up to me. Got some great close-up shots of them.

The grossest thing I ever saw was a Crested Carcara harassing a Turkey Vulture. The TV puked up its "meal" and the CC ate it in mid-air! I almost puked myself...

:)

[slackmaster]

26. Barn owl on a stormy night

This was amazing for its drama and suddenness.

The full moon was shining from a clear sky between sqalls of a strong winter storm. I walked out on the sidewalk in front of my house, which is on a steep stretch of a suburban street going down a complex of finger canyons.

In the moonlight I saw a bird flying toward me from the west. It landed on a power line directly overhead and stared down at me for about 20 seconds moving its head back and forth - the unmistakable white face of a barn owl. It squeaked something then flew back off in the direction it had come from.

I have only rarely seen barn owls. That was my closest encounter with one. I've seen many more great horned owls.

I've seen little birds near my local grocery store actually get on the back of red tailed hawks which must have been close to their nest. And I don't mean they were just flying close, these birds were sitting on the back of a hawk and pecking at him as he flew.

I see that kind of action all the time from my house. Usually it's mockingbirds attacking the larger birds (ravens, hawks, etc.). I've seen hummingbirds attack mockingbirds too.

[Pert_UK]

28. Wedge-tailed eagle, outback, Northern Territory, Australia...

feasting on a dead kangaroo at the side of the road.

These MASSIVE birds can often be seen along the roads of the outback. We slowed down to look at this one, and when we were about 50ft away it took off and flew straight at us (I'm told that they need to take off into the wind, rather than being naturally suicidal).

Its wings filled the whole of the windscreen (windshield, if you must) and as I braked it just managed to clear the top of my van...which was great, as I didn't really want a bird that big (or its talons) coming through the glass at me!

Absolutely stunning creatures.

[Lefty48197]

29. Here's my favorite:

Me and a buddy were driving along the highway a few years ago, when we saw a hawk flying right in front of us and it was being badgered by a couple of red winged blackbirds. One of the blackbirds landed on the hawk's back (while in flight) and began pecking on the back of it's head.

[blindpig]

30. I once saw a birder post in the Birders Group

I think they're becoming extinct.:shrug:

[5X]

31. One of my favorite stories wasn't about the birds, but the birder.

I was taking a class in ornithology, we were on our first
field trip at a local lake. The professor was leading us around
and pointing out birds, suddenly he starts yelling "copulation,
copulation!". A pair of birds were 'doing it' in a tree in
front of us. I think most of us saw it, I don't even remember
what species, but I will never forget the yelling professor.

[blindpig]

32. Here's an oldie.

We were on our way to Blackwater WR on the Maryland Eastern Shore, crossing the old Bay Bridge. It was about 5am and we had reached that high point on the bridge where the roadbed disappears from in front of the hood of the car, only dark sky. Now I have something of a problem with hights and this point aways gives me the willies. At that moment a flock of swans flew in front of us, level with the car in the headlights and mists, about 10yds away. Surreal. To say my emotions were jumbled is an understatement. An excellent beginning to what proved to be a most excellent day of birding.

[shrike]

33. Bald eagle

Doesn't sound like much, but I'm in northern Indiana. Saw a bird flying overhead as I was bicycling, couldn't figure out what it was. It perched briefly, and I still couldn't identify it. Found out from the bird books it was an immature Bald Eagle. Turns out there's been a nest for years in one of the mills.

[semillama]

34. Great Grey Owl

Saw my only one on a CBC in Houghton County, Michigan a few years ago. Can't help but be amazed by these birds.

[the observationist]

35. Sharp-shinned hawk

Last weekend we were having breakfast in our kitchen looking at all the birds surrounding our feeders and in a flash they scattered. A few minutes later a sharp-shinned hawk landed on our fence and was scoping the place out. The hawk left and eventually the birds came out to feed again. In the blink of an eye the hawk snagged one of our little birds and was holding it down on the ground in our backyard. It was amazing to witness how brutal nature can be. I must admit that even though it was natural for the hawk to do this we were saddened. It dampened our mood the rest of the morning.

[Imalittleteapot]

36. A Roadrunner in my urban backyard

caught an English Sparrow and ate it. Why in the world would a Roadrunner be in my backyard? They are usually seen in the prairies that are west of here.

[Gato Moteado]

37. i've been lucky to have several great sightings.......

i have seen bald eagles mating in flight, as others here have.

i saw a snowy owl in a small tree along chicago's lakefront one cold winter. got pretty close to it.

seen many gyrfalcons along I55 in illinois during extremely cold winters.

saw a great blue heron catch and eat a little green heron in the canal behind my apartment when i lived in miami.

in everglades national park late one night at the tower in shark valley, a friend of mine called a barred owl which flew to us and landed on the tower railing about 5 feet from me.

have seen 3 or 4 green macaws (the rarest bird in costa rica) on my property and on the campus of earth university.

[Reciprocity]

38. Crows chasing Red Tailed hawks.

The hawk had killed one of their flock and the crows harassed it until he let go of it and then flew away.