| sixthacura |
Don't know if there are any Birders/MDXers. My wife Rebecca and I are birders and enjoy travelling and seeing mother nature in all of its splendor. I will begin a new thread which will list the birds seen while rolling in the MDX. Birding will be mainly in South Florida.
First on the list: TURKEY VULTURE feeding near the edge of a small man-made lake in the Jacaranda Country Club. Normally you see the Turkey and the Black Vultures gliding with the wind currents, but these ones came down to feast. Turkey Vultures have featherless heads like a turkey, they flap their wings in slow intervals and have long tails. The Black Vultures have black heads, have short wingbeats and are flipping their wings often, and have short tails. When BV are on the ground they look like mini Darth Vaders with the feathers looking like DVaders cape and the head with a helmet-looking black head. Vultures have weak talons and no so strong beaks, so they can't carry heavy loads or live animals, so they go for the roadkill. :) By the way, if members want to see this let me know, otherwise I won't bother you with this kind of stuff. |
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| sixthacura |
Here is another posting for anyone intereted in birds. Since about 2 weeks my neighborhood has been inundated with Palm Warblers. This little ones are always full of energy around trees and bushes looking for insects. They are peculiar as they are constantly pumping their tail. There are only 2 North American warblers that pump their tails, namely the Palm and the Prairie Warblers. Prairies are not common in this part of the state. Palms are everywhere and 2 of them were flying towards my MDX this afternoon at rocket speed turning sideways at the very last minute.
Haven't gotten any reaction from members, so I guess there is no interet in the birdies. By the way, one birdie did a number on my MDX and got on my SH_T List, if you know what I mean!! Bye-Bye-Birdie |
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| ghost |
Be patient, young padwan, good threads take time to develop!
This has been an astounding winter for us for the birds that aren't here. Included in that list are:
pine grosbeaks
evening grosbeaks
pine siskins
redpolls
northern shrikes
These are usual regular visitors to our feeder, there have been none this winter. The siskins and redpolls are irruptives, so I can understand why they're not around, but it's weird to have not seen the rest, and to have so many species absent. We have the usual gang of chickadees, nuthatches, jays, and ravens overhead, but it's an odd year.
Um, no warblers yet, but the old groundhog did not see his shadow today, meaning we have like, only 11 weeks of winter left. The eagles are usually first to return as the rivers open up, that should be any week now.
Keep them birds a'comin! :D:D |
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| sixthacura |
Hi ghost: thanks for the reply. Ok, I will keep the birds coming. Periodically I will add to the list, but only interesting happenings and interaction with birds and my MDX. I see plenty of birds while I drive, but not everything is interesting, although when I view them through the binos I find something new every time. Birding is a great therapy and takes you into the woods, so having the MDX is great for those occasional off-road excursions. Interesting to hear about the lack of regular birds this winter in your backyard. Sometimes it happens, but if it occurs a few years in a row then it is a sign of major problems, habitat, etc.
I have a place in Puerto Rico and plan to send the MDX there in about 5 years when I plan to semi-retire. Birding in Puerto Rico is a lot of fun and the terrain is more conducive to an MDX than in flat Florida. Best regards, SixthAcura (Fred) |
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| ByeByeChrysler |
you must see a lot of 'snowbirds' this time of year.
snowbirds are retired Canadians that head south for the winter to avoid the cold.
:2: |
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| sixthacura |
| You better believe it. The snowbirds fly low and slow and they all look alike. They are welcome here nonetheless. |
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| sixthacura |
Well, here we go again. We are now invaded by another warbler, this time the Yellow-Rumped Warbler. They are all over, a shear display of nervous energy. As I drive around town (no much driving really as my MDX has only 200 miles in 2 weeks) I see all these little ones flying around, shooting across the road like darts and all over the bushes and trees looking around, down and up for juicy tidbits in nature's food chain.
I am getting my ML320 ready to be returned to the Benz dealer as my lease is up in March. Just bought the tires to replace the original tires from the factory (Dunlops H Rated). Got on on www.tirerack.com and got the original factory mandated tires at $77 plus delivery (nothing close from dealers in the area). Will take them to Costco for installation at $9 a tire. Will use the ML320 for the our next trip, probably to Orlando, as I am about 5,000 miles under the maximum 12,000 per year quota. I will use the MDX only when I have to as I want to keep miles as low as possible so I can have this marvelous machine for at least 10 years. Smile and stop for the birds.:4: :10: |
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| ghost |
He's baack...
A Northern Shrike showed up at our feeder this morning. For those of you that might not know, shrikes come by the bird feeder to to feed on, well, other birds. They're songbirds that think they're hawks...
We get a couple visits a year - first thing you notice is that all that regular birds vamoose. When the next unsuspecting cohort of chickadees comes by, one usually becomes morning snack. Shrikes are known for hanging their prey on a fence or branch for safekeeping.
Here's a picture taken few minutes ago (sorry bout the quality)- you can see the feeder in the lower left, the shrike sits above it and waits. No breakfast this morning though, he just gave up and flew off...
Do a Google search on Shrike for a good picture, they're handsome birds, whitish-grey body, black wing stripes and a black mask. It would be a nice design on a Taffeta white MDX! |
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| sixthacura |
| Nice photo. I didn't know that the shrike's had a taste for small birds. Down here in South Florida we have the Loggerhead Shrike and I see them often. They stick insects on the fence wires. With their masks, similar to the Mangrove Cuckoo, cutting across their eyes, they look like the Lone Ranger. The Loggerhead Shrikes are the size of Mockingbirds but chunkier and the tails are not as long. Happy Birding!!:4: :p :2: :D |
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| ghost |
Sixthacura - cool that you have Loggerheads, they are quite rare up here, and are on the endangered list in Wisconsin. If you see a lot of them, perhaps they're getting out of trouble. :cool:
Nice to know where yellow-rumped warblers go to winter! Their summer range must be north of us, but we'll have 10-12 days in fall where dozens of them just take over the place. They hang round our house, picking off flies. Then we'll get a cold spell and they're gone. More snowbirds... :D |
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| sixthacura |
| Hi GHOST! Have been busy lately and haven't used the MDX much. Imagine, I have it since 1/03 and it just has 1,415 miles. Getting 12.7 mpg so I hope it gets much better on the premium gas that I am using. I used to get close to 20mpg with the Mercedes ML320. Saw a pair of Florida Black Ducks (Mottled Ducks) in a tiny man-made pond a block from my house. I was riding the MDX and as it is high I was able to spot them. The male was the sentinel while the female was feeding on the vegetation. That little pond is always empty of wildlife so I was surprised. These ducks don't frequent the community (I live in a golf course country club setting). I just see the mallards and the muscovy ducks. Going to Puerto Rico on Monday to spend 2 weeks at our place there. We might be able to do some birding. I always do from my balcony as I face the ocean and have the rainforest in the back. Once saw a bird fliying at eye-level to my balcony (I am on the 29th floor) and got up from my hammock and was able to see it about 10 feet away gliding looking for prey. it was a Peregrine Falcon, a nice catch as it is a migrant in Puerto Rico. Get a good number of sea birds and always see the American Kestrel and the Red-tailed Hawk there. Hope everything is well with you. It seems that you and I are the only MDXers with an interest in birding. Till the next one. :1: :2: |
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| sixthacura |
| Another birdie flew in front of the MDX, this time it was a beautiful cinammon color BROWN TRASHER. |
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| catzx6 |
| Just in the past 2 days, I've had 2 Mockingbirds play "chicken" in the road in front of the X. They've been after large beetles, and almost bought the farm, but flew out of my way at the last second! I've also been having a lot of near-misses with Cardinals, seems as though they can't see my big, blue X until they are just inches away! Maybe they need glasses!! :cool: |
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