pond in frederick, md

[addy1]

I think we have both sharp shinned and coopers, we have ones that cry constantly, year round. The bottom picture looks like a sharp shinned, the others coopers

 

[CountryEscape]

Wow, great pics, Addy. The hawks here are very skittish, hard to get a good pic of them. But, it's always fun to watch them hunt. I'm enjoying the different types of birds that hang out in the open fields, so different than the ones that lived in the woods like where I used to live. I don't have near the diversity here, but it's fun to see new types that I have identified on this site, since fellow ponders are also interested in bird life as well.

 

[callingcolleen1]

We seem to have the bigger types of halks here. We also have some really big snowy owls and great horned owls. The bigger birds of prey like the wide open praires and can soar for miles and miles. They have lots of space to hunt and land here with their huge wing spans. The big raptors hang out here with the rugged bare cliffs that overhang the river by the badlands. They eat some of the ducks and geese that winter here all year. I often see them eating the bunnies too!

 

[j.w]

The ones we see never come close enough to the house to get a good picture but think most of ours are the Red Tailed Hawks. I enjoy seeing them soar way up high and then they all of a sudden do a dive bomb swoop down for a bit of lunch.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Hawks and eagles are amazing preditors and fascinating to watch. In the summer I see many hawls and eagles catching the warm air updrafts over the rolling hills and soaring way up, till they are just a little dot in the big blue sky. We don't have lots if trees here, just down by the river. The big birds like to sit on the dead tree tops cause most of the smaller branches are gone, making it easier for them to land. They are so big it is really amazing that they can even fly! Their wing spread is so big it shadows the land when they fly by and spooks the puppies!

 

[Mmathis]

One way to tell the difference between SS'd and Cooper's is the placement of their eyes. I read that when I was researching, but don't recall which is which: one has the eyes further back on the head.

 

[callingcolleen1]

You guys who are surrounded by thick forests get different types of hawks I think.... don't think we get the coopers here.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Just looked up the list of hawks for southern Alberta, those types are not found here, so yep, you got much different hawks by your place Addy. Here in Medicine Hat we see the Ferruginous, Harrier, Red tailed and the Swainsons Hawk. We also get Bald and Golden eagles and Turkey vultures. We also can see several different types of Falcons too.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Now I am really envious of you Addy, now I see you have Flamigos and a huge kist of different kinds of birds in your area.... looked up the birds of Frederick Maryland and wow you got lots of different types, perfect for bird watching!!

 

[addy1]

We do get a great variety. I have seen bald eagles and red tail hawks, but they were only flying over, no stopping for lunch. Wouldn't bother me if the heron moved on though........
The back part of our yard is all untouched woods, vines, plants for the critters. The birds love it. We have the great horned owl here, I have seen it just a few times, usually just hear it.
At our place in Colorado we would watch the eagles grab trout out of our neighbors stocked pond. They would line up the creek to grab salmon when they were spawning, swimming up the river.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Addy you most definately have a little piece of heaven going on down there! It is very nice to hear you have an all natural section too, I'm sure the birds are all very happy in Frederick!

 

[addy1]

Our yard keeps sloping down into the woods, at the bottom of the slope is a dry stream bed, which is actually marshy most of the summer. Then it slopes up to the farm field. The woods, here in maryland, get very vine covered, lots of thorny vines, wild brambles, berries, etc. Also a ton of poison ivy. We could go in there and clean the vines, downed trees, ivy (well I couldn't cause of the ivy) it would take days, weeks, maybe months. For what? so nope we are leaving them for the critters. The deer bed down in the woods, rabbits, ground hogs, squirrels, birds and anything else around just love them.
I have more than enough land to play with, that is their play ground.

 

[addy1]

Big fluffy flakes fell last night it was just beautiful, one inch fell. It went up to 47 today, the snow is all gone............


The stream path


The shubunkin to be pond

 

[j.w]

Very pretty snow! Yep I looked in your camera windows and so sad it is all gone now, boo hoo!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Those shots were fabulous Addy! Is the new round pond going to flow with the stream and main pond?
I used to have three black round cattle troughs ( actually I still do, just not in use) that I made to flow together. I had a big hose connecting to the bottom drain, and had the three troughs at staggered levels, and the hose from the (top trough) bottom drain would pour into the second trough at a slightly lower level, and so on, the ponds appeared to be seperate, but were all connected and flowing through the bottom drains! I should hook that set up back to together and connect to the bottom pond! OMG!! I just had a "mind flash"! That's how I can make an additional bog marshs, slightly above top pond, and move some of my huge pond plants to that, and still have it circulate with the main ponds!

Look what you started! The" ponding" just never quits! Now I am getting my own ideas!