What is the most surprising bird you have seen in your yard?

[Reciprocity]

Around May this unbelievable beautiful bird shows up at my house in deep East Texas.



Painted Bunting

One of the most strikingly patterned of all North American birds, the male painted bunting, with its blue head, red underparts, and yellow-green back more than lives up to its old name of Äúnonpareil,Äù, the unequaled one. Even the female, in shades of yellow and green, is unlike any other North American bunting. Like the other buntings, it favors hedgerows, thickets, and clearings with brushy area in the breeding season, generally staying low and keeping hidden. The song is a sweet warble with the pattern of a blue grosbeak, but the tone of an indigo or lazuli bunting without the paired phrases. It breeds in the Southeast along the Atlantic coast and in the southern great Plains south to northern Mexico. In the Southeast, the population has been declining sharply in recent decades and there is concern about its survival in this part of the range. Part of the Southeast population winters in Florida, where the birds are regular feeder visitors.

[For PaisAn]

1. That Painted Bunting is almost too beautiful to be real

Just tonight at 5:30 pm I saw an Eastern Screech Owl sitting on our gate post which is about 4 feet high. It just looked at me and didn't get startled as I approached. When a neighbor's dog started barking the Owl got a bit flustered because now he had to keep an eye on me and the dog. His head turned almost a complete 360. This is probably the first and only time I'll ever actually see an Owl and it was just thrilling.
This is what they sound like:
http://www.owlpages.com/sounds/Megascops-asio-2.mp3 (eerie, huh?)
And here's a picture:
http://mishuna.image.pbase.com/u39/tmurray74/upload/24982890.156_5682_RT16.TIF

[Reciprocity]

2. Wow that is so neat!

I live in the woods and we have an owl (not sure which kind) that shows up from time to time at twilight. It is such a thrill to see him.

BTW your link is not working for the picture.

[For PaisAn]

3. Not sure what I'm doing wrong

haven't been able to post any pics today. I thought you just right click and copy the URL. What am I doing wrong?

[Reciprocity]

4. You need to put the html tags in the brackets with NO Spaces.

I have put spaces in mine to show you what it shoud look like.

[Reciprocity]

5. Lets se if this works.

img====================/img]
you need to complete the brackets[]./ before /img at the end of address.

[OnionPatch]

6. Painted buntings are so neat

I saw one once, in Texas and proudly checked it off my life list. Haven't seen one since.

The strangest birds I see in my yard, I think, are the phainopepla. They looks like a black cardinal with red eyes. Very cool. The other weird ones I see sometimes that always surprise me are roadrunners. I'm a transplant from back east and they still fascinate me. They are the goofiest birds! Sort of clownish. Fun to watch.

[Reciprocity]

7. Lucky you, what a beautiful bird!

I liked them so much I saved their pictures.

The Phainopepla, whose name means "silky robe", is part of the silky flycatcher group, a tropical group of birds named because of the silky appearance of their feathers. This bird is the northernmost (and the only in North America) of the group. They feed primarily on mistletoe berries and insects. Mistletoe plants are distributed among trees by seeds in the Phainopepla's droppings.



If you would like to hear what they sound like here is a link. They have a sweet little voice.
http://www.bird-friends.com/BirdPage.php?name=Phainopepla

Thanks so much for sharing this with me. If you hadn't, I would have never learned about this unique bird.

[OnionPatch]

8. I am from back east

When I use to look over my bird guides I always thought they were really cool and exotic-looking. I never thought I would see one, much less have them in my yard someday! :)

They like to eat the berries of the Mexican elderberry trees which border my yard and the park next door. They're only here in the summer. I learned that they raise one brood in late winter in the lower desert areas and then raise a second brood after that in higher, cooler (relatively), chapparal-type areas....like my yard. So I get to enjoy them for at least part of the year.

[Stepup2]

9. A western Tanager

[Reciprocity]

10. We have Summer Tanagers, that visit only in the summer.

Male

Female

[Stepup2]

11. I have them too!!

Beautiful birds! I had a "fruit salad" moment last spring; I saw a pair of Tanagers, an Indigo Bunting, and Orioles all feeding on "inch" worms in my yard.


I got a pic of the Western Tanager as he sat and observed the oranges I put out for the Orioles. The bird hung around here for a few days. I hope to see it again this spring!

[Gormy Cuss]

12. A homing pigeon.

It was severely dehydrated and walked right up to the saucer of water I put on the patio. It was banded but before I had a chance to read the band it flew away. Later I learned there's an owner about half a mile from my house. I assume this guy had trouble in the heat -- it was over 100 degrees that day.

[Arkansas Granny]

13. A hawk. I don't know the variety because it happened so fast

I couldn't get the markings. It had apparently snatched a sparrow near my bird feeder in the front yard. He was already on the ground when I walked out the door and flew away, with a sparrow in his talons, before I could identify him. It was pretty exciting.

[kestrel91316]

14. My female Cooper's hawk, most surprising when she is

dancing on a pigeon corpse!

[schmuls]

15. This bird is unbelievably gorgeous, and it must be such a treat

to see it!