I challenge you to try something simple: the next time you look out a window or step outside, find a bird and watch it for just a few seconds. It does take a few seconds but before you know it your curiosity will be peaked. After a few seconds you are going to wonder “what did I just see?”, or maybe you’ll think “well that was unexpected!?”, and more often than not seconds turn into minutes. It is a surprising wonder watching birds and how we naturally want to see more.
Bird Watching is a pretty broad term. Bird Nerd is also a pretty broad term… but, what makes someone a “bird nerd?”. What are their attributes? Collecting? Curiosity? Nature Lover? Maybe it is kinship? It is fun talking about birds, sharing the little wonders that you got to see and hearing about others luck. I took an interest in bird watching because my mom has always been a birder. It is fun keeping an eye out for different birds that fly through the farm together. If offers some excitement almost everyday getting to see little feathered spectacles in the air.
The American White Pelican is an amazing bird to see in the sky with over 6 feet of wingspan. It’s the closest thing to seeing a dinosaur in the sky, much like the Great Blue Heron that also calls us home. Seeing them on the water is like watching a painting come alive. We will post a video of the pelicans one of these days 🙂One of our favourite birds here is our Baltimore Oriole, what a beautiful song! Years ago we drove a rake handle into the ground near our raspberries bushes. With a orange cut in half we skewer the halves onto the fingers of the rake. Just like that they have a high perch along with their favourite snack. The nest of the oriole looks like a hanging basket, it’s just such a bright and welcome guest here.The Common Nighthawk is a cool bird to have in the campground. Flying high and swooping around catching bugs, they can create a “sonic snap” creating a boom sound. The male will dive up to 60 mph and suddenly pulls up so that high-speed air rushes across their outer wings feathers creating a vibrating boom sound. They do this for courtship, territorial markings, and intimidating intruders. They lay two eggs on the gravel and have one of the longest migrations in the world going all the way down to Argentina each year.
Over the years we have compiled a list of birds that we have seen here. Some we’ve only seen once flying through, and others call us home. We have not delved into the ducks yet, there is a lot of water fowl on the reservoir but we don’t spend much time down there, the work is rarely in the coulee.
In fact, several bird enthusiasts chose A Stones Throw RV Campground specifically because of the birds they saw here during their first tour. If you love birds, nature, and the outdoors—or perhaps have a green thumb and would enjoy a plot in our community garden—we invite you to consider joining our growing seasonal camping community.
It is an odd scene when you are mowing or grass whipping and notice an impaled bug on the branch of a tree or bush. When you notice one you will notice another, a big beetle, grasshopper or bee… it is the sign that you have a Loggerhead Shrike hanging around. These cute little birds have little sparrow feet and lack the proper talons like a eagle or hawk to hold onto prey so they use thorns, sharp twigs or barbed wire to hold their meals in place. It’s a little pantry for the bird to eat later when hunting is more difficult. It also airs out the harmful chemicals some insects have for self-defence before eating them.We have so many birds we have ducks in trees, if I didn’t have this photo I don’t know if anyone would believe me 🙂
From one bird nerd to another, this is our list of birds we have seen here:
