Clarence--what is this bird???

[Clarence]

TXTibbs: You mentioned the nighthawk. I think that is an interesting bird. I don't see them as often now days, perhaps just that I don't pay as much attention. During the dry years in the past, we would often see and hear them about dusk. They will flutter and keep asending a few yards upward at a time with their keek sound, after gaining a good height will dive down with a zroom sound. My Dad called them a ballbat, or a ball and bat. They like to nest where there are peables to ake nests with. During the day you might see them scroched down on the top of a fence post, scarcely moving. They are even common in towns, I think they nest on graveled roofs. Back when I used to spend Saturday nights in town I would see and hear them overhead in the early evening.

TTB: By all means do start a list of the birds you have. I want to do that too, along with a discription. That is the way I started my book on plants and grasses, just wanted to make a sort of an inventory, have had a lot of favorable comments on it. It is definatly something I can leave for the family as a heritage. I want to comment on you picture, I think it is pretty good, unless you have tried, you do not know how hard it is to get good pictures of wildlife, first you can not get close, then they move away, or they blend so well into their surroundings. It is also hard to photograph plants, they blend with their surrounding, move with the wind, and as you want to be close up, it is hard to focuse on all if the plant. You have to decide if you want to focus on all of the plant or just on the flower.

 

[Juan]

I'll stick to Willet! the Godwits that I have seen have an orange color to the base of a curved up bill.
B.M.R....Are you sure it's not a crow? I may have to go with Soap's "won't it".

 

[HAY MAKER]

JUAN,That bird is easily identifiable,its a "mile or more bird" I see em all the time when I am bird hunting..........good luck PS even BMR knows a mile or more bird when he sees one,course he's gettin long in the tooth so probably forgot.

 

[GTS]

Turkey Track Bar,
That's a very nice picture of a marbled godwit. Their bills turn up slightly and the long billed curlews turns down quite dramatically. You live a little too far east for curlews. A sighting at your place would be very unusual. They have been seen, rarely, in Perkins Co. and more in Harding Co. and much more as you get into Mont.

 

[Turkey Track Bar]

Everyone!!!

Thanks so much for your help in IDing our pair of birds. I am now in agreement with Clarence and GTS that they are Marbled Godwits. Sorry TX Tibbs I originally thought we had Long billed curlews too, but I'm now sure Clarence and GTS are correct.

The Godwits have either moved or left our place--I'm not sure why, but hopefully it's not something we did in disturbing them. Yearly we only have one pair and it seems they come in mid April and then leave this time of year. I will have to keep better records to see what they do. They definitely are neat birds!

TTB: By all means do start a list of the birds you have. I want to do that too, along with a discription. That is the way I started my book on plants and grasses, just wanted to make a sort of an inventory, have had a lot of favorable comments on it. It is definatly something I can leave for the family as a heritage. I want to comment on you picture, I think it is pretty good, unless you have tried, you do not know how hard it is to get good pictures of wildlife, first you can not get close, then they move away, or they blend so well into their surroundings. It is also hard to photograph plants, they blend with their surrounding, move with the wind, and as you want to be close up, it is hard to focuse on all if the plant. You have to decide if you want to focus on all of the plant or just on the flower.

Clarence, thanks for the advice. I think we'll try and do this. Maybe starting with the "flora" will get my husband excited about it. He gets more excited about grass and trees---

Additionally, my dad has been doing this for years on his operation on the CO/NM border. He has range maps made that fit in a little binder, and he makes daily notes about the range condition, moisture, number of cows in a location, number of type of wildlife per location, and plant development. He also likes gadgets, so has now incorporated a GPS unit and digital camera. We run on public lands so they BLM and Forest Service guys are easier to work with if ranchers make an effort to have good documentation. These have been some of the tools my Dad has used to not only improve relations with the BLM and Forest Service, but also some local environmental groups, and also I think has increased our stocking rates (during 12 years of drought).

Turkey Track Bar,
That's a very nice picture of a marbled godwit. Their bills turn up slightly and the long billed curlews turns down quite dramatically. You live a little too far east for curlews. A sighting at your place would be very unusual. They have been seen, rarely, in Perkins Co. and more in Harding Co. and much more as you get into Mont.

GTS: I'm glad to see you made it to the "new format" on the site. I thought you probably did, but haven't seen much posting from you. Thanks for complement on the picture. I wish I could have gotten a sideview so the bill would be easier to see.

How are things up in your area? Did you get much moisture? I heard Lemmon had somewhere between 1 and 2 inches this past weekend. We got .3" on Sunday night. I keep telling the hubby we'll get our chance someday, and those who are getting in now need it more than we do--I think he's starting to doubt my optimism!

Have you started calving yet? For us "early" calvers (March/April) we couldn't have asked for nicer weather or better conditions. We have a few stragglers (they drive me crazy!!) but are mostly done.

Take care!!!!

Everyone, thanks for the help in IDing the Marbled Godwit. What a wealth of info. we have here on this site!

Cheers for a great day and more moisture!

TTB

 

[Hanta Yo]

TX Tibbs---

Sure enough, that's them-a Long Billed Curlew!!! I now know what a Curlew is---a couple of folks were just chatting about them not too long ago on here (I think Clarence and Katrina, but could be mistaken)

When I came north from CO I really missed all the different birds we had in the mountains---but enjoy the ones we have here too-with the exception of the pheasants-if they would stay off the road and quit trying to commit suicide, I'd like them more!

I am not sure my hubby ever looked at the "fauna" until he met me--he's always in too big of a hurry, but now he's starting to and I think we might start keeping a list of birds we see around our place.

Anyway, thanks-I learned something new today, so it will an extra great day!

TTB

TTB,

You from Colorado? Whereabouts? So am I!!

 

[Hanta Yo]

Everyone!!!

Thanks so much for your help in IDing our pair of birds. I am now in agreement with Clarence and GTS that they are Marbled Godwits. Sorry TX Tibbs I originally thought we had Long billed curlews too, but I'm now sure Clarence and GTS are correct.

The Godwits have either moved or left our place--I'm not sure why, but hopefully it's not something we did in disturbing them. Yearly we only have one pair and it seems they come in mid April and then leave this time of year. I will have to keep better records to see what they do. They definitely are neat birds!

TTB: By all means do start a list of the birds you have. I want to do that too, along with a discription. That is the way I started my book on plants and grasses, just wanted to make a sort of an inventory, have had a lot of favorable comments on it. It is definatly something I can leave for the family as a heritage. I want to comment on you picture, I think it is pretty good, unless you have tried, you do not know how hard it is to get good pictures of wildlife, first you can not get close, then they move away, or they blend so well into their surroundings. It is also hard to photograph plants, they blend with their surrounding, move with the wind, and as you want to be close up, it is hard to focuse on all if the plant. You have to decide if you want to focus on all of the plant or just on the flower.

Clarence, thanks for the advice. I think we'll try and do this. Maybe starting with the "flora" will get my husband excited about it. He gets more excited about grass and trees---

Additionally, my dad has been doing this for years on his operation on the CO/NM border. He has range maps made that fit in a little binder, and he makes daily notes about the range condition, moisture, number of cows in a location, number of type of wildlife per location, and plant development. He also likes gadgets, so has now incorporated a GPS unit and digital camera. We run on public lands so they BLM and Forest Service guys are easier to work with if ranchers make an effort to have good documentation. These have been some of the tools my Dad has used to not only improve relations with the BLM and Forest Service, but also some local environmental groups, and also I think has increased our stocking rates (during 12 years of drought).

Turkey Track Bar,
That's a very nice picture of a marbled godwit. Their bills turn up slightly and the long billed curlews turns down quite dramatically. You live a little too far east for curlews. A sighting at your place would be very unusual. They have been seen, rarely, in Perkins Co. and more in Harding Co. and much more as you get into Mont.

GTS: I'm glad to see you made it to the "new format" on the site. I thought you probably did, but haven't seen much posting from you. Thanks for complement on the picture. I wish I could have gotten a sideview so the bill would be easier to see.

How are things up in your area? Did you get much moisture? I heard Lemmon had somewhere between 1 and 2 inches this past weekend. We got .3" on Sunday night. I keep telling the hubby we'll get our chance someday, and those who are getting in now need it more than we do--I think he's starting to doubt my optimism!

Have you started calving yet? For us "early" calvers (March/April) we couldn't have asked for nicer weather or better conditions. We have a few stragglers (they drive me crazy!!) but are mostly done.

Take care!!!!

Everyone, thanks for the help in IDing the Marbled Godwit. What a wealth of info. we have here on this site!

Cheers for a great day and more moisture!

TTB

According to our bird book (yes, we have one, we have LOTS of birds, including some of my favorites, the Nighthawk and Cassins Finches. It is a Marbled Godwit. Breeds on the Central Plains from Saskatchewan to Minnesota and South end of the Dakotas.

 

[Clarence]

I guess we are back to the birds again. Soapweed, we probably do have the willets here. Looking at the map it looks like they are common in about the same areas as the curlews. You are more likly to see them than I. I don't get to lake and marsh areas often. The willet is a mostly gray bird about 13 inches tall, it wouldn't be quite as large as a curlew or godwit. they are shore birds so would be found near lakes and marshes. I think to often we just lump some of these birds together and call them either a snipe or a sandpiper and don't try to identify them. The curlew is a shore bird too, but it seems to like to nest and raise it's young on the upland prairie, maybe the godwit does too.

I always thought that sometime I would go to the La Creek Refuge and spend an entire day there, watching birds and maybe getting a few pictures. Every time I have been there I have seen some interesting wildlife. One time I was there right after a rain. Water was rapidly flowing from a culvert, small fish, maybe 2 inches long were swimming upstream, when they reached this fast water they jumped, sometimes even landing out of the water, but with a little flopping the got back in.

 

[nr]

Re: photographing nature, a different aspect
At a recent talk at Univ of Delaware by some naturalists, one showed slides of the same spot at a wooded creek in our area taken over 10 years which I thought was a neat idea.

He "followed" the same tree, in all four seasons for 10 years. As he flicked through the years' slides you could clearly see the effects of erosion and the struggle the tree had against vine-kill and invasive species- all problems in our area. His talk made me want to run home and tear out our "mono-culture" lawn and plant some worthwhile bird-friendly bushes.

 

[preston]

That's gotta be a member of the crane family...isn't it? Looks a little like the Sandhill crane.

 

[Clarence]

The cranes are larger birds, I think they belong to a different family, maybe more closly related to the geese, although not of that family either.

I haven't got the family and order thing altogether figured out. It seems the cranes belong to the Gruiformes, the rail and coot family. The Curlew and the Godwits are the larger birds of the sandpipers, kildeers, and plovers. They belong the the family of the Charadriiformes. I think they are so named because they put on a charade to draw you away from their nest and their young.

 

[preston]

The cranes are larger birds, I think they belong to a different family, maybe more closly related to the geese, although not of that family either.

I haven't got the family and order thing altogether figured out. It seems the cranes belong to the Gruiformes, the rail and coot family. The Curlew and the Godwits are the larger birds of the sandpipers, kildeers, and plovers. They belong the the family of the Charadriiformes. I think they are so named because they put on a charade to draw you away from their nest and their young.

==========

sounds like a killdeere here. They will lead u for 4-500 feet away from their nest with a fake broken wing ...acts like he's drunk...about 1/5 or smaller ....the size of this bird.

 

[SD Windbreaker]

My first post on this interesting and informative website.

Looks to me like a Long-Billed Dowitcher. Don't know if this will make a direct link, but it is a short article about this bird.

Mike

www.suite101.com/article.cfm/birding/113809