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City turkeys are terrifying. I saw one while driving near Minnehaha falls and slowed to take a photo of it. It charged my car with it's head at my eye level. I leave those bastards alone now. Also one wobbily "flew" over my car on 35w and I thought I was about to be force fed turkey at highway speeds. It barely made it over the freeway.
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Aug 17, 2017 16:40
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HungryMedusa posted:City turkeys are terrifying. I saw one while driving near Minnehaha falls and slowed to take a photo of it. It charged my car with it's head at my eye level. I leave those bastards alone now. Urban peacocks are just as nasty, I assure you. And they are loud.
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Aug 17, 2017 17:12
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HungryMedusa posted:City turkeys are terrifying. I saw one while driving near Minnehaha falls and slowed to take a photo of it. It charged my car with it's head at my eye level. I leave those bastards alone now. if you wanna see peak wild turkeys, drive along Lexington in St Paul between Randolph and West 7th. I once saw like 6 turkeys meandering up to an open garage door that had some poor family inside it having a midday picnic
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Aug 23, 2017 03:53
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I'd never seen this before and thought you guys might get a kick out of this imgur album: http://imgur.com/gallery/N1tki I can't post the pictures here because they're insanely large, but apparently birds know how to make lil cottages out of broad-leafed plants?
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Aug 27, 2017 18:07
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American birders might get a kick out of this page: Field Guide to Dumb Birds of America.
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Sep 4, 2017 02:52
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Red-winged buttwads are actually some of my favorite birds in this part of the Rockies 
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Sep 4, 2017 18:18
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I like their song, and their displays are fun too. They're definitely buttwads if you attract their ire, though. I have a friend that lives near a retention pond that red-winged blackbirds like. One spring they had a dim-witted fledgling that kept wandering into her backyard. The adults menaced her every time she went to mow the lawn. She ended up using an umbrella to keep them away. It sounded like an Australian magpie experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3McAc8KIiY
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Sep 4, 2017 22:04
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Mizuti posted:American birders might get a kick out of this page: Field Guide to Dumb Birds of America.  Common Goon They stick out in the wild like dumbasses. In the summer-time you might see bunch of these big black & white fish-divers just floating around in the middle of some lake. It’s like a car full of guys in tuxedos, slowly cruising a Walmart parking-lot after hours: suspicious. Creepy red eyes.
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Sep 4, 2017 22:16
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Recently found my first Golden-winged Warbler outside of western MD in some time. Also got to look at a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper someone found in our state for the first time ever. Wow!!
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Sep 6, 2017 01:22
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Kawalimus posted:Recently found my first Golden-winged Warbler outside of western MD in some time. Also got to look at a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper someone found in our state for the first time ever. Wow!! Nice! It's migration time- get out there and look for birds!
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Sep 6, 2017 06:09
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Nice! It's migration time- get out there and look for birds! Can confirm migration. Been hearing grey catbirds around lately, a sure sign of fall in my area along with the hurricanes.
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Sep 6, 2017 14:22
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Nice! It's migration time- get out there and look for birds! Oh yeah I'm on it. Warbler migration is my favorite. I only need one more this year for my first ever complete warbler year in MD. I always miss one--but this year I have Golden-winged, Connecticut and Mourning already in the bag. Just need Orange-crowned, which should be coming through soon. Also RIP to the Chat being in the warblers. We knew it never was, but still sad to see it go! Now just 35 regular warblers as opposed to 36.
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Sep 6, 2017 14:56
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This weekend was too dang hot. The weekend before I got some Hermit Warblers, and was pretty proud of myself for figuring out a non-calling Willow Flycatcher (got good photos). Usually I'm happy just checking "empid sp.". EBird only freaked out about some blue-gray gnatcatchers though. Congrats on the almost warbler sweep. Very impressive! e: re: hurricanes- definitely worth getting out to your local reservoirs if you are near a hurricane's path- there's a chance you could have some weird poo poo dropped in like tropicbirds or noddys or something. BetterLekNextTime fucked around with this message at 17:17 on Sep 6, 2017 |
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Sep 6, 2017 17:15
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Just saw that Eagle Optics is closing.  Looks like they will be discounting their remaining inventory so might be worth a look.https://www.eagleoptics.com/
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Sep 6, 2017 20:22
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It's always nice when you see a spruce tree and say "Hey a spruce tree, maybe a cape may is hiding up in there" so you go and check and sure enough, there is a cape may up in that spruce tree!
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Sep 11, 2017 23:44
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Kawalimus posted:It's always nice when you see a spruce tree and say "Hey a spruce tree, maybe a cape may is hiding up in there" so you go and check and sure enough, there is a cape may up in that spruce tree! Fuckin Cape May Warbler. My drat nemesis bird. Checked spruces in North Dakota and North Caroline during migration and came up empty. Would've check the spruces at High Island, but there were no spruce trees there. Here, have a photo of some gulls loafing around on the beach north of Seattle last week...  20170831-20170831-_MG_1303.jpg by Josh, on Flickr
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Sep 12, 2017 04:57
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Saw that Swallow-tailed Gull on ebird pics. That's nuts!! One of few gulls I'd bother chasing after if it came around here by some miracle.
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Sep 12, 2017 16:44
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I was going to ask about that one! What a cool bird!
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Sep 12, 2017 18:41
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Saw a migrant in my parents' yard yesterday after the storm. Little wood thrush stopping by to sift through all the downed branches and leaves for food.
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Sep 12, 2017 19:44
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Some recent rarity finds for me: Dickcissel(tough in my county, also never seen one off breeding grounds), and Mississippi Kite(lots of fun to watch its acrobatics).
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Oct 6, 2017 14:03
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Nice! I've been watching white-tailed kites in the park near my house. Last two times there I've seen them catch a vole. My recent birding accomplishment has been that I looked at the eBird hotspot details for the park and realized that I didn't record many trips there. Over the past month I've gone maybe a half-dozen times or so. Now I'm #5, and a few species away from #4. Productive procrastination.
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Oct 6, 2017 18:07
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White-tailed is the last North American Kite I haven't seen. Wonder if they're a lot like their Mississippi counterparts! I really need to use that level of ebird more. I kind of get annoyed though cause sometimes I feel like birders around here spend too much time on ebird, looking at other peoples lists and just following those. Just recently I went to this spot, that's a pretty good birding area. Got some nice habitat and stuff. Turns out there hadn't been a single list submitted from there this ENTIRE YEAR. I couldn't believe it. I went there and had a great day with like 60-some species. People concentrate on the main hubs, I get the sense because that's where other people are submitting lists and that's where all the birds supposedly are. I talked to my friend about it and he's like "oh yeah, that place is only good if certain winter irruption birds are showing up". Utter nonsense, and based solely on ebird lists rather than actual experience at the area. So my goal lately is to get to these areas that may be just marginally worse than the "main" spots and get the birds there that other people aren't getting. Some good birds are probably being missed. Kawalimus fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Oct 8, 2017 |
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Oct 8, 2017 15:22
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Kawalimus posted:White-tailed is the last North American Kite I haven't seen. Wonder if they're a lot like their Mississippi counterparts! Really? They look a lot like Mississipi Kites, but they hunt prey on the ground rather than the air in my experience. Lots of hovering and flying over fields.
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Oct 9, 2017 15:31
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Hey, you can't throw those rio grande valley birds at me like that! Speaking of which, I need to get down to that area someday.
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Oct 10, 2017 17:50
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Kawalimus posted:Hey, you can't throw those rio grande valley birds at me like that! Speaking of which, I need to get down to that area someday. Do it soon. That dumb-rear end border wall is going through some of the refuges.
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Oct 10, 2017 18:48
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Kawalimus posted:Turns out there hadn't been a single list submitted from there this ENTIRE YEAR. I couldn't believe it. I went there and had a great day with like 60-some species. People concentrate on the main hubs, I get the sense because that's where other people are submitting lists and that's where all the birds supposedly are. I talked to my friend about it and he's like "oh yeah, that place is only good if certain winter irruption birds are showing up". Utter nonsense, and based solely on ebird lists rather than actual experience at the area. So my goal lately is to get to these areas that may be just marginally worse than the "main" spots and get the birds there that other people aren't getting. Some good birds are probably being missed. I think you shouldn't get too discouraged with eBird. Getting mad because the users of a website don't seem to understand statistics and economics on the level that you do is always going to end in frustration. It's great that you're going to less-reported places though 
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Oct 10, 2017 19:02
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^^^ For what it's worth, there's a LOOOONNNGGG history of know-it-all birders trying to show off– eBird didn't start that. And don't forget about the back end of eBird- all those data are used for research too, not just as a listing/sighting tool.
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Oct 10, 2017 20:03
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Do it soon. That dumb-rear end border wall is going through some of the refuges. Good idea. Visiting there I mean not the wall. I can never have nice things birding. Lutha Mahtin posted:I think you shouldn't get too discouraged with eBird. Getting mad because the users of a website don't seem to understand statistics and economics on the level that you do is always going to end in frustration. It's great that you're going to less-reported places though Oh I'm not really mad with ebird at all . Best site of all time. Just get frustrated that people won't spread out a little more or try different places. I noticed that a few more people went to my place the other day after I put up a list. So hope I can help do my part. BetterLekNextTime posted:^^^ For what it's worth, there's a LOOOONNNGGG history of know-it-all birders trying to show off– eBird didn't start that. And don't forget about the back end of eBird- all those data are used for research too, not just as a listing/sighting tool. Hah, this is why I hate birding in big groups a lot of the time. I feel like there's such an effort to appear knowledgeable. I was in a group like a month ago and it's like every time something happened somebody had to have some know-it-all comment. Like we had a Cuckoo and some woman is like "See? Did you hear what I just said before?? This is cuckoo country!!" and we were trying to figure out this gnarly immature warbler song and the guy was wondering if it was a Canada, so some other guy goes on like a minute-long spiel about how the Canadas have mostly already gone through, so he "highly, highly doubts" it would be that. As if the group didn't know that already. Then there was this time we were looking for a bird in this park, and one guy who didn't like the other guy started accusing the guy of scaring the rare bird off. He kept trying to smear the other guy's name, saying like "the bird's over the buildings there. It's gone! Quit even looking for it he scared it off! It's gone!" like 50 times. It got so annoying that I positioned a bush between me and that guy so I didn't have to see him while I tried to find this bird. Of course it flew right out of the grass a few minutes later, not gone at all. These birders are such a weird bunch sometimes! But I just find this stuff hilarious for the most part I don't get mad at it at all.
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Oct 11, 2017 01:31
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Lol that sounds completely miserable. I'd love to go out with a small group who knows more than me about birds (read: almost anyone) but I can't imagine turning it into a contest. e: I can, but it hurts
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Oct 11, 2017 05:42
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Kawalimus posted:Oh I'm not really mad with ebird at all . Best site of all time. Just get frustrated that people won't spread out a little more or try different places. I noticed that a few more people went to my place the other day after I put up a list. So hope I can help do my part. Yes, this is exactly the way to do it. I had a spot when I first started birding that had only a handful of checklists. I birded there every week for about a year, found some good birds, and now people have submitted almost 400 checklists. Kawalimus posted:Hah, this is why I hate birding in big groups a lot of the time. Jeez, that's like more bad/dumb birder behavior than I've had in 5 years of birding. Every birding group I've been a part of has been fairly enjoyable, although I avoid the Audubon walks that seem to attract the same ten retired people every week.
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Oct 11, 2017 20:39
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BeastOfExmoor posted:Jeez, that's like more bad/dumb birder behavior than I've had in 5 years of birding. Every birding group I've been a part of has been fairly enjoyable, although I avoid the Audubon walks that seem to attract the same ten retired people every week. Oh man that's just scratching the surface. Another ridiculous story: A few years back there was a rare sparrow bonanza where multiple different rare sparrows turned up in the same small area on the same day. So naturally tons of people were there. There were some birds coming out of the grass so we were watching them do so. And I guess this guy and the people by him were looking at one bird and I was looking at another. So one person asked what it was and I said "Oh that's a savannah sparrow". Well I guess instead of thinking I was looking at a different bird than he was this other guy just says "Noo it's naaaa~~~aaaahht!!" in this falsetto sing-songy mocking voice. I couldn't believe someone would be such an idiot like that! It was just a song sparrow or something anyway. But yeah this sort of thing almost makes it more fun in a way. These rear end in a top hat birders make you want to do better than them and show them up. My friend and I are always sharing stories about these types.
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Oct 12, 2017 02:53
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rare sparrows???? my bird game is weaker than i could have imagined
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Oct 12, 2017 02:57
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Oh man I love sparrows. Funny enough this past spring I ran into a guy who was here from Australia. And he was asking me how the hell we even tell the sparrows apart, cause to him they all looked exactly the same!! That's kind of how I feel about some of those god drat shorebirds sometimes. Though I'm getting better with them. My big dream sparrow is to get a Harris' around here.
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Oct 12, 2017 03:17
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the amount i know about sparrows is "oh hi little bird beside me on the sidewalk" and the sparrow is probably less scared of me than i am of it. like sometimes they look right up at me and cheep at me and go back to eating whatever it is they're eating
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Oct 12, 2017 04:13
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I'll take sparrows over fall warblers. gently caress some of those guys.
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Oct 12, 2017 05:08
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Fall warblers are best warblers!
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Oct 12, 2017 13:00
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Kawalimus posted:Oh man that's just scratching the surface. Another ridiculous story: A few years back there was a rare sparrow bonanza where multiple different rare sparrows turned up in the same small area on the same day. So naturally tons of people were there. There were some birds coming out of the grass so we were watching them do so. And I guess this guy and the people by him were looking at one bird and I was looking at another. So one person asked what it was and I said "Oh that's a savannah sparrow". Well I guess instead of thinking I was looking at a different bird than he was this other guy just says "Noo it's naaaa~~~aaaahht!!" in this falsetto sing-songy mocking voice. I couldn't believe someone would be such an idiot like that! It was just a song sparrow or something anyway. Mediocre. They should have played Two Bird Theory.
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Oct 12, 2017 18:29
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Went after a lifer yesterday and actually saw it for a change! I almost always strike out when I go chasing something, but the Nelson's Sparrow stuck it's head out of the reeds within 5 minutes of me being there. Probably even cooler was the behavior of the roosting shorebirds. Hundreds, mostly Marbled Godwits and Willets, flew in to roost on the boardwalk. They start at the far end, but then as more fly in the others shuffle over to make room, and it ends up as this shuffling mass of birds that got inched super close to where we were set up looking for the sparrow. I'm still going through my photos.  Buncha big beak birds2-7045 on Flickr
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Nov 5, 2017 03:29
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Went after a lifer yesterday and actually saw it for a change! I almost always strike out when I go chasing something, but the Nelson's Sparrow stuck it's head out of the reeds within 5 minutes of me being there. What the hell?? I've never seen anything like that in my life. That's some wild stuff there. Also Nelson's Sparrow is a cool bird, sometimes you run into them around here. One of these days I'll actually get a Saltmarsh Sparrow too. A little late but RIP to the Corn Crake. You were too good for Trump's America.
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Nov 11, 2017 14:29
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http://aiweirdness.com/post/168537453207/when-ai-gets-into-birding An AI generates fake bird names! quote:Humboldn’s Cuckoo-Eagle-Parrot quote:Maddeel’s Woodhaunter I'm warn-winged Wood-banded-Black-breasted Stesing-Patein-fronted Crimsonwing, clearly.
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Dec 15, 2017 02:08
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