|
Nice! Got a new bird for my local park– pygmy owl. Heard only unfortunately. I'm still counting it, but I'm just disappointed it wasn't close enough to the trail to find. I'm heading east tomorrow, hopefully there's still some warbler action up in the blue ridge!
|
#
?
May 25, 2019 04:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 20:59 |
|
|
BetterLekNextTime posted:Nice! 60% of my Pygmy Owls are like loving ghosts in the woods. Just a whistle without an origin. The other 40% are right loving there just staring at you with those mean eyes. Really odd species that way. Good luck in the Blue Ridge. Everywhere I've been along there has been absolutely amazing and you should find plenty of breeding warblers this time of year. I was supposed to fly to Tucson next week for my first trip to SE AZ. Sadly work has been poo poo this year and I didn't confirm I could take the trip until too late to really make it worth it. Maybe next year 
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2019 05:04
|
|
|
I'm back, didn't get to do much birding but goddamn it was nice to be there. Birdy highlights were: -Blackburnian Warbler in a couple places. I hadn't seen them for 20 years since I moved west. -Hearing Pileated woodpeckers drumming, and seeing one fly through an awesome forested valley. -Scarlet tanagers -Ovenbirds -Dawn chorus with wood thrushes. There were definitely a lot of warblers and vireos that I couldn't ID by ear. I have a hard enough time relearning the western birds every spring.
|
|
#
?
Jun 1, 2019 18:34
|
|
|
Post your hardest ID Last weekend, my wife and I went to transport an injured bird. We joined the local wildlife carers shortly after we arrived here in Australia - we're in Armidale, NSW - and this was our first actual activity after the meeting in March where we got our certifications as members of the society. An elderly woman in a town about 2 hours away had ended up with "an injured tern" that the society leadership had arranged for care at a marine conservation park (that also has dolphins ) on the coast, about 3 hours away. We like to drive around and explore on weekends anyway so Sunday Drive #203 was 500 km to pick up the bird and take it to the conservation park. We were told "tern" but Allison (names changed) looking after it said she thought it was probably a gull; certainly it was big enough. It was clearly a juvenile, that had crash-landed in a field nearby and Allison thought it had become exhausted and dropped out of the flock it was a part of. We got a good look at the bird, including holding it and putting it in the car, and taking it out halfway down to the coast to flip over the towel in the box after it poo poo all over it. So we were pretty confident that it was a juvenile Gull-Billed Tern, Gelochelidon nilotica. The person at the marine park who took the bird inside for "sea bird gatorade" (their rehydration fluid; injured birds are often dehydrated) said she'd let us know when the vet at the park had looked it over and made a positive ID, but she thought it looked like a Gull-Billed Tern, too. A couple of days later, we find out it's actually a Red-tailed Tropicbird, Phaethon rubricauda. When we looked up photos of this species, our passenger was even closer than the dead ringer that we thought of as the Gull-Billed Tern. Really subtle differences, that you'd never see in a bird that was free and able to fly away from you. Juvenile not-gulls are loving hard.
|
|
#
?
Jun 3, 2019 06:39
|
|
|
It's funny how sometimes birds in hand can be so hard to figure out. I don't know if I have a particular story of a hard ID, but I can definitely appreciate how tough it can be. Right now, besides the Empidinax assholes and gulls, I think one of my tough trios is Ruby-crowned Kinglet/Hutton's Vireo/Cassin's Vireo.
|
|
#
?
Jun 4, 2019 00:30
|
|
|
I'm not much of a Birder (I just have parrot pets) but I was camping this weekend and saw two birds which are for me unusual. The first was a brightly coloured Western Tanager, and the other were a few pairs of Clark's Nutcrackers that kept flying around our campsite causing a ruckus.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2019 23:14
|
|
|
Back in here to get some identification help. It's the overbite beak that keeps throwing me. Juvenile3 by B. B., on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2019 02:54
|
|
|
torgeaux posted:Back in here to get some identification help. It's the overbite beak that keeps throwing me. Location would be helpful to be certain, but it looks like a Red Crossbill. If you're not in North America it may be a different species if you're in Eurasia or something. That crossed bill is used to pry open pinecones. There's actually quite a few subspecies each with a bill that is uniquely adapted to open pinecones of specific species of trees.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2019 04:40
|
|
|
BeastOfExmoor posted:Location would be helpful to be certain, but it looks like a Red Crossbill. If you're not in North America it may be a different species if you're in Eurasia or something. That crossed bill is used to pry open pinecones. There's actually quite a few subspecies each with a bill that is uniquely adapted to open pinecones of specific species of trees. I'm too stupid to include location. Jesus. Just west of Denver in the foothills about 8900 feet.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2019 12:39
|
|
|
Very cool! I'm no expert on these guys but I think Colorado has a chance for several of the types. If they come back and you hear them calling, try to get a recording. They are theoretically distinguishable by their call notes. So jealous– crossbills are one of my favorites but I've not seen any out here in California. Some people consider them a North American equivalent to Darwin's finches since we see how beak adaptations for different foods are leading to new biological lineages.
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2019 16:30
|
|
|
BetterLekNextTime posted:Very cool! I'm no expert on these guys but I think Colorado has a chance for several of the types. If they come back and you hear them calling, try to get a recording. They are theoretically distinguishable by their call notes. This video has some of their calls. I get a huge gathering of them a couple of mornings a week.  DSCF0616 by B. B., on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Jun 25, 2019 19:36
|
|
|
Peregrine falcons took up residence this spring in our neighboorhood. They are screaming all the time and looking awesome while doing it. Here is a couple vids I took over a couple days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwEeXusR-eE
|
|
#
?
Jul 1, 2019 23:23
|
|
|
|
|
#
?
Jul 11, 2019 15:48
|
|
|
Starting work at a college that has a huge fountain in the middle of campus that you can see from your office and a mama duck and her ducklings like to hang out in? Adorable. Noticing the number of ducklings dwindle over your first week of employment? Not adorable.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2019 17:41
|
|
|
I live right beside a protected estuary and I get a lot of bird traffic through my yard. I've enjoyed watching and cataloging everything, and now I'm wondering if it would be worth setting up a livestream type thing for people to watch and enjoy. Does anybody have any experience doing or working with this kind of thing?
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2019 21:47
|
|
|
It's really quite easy. Install a webcam, load up YouTube and follow these instructions - https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/9228389?hl=en
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2019 00:57
|
|
|
Crossposting from PYF.Beartaco posted:This bird has been singing the same song in the park across from my apartment for as long as I've lived here, going on two years now. He recently changed the song up a little, adding a different verse so I decided to head over to his tree to get a video. You can kind of tell he's switching between his old song and his new song. I caught a very glimpse of him the other day as he was flying off. Didn't look much larger than a sparrow. This is in Christchurch, New Zealand. If anyone could help me identify what kind of bird this fantastic little fella is I would be so grateful!
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2019 04:38
|
|
|
My guess would be a bellbird! http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/bellbird
|
|
#
?
Sep 9, 2019 23:33
|
|
|
Baneling Butts posted:My guess would be a bellbird! http://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/bellbird Based on those audio recordings, I think that might be it! You may have just solved a two year long mystery for me, thank you so much. I'll have to keep going out to try confirm it but now I finally know what I'm looking for!
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2019 01:11
|
|
|
https://abcbirds.org/article/new-st...eSRF29U6ZLlEDMA Something to keep in mind while we are enjoying birding. As someone who's birdwatched since I was a kid it's been very obvious that there have been declines in numbers(in the last decade it's been VERY noticeable), but it's "nice" to have some actual statistics to go along with it now. In better news I found a Connecticut Warbler the other day! Always a fall fav around here. Kawalimus fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Sep 20, 2019 |
|
#
?
Sep 20, 2019 01:51
|
|
|
 quote:going through my camera after a day out birding (source)
|
|
#
?
Sep 25, 2019 03:08
|
|
|
Got two lifers in Yellowstone last week. This guy and Pine Grosbeak. Great Gray Owl-0765 on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2019 21:08
|
|
|
BetterLekNextTime posted:Got two lifers in Yellowstone last week. This guy and Pine Grosbeak. I just lurk this thread, but have to pop in to say that's amazing.
|
|
#
?
Sep 29, 2019 23:25
|
|
|
BetterLekNextTime posted:Got two lifers in Yellowstone last week. This guy and Pine Grosbeak. Did you catch Steamboat Geyser in action?
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2019 03:22
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:Did you catch Steamboat Geyser in action? No, we went to Norris and saw Steamboat but not when it was going. There were maybe 15 or so photogs there just chilling waiting for something to happen. We saw Triplet (I think that's what it's called) at the far end of the Old Faithful boardwalk and of course Old Faithful. Captain Log posted:I just lurk this thread, but have to pop in to say that's amazing. Thanks! It was a supremely gratifying and cool experience. I got a quick look at it perched just off the trail maybe 40 feet away, and instantly new what it was because it was a freakin' huge gray round-headed owl. It flew across the road, and when I realized it flew into a small meadow I thought it might still be there, and yup, it was perched at the far end in some dead trees. I snapped a couple of pics, then ran back to the car for my wildlife lens. Well, to be fair, I ran half way back then got out of breath because I'm out of shape and live at sea level not 7500'. The people I was with had lost sight of it but I refound it and got this pic. It would occasionally turn toward me when it heard the shutter but was otherwise ignoring me. We actually saw another one the next day that was causing a traffic jam right off the park road. I know it shouldn't matter but I feel lucky that the first one I saw was one I found myself in a cool setting and not with 40 randos who wanted to know where the bear was... Another cool bird from the trip (not a great pic though)– Red Crossbill. Also had my 3rd ever Goshawk in Teton but couldn't get a pic.  Red Crossbill-1075 on Flickr
|
|
#
?
Sep 30, 2019 16:38
|
|
|
Hi thread, an identification question for you! I was walking along Venice Beach in LA yesterday and this little guy landed in the sand: After failing to find anything like it in my bird guide, I thought it may be an escaped canary. Any ideas?
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2019 19:44
|
|
|
Baneling Butts posted:Hi thread, an identification question for you! I was walking along Venice Beach in LA yesterday and this little guy landed in the sand: How big is it? Can't tell the scale from that photo.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2019 20:24
|
|
|
Baneling Butts posted:Hi thread, an identification question for you! I was walking along Venice Beach in LA yesterday and this little guy landed in the sand: My gut says this is a Lesser Goldfinch, but the lack of black on the wings is wrong unless there's some juvenile plumage in not aware of.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2019 22:05
|
|
|
BeastOfExmoor posted:My gut says this is a Lesser Goldfinch, but the lack of black on the wings is wrong unless there's some juvenile plumage in not aware of. Orange-crowned warbler, perhaps?
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2019 22:15
|
|
|
Orange crowned warblers definitely don't have a bill like that, maybe a young Lawrence's Goldfinch?
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2019 22:27
|
|
|
It’s definitely some introduced or escaped thing, but I’m not sure what.
|
|
#
?
Oct 27, 2019 23:57
|
|
|
orange breasted waxbill? female/juvenile?
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2019 00:52
|
|
|
Cythereal posted:How big is it? Can't tell the scale from that photo. It was about canary-sized  Fitzy Fitz posted:orange breasted waxbill? female/juvenile? I think you're right! It's probably a juvenile since, from my online research, the females have some barring along the flanks. Poor baby, I feel like poo poo now for just leaving it in the sand Had no idea it wasn't native until I looked at the photos later.
|
|
#
?
Oct 28, 2019 05:17
|
|
|
Headed down to the coast with my buddy yesterday. We found a Lark Sparrow!! Only second one ive seen in MD and first one ive been involved in finding initially.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2019 18:25
|
|
|
Kawalimus posted:Headed down to the coast with my buddy yesterday. We found a Lark Sparrow!! Only second one ive seen in MD and first one ive been involved in finding initially. That’s a handsome sparrow. One of my faves.
|
|
#
?
Nov 12, 2019 19:42
|
|
|
Some soulless gently caress complained to my apartment complex and they made me take down my bird feeder for the finches and sparrows.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2019 02:05
|
|
|
What the gently caress
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2019 03:53
|
|
|
Fitzy Fitz posted:What the gently caress Right? I'm really upset about it. I got strangely attached to having birds around.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2019 05:02
|
|
|
The maintenance guys broke my hummingbird feeder once. They never said anything to me about it; I just came home to a smashed feeder. Renting sucks
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2019 15:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 20:59 |
|
|
Internet Explorer posted:Some soulless gently caress complained to my apartment complex and they made me take down my bird feeder for the finches and sparrows. Bummer! Did the manager present a specific concern? Could be there’s some modification to your setup they’d accept, like a tray to catch mess under the feeder or using no-waste seed or something.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2019 15:54
|
|