Birds and other Animals

I enjoy wrestling

I enjoy wrestling

Well-known member
I enjoy wildlife. Sightings of wild animals and information about them is entertaining. List the animals you have seen or know a little something about.

Last year we encountered a couple of reef sharks while diving. Florida keys ...It was very inspirational.
 
 
Turkey Vulture soared over the yard this morning. I think they are ugly but also a sure sign of spring soon to follow.

Yellow-bellied sapsucker in the yard the past four days. They migrate through Ohio and a very few will stay all winter, but I don't think I have ever seen one in the winter and for sure this is a first for our yard list. Well, 36 years ago when we lived somewhere else we had one in that yard, but it's the first one in this yard, and we've had some good birds here.
 
We've had this guy hanging around. Tufted titmouse New to us

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I enjoy wrestling said:
I enjoy wildlife. Sightings of wild animals and information about them is entertaining. List the animals you have seen or know a little something about.

Last year we encountered a couple of reef sharks while diving. Florida keys ...It was very inspirational.
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I am an expert at barn swallows....I've been intrigued by them since I was young...we used to have around 60 active nest on our farm...

They are peril though as ag changes and buildings are closed up and made of metal and smooth wood..no place to nest.
 
Tesoro said:
I am an expert at barn swallows....I've been intrigued by them since I was young...we used to have around 60 active nest on our farm...

They are peril though as ag changes and buildings are closed up and made of metal and smooth wood..no place to nest.
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Grandpa and Dad loved purple martins. Dad made the bird houses. Sit in chairs, have a few beers and just chat. All while watching and counting pairs.
 
I enjoy wrestling said:
Grandpa and Dad loved purple martins. Dad made the bird houses. Sit in chairs, have a few beers and just chat. All while watching and counting pairs.
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We never had much luck...though I had two uncles who lived close to us that would have over 50 pair each.

I have been making and selling around 1,000 artificial barn swallow nesting cups a year since 2011. They work great...

www.thebirdhousechick.com

Nest Cups for Barn Swallows - Set of 2 | The Birdhouse Chick

Our Nesting Cups encourage Barn Swallows to take up residence at your place... in a safe and sturdy nest that won't fall down! Coax them from inconvenient nesting spots for their 2nd brood too. Nest cups may be placed under eaves on the porch or garage, or any high location protected from sun...
www.thebirdhousechick.com www.thebirdhousechick.com

One of my distributors websites
 
Tesoro said:
I am an expert at barn swallows....I've been intrigued by them since I was young...we used to have around 60 active nest on our farm...

They are peril though as ag changes and buildings are closed up and made of metal and smooth wood..no place to nest.
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I am a fan of barn swallows as well. I love the time of year when they follow you from yard to yard on the mower to feed on insects the mower stirs up. In our barn that is open ended, we have >20 pairs that build nests on what used to be chicken cage hangers that were bent at 90 degrees ince the cages were removed so we had more overhead space for tractors and equipment.
They also like to build nests in a carport located near that barn.
 
Forgot about this thread. A year or so ago I downloaded the Merlin Bird ID app - app offered by Cornell that I assume they use the info for research purposes. Anyways, you allow access to your phones microphone and it will listen to the birds chirping, calling, etc. and will tell you which bird it is. It will register multiple birds at once and will isolate so you can tell which bird is making which sounds.
 
D4fan said:
I am a fan of barn swallows as well. I love the time of year when they follow you from yard to yard on the mower to feed on insects the mower stirs up. In our barn that is open ended, we have >20 pairs that build nests on what used to be chicken cage hangers that were bent at 90 degrees ince the cages were removed so we had more overhead space for tractors and equipment.
They also like to build nests in a carport located near that barn.
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Thanks for letting them nest! So many people don't :(
 
When I was a young boy, about 7 years old, I came across a badger hiding in a depression in our waterway near a field. I almost stepped on it. I went to the neighbors house because he grew up in Alaska and knew all kinds of things about animals that pre internet we had no idea about. When he came over, he was stunned that it was a badger. He took a chicken crate my dad had laying around and successfully got the badger into it. Then he hauled it to his garage and put the crate and badger in the garage and closed the door. Next he called the newspaper in Dayton and arranged for them to come out and verify that we had a badger found in southwest Ohio.

The badger had other ideas. While we were sleeping, he chewed and clawed his way out of the chicken crate, then made a large hole in the garage door to escape back into the wild. Never found him again, but it was my one brush with serious wildlife where I could have been seriously injured had I stepped in him instead of over him.
 
I enjoy wrestling said:
We're letting a Robin nest over the driveway. Bunnies eat our flowers. Growing older makes us appreciate the little things.
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It sure does...I've turned from Hunter to conservationist...I've always leaned towards conservation but am strictly that now. I don't even shoot groundhogs any more....I figure most often, a ground hog hole is the only shelter many animals have. The habitat in our agricultural area has been so depleted. They have to farm every square inch.
 
D4fan said:
When I was a young boy, about 7 years old, I came across a badger hiding in a depression in our waterway near a field. I almost stepped on it. I went to the neighbors house because he grew up in Alaska and knew all kinds of things about animals that pre internet we had no idea about. When he came over, he was stunned that it was a badger. He took a chicken crate my dad had laying around and successfully got the badger into it. Then he hauled it to his garage and put the crate and badger in the garage and closed the door. Next he called the newspaper in Dayton and arranged for them to come out and verify that we had a badger found in southwest Ohio.

The badger had other ideas. While we were sleeping, he chewed and clawed his way out of the chicken crate, then made a large hole in the garage door to escape back into the wild. Never found him again, but it was my one brush with serious wildlife where I could have been seriously injured had I stepped in him instead of over him.
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Holy cow..what county? Years ago they had one in Mercer county.
 
Tesoro said:
Thanks for letting them nest! So many people don't :(
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I try to help nature when I can. Not animals, but my enthusiasm for monarch butterflies has been an ongoing theme of summer enjoyment since I was a kid. Today, little milkweed is permitted to grow along ditches and in fields. I have a couple acres on a few different farms dedicated to milkweed preservation and the monarchs are still active on these farms, but the numbers I count continue to drop. Milkweed really is not that invasive compared to many other weeds, which is also why it is eradicated in many areas. So if you see a monarch, do him a favor and grow a few milkweeds to help a budy out. You can mow around them, and late summer mow them over so 9 months out of the year it looks like a basic yard.
 
I enjoy wrestling said:
We're letting a Robin nest over the driveway. Bunnies eat our flowers. Growing older makes us appreciate the little things.
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I've always enjoyed animals. We have a few house finch nests in the hanging planters on the porch. I enjoy hearing and watching the birds. Some people worry about the mess, disease potential or harm to the plant itself. My wife's rule is no birds allowed to nest on the door wreath, other than that she permits them.
 
D4fan said:
I try to help nature when I can. Not animals, but my enthusiasm for monarch butterflies has been an ongoing theme of summer enjoyment since I was a kid. Today, little milkweed is permitted to grow along ditches and in fields. I have a couple acres on a few different farms dedicated to milkweed preservation and the monarchs are still active on these farms, but the numbers I count continue to drop. Milkweed really is not that invasive compared to many other weeds, which is also why it is eradicated in many areas. So if you see a monarch, do him a favor and grow a few milkweeds to help a budy out. You can mow around them, and late summer mow them over so 9 months out of the year it looks like a basic yard.
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You are a good man....
 
D4fan said:
We live a couple miles from any large river, so I was surprised last night to see a pair of bald eagles sitting in a field last night. My wife saw them a few weeks ago but I was skeptical that was really what she saw. Sure enough, it was indeed a pair.
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See more of these than pigeons these days. What happened to all the pigeons?

I'd forgotten about that app mentioned earlier. Had a sound coming I could not recall hearing. I'll have to remind myself to load that app onto my laptop. Birding season starting. I guess it's all about warblers around her.
 
D4fan said:
When I was a young boy, about 7 years old, I came across a badger hiding in a depression in our waterway near a field. I almost stepped on it. I went to the neighbors house because he grew up in Alaska and knew all kinds of things about animals that pre internet we had no idea about. When he came over, he was stunned that it was a badger. He took a chicken crate my dad had laying around and successfully got the badger into it. Then he hauled it to his garage and put the crate and badger in the garage and closed the door. Next he called the newspaper in Dayton and arranged for them to come out and verify that we had a badger found in southwest Ohio.

The badger had other ideas. While we were sleeping, he chewed and clawed his way out of the chicken crate, then made a large hole in the garage door to escape back into the wild. Never found him again, but it was my one brush with serious wildlife where I could have been seriously injured had I stepped in him instead of over him.
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People are usually shocked to know Ohio has a native population of Badger. Oak Openings West of Toledo has a couple resident Badgers.
 
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