Pileated Woodpeckers by Luanne Brooker

A Pileated Woodpecker defends her nest from a snake.

Birds & Blooms magazine published the amazing story and several photos sent to them from a reader. In the photos, a female Pileated Woodpecker fights the snake protecting her three young ones. You just have to see for yourself!

Go to Birds and Blooms magazine

I believe this is what people call twitching!

Chris Brown of Hartlepool discovered a White-throated Robin while using a net to ring birds at his home.

Chris describes the find:

When I realised it was a white-throated robin I was stunned. I immediately called a few of my friends and word soon got out over the internet.

The first people arrived within 15 minutes and people from as far as Aberdeen, London and Southampton have come. It’s staggering.

It’s only the third time that the bird has been seen in the United Kingdom. It didn’t take long before their were hundreds of people trying to see the White-throated Robin so they could add the bird to their life lists!

Flickr user Sciadopitys was there and managed to get a few photos of the White-throated Robin like the one below.

White-throated Robin by Sciadopitys

Perseverance Part 1 by smahdi

A lot of hard work and perseverance is required when building some types of nests. Through a series of photos, watch two birds create their dream home!

To see all 16 photos in this series, visit smahdi’s post on FriendFeed.

Perseverance Part 6 by smahdi

Perseverance Part 11 by smahdi

Perseverance Part 15 by smahdi

Birding in San Francisco, image from SF Weekly video

Dominik Mosur and Josiah Clark try to beat the record of 149 species seen or heard within the San Francisco city limits.

In their attempt they racked up 136 species. That’s way more than I’ve seen in 24 hours! What’s the most amount of different birds you’ve seen in a single day? Does your area have any records?

via [SF Weekly]

Ken Attwood created another great birding video. Instead of Burrowing Owls, this time he focused his attention on a Great Horned Owl.

Ken filmed and photographed the beautiful owl in Kamloops, British Columbia which is located in western Canada. I really like the choice of music throughout the video, very peaceful and relaxing.

If you liked this video, check out Ken’s Burrowing Owl video!

Baby Hummingbirds in the Nest with Fly by Alek Komarnitsky

Alek Komarnitsky from Boulder, Colorado took some amazing photos of a Rufous Hummingbird nest.

A friend saw Alek’s series of photos of House Finches that were living on his front door. His friend enjoyed the “saga” so much that when he found out about a hummingbird nest on a local golf course, he let Alek know about it.

Alek took literally dozens of photos and a few videos of the nest, the babies and even the mother feeding the babies. The one above is one of my favorites. Notice the fly in the lower right had corner. It definitely gives you a scence of scale!

There’s another photo in his series where you can actually see a tiny insect being passed from the mother to child. Now you don’t see that everyday!

Check out the rest of Alek’s photos at Baby Hummingbird Nest.

Lesser Redpoll by Rob.Baldwin

An almost completely white Lesser Redpoll was caught by the Sorby Breck Ringing Group in Sheffield on Sunday, November 14th.

The beautiful photo above by Rob Baldwin is what a Lesser Redpoll normally looks like. The Lesser Redpoll caught in Sheffield over the weekend was rung last year. Martin Garner from Birding Frontiers writes:

It was rung last year as a normal looking first winter! Presumably something in the local gene pool means that its first adult moult produced these amazing white feathering – and there are more from the same gene pool.

Now that you’ve seen what a Lesser Redpoll normally looks like, head over to Birding Frontiers and check out the photos of the Great White Redpoll in Sheffield!

Bride and Groom release Bald Eagle, image from WQOW news video

A bride and groom released a rehabilitated Bald Eagle on their wedding day as a symbol of their love and their love of the outdoors.

The Bald Eagle was approximately 10-15 years old and was rescued last winter near Tomahawk, Wisconsin. It suffered from a broken wing and lead poisoning. The Bald Eagle was then rehabilitated at the Raptor Education Group, Inc (REGI) located in Antigo, Wisconsin.

The bride, Gina Javurek, was a former REGI UWSP intern and employee. Currently, Gina and her new husband Kyle Smith are biologists working for Alaska Fish and Game. Gina is also an Environmental Educator.

Marge Gibson writes on REGI’s Taking Flight blog:

We are convinced REGI people have the most beautiful weddings EVER!

Well, I have to agree that this is definitely an awesome way to begin a new life together!

For a short video of the event, see the article called Bride and Groom Release Bald Eagle on Their Wedding Day on WEAU.

The Bird Treatment and Learning Center of Anchorage, Alaska released their last three eagles for the year over this past weekend on Saturday, October 2nd.

Chugach Productions put together this wonderful video of the three releases. YouTube user chugach3dguy writes in the video’s description:

A small group of Bird TLC volunteers, along with some family and friends, gathered together in a day use area near the Portage Valley Road. This scenic area is away from heavily populated areas, and offers excellent opportunities and options for food sources. As you can see from the video, these eagles are quite anxious to get back to the Alaskan Wilderness even though they need a little coaxing out of their crates. It will take them a couple of days to get their bearings and figure out where to go. Bird TLC volunteers make sure they’re properly fed and in the best possible shape before they’re released. This helps to provide the bird with some extra time to figure things out while getting back into the swing of things.

Please support the local animal or wildlife shelter near you by donating your time or money. Every little bit helps!

For more information about the Bird Treatment and Learning Center,visit their website, blog or Facebook group.

Birdwatching in Monroe by Andrew Acomb

Recently I was in Monroe, Washington for an event called Swift Night Out. It’s held every year on the second Saturday in September where hundreds of people gather to watch the Vaux’s Swifts.

This year about 1,700 people showed up to watch thousands of Vaux’s Swifts descend into the chimney at the Frank Wagner Elementary School (map). This particular chimney is home to the second largest population of Vaux’s Swifts in the United States.

The chimney is only 4 feet wide at the top. So seeing thousands of birds swirl into it is pretty awesome! The birds were around for awhile but unfortunately, on this particular evening, a hungry Cooper’s Hawk flew by which sent the Vaux’s Swifts about 12 blocks east to another building for the evening. Well, that’s nature! At least the birds found a safe place to stay for the night. Even though we didn’t get to see the dramatic finale, I had a wonderful time.

I just thoroughly enjoy events like this. I love seeing people of all ages and experience levels coming together because of their common interest in nature!

Swift Night Out by Andrew Acomb

To learn more about the event, the Vaux’s Swifts and the efforts to save the schools chimney for future generations watch the video in the previous article called Vaux’s Swifts In Monroe, Washington.