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A birder is somebody who enjoys watching wild birds as a recreational activity. You don’t have to be a bird expert or a bird researcher to get into birding – in fact, a lot of the world’s top birders don’t have any kind of scientific background at all. It’s an activity that literally anyone can get involved with, no matter your age, skill level, or geographic location. If you like being outdoors, and if you enjoy observing nature and wildlife, you might consider adding birding to your list of hobbies. So what exactly is birding? Birding (or bird-watching, a term which isn’t used much anymore) is simply observing wild birds, usually with the aid of binoculars, and often includes making a list and a count of each species that you see. You can bird in your own backyard. You can bird in city parks. You can bird while you’re hiking or walking your dog. Birds are literally everywhere, and there’s a tremendous diversity of birds just waiting for you to find. Each species is unique and different. Once you start birding, it’s hard to stop. You will want to see every species, and many birders have a “Life List”, a list of all the birds they’ve ever seen throughout their entire life. With the rise of the internet, birding has become so much more accessible to everyone. You can use the internet to help you identify birds, there are regional Facebook groups where you can post photos for identification, there are apps like iBird which have sounds and pictures of almost every bird species for a given area, and there’s also a great new resource called E-Bird (https://www.ebird.com). It’s a website where you can upload your bird checklists to a map, where everyone can see what birds you’ve spotted and when. It’s great “citizen science”, and anyone can use E-Bird. All you have to do is create an account and go look for birds. You can type in a species’ name and see exactly when and where it has been observed. You can click on a given location and see what species are in the area. You can compete with your friends and other birders if you want! For example, I am currently the “top birder” in my county, meaning I have seen more birds and uploaded more birding checklists than anyone in my county. Anyone can go online and look at my checklists. I also have some records – for example I saw the first Olive-sided Flycatcher ever recorded in my county, and have the only confirmed breeding record of a Common Poorwill here as well. These are records that will stand forever – my name will always be in the “official” record books for having found these things. People set new birding records all the time! I wasn’t even trying to find these birds, I just stumbled upon them while hiking around.  I got into birding about 5 years ago. I took an undergraduate class in Ornithology, where I learned how to identify most of the common birds of Kansas. From there, I took a couple jobs working with birds hands-on, and now I am completing my Master’s thesis on grassland songbirds. I love birds more than any sane person should. I love all birds – from Juncos in my backyard, to raptors that soar overhead, to little shorebirds running around the edge of ponds, I enjoy seeing them all and observing their behavior. So how do you get started birding? Well, the most critical component of being a good birder is learning to identify birds by sight and sound. Sound is very important, because some bird species can only be told apart by their song. I suggest picking up a good bird guide, such as the Sibley Guide to Birds, or the aforementioned iBird if you want to go digital. There are thousands of freely available resources on the web to help you identify birds, including websites with pictures and sounds.  There are so many species of birds out there, it can seem overwhelming at first. I remember when I first started learning bird identification, I thought there was no way I would ever be able to tell the sparrows apart. They’re all just little brown things, right? You’re telling me that there’s more than one kind of sparrow? Well, you’ll soon figure out that American Tree Sparrow has a rufous crown and a dark spot on its breast, while the superficially similar Chipping Sparrow is actually quite different upon close inspection, with no spot on the breast and a dark line behind the eye. American Tree Sparrow:  Chipping Sparrow:  Many bird species also have unique behaviors – Phoebes and Pewees look similar, but Phoebes have a habit of bobbing their tail up and down while they’re perched and Pewees generally don’t do that. Yes, there are birds called Pewees (Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees) and they occur throughout North America– in fact you have probably seen or heard them if you spend any time around wooded areas! Location can also help you identify species, as well as the time of year. Some birds are year-round residents in an area. Some are summer residents only. Some are winter residents only. And some just pass through during migration. These are all clues that can help you identify a bird. If I saw a bright red bird in the middle of winter, it’s most definitely a Northern Cardinal as they are year-round residents where I live. However if I saw a bright red bird in the summer, it could be a Northern Cardinal, a Scarlet Tanager, a Summer Tanager, or possibly even a Vermillion Flycatcher. Range maps such as this exist for EVERY bird species, and they are very helpful for identification.  When you start birding, you’ll become an expert naturalist in no time! Pretty soon, you’ll have friends and family members describing birds to you and showing you pictures to identify. Most of my bird ID skills come from spending time outside by myself just observing birds and taking pictures. I go birding with groups sometimes, or with a friend. If I see a bird I don’t know, I take pictures or take notes. What kind of habitat was it in? How did it behave? Did it make a sound and if so, what was the sound like? Was it alone or with others of the same species? Then I go home and look it up, either in my bird guide or online. Most birders are self-taught! Here’s my county record Olive-sided Flycatcher that I just saw the other day:  You can start birding by yourself or join a birding group. One thing about birders is, we are all a bunch of nerds who LOVE to go on about birds. I would be thrilled if someone asked me to help them learn birds or take them birding, and I don’t know a single birder who doesn’t feel the same way. Birding has kind of got a reputation as an old people’s hobby, which is totally not true! Some of the best birders I know are in their early 20’s. It’s really an activity for everyone. Almost every county or big city has a group of birders who go on weekly or monthly “bird walks” that anyone can join, and most have email listservs or even Facebook pages. Look up Christmas Bird Count for your area, and go with a group this winter! All you need is a pair of binoculars and a love of the outdoors. To recap why you should start birding: 1. It gets you outdoors and interacting with nature, and can be good exercise too! 2. Birds are everywhere and you'll never come back from a birding trip empty-handed. 3. You'll learn a lot and want to keep learning more about birds. 4. It's fun to be the "bird person" that people ask for bird ID help. 5. There are birding groups everywhere and it's a great way to meet people! 6. You can bird anywhere, alone or with a group. 7. Keeping a bird list gives you a real sense of accomplishment. 8. New websites like E-Bird let you share bird sightings with everyone, and you're contributing to our scientific body of knowledge and understanding of birds when you do this. 9. Birding can be a fun friendly competition if you want it to be, or it can be a solo activity. 10. You can start at any skill level, even if you know nothing about birds. 11. The sky is the limit with birding - you will always have more species to see, songs to learn, and places to explore. You never stop learning when you're a birder. 12. Birds are just awesome!!!! So go ahead, ask us anything about birding! Why we do it, what our favorite bird is, where we like to go, how we keep track of birds, tips and tricks for bird ID - myself and other birders on this board will be happy to help (and there are quite a few of us)! I am not a serious birder – I am more of a hobby birder. I just started keeping bird lists about a year ago. Before that, I did go birding, but it was just to enjoy being outside and to take photographs (which is another awesome part about birding, you’ll get some awesome photos of cool bird species). Now that there is E-Bird (and a little bit of friendly competition), it’s so much more fun for me to keep lists. And every time I learn to identify a new species, I feel like I have accomplished something. I will forever know what that bird looks and sounds like. I get a little twinge of excitement every time I see a species and I know what it is instantly. To me, that’s really cool. razz fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 20, 2013 16:37
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You definitely don't have to spend a fortune to get a good pair of binoculars. I have been using a pair of Leupold Cascade 10x42 binoculars for about 3 years now and I love them. I think they cost around $300. They were recommended to me by a top ornithologist. Another good mid-range brand is Eagle Optics, and I know of a lot of birders that use them. You can get crazy with binoculars if you want to - I know people who use $2,000 + Swarovski binoculars. Personally I would NEVER spend that much. I have used Swarovski binoculars and the difference is noticeable especially in low light, but to most people, not worth the extra cost. Checking pawn shops for used binoculars isn't a bad idea either. They don't become obsolete, the technology hasn't really changed that much over the years. I know a lot of people that are using 20+ year old binoculars. Honestly what I think is the most important thing to think about when buying binoculars is - how do they feel? If they're too heavy or bulky you aren't going to want to carry them around for too long. I have a binocular harness that I use instead of the included strap, and it was less than $10. It keeps the weight off your neck and you won't even notice your binoculars. As far as photography goes - I'm totally guilty of trying to juggle a camera and binoculars at the same time. And keeping a checklist too, haha! I'm no good at photography though, I just bought a Canon Powershot SX50. It's not a DSLR but has a 50x zoom which is why I wanted it. This camera is quickly getting a reputation as a "birder's camera" because it does a lot of things a DSLR can do, without the bulk and cost. The 50x zoom is crazy, and definitely good for ID. I've gotten some fantastic pictures with it, obviously not as good as with a DSLR but definitely good to my eye. I often use my camera instead of binoculars. It actually has more zoom than my binoculars. But it's much slower, often the bird is gone by the time I get my camera zoomed on it. It really is great to get a picture of a rare bird though. If you're just starting out birding and you see a rare species, you may not get it put into the record book if you can't prove without a doubt that you know what you saw. A photo can't be disputed. --- Here's an article that just came out about ebird and how it's really been a game-changer for the field of ornithology. Never before have so many people contributed so much data about birds. People are doing some really cool things with the ebird data. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/20/science/earth/crowdsourcing-for-the-birds.html?ref=science&_r=1 Here's an older article that shows some of the "heat maps" in motion. http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/bird-week-watching-and-counting/?scp=1&sq=bird%20week&st=cse Most of this data was submitted by ordinary people who just love birds. I love when science becomes more accessible to everyone. Here's a great map as an example of what ebird can do - it shows the records of the Upland Sandpiper over the course of a year. It's just amazing how they suddenly appear in the Gulf Coast around March then make their way north, then descend back down south for the winter. I like this map because you can see the Flint Hills in Kansas (where I work/live) - it's the bright swath that runs North-south across the eastern part of Kansas, obviously a hotspot for this species. http://ebird.org/content/ebird/occurrence/upland-sandpiper/ razz fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 20, 2013 18:28
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Almost all birds save for exotic species and game species are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. 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. There are also different levels of protection for species on a state and federal level. For example, the California Condor is federally listed as endangered. But some birds are state listed as endangered or threatened. The Upland Sandpiper is state listed as endangered in a number of states, but in Kansas it's an extremely common breeding resident. The Sandhill Crane is endangered in Ohio, but there's a hunting season for them in many other states. There's also a lot of controversy surrounding the listing of a bird as endangered. The Henslow's Sparrow has been a candidate for listing for over a decade, and hasn't been listed despite the fact that it only occupies 2% of its former range and is declining rapidly. The Lesser Prairie-Chicken is also a candidate for federal listing, but it's actually a hunted species in a couple states. Yeah what he said too  VVV
razz fucked around with this message at 19:14 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 20, 2013 19:07
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The Monkey Man posted:What's your favorite sighting ever? For what it's worth, some of the most interesting stuff I've seen while birding has been animals other than birds- I saw deer up close with my dad one time, and got to see carp jumping out of the water during their mating season. I did get to see a clapper rail last year near Atlantic City- they aren't rare, but they're rarely seen because they're almost always in the tall grass. I'm always pretty excited when I see a Loggerhead Shrike. They're not rare here, but they're my favorite bird and I always enjoy seeing them. They kill things and impale them on thorns or barbed wire so sometimes you will find their "evidence" without actually ever seeing the bird Here's a picture of a juvenile I took about a month ago.  I also really love to see the shy birds that rarely come out (like your Clapper Rail). I hear Yellow-billed Cuckoos like every day, but I'm always pretty happy when I get a glimpse of one. And the little tiny birds that hang out in the shrubby stuff - Kinglets and Vireos and Gnatcatchers and the like - I love seeing them. razz fucked around with this message at 19:20 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 20, 2013 19:18
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Wayne Gretzky posted:How does the community handle "bird liars"? Like if a person says they saw a bird and you think that it's a made up lie... like how could this person get so lucky to see all these rare birds and stuff something is fishy etc. etc.? Even something like ebird, which is basically volunteer data, has people checking the records. So your sightings don't get put on the website for a day or two until somebody reviews it, and there's a specific person responsible for the records submitted for each area. Basically as others have said, a lot goes on your reputation. Some people that are new to birding tend to jump to the rarities rather than just accepting they saw something common. I once has a long discussion with a guy about a photograph he had on his desk of a hawk - a Cooper's Hawk. They're very common here. He said he took the picture at his backyard bird feeder, a place Cooper's Hawks often hang out looking for a songbird snack. He swore up and down that a "bird expert" told him it was a Peregrine Falcon and nothing I could say could convince him otherwise. He just wanted it to be a Peregrine Falcon so badly. I also know a guy who swears that he saw a group of 80 Whooping Cranes. Which would be... pretty freaking crazy because it would be the largest group of Whooping Cranes anyone has ever seen in one place in history, it's like half of the entire wild population. He didn't get pictures, no one was with him, he's not really a known birder so we all believe they were Sandhill Cranes. I had a guy work for me who, over the course of the summer, "saw" an Inca Dove (turned out to be a Common Poorwill), a Carolina Parakeet (those are extinct) and a Crescent-chested Warbler, a Central American species. We used to joke that if he saw a bird he couldn't identify, he just flipped to the very back of his bird guide that shows the ultra-rare species. I used to get a raised eyebrow now and then whenever I saw something questionable (especially by my Master's adviser, haha). Now, most of the birders in the state at least know my name or know who I work for. Partially this is because I post a lot of my photos on the Kansas Birding facebook page, which is run by a couple of the official record-holders, and also because my adviser is one of the top birders in the state. So, I'm deemed to be pretty reliable I think
razz fucked around with this message at 22:12 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 20, 2013 22:09
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BeastOfExmoor posted:This is only true for bird flagged as rare. Basically every area (county, usually) has a list of birds common for each week of the year. If your bird doesn't appear on that list it gets flagged as rare. Everything else goes through without question, for better or worse. I've seen some pretty egregious ID issues with common birds in my area, typically high altitude species reported in the middle of Seattle at sea level. Oh I didn't know that, somebody told me that all the lists got checked beforehand. I figured that's why it always takes a day before my lists go live on the site. I've only been using ebird since early this year so I don't really know much about the inner workings. Mathematics posted:So why isn't it called bird watching any longer? I don't know, that term just kind of fell out of favor. Maybe because "bird-watching" implies a more passive activity, like watching birds at a feeder or just incidentally sighting them? When I hear of someone going out birding, I assume that they are out physically walking around looking for birds intentionally. I don't think I've ever heard someone say "I'm going bird-watching today", they usually say "I'm going birding" or "I'm going out looking for birds today". razz fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Aug 20, 2013 23:33
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No Real Pattern posted:Western Bluejay Yes I love the SX50. It's so great for birding! I've never tried to take in-flight pictures with it though. It does give an amazing level of detail for a sub- $400 camera. Your blog is really nice, I have always thought of making a birding/nature blog. I'd probably do it for a month or two then forget about it though. I don't really devote a lot of time to birding either. I spend all summer looking at birds for my Master's research, so I pretty much bird all day at work . I'm excited about doing the Christmas Bird count this year though. Being the only birder in my county has got some people curious and I have noticed a couple new people birding in this county over the past week or two.I have been wanting to get out and look at shorebirds. I think I may do that tomorrow. There are some cool migrants coming through, and the Great Plains are a great place to see some rare (rare-ish) species this time of year. And please talk about how you got into birding, I got into birding because I study birds and just incidentally started birding because lots of people in my social circle bird, but it's nice to see all kinds of people trying it out! A lot of the "top birders" or people on ebird with the most checklists just keep track of birds when they go on walks or walk their dog and bam - they're the top birder because they get 1-2 checklists submitted a day! A birding checklist is a great addition to a morning hike
razz fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 00:48
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No Real Pattern posted:I just want to state for everyone who might be somewhat turned-off by it that you don't have to do the whole ebird thing, or really submit reports of any kind. I would imagine that most birders probably do so in a somewhat solitary way, and just keep track for themselves. I've often wondered about the whole bogus-bird-sighting issue, and I imagine the hobby is low-stakes enough that relatively few people would make something up for 'cred'. I think most people probably bird for personal achievement and/or relaxation. Exactly. The competitive aspect of birding is TOTALLY OPTIONAL. Many, many people keep bird lists just for their own enjoyment and no one else ever sees their lists but themselves. Lost of people have lists of backyard birds, first arrival dates, late departure dates, unusual sightings, etc and do it for the pure enjoyment of birds. I never kept lists until this year, I just birded for fun. All I have is a mid-range pair of binoculars and a camera. The people that get really hardcore into birding aren't representative of birders as a whole. This thread kind of reminds me of the Hunting Megathread (if you've ever read that) - there are LOTS of novices and new people that do just fine and have a lot of fun, and a handful hardcore people that have all the top-of-the-line gear and basically dedicate their entire lives to the sport. Those hardcore people are obviously going to post in the threads a lot more and make it seem like you have to be that intense if you want to do it right which is definitely not true. I hunt all the time and I don't know what 95% of the stuff the people in the hunting megathread are even talking about. You don't have to be intimidated because you can start birding at any skill level, and make it as competitive or not as you want. Birding can be whatever you want it to be. INTJ Mastermind posted:Re: Fake bird sightings - not really a problem since no one's birding for money or fame. Unless it's your idea of a practical joke to send a bunch of birders out into the middle of a swamp. I think it's not so much fake bird sightings(like someone literally making something up), as misidentifications. Some people really, really, really want to be able to say that they saw something rare, weather for their own personal triumph or to brag to people, I have no idea. But if you are involved in the birding community and submitting sightings for official records, there has to be some sort of error control, right? With birding, the only way to do that really is to either build up a reputation, or to get a photo. Don't get discouraged and think you're going to get "shunned from the community" if you misidentify some birds. Just be aware that if you're new to the game, and you submit rare sightings, it's going to turn some heads and you need to be able to back up your sighting. One year I did a Christmas Bird Count when I was just getting started birding, and I saw a couple of Hermit Thrushes. Everyone I was with kind of gave me a look and was like "Really? That's pretty unusual. That would be the first documented Hermit Thrush on this CBC count ever". But I was confident in what I saw and later on, my group saw the Hermit Thrushes. So you have to be willing to back up your sightings, but also don't be afraid to admit you're wrong. I've misidentified stuff millions of times and been called out on false sightings before, it happens, even the experts misidentify stuff ALL THE TIME. That's how you learn. You don't start out an expert. But I swear to god I saw two Cerulean Warblers one day on Fort Riley . I didn't get a photo, only saw both birds briefly, didn't hear them make sounds, and there are a few other birds in the area that could be confused with something super-rare and unusual like a Cerulean Warbler in Kansas. This is the kind of stuff people are talking about - I saw these "Cerulean Warblers" years ago before I really got into birding. Was that really what they were? Probably not, it's possible, but I'll never know. Am I going to submit that as an official record? No, it would never get accepted with my spotty description and lack of hard evidence. The more I think about my "Cerulean Warblers" the more I lean towards Lazuli Bunting. Tiny bird, very vivid, blue on the back, blue head white belly, two white wing bars. Like I said, this was before I got into birds and of course a Cerulean Warbler is much more widely known than a Lazuli Bunting, right? Because Ceruleans are so rare, people know about them and you hear about them way more than you would ever hear about a Lazuli Bunting. This is how you can accidentally jump to the wrong conclusions while birding. razz fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 16:53
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BeastOfExmoor posted:Most of my knowledge of this subject comes from a really excellent book called Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman. When he was 19 years old Kenn set off to see as many birds as possible in one year and hopefully set the record. Since he was 19 and had almost no money he did so by mostly hitchhiking. It really is the movie about birding that should have been made, rather than The Big Year. This is a really great book, even if you aren't into birds. It's a cute little story, super-readable and entertaining. I suggest picking it up! It's quite interesting because he did his big year before the internet and cell phones. So he and his birding buddies had a system where they'd use pay-phones to call each other and report rare sightings. Just imagine how hard that would be. The Big Year was dumb. I mean, it was entertaining, but really not all that accurate. It wasn't made for birders obviously.
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Aug 21, 2013 17:26
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Cage Kicker posted:I've always liked spotting different kinds of animals and trying to identify them, but I had no idea birding is so well-developed as a hobby! I'm lucky to live in an area within a stone's throw of the ocean and some fairly deep woods, I'm definitely going to be keeping up on this thread! Now's a great time to start! Lots of fall migrants heading south for the winter right now! Especially shorebirds, which you might discover (and other posters have mentioned) are quite a challenge even for experienced birders. The only group of birds that are more challenging for me personally than shorebirds is the gulls...I'm so poor with my gull ID that I pretty much just ignore them BeastOfExmoor posted:If you want to study up on shorebirds, this book is really excellent. I linked to the CamelCamelCamel link because it's currently pretty expensive on Amazon, but sometimes drops down really low. Worth setting an alert for. The best part is that almost all the species photographed have several photos that contain multiple species next to each other. It really helps to compare them next to each other. There are a lot of bird photos on the internet that are misidentified. This is why having a book is so good. You can google "Western Sandpiper" and google "Semipalmated Sandpiper" and half of the pictures will be the exact same. If you get pictures from Cornell's ornithology website or from other trusted sources that's reliable, but keep in mind that people mis-label their bird photos all the time online. It can really confuse you! A book will always be accurate and true. Here are some good websites: http://www.allaboutbirds.org (Cornell's website) http://www.whatbird.com (a little more beginner-oriented, and has great tools for ID help) http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/ This is Cornell's website that you can only access through a university or research institution or via paid subscription - if you have access to this site it is a GOLDMINE. It has more information on a given bird species than you will find anywhere, on the web or in books. Get on your university's internet if you are able and see if your school bought a subscription! You can access a few species accounts for free before it makes you sign up. Wikipedia is also fairly reliable, but it doesn't have a ton of info for most species. razz fucked around with this message at 17:54 on Aug 21, 2013 |
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Aug 21, 2013 17:41
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Wayne Gretzky posted:Do you get any money for being the first person to see the rare bird? Sponsorships or stuff like that or awards? I've never heard of anything like that. Your main reward is bragging rights. I've already had a couple people congratulate me on the Olive-sided Flycatcher, and people I haven't ever met know about my breeding Common Poorwill record. Honestly though I don't even care about bragging rights, I just like finding things Besides, where would that money come from?
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Aug 21, 2013 18:44
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Wayne Gretzky posted:How come you like the birds' he-ooters so much? Just cool looking? I notice your "e-name" also references them. It's just Sage Grouse that have the "boobs". I worked with Greater Prairie-Chickens for a while, and they have air sacs that they inflate like the Sage Grouse do, but they are on the side of their neck rather than in front like boobs Grouse are a really intensively studied group of birds for a number of reasons - they have cool behaviors, most species are rapidly declining, and most are also game species (you can hunt them). A lot of research dollars go into grouse studies. Here's a video I took of the Greater Prairie-Chickens displaying on their lek. The males try to look and sound as awesome as possible so the females will mate with them. With this species (and many other bird species that have a lek mating system), one or two males out of the group will usually be the ones to mate with all of the females. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0hRzuyPc7w The stuff in the background is part of the traps we set out to capture them. We put radio collars on them to track their movements and also put colored bands on their legs. razz fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Aug 22, 2013 |
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Aug 22, 2013 03:49
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Knockknees posted:Obviously Sibley's is top of the line when it comes to number of illustrations - but is there any book that is known for having lots of words and information about behavior/habitat/nesting/quirky facts and so on? I'm a sucker for stuff like that. What you need is the Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior Another really great reference to beginning and pro birders alike is The Manual of Ornithology - Avian Structure and Function. This book goes into great detail about different parts of the birds and feather tracts (among other things). That way, if you're trying to explain a bird you saw to someone, you can be more precise in your description. Knowing where the lores are, and what the supercilium is, and where the different wing covert feathers are can really help you with your bird ID. There are lots of books that show the topography of the bird, I just really like the Manual of Ornithology. It also goes into detail about other external features, internal anatomy, circulatory/respiratory/etc systems, and all manner of other things. I refer to it all the time! Knockknees posted:Highlights were tons of Kingfishers, Egrets, White Pelicans, and Blue Herons. I didn't know about the Spotted Sandpiper or the Eastern Kingbird before, and now I do. That's my favorite part about birding. Before, it was just some shorebird. Now it's a Spotted Sandpiper. It looks only like a Spotted Sandpiper can look. It has behaviors that are unique to Spotted Sandpipers. It makes sounds that only a Spotted Sandpiper makes. Now you can research this species and learn more about it - where it lives, what it eats, how many eggs it lays, where it migrates to and from - all because you know its name. And you will forever remember it. You'll always remember where you were the first time you saw it. To me, this is the heart of birding. I just want to know. I just want to know about these birds. All the birds. I want to see them and look at them. I want to learn. It's curiosity in overdrive, and you'll never stop learning because there's an infinite amount to know about birds. razz fucked around with this message at 18:11 on Aug 27, 2013 |
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Aug 27, 2013 17:49
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Aug 27, 2013 18:00
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I don't think there's really a "wrong" way to pish out birds. If you make a noise and they come out, hey, it worked I make a noise kind of like a cross between "psst" and "shhh". So it really does sound like "psssh, psssh, psssh". but with the shhh part kind of longer and drawn out. You could probably find a YouTube video or something. You can also make squeaky sounds, like a kiss. Pull air in through your lips and keep them really tight, that will get some birds to come out too. Ghost Cactus posted:My major professor wants me to work with a PhD student who will be doing landowner-related work with Atwater's Prairie Chicken and Lesser Prairie Chicken, but I have no idea how the logistics of that would work. Another option has something to do with the Golden Cheeked Warbler Recovery Credit System, which sounds pretty darned cool. I'm a total newbie to all of this! Are you in school right now? Prairie chicken work usually starts in the spring (Febuary or so) and trapping goes until early May, then various other things will happen throughout the summer, such as telemetry or capturing broods (newly hatched chicks). Then towards the end of fall and on into winter, it's basically just keeping up with telemetry and data entry. This is me assuming it's a capture study where the birds are collared with transmitters and/or have leg bands put on. This is how the many prairie-chicken studies my lab has done have always turned out. If you want to do bird related field work, there are always summer tech positions. I hire 2 people every summer. Summer jobs are fairly plentiful (mostly summer field work helping a Masters or PhD student) and may be be easy to get depending on the job and your bird ID ability, or just general ability to work outside. For example you really only need to know how to identify one bird when working with Prairie Chickens ya know. So you don't have to be a "birder" to get bird jobs.
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Aug 28, 2013 19:52
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I sprained my ankle birding yesterday. The nerdiest injury. In my defense it was a Summer Tanager. I got 3 x-rays, got my foot all wrapped up and now I can't do anything. Actually what happened was I jumped over a gate and my left foot landed on a perfectly positioned large pointy rock concealed by tall grass. I laid in the grass for a while cursing silently. Then I walked back home because this stupidly happened about 150 yards from my house.
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Aug 28, 2013 21:44
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El Perkele posted:There seems to be lots of birders around. Nice! There seems also to be birders with completely different approaches to their pasttime, which is always interesting. I'd like to share my aspect on it, since it seems to be completely different. I like hearing about how other people view birding. There's no wrong way to enjoy birds. Unlike you, I enjoy the "walking several kilometers" in the hopes of seeing something part. Walking around outdoors is my favorite part of birding. Actually it's just one of my favorite things to do in general. I can walk for hours and hours. I find all sorts of cool stuff out walking around. I regularly find skulls, deer antlers, feathers, fossils, and all sorts of cool things. It just adds to my outdoor experience. I rarely go out to look for a particular bird. My interest is a more general "What is out there?" than "What can I find that is new?" or "Where can I find this particular thing?". I have found some new things but they were accidental finds. I actually have no idea how many species I've seen, I've never counted. I just really like to see birds. They're so awesome. All of the birds. I've never met someone else that feels the same way about birds as I do. I just... they're just so awesome. I love that they exist. They're so unique and special. They're so ALIVE. That's why I love birds. They're like the embodiment of life itself. They're beautiful and free and magical. They are perfect tiny beings and they're so full of life. I am quite aware that makes no sense but I can't articulate in words why I love birds so much. They give me something intangible, some kind of inner happiness. Birds are a drug to me. I guess in that sense, I'm not really a typical birder. I'm just a person that really, really loves birds and loves to look at birds. I like making lists, and using Ebird, and birding with friends, and chatting with people about birding but the real reason I'm a birder is because I just love birds. To an absurd degree. My love affair with birds is more of an inner monologue than something I sperg out about constantly though. Most people just think I like birds because I study them and vice versa. Which is true, but it's also more than that. Deadly Chlorine posted:I just got into college (life sciences, environmental science) and I'm hoping there will be an upper level class focusing on birds just like how there's one for marine biology.
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Aug 29, 2013 18:41
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BeastOfExmoor posted:Monk Parakeets are great. I hunted some down in San Antonio when I was there last year. It's kind of amazing that tropical birds like that can survive, much less breed, in climates so different from their natural ones. Well the Monk Parakeets are originally from SE South America (they've expanded their range way up north to other parts of South America) and are adapted to dry arid areas and scrublands, and even breed and live in areas that can receive considerable amounts of snow. So they're not hot steamy tropical jungle parrots, they're more arid land specialists which is why they can form feral colonies in places that other parrots can't. Actually "feral" is a bad term for these birds, but that's how most people consider them. Feral implies a domesticated animal that's returned to the wild. Monk Parrots have never been domesticated. No parrot has ever been domesticated but some may argue that Budgerigars and Cockatiels have been bred in captivity long enough that they can be considered domesticated. Parrots are quite long-lived and many parrots that you see for sale or that people have as pets are only a few generations removed from their wild relatives. Actually it was legal to import wild-caught parrots into the USA until 1990, and many of those old wild caught birds are still used as breeders (sadly). So you can very easily buy a parrot from a pet store whose parents are truly wild. Did you know that North America used to have a native parrot, the Carolina Parakeet? It was a type of conure and was found throughout the Eastern United States and as far West as Kansas. They were all killed around the turn of the century. gently caress you early settlers   We do still kinda-sorta depending on who you ask have a native parrot in the United States - the Thick Billed Parrot whose distribution extends North into Mexico and until recently there were stragglers that would regularly come up into Arizona. I believe there may have even been a captive breeding program for them at one time. razz fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Aug 30, 2013 |
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Aug 30, 2013 21:28
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It makes me mad too. There are only a few Carolina Parakeet specimens that were taken in Kansas and 2 of them were taken in the county I was born and raised in. So if we hadn't killed them all there could possibly still be Carolina Parakeets here, breeding here, coming to our feeders...
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Aug 30, 2013 21:40
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InternetJunky posted:My wife and I have gone a bit bird-crazy over the last couple of years or so. We both started out with a purely photographic interest, but now I'd probably describe each of us as 50% birder and 50% photographer. Our identification skills have vastly improved, although we have a lot to work on with shorebirds and songbirds. I can see how photographers could get a bad reputation, and have read articles about photographers harassing birds. Especially the use of a flash, that seems to really bother people and obviously can disturb the birds as well. There have been cases of people using up-close flash photography that sufficiently disturb birds enough so they abandon the area and/or their nest if they are nesting at the time. I think the real issue between birders and bird photographers is that birders are usually satisfied with just getting a good look at the bird, while many photographers want to get ever-closer and keep trying for a better shot, thus potentially disturbing the bird. But then again, birders that use playback calls and whatnot can disturb birds just as much. So, basically if you don't have respect for birds maybe birding isn't a good hobby for you. Getting a nice shot isn't worth making a bird abandon its nest because it feels unsafe. I've got a decent zoom on my camera so I never really get close to birds. I study nesting birds for part of my Master's research which means I can get up-close to nests and nestlings pretty much any time I want, but I really don't take pictures of the nests that often just to keep my impact to a minimum. There have been studies that show that repeated visits to a nest can make the mother more likely to abandon the nest, but other studies have shown that the nest survival rate is the same whether or not the nest is physically visited by an observer. I'd say it depends on the species - some are much more sensitive to disturbance. The grassland birds I study don't seem too bothered by me poking my face into their nest a couple times a week. Anyone seen anything good lately? I'm still nursing my sore ankle so haven't gotten out to look for any of the fall migrants that are coming through right now.
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Sep 2, 2013 18:01
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Knockknees posted:I went to the Mississippi Palisades this weekend to try and do some bird-watching and as a beginner on my own, I felt like I did terribly. I could pretty much only identify the most basic birds I've known all my life anyway. You can't do terrible! All you can do is learn. It can be overwhelming at first but don't get discouraged. NO ONE knows every bird. Even people who devote their lives to birding can't identify everything. quote:Things where I felt like I might have identified something but didn't feel confident for it to count: Also, a Hairy has a beak about the length of its head. Downy has a beak 1/2 the length of its head. That's the best way to tell which is which! quote:-A chubby grey bird in the underbrush. I thought it was a Robin until I realized it wasn't, and it wasn't the right shape for a Catbird. The closest thing in the bird book was a Dark Eyed Junco, but is it the right time of year for them... I don't know! quote:-Up in a group of circling Turkey Vultures over a bluff, a raptor with a different silhouette. What do you call it when it has bends at its "wrists" giving it a W shape? Anyway, it was accordianing its wings slightly to hover in place. My book says that falcons and osprey bend their wings this way. It was too big to be a kestrel. But, seeing no markings and only shape just left me wondering... quote:One small triumph was seeing a pair of Cedar Waxwings zoom by and knowing it was them because of the quick flash of yellow on their tail. Hearing both the who-cooks-for-you and the hoo-ah of a barred owl. Watching a Blue Jay make a hawk impression. Also, I got the most pleasure of watching a pair of Chickadees bouncing cheerfully and even hanging upside down off of branches just a few feet away in the sparkling dew of early morning. Who cares if its common, if its up close and being interesting! It doesn't have to be rare to be interesting!P.S. I used to live near the Mississippi Palisades State Park in northern Illinois... is that where you were birding?
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Sep 5, 2013 19:11
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Knockknees posted:Edit: Razz thanks for responding to my post! Yes, that state park is absolutely where I was birding. A really gorgeous place. It is a really nice place! I used to live in Hanover, IL which isn't too far from there, and me and my coworker went there hiking and fishing a few times. I worked at the Upper Mississippi River National wildlife and Fish Refuge (longest name ever!) and it was actually my first ever bird job So much of being able to identify a bird is knowing what to look for (such as relative bill size difference with Downy and Hairy woodpeckers). Bill size and shape is a good thing to note - does the bird have a thick chunky bill like a sparrow, or a thin pointy bill like a warbler? Or maybe it has a wide triangular bill like a flycatcher? How did it fly (if you saw it fly)? Was it a straight path or a bobbing, undulating flight? Were the wings rounded or were they long and narrow? Did you note any interesting colors or patterns on the bird? Stripe over the eye, stripe through the eye, white bar(s) across the wings? What about the tail, is it square or pointed? Was the tail notched? Etc, etc. Just try and quickly note a few key features if you can, then you can look it up later. One good place to start is learning bird topography, or basically the names of regions on a bird's body. Like so:  It becomes much easier to ID a bird from memory or from notes once you realize that literally every part of a bird has a name! So you can go from saying something like "I saw a bird with stripes on its face" to "I saw a bird with a white supercilium and a black eye-line, and it had a dark malar stripe". All bird guides use really similar terminology. --- I got out birding today! I was pleased to find the Dickcissels are out in full force, flocking together getting ready to migrate. I saw a group of at least 50 individuals. They're super territorial during the breeding season but apparently they buddy-up to migrate.  And I have been seeing a lot of Ruby-throated hummingbirds lately, especially since I hung a feeder in the yard yesterday! We had visitors immediately (I'm talking like 30 seconds immediately). I saw this female while birding on the prairie. I saw 6 individuals feeding on Liatris (Gayfeathers).  Also saw Bell's Vireos, Brown Thrashers, American Goldfinches, Eastern Meadowlarks and a few others, but nothing unusual.
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Sep 6, 2013 00:50
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23 Things Going On Inside The Mind Of A Birder http://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/23-things-going-on-inside-the-mind-of-a-birder  It's actually pretty funny/accurate
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Sep 9, 2013 03:03
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Balaeniceps posted:One of the things I don’t like about the hobby in general is that birding is still heavily the preserve of middle-aged men. Is it the same in America? That's kind of hard to say. I would guess it depends a lot on your location and who you choose to bird with. I started seriously (well, as serious as I've ever been about it) birding when I was in grad school. I was suddenly surrounded by lots of people in the mid 20s - mid 30s age range who were also into birds. So most of the people I bird with are around my age. I also go on birding trips occasionally that are led by some of the faculty members there - and those groups consist overwhelmingly of undergrads and maybe a couple additional older faculty members and/or grad students. Every Christmas Bird Count I've been on was a mix of people my age and older people. There are also quite a few older women that are into birding, it's not just "old men". But since I live(d) in a college town, and my college has a pretty big ag/biology program, it makes sense that there would be more younger birders around. A lot of the younger people who go on the regular bird walks are students who took the Ornithology class and just continued doing the bird walks even after the class is over. I'm not sure if he's doing it right now but my adviser (and the instructor for the course) led an open-invitation bird walk to various spots around town every Tuesday. Anyone can go, just meet in the parking lot at 7:30 with binoculars . And again, that is mostly undergrads and some grad students. I have only ever been on one birding trip where I was the only young person there, and it was when I went on a bird walk with a visiting speaker when I was an undergrad. And I still had a good time! I don't really care who or how old the people I bird with are. What I really don't like is birding in really big groups. I'd say 4-6 people is a good group for birding. More than that and it starts getting crowded, the people in front see birds that the people in back miss, etc. That being said probably 95% of the time, I bird alone or just with my husband. He's not into birds like I am but he likes to go hiking with me sometimes and is getting pretty good with his bird ID! He said he never really looked at birds before we met, now he can ID most of the common ones in our area.
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Sep 9, 2013 20:17
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800peepee51doodoo posted:I also located a roosting pair of Western Screech Owls the other night but, being owls, the only thing I really saw was the silhouettes. My headlamp didn't have enough power to light them up. Had to ID by call. Whats cool is that they are in a restored riparian area that runs right down the middle of my girlfriend's school. Next time I go down there, I'm gonna try to find them in the day. I was just reading something about screech owls the other day - apparently if you find them roosting during the day, they're sometimes so tame and let you get so close that you can actually grab them! My take on the whole "there's more men than women birders" thing is pretty much that any outdoor activity tends to be male-dominated. I know it's a total gender stereotype. Outdoor activities like hiking, camping, fishing, hunting - and birding - tend to be male-dominated simply because outdoor activities tend to attract more men than women. It's not that women are excluded from such activities, or told that they can't do them (in my experience, some people may have different experiences), but if you want to be totally black-and-white about it, women tend to make up a smaller percentage of participants in these sorts of activities than men. Biology in general (and wildlife specifically) tends to be a male-dominated field as well, but it's much more equal now than it was even a few decades ago. I say this as a woman who pretty much exclusively has male-dominated hobbies.
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Sep 10, 2013 17:03
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Well, tomorrow my husband and I are going away on our honeymoon! We're kinda doing a desert southwest roadtrip, and camping in Colorado, Zion National Park (Utah), Grand Canyon (Arizona), California, and New Mexico. Possibly also Oklahoma and part of Texas. I'm pretty excited about seeing some new birds! We plan on doing quite a bit of hiking and bird-searching . So, if I don't post in this thread for a while, please keep up the great discussions! Hopefully I'll be back with a good trip report.
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Sep 12, 2013 03:04
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Well I am back and got to see lots of new birds out West that I had never seen before. I took a million pictures that will take me FOREVER to get through but eventually I'll post some. I'm glad to see this thread is still going strong! New birds for my list, none that are really rarities but definitely things we don't have in eastern KS: Sage Sparrow Black-throated Sparrow Phainopepla Pygmy Nuthatch Pinyon Jay Western Bluebird American Dipper Pyrrhuloxia (not 100% on this one) Rufous Hummingbird Black-chinned Hummingbird White-winged Dove Many species of gulls and terns that I'll post photos of for ID help Quite a few others that I can't think of right now For a trip that totally wasn't focused on birding at all, I think I did pretty well! My husband and I both remarked this morning that it was nice to actually be able to recognize the bird calls around here (since we heard so much odd stuff in CA/AZ/NM that we were completely clueless about!)
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Oct 3, 2013 18:44
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Knockknees posted:Is a Christmas Bird Count something a beginner can be involved in, or would someone who didn't know what they were looking at just get in the way. I'm not totally clear on how CBCs actually even work. Anyone can get in on it. Basically what you need to do is find out the person who is in charge of the CBC for your area. Just Google "My Town Christmas Bird Count" and you should be able to figure out who to contact. If you live in a populated area there could be multiple people. Contact that person and tell them you are interested in doing the Christmas Bird Count. The actual places where you bird are set up in "count circles", which are designated areas where people are assigned to go birding. For instance I have always done the Konza Prairie count circle when I do the CBC, so myself and my group just birded anywhere within that "circle". It's pretty vaguely defined, so my instructions were something like "Bird along McDowell Creek Road until you get to Konza, walk around the bison loop or anywhere you think is good on Konza, bird around Ashland Bottoms in the afternoon". You can bird anywhere within that area and be certain that there aren't any other CBC counters birding there. You can pick which count circle you want to bird at. I don't think there's any sort of min/max number of people for each circle, the main point is just making sure that everyone knows where to bird so the counts don't overlap. Last year I birded with a small group of 3 people - I was the record keeper and the other two spotted birds and told me what to write down. I actually had a "Christmas Bird Count Checklist for Kansas" which was SUPER useful because it's just a list of everything that has been seen on CBCs in the years past so you kind of know what species to expect. Then you just tally up what you see! Every bird you see gets counted, so if you see 58 individual American Robins, you're going to have 58 tally marks next to American Robin on your sheet. Or 16,000 snow geese. Or 4,500 Red-winged Blackbirds. The point is, count them all! As best you can, anyway. It's an all-day thing but you don't have to do it all day. You can just go morning, or afternoon, or both. As long as you record where you birded, how long and what time, and the distance that you walked they can use that data. Then in the evening they usually have some sort of compilation meeting (ours always serves chili or something) where they tally up birds, talk about rarities, unusual sightings, etc. You don't have to go to this, it's optional. If it's your first time and/or you aren't super-confident with your bird ID, or you just want to tag along to see how it works, just let someone know and you can go with another group. It's a good way to learn the winter resident birds in your area. And you'll never be in the way, you can always ask to be the data recorder, which personally I think is fun and you still get to bird while you do it. It's a good way to learn birds too, because you'll have people next to you identifying birds while you look for them as well and record what everyone sees.
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Oct 20, 2013 17:20
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The first thing that came to my mind before I even saw you guess Snow Bunting was Snow Bunting. But honestly there's no way to know for sure. The time of year and range seems correct for Snow Bunting.
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Nov 5, 2013 23:21
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Insanite posted:Yeah, I briefly thought starlings after looking around a bit, but I have no confidence in my bird IDing abilities. Thanks! The brownish ones are juvenile Starlings. They don't get that glossy black color until they molt out of their baby plumage. I went birding around the creek and pond by our house yesterday. I went at the worst time of day (like 4:00 pm and there was a huge glare on the lake) but I did catch a pair of Belted Kingfishers, and one lone male Hooded Merganser in his nice black and white plumage. The kingfishers seem to have set up a permanent residence at the lake and I know where their favorite fishing trees are. There are a couple dead snags right at the edge of the water that one of them is usually perched on. I saw one beating up a fish last week before swallowing it. Also caught a Pileated Woodpecker rustling around in some leaves. Then he hopped up on the trunk of a large tree and I watched him spiral around it for a while, then got a good look at him when he flew off. The sun was backlighting his red crest and it looked really sweet. There were possibly two but I couldn't be sure because I never saw two at the same time. I heard one calling pretty far from where I saw the first one, but it could have been the same guy since he flew in that direction. I didn't see much else noteworthy besides one Oregon Junco (not super common in KS but it's not the first time I've seen one). And the Harris's Sparrows are here in huge numbers. Them and the Lincoln's Sparrows like to gather in the brush piles behind the house.
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Nov 8, 2013 21:02
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Did you happen to get a look at the band on its leg?
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Nov 12, 2013 18:54
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What do you guys think this is, a Laughing Gull or a Franklin's Gull? The dark wings make me thing Laughing but the tail makes me think Franklin's. This bird was amongst one of the large groups of Franklin's that migrates through the great plains in the Fall. This picture was taken around mid-October in KS.
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Nov 20, 2013 21:35
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Burrowing owls are so funny. I used to work with prairie dogs and the owls use their old burrows for nests, so we saw them every day. They always came out of the burrows and circled around us, yelling at us. This summer one of my co-workers found a county record burrowing owl nest, and put a trail cam on it. He got videos of the owls doing really cool stuff. Bringing food back, bobbing their heads around and dancing, going in and out of the hole, etc. They only raised one chick which was pretty odd since they can lay like 14 eggs. I saw my favorite bird today. Loggerhead shrike!
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Nov 30, 2013 05:56
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I haven't been birding much lately because I've been so fascinated watching the birds outside my window. My husband and I set up a bunch of feeding stations outside our front door. There's a feeder of thistle seeds, a feeder of generic bird seed mix, and then we have 6 very large logs about 4 foot tall that we've set standing up around our porch, and we've been putting the seed mix and sunflower seeds on top of them. So the birds basically have to stand right in the open to get the food and we can see them really well because everything is maybe 10 feet from the house, max. We live out in the country so we have a lot of birds. The Blue Jays come to the logs and stuff their gullets completely full with sunflower seeds. There will be 8-10 there at a time. One has a bright white streak on his belly and seems to be the "leader". They will also make alarm calls and imitate a red-tailed hawk to scare the other birds off, then fly right down and steal all the seeds. Smart little bastards! I don't know where they go with the seeds but they're stashing them somewhere far away. Then we have this Red-bellied Woodpecker who I don't think is too bright. The feeding logs still have bark on the sides and he will take a single sunflower seed and stuff it into the bark. Now these logs are dead and the bark peels off really easily so he's going to lose all of those seeds. When he does take the seeds away, he puts them in the tree right by the feeder. So he will pick up a single seed, fly to the tree, find a place to put it, then come back and do it all over again. I just think it's funny how he only grabs one seed at a time. I was sitting on the porch yesterday taking pictures of some stuff to sell and wasn't really paying attention to the birds, and amazingly they were coming to the food like I wasn't even there. There are TONS of Harris's Sparrows, Chickadees, Juncos, Cardinals, Goldfinches, and Cedar Waxwings, although those guys don't come to the seed, they just sit in the tops of the trees and watch the action. How many of you guys really watch birds? Like, have you ever just set your binoculars one bird and watched it for an hour? I have, many times. If you sit and stay awhile, the birds stop caring that you're there and you can see their behaviors in a very natural state. You might not see a great variety of birds this way but you will get to know a bird very well if you do this. They are so much more complex than we give them credit for. Each one is unique and has a personality. Each one makes a slightly different sound. Each one is predictable in its own special set of behaviors. They are really fascinating.
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Dec 2, 2013 20:55
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BeastOfExmoor posted:Interesting. Sellers Jays do this impression as well, but I've never seen them use it in this manner. When the Jays come to the feeder everyone else gets out of the way. I want to put out suet, but when I went to the store all they had was blocks of suet... and not a single suet holder. What the heck! I am going to the farm store today to see if they have what I want. Seriously, how do you have an entire wall/display of suet blocks and NO holders? I am reading a book right now "What the Robin Knows" and the author said he has witnessed Blue Jays giving the hawk fake-out to scare the other birds away. What's funny is I had never heard of that happening and I read it in the book just a couple hours after I saw the Blue Jay do it outside my window.
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Dec 3, 2013 15:39
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Kawalimus posted:The Snowy Owls are going bananas! One of them showed up by Ft McHenry today! Just hope there's some around at the weekend!! There were quite a few snowy sightings (Kansas) in early 2012 and I got lucky enough to see one and snap a couple decent photos. These were taken around January 4, 2012.   Someone actually found an injured one and turned it over to the nature center, but it died. I was told that a lot of these Snowys that come way down south in the winter end up dying; they come down south because of the cyclical lemming populations up north crash periodically and sends them farther and farther south in search for food, which wears them out.
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Dec 3, 2013 23:43
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I was helping my lab mate set out some bird specimens for a class and this really cute old man just kind of wandered in and started looking at the birds, so I figured I'd tell him what they were. He didn't believe that the Screech Owl was a real species, he couldn't fathom there was an owl that small. He thought it must be a baby owl 
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Dec 4, 2013 23:46
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Last year my ornithology lab students did a comparative anatomy dissection. Basically they all dissected a different species that people had brought into us as roadkill/window strikes, etc. In various stages of decomposition. Anyway I always try to salvage parts for the museum after the dissection and I was amazed at how large this Great Horned Owl's foot was compared to my hand. I mean, I know they're big birds but when you actually have one there in front of you, it's pretty incredible! That thing could literally kill you if it wanted to I bet. 
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Dec 5, 2013 04:02
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Pretty much any bird that lands on an airport runway gets shot. I have a friend that works for APHIS and his entire job description is shooting birds that get on the runways. Raptors, waterfowl, shorebirds, tiny little warblers, literally anything.
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Dec 9, 2013 21:54
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I'm doing a Christmas count this Saturday, then possibly one or two more local-ish ones depending on my schedule.
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Dec 10, 2013 16:31
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