|
Fall migration is well underway now for some birds. I picked up a lifer today (Buff-breasted Sandpiper) at the local wastewater treatment plant. Someone found it Friday, and it was there on and off all weekend. Finally made it there today, but nothing in the ponds where it had been seen. I was just driving back out through the gates when I saw someone with binoculars running towards the road from a different part of the complex. Slam on the brakes, pull over, grab my scope, walk past giant piles of old poop getting pushed around by bulldozers, and yup, there's the sandpiper! It was hanging out with some Baird's which I'd only seen in Alaska about 20 years ago. Within 20 minutes there were about a dozen birders there. I'm not sure if this was because the buff-breasted was that unusual or just some hiccup from eBird's latest update, but it didn't even pop as an option when you "enable rarities". Anyway, cool bird!
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2018 01:53
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 01:19 |
|
|
The fall migration has finally hit my neck of the woods. You know it's autumn around these parts when catbirds are mewing from the bushes.
|
|
#
?
Oct 29, 2018 23:48
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:The fall migration has finally hit my neck of the woods. You know it's autumn around these parts when catbirds are mewing from the bushes. *Looks at the calendar* Are you in South America? I would've expected southbound neotropical migrants to have peaked weeks ago anywhere in the US. Heck, I had my first Trumpeter Swans, Brant, and large flocks of Dunlin here today which might as well make it the first day of winter.
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2018 06:12
|
|
|
BeastOfExmoor posted:*Looks at the calendar* Close, Florida. 
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2018 14:35
|
|
|
Found a LeConte's Sparrow this morning. Always wanted to find one of those.
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2018 23:39
|
|
|
Does anyone know if barn swallows (maybe juveniles) can appear with a white/pale chin? Out of all our guidebooks, only our birds of Chile indicates this might be possible. Other possibility, a hybrid with a violet green? My partner got a photo of this bird in the salton sea with the white belly and wing T of a barn swallow, but with a white chin as well. I'll try to post the photo later. The only thing close in Sibley is a Bahama swallow and that's just silly. So we've pretty much decided it's a barn swallow, but finding literature on pale chinned ones is tough.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2018 14:17
|
|
|
Finger Prince posted:Does anyone know if barn swallows (maybe juveniles) can appear with a white/pale chin? Out of all our guidebooks, only our birds of Chile indicates this might be possible. Other possibility, a hybrid with a violet green? My partner got a photo of this bird in the salton sea with the white belly and wing T of a barn swallow, but with a white chin as well. I'll try to post the photo later. The only thing close in Sibley is a Bahama swallow and that's just silly. So we've pretty much decided it's a barn swallow, but finding literature on pale chinned ones is tough. A pic might be helpful. I did a little googling but couldn't find anything. Cool find whatever it is! . . . your annual early fall announcement  A lot of CBC's ( Audubon Christmas Bird Count) are now open for registration
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2018 17:28
|
|
|
 It is showing a little bit of reddish shadow on the neck, so most likely a juvenile barn, but the guidebooks don't make it clear at all that they can appear that pale.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2018 18:17
|
|
|
Cross-posting these from the Shooting Birds thread. What I think I saw: 1 - American White Pelican 2-6 Snowy Egret 7: American White Pelican (with the fish that fell out of his mouth!) 8: Great Egret 9: Least Tern Not pictured because the lighting was poor so I couldn't get great pictures of them, but i'll try to post them tomorrow: Great Blue Heron (3 of them, actually) A Falcon. Not sure of the kind because the lighting was so poor that early, but my money is on the American Kestrel since it's the most common there. I did get a picture of it's silhouette. Zuul the Cat posted:Visited the Bolsa Chica Ecological Conservatory this past Saturday. We went before sunrise and saw some pretty awesome birds first waking up.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2018 19:40
|
|
|
Looks like you got some nice afternoon light! I think your IDs are good except I'm pretty sure your tern is Forster's not Least. The bill seems bigger and darker, and the all white wings. Plus Leasts are fricken tiny. Finger Prince, yeah, I'd agree that's a barn swallow.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2018 20:35
|
|
|
BetterLekNextTime posted:Looks like you got some nice afternoon light! I believe you're right! He was a pretty decent size.
|
|
#
?
Nov 5, 2018 23:10
|
|
|
I saw a migrating flock of snow geese today. That made a nice change from all the Canada Geese that I usually see!
|
|
#
?
Nov 9, 2018 23:06
|
|
|
I always get a kick out of this. Got a white-throated sparrow in my yard this week. Three Zonos-0463 on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Nov 11, 2018 03:26
|
|
|
Finger Prince posted:
Not a cliff swallow? Looks like you can see the little white forehead patch.
|
|
#
?
Nov 18, 2018 05:51
|
|
|
I think a whipoorwill has moved into my neighborhood.  Someone's singing out there late at night, and the online guide I found matched - and I'm in their winter range.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2018 06:11
|
|
|
This is a crosspost, but my good friend Tony is very much into birding, and taking pictures. If you are not familiar with the PYF bird thread, I have been posting his photography for most of the year. Here is an album of his many amazing bird pictures for you to enjoy. The Birds of Tony Pagel
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2018 18:04
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:I think a whipoorwill has moved into my neighborhood. That's super cool. I love nightjars. Master Twig posted:This is a crosspost, but my good friend Tony is very much into birding, and taking pictures. If you are not familiar with the PYF bird thread, I have been posting his photography for most of the year. Here is an album of his many amazing bird pictures for you to enjoy. Cool, I didn't know about that thread. Those are pretty great. We have a bird photo thread in Dorkroom too (not really a PYF, typically for posting your own photos or photography questions). The OP is probably outdated, but there are some awesome posters.
|
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2018 01:18
|
|
|
Christmas Bird Count Reports? I did a couple over the weekend. First one had good weather and kind of average birding. poo poo-tons of white pelicans which was cool. River otters in the trashy creek behind a Target which was really cool. No write-up birds. Sunday was my count in the absolute best territory. Burrowing Owl, 2 peregrines fighting, merlin, a couple of Eurasian Wigeon. But activity was kind of meh, and that was before it started raining. We still got 107 species, so that was pretty rad. Probably best thing, besides the peregrine fight and the burrowing owl, was first thing in the morning (brilliant sunrise and all) hearing a couple of pipits fly over. I call out "pipit" and a friend trying to be a smartass, said "Are you sure"... Just then it dropped hundreds of feet out of the sky and landed on a post about 20 feet away from us and sat there for a couple of minutes.  Early Morning Pipit-1407 on Flickr Pleasant Hill Otter logo2-1107 on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2018 02:37
|
|
|
I'm back to bad luck chasing birds. On Monday I went after a Nelson's Sparrow that usually showed up at high tide. Waited more than an hour with more than a dozen other birders, and nothing. Of course, get home and see the county eBird alert come in, and a bunch of people saw it soon after I left.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2019 20:56
|
|
|
BetterLekNextTime posted:I'm back to bad luck chasing birds. On Monday I went after a Nelson's Sparrow that usually showed up at high tide. Waited more than an hour with more than a dozen other birders, and nothing. Of course, get home and see the county eBird alert come in, and a bunch of people saw it soon after I left. I had this same thing happen near Monterrey, CA a few years ago, although I had better luck. Stood on a dike for quite a long time staring at a marsh with a bunch of birders. People finally started leaving and two Nelson's Sparrows popped up exactly where we'd been looking the whole time. Nelson's Sparrows are stealthy to an amazing degree.
|
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2019 18:36
|
|
|
I just moved to Australia, and I've been trying to keep track of the birds I see (the first time I see a member of a species). Can anyone recommend an app for my Android phone that might make this easier? Do most bird-identification apps include a checklist function?
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 12:52
|
|
|
eBird by Cornell has become the dominant player.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 13:11
|
|
|
My partner says Pizzey & Knight is the major guidebook down there, and they have a companion app. Don't know if it does checklists though. What she does when she's birding down there and spots something she doesn't recognize is look up what's in range on ebird and drill down with google. There's also a bird id Australia Facebook group. But as far as checklists go, ebird is the way to go, and a lot of people put photos with their sightings so you can get some help with id directly from there. Enjoy the amazing songs of Aussie birds! If you get a chance once you're settled in, head up(/down/across, depending where you are) to Lamington national park and stay at O'Reillys!
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 15:26
|
|
|
ExecuDork posted:I just moved to Australia, and I've been trying to keep track of the birds I see (the first time I see a member of a species). Can anyone recommend an app for my Android phone that might make this easier? Do most bird-identification apps include a checklist function? I use eBird for keeping checklists and my life list, but it doesn’t have an ID component. I use iBird Pro for ID, but that’s North America, so doesn’t help you at all. Switching between apps is annoying though.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2019 17:05
|
|
|
It's also worth noting that while the eBird app is essentially just for creating checklists, the ebird.org website itself has a bunch of tools that let you explore what birds have been logged at different hotspots/regions, what birds you are most likely to see in an area during different times of the year, pictures/descriptions from other people in your area, etc. All that stuff is immensely helpful if you're in an area where you're not already familiar with most of the species and may not be confident in creating your actual checklist live in the field. Myself, I usually like to just type a list in the notes app on my phone, then I log them on the ebird website when I get home. That way, if there are birds I'm unsure of, I can just log notes and then research anything later before I make the actual checklist.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 01:44
|
|
|
Merlin is another app from the Cornell Lab that is focused on bird identification. I've had a lot of success with it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2019 14:41
|
|
|
Great Backyard Bird Count is on. Go get your birb on.
|
|
#
?
Feb 15, 2019 22:58
|
|
|
The spring migration is underway here in Florida. Had a big flock of robins in my yard this morning, catbirds have been mewing at me all week, and there's been lots of little yellow-ish birds in the trees.
|
|
#
?
Feb 20, 2019 19:01
|
|
|
It's still winter up here in NY because I was able to find a tiny murderbird this morning: (Northern Shrike) Other highlights of my drive included Horned Larks singing in the middle of the road and a harrier coughing up a pellet.
|
|
#
?
Feb 23, 2019 01:05
|
|
|
Sorry if this isn't exactly on topic, but does anyone know what Northern California/SF Bay Area bird makes a horrible high pitched, monotone cheep that goes on in a steady rhythm for minutes at a time? It's been waking me up every morning since Sunday and I'd like to put a name to all the annoyance I'm feeling. I'm guessing towhee, but it's so much louder and longer than any towhee I've heard before that I wondered if it could be something else. Birds are cool, but this one is an rear end in a top hat!
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 03:25
|
|
|
Try this call identification guide. e: Looks broken at the moment. Could it be a belted kingfisher or a wood duck? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTFxIF5FY-Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A23XwjeETx0 Granted, they sound little like towhees and you’d have to be near water. Platystemon fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Apr 12, 2019 |
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 03:47
|
|
|
Esme posted:Sorry if this isn't exactly on topic, but does anyone know what Northern California/SF Bay Area bird makes a horrible high pitched, monotone cheep that goes on in a steady rhythm for minutes at a time? It's been waking me up every morning since Sunday and I'd like to put a name to all the annoyance I'm feeling. I'm guessing towhee, but it's so much louder and longer than any towhee I've heard before that I wondered if it could be something else. Cal Towhee sounds possible. I don't know, sometimes mockingbirds get kind of stuck on the most annoying thing. Otherwise, house sparrow, maybe some raptor perching in your neighborhood. This year our mockingbird is pretty cool. Already picked out frogs, killdeer, and best so far has been Sora!
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 06:59
|
|
|
Esme posted:Sorry if this isn't exactly on topic, but does anyone know what Northern California/SF Bay Area bird makes a horrible high pitched, monotone cheep that goes on in a steady rhythm for minutes at a time? It's been waking me up every morning since Sunday and I'd like to put a name to all the annoyance I'm feeling. I'm guessing towhee, but it's so much louder and longer than any towhee I've heard before that I wondered if it could be something else. House Sparrow? (Click call on this link and see if it matches)
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2019 14:54
|
|
|
I had a phone interview for a job this morning. During the interview, a carolina wren landed on my windowsill and started singing so loudly the interview committee asked what that noise was. I like any cute little bird that eats bugs, but man do these wrens have a set of lungs disproportionate to their size.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 16:23
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:I had a phone interview for a job this morning. During the interview, a carolina wren landed on my windowsill and started singing so loudly the interview committee asked what that noise was. Yup! I feel like even among wrens Carolinas really crank it up. Hope it ended up being a good thing for your interview. Blackbirds and meadowlarks are also pretty loud. With my grouse research I'd be listening in on sage-grouse that were displaying among some microphones we placed out on their display ground. The meadowlarks on the surrounding hills would swamp out our grouse sounds later in the season, and watch out if one decided to land nearby and sing right into a microphone! I''ve done almost no birding this spring.  Probably the coolest thing I've seen so far was an osprey that perched with a fish on a power pole in our neighborhood. The crows chased it off pretty quickly. Hopefully I'll get out sometime in the next week or two.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 18:25
|
|
|
BetterLekNextTime posted:Hope it ended up being a good thing for your interview. I banged on the window to scare him off (for an hour, he came back as he always does), explained to the committee, and they thought it was funny. He's been my 7 AM alarm clock for the last couple of weeks. Been a loud few months for our neighborhood wrens, titmice, thrashers, and mockingbirds. And at night, there's a barred owl in the area who's chatty more often than not. I'm in a suburban area, but there's a lot of patches of genuine forest around, and it's been showing lately. Also saw an eastern towhee a couple weeks ago in the front yard. Not a clue if it's always been around and I just haven't seen it, or if it was just passing through. I have a bird feeder in the backyard, so I'd say my local birds are: Every Day: Mourning dove, northern cardinal, blue jay Most Days: Tufted titmouse, red-bellied woodpecker, common grackle Don't Come To The Feeder: Northern mockingbird, brown thrasher, barred owl, pileated woodpecker, blue-grey gnatcatcher, carolina wren, gray catbird (winter), great crested flycatcher (summer) Cythereal fucked around with this message at 20:06 on May 7, 2019 |
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 19:49
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:I banged on the window to scare him off (for an hour, he came back as he always does), explained to the committee, and they thought it was funny. Did you describe him to the committee as a “bird” or a “Carolina Wren”?
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 22:01
|
|
|
I love wrens, they're ten pounds of yelling in about half an ounce of bird.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 22:19
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:Did you describe him to the committee as a “bird” or a “Carolina Wren”? Just a bird at first, then someone on the committee asked me what kind and I identified it. No one had heard of a carolina wren.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2019 22:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 12, 2024 01:19 |
|
|
I've spotted Mississippi kites in my neighborhood twice this week, so I hope they'll be sticking around. They're so cool.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2019 14:56
|
|
