EISPIRATEN

I don't know anything about birds!

Please save the "hooter" jokes, unless you are actually 12 years old.





A seige of herons:



And uh...the Santa Ana Suckerfish...not doing well.

My vote is for great horned owl. Good pics!

cougarmagic wrote: ↑ A seige of herons:

CM, I also think that these dudes are great egrets... just a quick look. Not 100% sure, though.

No doubt on both birds...they're gggrrreat! Mr. P has it right...Great Horned Owl and Great Egret.

That fish looks endangered or dead or both.

Thanks! My friend had heard this owl "screeching" at night, so we were thinking...screech owl...but this guy was BIG. At least 12" tall. And I read that the screech owls are much smaller. "Bubo Virginianus"

And yes - egrets! I wonder if they will migrate farther south in the winter, or maybe it stays warm enough here for them. We shall see... it was amazing to see them congregating like that. At one point we counted 12 of them! "Ardea Alba" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Egret

cougarmagic wrote: ↑I wonder if they will migrate farther south in the winter, or maybe it stays warm enough here for them.

Not sure Southern California Great Egrets are normal. Here's one near Windy Gap (WTF?) last August...


Actually, they are year round here.

Great horned owl for sure

Are Bubo jokes OK?

PackerGreg wrote: ↑Are Bubo jokes OK?

Yes, because that would be scientific. 'Bubo jobs' some might say.

Great Horned Owls don't screech. Young GH owls can make a screeching sound. But a true screech comes from a Screech Owl. No longer my friend after they made a nest in my chimney.

Norma, barnies can screech like hell, too

(barn owls)

Is a group of egrets called a siege as well? If they don't already have a peculiar collective description, I hereby coin the the phrase "an ingress of egrets".

Mike P wrote: ↑Norma, barnies can screech like hell, too
(barn owls)

yes, i know but i have have Screech Owls. Barn's have that flat face, often white. Screech look similar to a Great Horned but smaller. Ever since we repaired the screen on my chimney the screeching and their numbers dwindled considerably. seems i had "a village" nesting and performing satanic rituals in my chimney. at least that's what it sounded like.

Somewhere I read (I think it was the Audubon Field Guide to Western Birds) a likening of the primary Western Screech Owl call to the sound of a ping-pong ball being dropped on a table

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/West ... Owl/sounds

the ones that roost in my hood, scream/screech. no ping-ponging going on here.

norma r wrote: ↑

Mike P wrote: ↑Norma, barnies can screech like hell, too
(barn owls)

yes, i know but i have have Screech Owls. Barn's have that flat face, often white. Screech look similar to a Great Horned but smaller. Ever since we repaired the screen on my chimney the screeching and their numbers dwindled considerably. seems i had "a village" nesting and performing satanic rituals in my chimney. at least that's what it sounded like.

That's very cool to have screech owls nesting at your house! I don't see too many of them around my place.

Mike P wrote: ↑That's very cool to have screech owls nesting at your house!

Aw, Norma - no one is feeling your pain! haha.

A friend of mine once had a woodpecker take up residence on the outside wall of his apartment. The manager installed metal flashing to keep him away, but he was undeterred. Every morning at dawn - CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG. It was funny - to everyone who didn't live with it!

cougarmagic wrote: ↑Aw, Norma - no one is feeling your pain! haha.

yeah, i get no respect

Seriously CM, they would catch bunnies and bring them into the chimney where they would.... The sound of the bunnies screaming like babies was awful. Plus my chimney is lined with metal so the event included the sound of a tussle against the metal... You can imagine.

Norma-

Put a cap on your chimney:


Problem solved! there are flat chimney caps as well.

Dood Norma that sounds pretty awesome!!!!