The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

I love birds. I found this guy one day. who can tell what species it is? winner gets two flies tied by me.

Baby Osprey?

My guess would be a baby turkey vulture.

Dawn

one too many biologists here. you win Dawn! No Fair!!

I debated about replying or not but I couldn't resist a guess.

Interestingly, when I worked on the Nevada Breeding Bird Atlas, turkey vultures were one of the most common birds spotted across the state, however, it was really difficult to confirm breeding for them because you had to find a nest or a baby. I surveyed close to 200 habitat blocks and never saw a nest or chick. I don't have the book in front of me right now, but I think there were very few, if any, confirmations. I am going to check the book tomorrow and see how many nests/chicks were found.

That is an awesome picture!

Dawn

well, I'm glad you replied. I guess this is a fishing related post. I was fishing when I found it! Imagine that.

You can have your pic of any flies in my fly box. It's a big fly box. 2' x 2'.... thousands of 'em. Maybe I'll let you have 3!

when you were looking for the Buzzards nests, were you looking up or down?

It was a surprise to me to find out they nest on the ground, in thick cover. There are zillions of 'em here in the foothills. They have been back from wherever it is they migrate to, at the end of September, for about 2 weeks now. Some 25 or to 35 roost right outside my place here, down the hill a bit. I have a great view of them. Sometimes about 9am when the suns warms things up and the thermals start working, I can see Buzzards, Ospreys, red shoulderd hawks, red tailed hawks and my pigeons all circling over my place. It hits the fan when a Cooper Hawk shows up and starts taking out my pigeons! They don't stand a chance against those birds. Somedays they will take out three or four of my birds. They are relentless! Pretty cool to see though. really cool. A few days back I saw two Baldies flying. I called one and he came by to check me out! Awesome!

Does the loser get four flies tied by you Berms???

HECK NO!

Any chance you found that chick below Goodwin?
There are a LOT of vultures that hang out in Goodwin Canyon, and so many feathers around that I figure they must nest in the area...


Buzz

Buzz> Not the Stan, in the dredge tailings on the Merced.

However, at the Army Corps ranger headquarters at Knights Ferry on the Stan, I once picked up a pamphlet that had all the different bird species and what time of year one was likely to see 'em in the canyon there. It was fun to see how many different species one could ID on a drift down to O.B. Bridge.

When buzzards roost in the trees in the evenings, the next morning they will spread their wings out and dry off the sweat. Also, While waiting for the thermals to develop, they preen themselves and pick out any messed up feathers. Some older birds will just keel over right there. (don't fret U.C.) So if you see where they roost, that's where you'll find many feathers. They are not very good nest makers. A few sticks grouped together on the ground is all they'll do.

I remember when G.M., Dawn and I floated the Arolik in Ak. a few years back, Dawn was on a bird ID hunt. I learned a lot of things from her about shorebirds. (Plovers!) That was a good float! Lots of good memories generated from this BB. Ya just kina gotta forget about the BS.
Here's an image I got a few minutes ago from my back deck. You can make out the dark shapes maybe. Scattered showers here now. They won't catch any thermals today!

. . . a Blackhawk.