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Kawalimus
Jan 17, 2008

Better Living Through Birding And Pessimism
Finally saw a Connecticut Warbler after trying what seemed like a hundred times. So elated right now!!! That was a tough hunt that almost broke me mentally.

The only eastern Warbler I have left to add to my life list is the Swainson's Warbler, which doesn't come up this far. Also I guess Orange-crowned, but I've seen that one out west. Just never east.

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El Perkele
Nov 7, 2002

I HAVE SHIT OPINIONS ON STAR WARS MOVIES!!!

I can't even call the right one bad.

InternetJunky posted:

That's disappointing. Based on the size I was sure I had the right bird!

Be not disappointed, you will see Jaegers at some point. Probably when weather is horrible. I have seen most of my Baltic autumn jaegers during very strong westerly gales (they usually keep out in the open sea during good weather).

Size is always really difficult to guesstimate reliably in the field and is generally not as good indicator of species as colouration, behaviour or jizz. Sizes are more often than not estimated completely wrong. For example I can generally only estimate sizes through jizz as in "very slow wing-beat indicates a very large bird" or "flight style quite similar to LBBG, probably ~similar-sized". Direct comparison is useful. And different gulls are very differently-sized - in reality, most jaegers are same size or even smaller than standard large gulls; even the barrel-chested Great Skua is only a bit larger, but much heavier, than Herring Gulls. They just have different jizz which makes their size bit difficult to estimate correctly.

800peepee51doodoo
Mar 1, 2001

Volute the swarth, trawl betwixt phonotic
Scoff the festune
e: ^^^^omg gently caress gulls. Hey what's that is it a third year california x herring hybrid? Who knows? I have a thick rear end book of gulls and half the photos have a caption that's something like "we think this is a juvenile hybrid of x and y but really we don't know have fun learning gulls!"


I saw a peregrine feasting this morning as well although my shot isn't nearly as nice as yours:



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 spent all day today looking for shorebirds that were closer in than a quarter mile. I finally found some Sanderlings and Westerns on a beach along the Columbia river that were more than happy to let me walk right up to them. I took literally 1000 photos.

A thought on binos: I've gone super cheap and lower midgrade and I've got to say it isn't worth it, really. A decent set of binoculars in the $200-300 range makes a world of difference. I use a higher end pair of Alpen 10x50's and I love them. They cost me a little over $200 I think. Vortex is making some awesome optics in their HD line that are fantastic for how little they cost. I have friends that swear by Eagle Optics. No matter which brand, birding with good optics really improves the experience. When I got my girlfriend some better binoculars she was astounded at how the dark blobs flitting about the bushes would pop with color and detail. It makes ID'ing a lot easier.

800peepee51doodoo fucked around with this message at 07:42 on Sep 10, 2013

Sparowe
Jun 27, 2010

Like a bird on the wire...

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?

I can chime in from a perspective of a South African birder. While the majority seems to be middle aged men, I've actually come across mostly women in the club I'm in, and outside of it too. Yeah, most of the big names are male, but there are definitely some more than confident and knowledgeable women and younger avid birders down here.

I'll also chime in to say that both my boyfriend and I are in our 20s, and have come across many others in their 20s/early 30s who are into birding or conservation. It's pretty broad down here.

razz
Dec 26, 2005

Queen of Maceration

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.

800peepee51doodoo
Mar 1, 2001

Volute the swarth, trawl betwixt phonotic
Scoff the festune
It's weird that y'all would say there are more men than women birders. In my experience, it seems like the opposite. It may be because of where I live (Portland) but I would say that women birders equal, or possibly outnumber men. When we did the Christmas bird count last year, I'd say that the gender split was just about 50-50. Now, it does seem like men are a bit more...intense about the hobby but women certainly don't seem underrepresented here. As far as leadership roles go, yeah that seems to be almost all men but that's your typical entrenched patriarchy at work.

Kawalimus
Jan 17, 2008

Better Living Through Birding And Pessimism
I see all sorts of birders. But it seems to me like there's less young women than anything else. It's very popular among young males especially. Older men, older women, middle aged of either. But not many young women like teens and twenties.

800peepee51doodoo
Mar 1, 2001

Volute the swarth, trawl betwixt phonotic
Scoff the festune
That does seem to be the way, right? I think the youngest women I've seen out birding or know personally are in their mid-30's. I have seen a bunch of teenage/early 20's guys though. I remember this one time I went up to Bonney Butte where they have a Hawk Watch banding and counting station. There were probably a dozen people there at any given time scanning for migrating hawks. It was a pretty even mix of men and women, mostly in their mid-30's to mid-50's. This one guy brought three teenage girls with him, presumably a daughter and friends, to get them interested in birds. You could feel the palpable, near physical force of their intense boredom coming off of them in waves. There was no cell service OMG why is there no cell service ugh! Granted, systematically scanning a huge expanse of sky with binoculars for tiny flying dots is probably not the best introduction to birding.

What's interesting is that I think that gender divide switches with botany. I've known tons of young women who are fascinated with plants but almost no young men. Around here, all the cool girls are covered in native plant tattoos.

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.
I hadn't thought of it too much, but I agree with Kawalimus that there of the "young" birders that I've run into, almost none have been women.

I read the blog post BetterLekNextTime was talking about and it had some interesting points. Overall I think some of the skews are just a result of traits that separate men and women. I would somewhat disagree with what Razz said in that when I go hiking, a popular activity here in the northwest, I see a pretty even mix sexes. Mountain climbing, on the other hand, tends to trend more heavily male in my limited experience. Women don't really need to climb the highest thing around to enjoy the experience.

Kawalimus posted:

The only eastern Warbler I have left to add to my life list is the Swainson's Warbler, which doesn't come up this far. Also I guess Orange-crowned, but I've seen that one out west. Just never east.

drat, Warblers are the birds that make me wish I lived in the east. If you see ten warbler species in a year in Washington you're doing alright.

InternetJunky posted:

That's disappointing. Based on the size I was sure I had the right bird!

Man, that sucks. Not to rub it in, but I dropped by a local beach on the way home from work yesterday and saw one chase a Caspian Tern for half a mile. Lifer for me and one I've been trying to find for over a year. Parasitic's are actually not that big, smaller than a Ring-Billed Gull. From my brief experience last night, I'd say they look like a gull when you look in your book, but in real life they feel a lot more like a falcon. The acceleration and turning radius it had when chasing were unreal.

Here's a great video illustrating what I'm talking about :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpmWlfQ5tMI


For whoever was asking, eBird lists my "life list" as 437, 382 of which are in the ABA area (America's north of Mexico). The rest are from a trip I went on where we did a full day of birding in Belize and some light birding in other places. There's a bunch of species I saw in Hawaii a couple years ago that I don't have on there because I wasn't keeping track at that point.

Sparowe
Jun 27, 2010

Like a bird on the wire...
While it is rare to see younger women into birding/outdoor activities, we do exist. Although, as a 22 year old female birder and general wildlife enthusiast who has been such her entire life (although I only actively started birding and listing last year), it is quite bleak that there aren't more women my own age into it. Although, that's not really too important to me. I'm in it for the feathered birds. I do know of a few younger women (early 20s) into things such as microbiology and studying ornithology though.

What I'm interested in is how it's such a broad spectrum of people who are into the entire birding thing, and how accepting everyone in the local communities are towards differences in taste, etc. I come from a hardcore-punk background - as does the boyfriend - and we always get asked questions about our specific tattoos and shirts and patches by the older members, because they are simply interested. I love the fact that you can be into practically anything, and you'll be accepted simply because you all share the same passion. I remember the boyfriend (fellow goon under the name meso) telling me about one woman looking at his "ABOLISH CAPITALISM - SMASH THE STATE" patch and responding with, "I agree! Capitalism is evil! I don't know what we'd replace it with though..."

It can be depressing listening to the older members talk about how their partners died or how many times they've been divorced though...

On the SA birding related front though, we recently had a regional rarity that a lot of people are considering a mega! First recorded spotting in the province! There has been a lone Bush Blackcap wandering about in one of the botanical gardens down here. It's a bit out of our way (money and petrol being an issue) to go and twitch it, but considering some of the other rarities that have been spotted in recent months, I'm hoping for some off-course migrants to show up the further we get into the warmer months...

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer
There must be some young lady-birders out there. I do the hiring for my project, and the applicant pool (wildlifer types or ecology/animal behavior types) is usually significantly skewed female (maybe 60:40 or more). I realize that grouse job =/= birding but there is some overlap, and a decent number of our crew have been pretty avid birders.

ntrepid
Oct 11, 2004
Uh..
Is there a resource out there that shows the more common vs rare species? I saw a Wilson's Warbler and a Connecticut warbler this weekend, as well as a few others that I couldn't ID. Just curious how often certain species are spotted.

800peepee51doodoo
Mar 1, 2001

Volute the swarth, trawl betwixt phonotic
Scoff the festune

ntrepid posted:

Is there a resource out there that shows the more common vs rare species? I saw a Wilson's Warbler and a Connecticut warbler this weekend, as well as a few others that I couldn't ID. Just curious how often certain species are spotted.

Depends on your area. In Oregon we're kind of lucky because we have a phenomenal resource in the book Birds of Oregon, which is a compilation of sighting records, species accounts and scientific studies. Its really comprehensive and a wonderful go-to for frequency, behavior, habitat, etc. Also, one of the dudes who wrote it is super active on the listserv and seems like an all around Good Dude. Your state or may have something similar. You can report your findings to eBird. If it's considered rare I think it will get flagged and some volunteer will email you for confirmation. I got an email from them when I reported the Red-Breasted Merganser I saw in Klamath Lake. You could also submit it to a local listserv and see what people there think. Mostly, though, it seems like you just have to rely on experience since everything is so dependent on specific location.

Sparowe posted:

What I'm interested in is how it's such a broad spectrum of people who are into the entire birding thing, and how accepting everyone in the local communities are towards differences in taste, etc. I come from a hardcore-punk background - as does the boyfriend - and we always get asked questions about our specific tattoos and shirts and patches by the older members, because they are simply interested. I love the fact that you can be into practically anything, and you'll be accepted simply because you all share the same passion. I remember the boyfriend (fellow goon under the name meso) telling me about one woman looking at his "ABOLISH CAPITALISM - SMASH THE STATE" patch and responding with, "I agree! Capitalism is evil! I don't know what we'd replace it with though..."

On the SA birding related front though, we recently had a regional rarity that a lot of people are considering a mega! First recorded spotting in the province! There has been a lone Bush Blackcap wandering about in one of the botanical gardens down here. It's a bit out of our way (money and petrol being an issue) to go and twitch it, but considering some of the other rarities that have been spotted in recent months, I'm hoping for some off-course migrants to show up the further we get into the warmer months...

What up punk birder buddy. A lot of the activist-y, punks-is-hippies types are into birding around here, too. Usually the older ones though, heh.

I know that when you live in a place your local species don't seem all that exciting anymore but it just blows my mind that people in SA would be twitching out on some drab-rear end chickadee lookin motherfucker when you have like secretary birds and bee eaters and rad as gently caress rollers and poo poo everywhere. I mean, I know how it goes, but still.

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.

ntrepid posted:

Is there a resource out there that shows the more common vs rare species? I saw a Wilson's Warbler and a Connecticut warbler this weekend, as well as a few others that I couldn't ID. Just curious how often certain species are spotted.

eBird is great for this. Go here and plug in your state/province and county (or multiple counties, for more complete records) and you should get a nice set of graphs showing how often each species is reported throughout the year. I print these out whenever I travel so I have a good idea what unfamiliar species I need to research and be on the lookout for.

Sparowe
Jun 27, 2010

Like a bird on the wire...

800peepee51doodoo posted:

What up punk birder buddy. A lot of the activist-y, punks-is-hippies types are into birding around here, too. Usually the older ones though, heh.

I know that when you live in a place your local species don't seem all that exciting anymore but it just blows my mind that people in SA would be twitching out on some drab-rear end chickadee lookin motherfucker when you have like secretary birds and bee eaters and rad as gently caress rollers and poo poo everywhere. I mean, I know how it goes, but still.

Heya! There don't seem to be many of us supposedly "troubled" lot into birding. There's actually a Facebook page for a wildlife enthusiast and birder called Punkbirder. Perhaps it is you! Haha.

This is actually an interesting thing to touch on for those who are interested in learning more in this thread. South African birding is supposedly some of the best birding one can do, but if you live down here and earn according to the economy (which is falling miserably), travelling up-country (or down-country for those not in the lower parts of the Western Province) can be incredibly pricey. It may seem really bizarre that those of us in the Western Province would get all excited when something as drab as that li'l blackcap pops up, especially when we have some pretty amazing birds as it is, but considering the fact that it's about 800 kilometres from where it should be, and that it's never hit the province before makes it somewhat special.

It's also something of a treat to those who are into "provincial listing" and are a bit more competitive than others. It's almost like an achievement in a sense if you get to see this silly little individual, no matter how boring it may look, and others can't and therefore you are awesome.

Something else that may interest everyone is the research being done into the "Cape Mystery Buzzards", as they are dubbed for now. Over the last few years, sightings of buzzards that seem to be hybrids of Steppes and Jackals (I think? Could be Forest...) have been recorded, and breeding pairs have been noted, with juveniles being spotted in one or two areas. My boyfriend will know more on the topic as he's helping with the research into this possible new species. I'll direct him to the thread and hopefully he can elaborate. :)

Kawalimus
Jan 17, 2008

Better Living Through Birding And Pessimism

BeastOfExmoor posted:




drat, Warblers are the birds that make me wish I lived in the east. If you see ten warbler species in a year in Washington you're doing alright.


I still need Townsend's, Hermit, and Black-throated Gray. These occasionally show up east so hopefully one shows up near my chasing range. I actually think I had McGillivray's once in Yosemite a few years ago, but my group was in a rush and didn't have time to ID it :(.

Warblers are my favorite aspect of birding. I love the migration seasons. There's nothing like it. That hunt for the Connecticut Warbler was peak birding pretty much. Next year I'm going to go for 36 of 36 regularly occuring warblers you can see in MD. This year I'll get 35 at most(at 34 now) since I've most certainly missed Golden-winged :(. But I wasn't even going for that this year. Would've had it too but a trip to western MD got canceled due to a bad illness. Maybe I'll even get 37/36 or better if another rarity shows up. A couple years ago there was a drat Virginia's Warbler(nothing to do with the state) in eastern MD!! I wasn't reading listservs at the time though or I would've been all over that.

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.

Kawalimus posted:

I still need Townsend's, Hermit, and Black-throated Gray. These occasionally show up east so hopefully one shows up near my chasing range. I actually think I had McGillivray's once in Yosemite a few years ago, but my group was in a rush and didn't have time to ID it :(.

Yea, I still need Hermit. They don't quite get up as far north as where I live with any regularity. Your Yosemite story reminded me that I had a heard-only mystery warbler there last year. Thinking back, Macgillivray's was probably what it was.

I was trying to find some more information on Ted Parker since I keep seeing his name on the front page of eBird. I knew he played prominently into Kingbird Highway and became a great ornithologist, but not much other than that. Apparently he was quite good at birding by ear:

Wikipedia posted:

Once, hearing a recording of a dawn chorus in Bolivia, he realized that one of the sounds was an antwren of the genus Herpsilochmus—but since he knew all the sounds of those birds, he knew he was hearing a previously unknown species. The following year, the new species was discovered.

:drat:

InternetJunky
May 25, 2002

The warblers are apparently migrating through my area right now. Currently the only one I have ever seen is the yellow warbler so I have a long list of ones I'd like to see. What's the best way to observe them? Should I park my butt in front of a tree and hope for the best? I find small birds like these almost impossible to notice if I'm moving around.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer
I don't remember how much this features Ted, but there's a book Parrot without a name that details the search for unknown species of birds in South America.

Yeah- Ted was kind of a genius when it comes to bird sounds. I'm pretty sure he's still the single most prolific recordist in South America and is responsible for much of the distributional information on birds there. He's also one of those guys who really followed his passion and died doing what he loved. He wasn't faculty or permanent paid staff anywhere and was getting by on small grants and collaborations.

edit:
re: finding fall warblers- besides just getting out and looking in promising woodland areas, maybe check ebird or tap into local networks to see where people tend to go to look for them. It's a little different on the west coast- stuff tends to fly until they hit the ocean, so groves of trees close to the coast collect migrants. In the central valley it's still hot and dry so definitely riparian areas are good. Sometimes isolated groves, or forest that's on the south end of a large inhospitable region like a lake or something can be good since things tend to stop there. Southern ends or choke points of valleys can be good as well.

Getting out there when the weather changes can be good- I can't remember the best conditions for grounding migrants, but something like a front coming up from the south might stop them for a day or two, while a big front coming from the north might bring stuff through but also push birds south as well.

BetterLekNextTime fucked around with this message at 17:52 on Sep 11, 2013

Kawalimus
Jan 17, 2008

Better Living Through Birding And Pessimism

InternetJunky posted:

The warblers are apparently migrating through my area right now. Currently the only one I have ever seen is the yellow warbler so I have a long list of ones I'd like to see. What's the best way to observe them? Should I park my butt in front of a tree and hope for the best? I find small birds like these almost impossible to notice if I'm moving around.

Well what I do is find a spot or a park where you know they come through. And then I try to get there at around first light when the sun first starts hitting the trees there and gets the bugs moving. Then the warblers will start moving and you can get some good stuff if you know a good spot. Going on the day a cold front moves through, or after a clear night or a night with NE winds(for the fall, you want the opposite in the spring!) will increase your odds of having a good day that morning. Also you can look at weather radar and see if there was a movement the previous night. You can tell birds/insects from weather pretty easily but I don't often do this for some reason.

You can also get good warbler activity in the evening too, and if you're in a really good spot sometimes it's just good all day though if it gets hot during the day it usually shuts down for a while. The spot I usually visit has been fantastic this year and everyone else I talk to is saying the same thing. Last year in this spot in the fall if I got 10 warbler sp in one day it was a real good day. This year I'm getting that without even trying.

What I usually do is start at a spot I know is good when the light hits it. Then I do that for a while then start moving around. When I'm doing that I watch for movement and if I see some I stop, and try to see if there's a bigger flock in the area. You can hear the warblers calling sometimes even if you can't tell one chip from another. Also listen for Chickadees. Chickadees are often good indicators of a nice mixed flock in the area and you can usually find some warblers near them.

I'm sure others have more and maybe better suggestions on finding warblers too. And can explain the winds and such better.

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.

InternetJunky posted:

The warblers are apparently migrating through my area right now. Currently the only one I have ever seen is the yellow warbler so I have a long list of ones I'd like to see. What's the best way to observe them? Should I park my butt in front of a tree and hope for the best? I find small birds like these almost impossible to notice if I'm moving around.

Well, firsthand knowledge is going to be your best bet for actual spots, but I look for areas with lots of smaller trees and just wander around slowly looking and listening. "Migrant traps", areas of isolated foliage surrounded by less desirable habitat like farm fields can be very productive, from my understanding. This time of year is harder because the birds are in their drab plumage and won't be singing, but they should still be fluttering and moving around pretty good.

800peepee51doodoo
Mar 1, 2001

Volute the swarth, trawl betwixt phonotic
Scoff the festune

BeastOfExmoor posted:

eBird is great for this. Go here and plug in your state/province and county (or multiple counties, for more complete records) and you should get a nice set of graphs showing how often each species is reported throughout the year. I print these out whenever I travel so I have a good idea what unfamiliar species I need to research and be on the lookout for.

I've never used this aspect of eBird. I guess I never realized you could filter for hotspots which is actually kind of amazing. I've really only used eBird for looking for a specific species and seeing where it's been reported most recently. Thanks for pointing this out!

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.
All the reports you can pull from ebird under the "Explore Data"
header are pretty useful.

Here's some more in depth abundance data for some of Edmonton County's more common fall Warblers:
http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?step...ntinue=Continue

It looks like the best part of the year for Warblers where InternetJunky is probably past, but there's still a shot of seeing them. The latest dates for most of the Warblers are late September:
http://ebird.org/ebird/sightings?lo...3&listType=last

If you miss them this year, it looks like they should be back next May:
http://ebird.org/ebird/sightings?li...ontinuous=false

Kawalimus
Jan 17, 2008

Better Living Through Birding And Pessimism
You can also use this to find bird spots and notable sightings, which uses Ebird data.

http://birdsearch.org/

800peepee51doodoo
Mar 1, 2001

Volute the swarth, trawl betwixt phonotic
Scoff the festune

BeastOfExmoor posted:

All the reports you can pull from ebird under the "Explore Data"
header are pretty useful.

Do you know if there is a way to filter or search for lists people have submitted for specific hotspots by date? Like, for instance is there a way I could look up what people have reported seeing in the last 7 days at X location? The only way I could figure out how to do that was to search for some common species on the map and check the recent lists. Obviously, this isn't going to get everything because a lot of people won't report the common stuff but will report the less common species.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer

800peepee51doodoo posted:

Do you know if there is a way to filter or search for lists people have submitted for specific hotspots by date? Like, for instance is there a way I could look up what people have reported seeing in the last 7 days at X location? The only way I could figure out how to do that was to search for some common species on the map and check the recent lists. Obviously, this isn't going to get everything because a lot of people won't report the common stuff but will report the less common species.

I'm not sure about 7 days, but if you zoom in enough on the map to see individual reports, those <30 days are in red and the rest are in blue.

It could be some of the 3rd party programs/apps are better for specific sorting/filtering like that. Unfortunately I've not used those yet so don't know for sure.

800peepee51doodoo
Mar 1, 2001

Volute the swarth, trawl betwixt phonotic
Scoff the festune

BetterLekNextTime posted:

I'm not sure about 7 days, but if you zoom in enough on the map to see individual reports, those <30 days are in red and the rest are in blue.

It could be some of the 3rd party programs/apps are better for specific sorting/filtering like that. Unfortunately I've not used those yet so don't know for sure.

Yeah, that's what I usually do, but you have to search for a species. You can't just put in a name for a hotspot, at least not on the map.

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.

800peepee51doodoo posted:

Do you know if there is a way to filter or search for lists people have submitted for specific hotspots by date? Like, for instance is there a way I could look up what people have reported seeing in the last 7 days at X location? The only way I could figure out how to do that was to search for some common species on the map and check the recent lists. Obviously, this isn't going to get everything because a lot of people won't report the common stuff but will report the less common species.

Not that I know of, and I've wanted that as well. Hotspots are really nice in theory, but they've been kind of screwed up by the preponderance of people using GPS coordinates and entering data on their phones and kind of messing up the system.

razz
Dec 26, 2005

Queen of Maceration
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.

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.

razz posted:

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.

Have fun! I did a good chunk of that trip (Zion and Grand Canyon) last year and it was awesome. I hope you see some Condors!

Sparowe
Jun 27, 2010

Like a bird on the wire...

razz posted:

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.

The best honeymoon is where you can bird together! Have fun, and I hope you come back with interesting tales of rare and unknown species that you discovered and then got to name after yourselves.

Kawalimus
Jan 17, 2008

Better Living Through Birding And Pessimism
If I go to Texas(the right part anyway) I want to see a GREEN JAY!!! Among many others of course.

RustedChrome
Jun 10, 2007

"do not hold the camera obliquely, or the world will seem to be on an inclined plane."

Kawalimus posted:

If I go to Texas(the right part anyway) I want to see a GREEN JAY!!! Among many others of course.

When I went there the first time, I was so excited to see the Green Jays and was taking pics like crazy. The local birders pretty much treat them like pigeons and were much more excited by a Lincoln's Sparrow nearby.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer
/\/\/\/\ edit- I was definitely excited about green jays, grackles, etc that are common there.

Kawalimus posted:

If I go to Texas(the right part anyway) I want to see a GREEN JAY!!! Among many others of course.

a mighty fine looking bird


Green Jay on Flickr

Lower Rio Grande Valley is pretty awesome for all sorts of birds. I went in the winter a few years ago.

random photo dump- a few others (before I had a DSLR):

Chachalaca

Chachalaca by alankrakauer, on Flickr


Chachalaca Swarm on Flickr

Great-tailed Grackle

Great-tailed Grackles on Flickr

Long-billed Thrasher

Long-billed Thrasher on Flickr

Clay-colored Robin

Clay-colored Robin on Flickr

Wild Muscovy Ducks

Muscovy Ducks on Flickr

Pyrruloxia

Pyrrhuloxia on Flickr

Have fun Razz!

Kawalimus
Jan 17, 2008

Better Living Through Birding And Pessimism

RustedChrome posted:

When I went there the first time, I was so excited to see the Green Jays and was taking pics like crazy. The local birders pretty much treat them like pigeons and were much more excited by a Lincoln's Sparrow nearby.

I've heard as much!! Same thing with me when I go out west and see Steller's jays and Scrub-jays. That's the fun of seeing birds when you travel. Even stuff that people there see every day you can take great delight in. And nice pics! I want to see a Pyrrhuloxia so bad just for that name alone. I remember as a kid looking through the bird books wondering how to pronounce that.


Also for the person asking about Ebird hotspot info I just saw this on my Facebook today.

http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/hotspot-explorer/

So there's more about the hotspots themselves in this feature. I hope it helps people.

ntrepid
Oct 11, 2004
Uh..
Arrived a little bit after daylight today and the warblers were very active. Saw my first Blackburnian and observed him for about 45 seconds. Very cool! I think i'm going to go again tomorrow to a different spot and see what shows up.

Kawalimus
Jan 17, 2008

Better Living Through Birding And Pessimism
I saw the most Cape May Warblers I've ever seen in one day today. Very nice bird, and good mix of bright and dull ones. Also got to see pretty much every flavor of Tennessee Warbler. Those green ones are beautiful!!

InternetJunky
May 25, 2002

I really need a comprehensive bird guide that shows pictures for all the different plumages a bird can have, my field guides are useless with all the winter & juvenile plumage I'm seeing now.

I would love confirmation on some IDs:

American Golden-Plover (junvenile)?




Pectoral Sandpiper (the bill colour doesn't seem to match)?


Semi-Palmated Plover (juvenile)?


Mystery Gull that stood out as very black amongst a group of much lighter Bonaparte's Gulls

Kawalimus
Jan 17, 2008

Better Living Through Birding And Pessimism
Not a great shorebirder but Pectoral Sandpiper looks just right. Semipalmated Plover also looks correct. And the Golden-plover might be too but not as familiar with that and the Black-bellied. Or the Pacific one for that matter...The gull looks like what I would see as a Laughing, but don't take my word for that.

Also when you post pics of birds asking for ID, you should include where the pics were taken because range will help narrow down what you're seeing.

The shorebird guide linked to me earlier is a good one to help you with the different shorebird plumages and what have you. Shorebirds are tough!

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BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.

InternetJunky posted:

I really need a comprehensive bird guide that shows pictures for all the different plumages a bird can have, my field guides are useless with all the winter & juvenile plumage I'm seeing now.

I would love confirmation on some IDs:

American Golden-Plover (junvenile)?




Pectoral Sandpiper (the bill colour doesn't seem to match)?


Semi-Palmated Plover (juvenile)?


Mystery Gull that stood out as very black amongst a group of much lighter Bonaparte's Gulls



Your gull is a Franklin's Gull. The dark "mantle" (the gray back) compared to the Bonaparte's, thick which ring behind the eye, and black patch on the back of the head are the most obvious field marks.

American Golden Plover looks right for the first bird. I'd guess juv as well. The bill looks a bit big, but the speckled back definitely separate it from Black-Bellied Plover. I believe the Pacific/Golden/Black-Bellied Plovers all maintain their breeding plumage almost exclusively in the arctic, so they can be really, really frustrating to ID once they head south. In my experience, late season birds tend to be juveniles. Adult shorebirds tend to leave really early and move migrate much faster. I had my first returning Baird's sandpiper in Washington in early July, for instance, and there were already returning Western Sandpipers in Southern California at that point.

That is definitely a Pectoral Sandpiper. The bi-colored bill, thick streaky breast, light-colored legs, and more "stout" appearance are all giveaways. The only other close match would be a Sharp-Tailed Sandpiper, which is an asian bird, but ends up on this side of the ocean every year in small numbers. It would have less streaking on the front and a darker "cap", among other marks.

Juvenile Semipalmated Plover looks right to me. Otherwise known as the mini-Killdeer with only one black band on the chest.

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