quote:

Originally posted by tigereye313:
I love watching pelicans. Both when the glide along the beach and plunging into the water.

Pelicans seem to trudge across the sky, doggedly making their way from point A to point B. They don’t appear to have the joy of flight that seagulls have. But there’s this:

A wonderful bird is the Pelican.
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week!
But I'll be darned if I know how the hellican?
–Dixon Lanier Merritt

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pipe Smoker,

We get Gannets here in September as they are passing through. They have six foot wing spans, and they dive into the water like a needle. Beautiful.

The Sandhill Cranes, as they fly over in the spring.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:OTOH, starlings are so awkward in flight.

You think?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOGCSBh3kmM

I don't know what kind of bird, but on several occasions I have had black ones with maybe an 8-10-inch wingspan fly ahead of (~12-15 feet) and slightly above (~5-6 feet) my car when I drive to work in the morning, as if racing it. I paced one at over 25 mph, which is probably like a human running at 100 mph.

Over my home here in southern Pennsylvania we see hawks, an occasional eagle, barn swallows, bats and buzzards. Also cardinals, bluebirds, robins and blue jays and humming birds.

The hawks and eagles are kind of royalty, beautiful, purposeful flight. Barn swallows are the smaller fighter planes - having fun, fast and highly maneuverable. They come around when the mower stirs up the bugs in the yard. The buzzards just soar, large lazy circles in the sky.
Bats come out at dusk. As a kid I used to shoot my BB gun at them. In short order I learned I could never hit one, but their radar hears/sees the bb coming and they think it is a bug and they swoop after it. The bb is moving too fast for them and they move too fast for me.
We also have a Barred Owl in the neighborhood. A pair actually. We hear the hoot most, occasionally see one resting in the trees but rarely see them flying. As I understand, their feathers are SO refined that when flying they make almost zero noise.

My favorite bird to watch fly is the scissortail flycatcher.

Their long split tails make them extremely maneuverable, they perform the most extraordinary aerobatics flying around eating bugs. They look like they're having a hell of a lot of fun.

I found eagles rather boring to watch while flying.

But hunting is another story.
The
Rio Verde River, no. East of Phoenix
Had an Eagle there one spring

I watched him sit on a dead tree limb, on the bank of the river.

He waited and waited, then dropped down on top of a trout ( I think),
He carried it up to the limb, peeled it and had a fine lunch.

That was great fun.
( Through a spotting scope)

California Condors at the Grand Canyon.

Turkey vultures.

when the house wrens are in the bird house , out back.
it's fun to watch them gathering nest stuff and then again , when they have babies , they hunt for insects for the new birds.

quote:

Originally posted by Vanwall:
Barn swallows

Same, so graceful and acrobatic

I've seen several generations of Peregrine Falcons set up housekeeping across the street from my office. Because we're on the 10th floor and Mr. & Mrs. Peregrine nest in a tower that's only slightly higher, I generally see mom & dad hunting. They strike absolute terror in the city pigeons. Later in the season I get to see "flight school" in session with the young.

Strikingly beautiful animals, whether they're flying or perched.

There've been hours when very little work got done in my office.

One of my favorites has to be the common mourning dove. They are fast and super agile. Anyone who has done any dove hunting and has tried to hit them when they are in avoidance mode dodging shots can attest to this and has to admire them.

Watching osprey's fish is incredible.

In the yard my favorite is the Tree Swallows. They nest in a few bird houses.

I can't stand starlings. They are everywhere around here. I love to watch murmurations though.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
Turkey vultures.

We have hordes of turkey vultures in our valley. They roost up on Yarnell Hill (about 4800 ft elevation, with the valley below at about 400 ft). They migrate every fall, usually in November, and return at varying times in the Spring, depending on the temps that year. Scouts come first. They come back any time from February to March. We jokingly tell the snowbirds that is their signal to return north.
 
Taking a rest stop in our front yard:
 

I don't think there's any bird I don't like watching. We have Hummingbirds and quite a few raptors around. At certain times we have simple House Sparrows, really fun to watch fly into bushes, pop out and beeline for the feeder.

For a couple of years we would watch California Condors, they were eventually chased from the area for breaking into cabins!

10 foot wingspan!

I love watching ducks and geese. I have the bug from hunting waterfowl. Nothing gets my blood pumping more then hearing the their wings early in the morning. Even though my kids don’t hunt with me yet they enjoy watching ducks and geese year round as well.