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razz posted:The US actually has some pretty harsh wildlife laws. It's illegal for you to have any part of any bird that is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (which is like 99% of all species here) unless you have special permission, such as being affiliated with a university, research institution, or have Native American heritage. My wife is a registered member of the Fort Peck tribes, and she has an eagle feather back at her parents' house. I only recently got into birding so I never got her to show it to me. I'll have to take a look next time we head out to visit.
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Sep 6, 2013 20:09
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 09:08 |
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My wife and I are planning on visiting her sister and nephews in the Dublin area for Thanksgiving. While we're there, I'd like to get in a bit of casual birding. Is anyone in this thread familiar with birding spots around Dublin, that are accessible by rail or bus? My sister-in-law has a car, but I'd prefer not to have to brush up on my rusty stick-shift skills while simultaneously learning to drive on the opposite side of the road. Also, is there an online resource for birds to be seen in Ireland. eBird's bar charts aren't terribly helpful since they're only built from a small number of checklists?
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Sep 18, 2013 14:01
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Are any of you birders good at IDs without photos? I spotted a group of three birds while hiking this weekend. I was on the summit of Mt. Moosilauke in New Hampshire at an elevation of ~4800'. I didn't have my 70-300mm because I didn't want the extra weight while hiking. The birds were flushed by another hiker approaching the summit. They seemed to be approximately sparrow sized and shaped. When they first took flight I got a decent look at their undersides, which seemed mostly white, though this was at a distance, so I couldn't make out fine details. I was able to see them in flight from above, as they flew across the shoulder of the mountain. From above they were largely white, with bold black wing tips, and what appeared to be light brown on the back, either streaking or a patch. I don't remember the markings on the tail. I'm guessing these are Snow Buntings, but if there are other birds that fit this description, I won't put them on my list. EPICAC fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Nov 5, 2013 |
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Nov 5, 2013 22:53
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Thanks everyone. I think I'm fairly confident in the ID. They definitely weren't Gray Jays, and Horned Lark and Lapland Longspur don't have enough white on the back or the black wing tips.
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Nov 6, 2013 16:17
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Looks like the Snowy Owls are mainly an Eastern/Great Lakes invasion so far. C'mon, send some out west! After failing to see Snowy Owls closer to home yesterday, my wife and I drove farther out to Parker River NWR in MA today, and saw at least four different Snowy Owls. I was at 98 birds on my life list, spotted some Gadwalls for number 99, putting the Snowy Owl at 100. People are estimating that there are at least 18 different owls there. My piddly 300mm lens didn't cut it for getting good shots, but here are a few of heavily cropped ones. I was insanely jealous of all of the expensive glass on display today.  Snowy Owl [Bubo scandiacus] by EPICAC, on Flickr  Snowy Owl [Bubo scandiacus] by EPICAC, on Flickr  Snowy Owl [Bubo scandiacus] by EPICAC, on Flickr  Snowy Owl [Bubo scandiacus] by EPICAC, on Flickr
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Dec 9, 2013 04:57
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I'm hoping there are some nightjar experts that read this thread, I'd love for this to be a lifer. I'm at my parent's house in Limestone County, TX (~45 minutes east of Waco), and yesterday I saw this Night Jar at a local park. It was in the leaf litter on the lawn of a picnic area near a lake. We accidentally flushed it, and then followed it to its next landing spot to get this picture, before flushing it again. It's either out of range or out of season. It could be an out of season eastern whip-poor-will, common nighthawk, chuck-will's-widow, which are the only nightjars that have sightings in the area. It could be an out of range common poor-will, or common pauraque, which have no eBird sightings in the area.  IMG_8414 by EPICAC, on Flickr
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Jan 1, 2014 20:29
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razz posted:It's not a Common Nighthawk. How big was it? Did you see it fly? Chuck-Wills-Widows are HUGE compared to all the other nightjars. Looks like a either Common Poorwill or Whip-Poor-Will to me just by the way it's sitting and the coloration but hopefully someone else more knowledgeable will know. Sorry for the late reply, I was at my parent's house and their internet is unbearably slow. The wings were also not the right shape for a Common Night-Hawk, and the size seemed too small for a Chuck-Wills-Widow. I didn't get a good look at field marks in flight. It was flying towards the sun and he silhouette was really all that was visible. I submitted it to eBird, and the regional data reviewer sent an e-mail asking for more pictures. He thought it was an Eastern-Whip-Poor-Will, but was interested in the length of the wings in relation to the tail to differentiate between the Poor-Will and but none of my other photos showed that detail. People on another birding forum guessed Common Poor-Will because they can enter a state of torpor, and would thus be more likely to be found farther north in the winter. I think I'll just have to leave this one as a sp.
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Jan 5, 2014 20:23
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Does any one have recommendations for good birding spots in San Jose, CA? We're visiting my in-laws in a couple of weeks. They live on the south side of the city, near the intersection of 87 & 85. I can get some good yard birds at my mother-in-law's feeders. Other than that, in the past I've ridden a bike along Guadalupe Creek to Almaden Lake Park, and along the bike trails on Alamitos Creek.
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Mar 2, 2015 22:20
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Moon Potato posted:The Palo Alto Baylands should be excellent this time of year. I've been out there a few times, and it's alway full of bird life. Coyote Hills Regional Park over by Fremont looks like a pretty phenomenal hotspot too, but I haven't explored it myself. I'll be checking it out when I visit the Bay Area next month, but I guess that won't be in time to give you a trip report. BeastOfExmoor posted:I've birded that area several times. I've always just gone off eBird reports for birds I want to see. My favorite spots are along the south edge of the bay , but I've always been there during fall shorebird migration and things look pretty sparse this early for shorebirds. I'd probably just use Hotspot Explorer to find general locations. If you're looking for specific species you can obviously check that out as well. BetterLekNextTime posted:How far are you willing to drive? Seconding Coyote Hills, and the general suggestion to check eBird. In San Jose you are a modest (1-2 hour) drive from a ton of good places. BeastOfExmoor posted:Yea, when I travel with my family I'm always limited in my ability to travel so I hesitated to suggest it, but anytime I'm down there I absolutely have to drive down to Monterey. It's probably one of my favorite places in the entire world and has the added benefit of being a place that can be appreciated by non-birders as well. If you go be sure to hit the Elkhorn slough area for Godwits/Willets/Curlews and Sea Otters. Thanks for the advice. My mother-in-law is into birding, and my wife likes looking at birds, but doesn't really care that much about keeping a list or IDs, so I don't really have to worry about boring people with a trip to look at birds. The purpose is of the visit is to introduce her extended family to our 4 month old, so I assume we'll be booked a good chunk of the time. We're planning on driving up to Berkeley to visit some friends, and Coyote Hills is on the way, so that seems like a good time to stop there. My wife has an aunt in Watsonville, if we end up there, then Elkhorn slough seems like a good option for a stop.
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Mar 4, 2015 20:44
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Are there any meadowlark experts in this thread? I saw these in the pastures near my parent's house in Limestone County, Texas last weekend. Both eastern and western meadowlarks are in range. I didn't hear any calls to help distinguish. I'm sort of leaning towards eastern since the malar looks light, but since the throats aren't completely yellow I'm not sure if this is diagnostic. Any ideas? IMG_0124by EPICAC, on Flickr  IMG_0130by EPICAC, on Flickr  IMG_0139by EPICAC, on Flickr
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Mar 25, 2015 19:29
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Cross-posting from making GBS threads birds. I went out and found—more accurately found a group of people with binoculars and long lenses—the Black-backed Woodpecker that's been wintering over at Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston. He was within reach of my puny 300mm lens for about 30 minutes. I thought I'd missed him when I didn't get a chance to go out in January, but apparently he never left. The crazy snow this season just prevented people from getting in to look for him.  Black-backed Woodpecker [Picoides arcticus] by EPICAC, on Flickr  Black-backed Woodpecker [Picoides arcticus] by EPICAC, on Flickr  Black-backed Woodpecker [Picoides arcticus] by EPICAC, on Flickr I saw some nice birds last week visiting my wife's parents in San Jose, CA. Fifteen lifers, but I only managed to get good shots of a bushtit visiting the in-laws' back yard.  Bushtit [Psaltriparus minimus] by EPICAC, on Flickr  Bushtit [Psaltriparus minimus] by EPICAC, on Flickr
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Apr 4, 2015 20:20
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Could it be a chimney swift? There's a recording of their calls here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chimney_Swift/id
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Jul 28, 2015 17:49
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Looks like a Great Kiskadee to me based on the white eye stripe in the first photo. I initially thought Western Kingbird.quote:
quote:quote:
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Nov 23, 2016 02:50
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ExecuDork posted:I really like any animal - individual, population, or species - that actually reacts to some aspect of human variation in some way. Dogs, cats, and some species of crows can clearly differentiate between individual humans. My mother-in-law pours some walnuts into a small container in her backyard for the the neighborhood crows once a day. There's a noticeable increase in the number of crows congregating on the street lamps when she's in the backyard.
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Jun 2, 2017 00:00
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I’m the Hoaly Titco’s Badwinch
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Dec 15, 2017 02:27
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I actually managed to get out and get a lifer today. There’s been a Greater White-Fronted Goose hanging out with a flock of Canada Geese at a reservoir nearby for a few days. I have bad luck with waiting too long to find rarities in my area, and getting there too late, but it was there. I also got an early season Killdeer.
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Feb 19, 2018 00:32
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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.
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Jan 26, 2019 17:05
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ThingOne posted:Does anyone recognize the long call in the background of this clip? The background call sounds like a chickadee. The specific species depends on your geographic location, but others with more expertise could probably ID by call alone.
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Apr 3, 2020 22:40
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my cat is norris posted:Cross-postin' from the critterquesting thread. How big was it? Sharpies are the same to slightly bigger than a blue jay, red-shoulders are much bigger. Any reason you’ve ruled out Cooper’s? It looks like a juvenile, which I’m bad at IDing. Edit: My range map says sharp-shinned is only a winter resident of Florida, but I’m not sure how accurate that is. EPICAC fucked around with this message at 01:22 on Jun 13, 2020 |
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Jun 13, 2020 01:20
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 09:08 |
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Peak twitcher: a northern waterthrush found it’s way to a small park near my house. The local birders are super psyched because the park straddles two counties so most people are getting a bump on both lists when the bird flies to either side of this tiny trashy little urban creek. I usually miss these things but got it this morning! I went on a Pelagic out of New Hampshire today, and there was one guy keeping very close track of whether we were in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, or Maine waters, and second guessing the Captain’s announcement based on an app on his phone.
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Sep 18, 2020 00:41
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