Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

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

Rotten Cookies posted:

Hey bird nerds, can I get some help on an ID? My friend sent me this picture asking if I knew what sort of bird it was. It was taken in a backyard on Long Island, New York. The closest I've looked at is a Cassin's Vireo, but that would be way out of range. Nashville Warbler is close, too, but this bird has a more distinct white eye/face region and the white outline on the wing feathers (I don't know the proper term for this, lacing?) I asked him how it was behaving, but he didn't remember anything or take notice. Sorry if this isn't a lot to go on. I'm only just trying my hand at the bird thing, really. It could be a juvenile something, but I don't know.

(Sorry for the photo, it was taken through a window screen.)



Anyway, any help is appreciated! I can't wait to hear how easy this ID is and how I botched it up!

Looks pretty good for Blue-headed Vireo, which used to be same species as Cassin's. (the old Solitary vireo)

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib

Moon Potato posted:

Does this vary depending on whether it's breeding season?

First, that's a great video. Please keep up the good work!
Second, as far as I know Dr. Gurd's fieldwork only happened during the breeding season, and all of the reasoning and discussion he put forward had to do with resource partitioning and reproductive effort - Coots are jerks because they have so many very very hungry mouths to feed in the summer. I'm not surprised they're pretty chill at Arcata at this time of year. Between the apparent richness of that environment (i.e. lots of things for ducks and coots to eat) and the absence of chicks, Dr. Gurd's theory predicts they'll tone the aggro way down.

Maybe Wood Ducks are just always dickheads?

Moon Potato
May 12, 2003

ExecuDork posted:

Maybe Wood Ducks are just always dickheads?
That could be the case. They usually just stop by my area for a day or two during their migration, so I don't get to really observe them for more than an afternoon here and there. Most of what I know about them comes from this documentary, and it certainly looks like they're jerks to each other during their breeding season.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer
Keep in mind that many ducks court and form pairs in winter, so maybe they are a little more amped up than you would expect.

Coots are pretty much the most interesting thing around during the breeding season. Bruce Lyon (UC Santa Cruz) and his students have done a ton of work on brood parasitism, parental favoritism and infanticide, etc.

Rotten Cookies
Nov 11, 2008

gosh! i like both the islanders and the rangers!!! :^)

BetterLekNextTime posted:

Looks pretty good for Blue-headed Vireo, which used to be same species as Cassin's. (the old Solitary vireo)

Hey, thanks! I didn't know about that split into two species. Weird that only Cassin's was showing up for me. It was really throwing me off because I knew it looked so drat similar, but was out of range by 1 midwest US and most of the eastern US.

Do any of you use free birding apps on your phones? The Merlin one is pretty neat in its IDing. It asks for location, date, approximate size, colors, and broadly the behavior (wading, soaring, on the ground, at a feeder, on a fence) then gives you a list of possible birds, each with a few pictures as well as some samples on calls and songs. I do like it. It has about 400 species in there. I was just wondering what else people use. Maybe I'll find something better?

For more bird stuff, I saw a Barred Owl for the first time, by accident. Scared the poo poo out of me. I can definitely see how people might think it an alien when not in the right state of mind.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer
Sounds like Merlin got you pretty close- maybe the location services was not working? Not bad actually. I've played with it a couple of times and it seemed to do pretty well with common stuff. I have iBird, Sibley, and Peterson's. At least iBird has an 'ID me' function but I've never played with it, and I'm not sure if it's in the free or lite version. Peterson's is not the first app I turn too but one nice feature is it retains the full-page plates with multiple species which can make it easier to compare. Also, it goes on super-sale periodically.

If you get into birding , it won't be too long before you'll get a sense of what general type of bird it is (warbler vs. vireo vs. sparrow), and then having a more traditional birding app is nice because you can jump right to those birds.


btw- Plumbeous Vireo is also party of the old Solitary Vireo complex, so it actually got split into Eastern, Rockies, and Western species.

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.
Ugh. There are currently (or were as recently as yesterday) a Eurasian Hobby, 7 Tropical Kingbirds, and a Brambling about a four hour drive from me and I can't go :(

Maker Of Shoes
Sep 4, 2006

AWWWW YISSSSSSSSSS
DIS IS MAH JAM!!!!!!

Moon Potato posted:

Does this vary depending on whether it's breeding season? I'm used to seeing coots in places where they're a winter resident (Oakland and Arcata, California), and they don't seem any more aggressive than the other waterfowl. In fact, they seem a bit more timid than the Mallards, teals and wigeons when a hawk or falcon makes a pass over the area. Right now, there are large flocks of coots commingling pretty peacefully with everything else at Arcata Marsh.

We get them year round in Arizona and here they tend to act like Dork's post, complete and utter assholes that are a blast to watch. I'm not sure if it's much different outside of city parks and riparian parks but I notice them be mostly dicks to each other with minor kerfuffles with mallards/ring necks/etc sprinkled in.

I agree with the other goon that mentioned it, their kick fights are the best thing.

small-2439 by jankyangles, on Flickr

neckbeard
Jan 25, 2004

Oh Bambi, I cried so hard when those hunters shot your mommy...
Things are looking good for Pine Grosbeak migration this year. I'm in Edmonton and yesterday I was out at one of the parks they hang around in the winter with a couple other bird photographers and saw 2 pairs. We didn't get any last year, due to good berry and cone crops up north.

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib
What kind of park / where did you see those Grosbeaks, neckbeard? I'm in Saskatoon and I realized today that I haven't gone out specifically to look for birds in ages. A species that I've never really had a good look at before is a perfect excuse to get out and freeze my rear end off.

My GF and I tried to see what was going on in the Last Mountain Lake Wildlife Refuge on our way back by scenic route from Regina yesterday. Surprsingly - to me - we saw a Great Blue Heron, a Northern Harrier, and a big Buteo that we *think* was a Harlan's Hawk (subspecies of Red-Tailed); I had thought all the migrators had migrated by now, but there are plenty of ducks and geese still around in addition to the occassional raptor. Then we got stuck in some muddy ruts on the "road" (dirt track) that we foolishly drove down. The tow-truck driver forgot to hang up and we could hear him loudly cursing us as idiots for going out looking for (deleted) birds without even a (deleted) four-by-four (deleted) (deleted) after I explained why were down that particular bit of not-road. :downs:

neckbeard
Jan 25, 2004

Oh Bambi, I cried so hard when those hunters shot your mommy...
I dunno, your average Edmonton river valley park, I guess.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@53.5327135,-113.5485286,1016m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

neckbeard
Jan 25, 2004

Oh Bambi, I cried so hard when those hunters shot your mommy...
We're now getting tons of Pine Grosbeaks in Edmonton now. Last weekend I just saw 2 pairs, but yesterday at the same park there were at least 30 females. Was hoping to see some Redpolls as well, but none yet

stubblyhead
Sep 13, 2007

That is treason, Johnny!

Fun Shoe
Bird fans, my wife and I just witnessed a raptor of some sort swoop in and nab the squirrel my wife had been watching across the street. I've looked through my field guides though, and I'm not sure what it was. It was mostly brown with some mottling on the back, with a prominent white patch on the neck and upper chest. It looked like some pictures of juvenile red tailed hawks, but would they still have juvenile plumage this late in the year?

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib
Where are you? Location is a big part of narrowing in on a bird ID.

One Swell Foop
Aug 5, 2010

I'm afraid we have no time for codes and manners.
Red-tailed hawk is the 'default' hawk for most locations in North America, and juveniles will keep their colouring through the winter into at least their first spring moult.

So on balance (pending location info) the likelihood is it's a juvenile RTH.

stubblyhead
Sep 13, 2007

That is treason, Johnny!

Fun Shoe

ExecuDork posted:

Where are you? Location is a big part of narrowing in on a bird ID.

Whoops, I forgot about that part. I live in Salem, Oregon.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer
Anyone played with the new ebird Targets? Seems like if you've got a reasonable approximation of your bird list into eBird, it would allow you to see what new birds would be easily seen if you travel to a new area.

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.
eBird targets is basically the last major feature I had hoped for on eBird. I do a fair amount of traveling and previously I had to generate a graph for the area I was visiting and piece through it looking for lifers. It does occasionally generate some odd data when you make the sample size small. I'm pretty sure I don't stand much chance of seeing an Iceland Gull in Louisiana next week.




Just don't use it to investigate places you went when you weren't a very good birder. I spent a couple weeks in Grand Canyon and Zion NP's when I first started birding. I was heavily on the lookout for cool birds and yet somehow missed a ton of common birds that I still haven't seen to this day.

BeastOfExmoor fucked around with this message at 19:03 on Nov 15, 2014

Finger Prince
Jan 5, 2007


I went to Ashbridges Bay in Toronto today with my partner (she's the hardcore birder, I'm more casual). There were the usual assorted Bufflehead (cute as heck ducks), Long Tailed ducks (females look like juggalos), and Mergansers, Scaup, etc. bobbing around on the lake, and some aggressive chickadees landing on us looking for a handout. The main highlights were a mixed flock of redpoll and pine siskin gorging on alder seeds. Oh and a rough legged hawk that flew over just after we arrived! Seems all the arctic species have started to be driven south by the recent weather.

Mr. Funny Pants
Apr 9, 2001

One Swell Foop posted:

Red-tailed hawk is the 'default' hawk for most locations in North America, and juveniles will keep their colouring through the winter into at least their first spring moult.

So on balance (pending location info) the likelihood is it's a juvenile RTH.

I just got some pictures of a raptor in my back yard, and it's probably an RTH. But is a Coopers Hawk possible? The pics I see online can be confusing. I'm south of Cleveland.

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib
How big was it? Coopers is about the size of a crow, RTH is much bigger.

Mr. Funny Pants
Apr 9, 2001

ExecuDork posted:

How big was it? Coopers is about the size of a crow, RTH is much bigger.

My impression was that it was bigger than a crow (and we have quite a few of those around), but I'm not sure if I'd say much bigger. But I just went back to the spot where I took the picture, and now I'd say it was maybe a foot to a foot and a half tall, in other words, it could have been the size of a big crow.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer
Looks like a Red-shouldered Hawk to me.

Mr. Funny Pants
Apr 9, 2001

BetterLekNextTime posted:

Looks like a Red-shouldered Hawk to me.

I think you are the winner.

Tardigrade
Jul 13, 2012

Half arthropod, half marshmallow, all cute.
Tangentially related, but this upcoming Lego set should be of interest to bird nerds (x-post from Lego thread).

ixnay posted:

The Birds idea set is already revealed. $45, 580 pieces, comes out in January as a set with 3 birds:


Finger Prince
Jan 5, 2007


I'm going to be driving down from Seattle to San Fran starting tomorrow, and was wondering if anyone had some good birding recommendations? We're in no hurry, though we'll likely hit the 5 as far as southern Oregon before picking up the 101 and 1 once in California. Arcata marsh is one place we're planning on hitting, but other than that we're pretty much winging it, with no real itinerary or pressing schedule.

Kenshin
Jan 10, 2007
Oh wow, I didn't even know this thread existed. I guess I recognize a lot of the regulars in here from the bird photography thread over in Dorkroom.

I did my first "go find specific birds" chase today, going after a snowy owl in at the marina in Edmonds, WA (didn't find it) and a american white pelican in Lake Sammamish right next to the State Park boat jetty (found it!). The pelican is quite rare up here west of the Cascades.

Finger Prince
Jan 5, 2007


Kenshin posted:

Oh wow, I didn't even know this thread existed. I guess I recognize a lot of the regulars in here from the bird photography thread over in Dorkroom.

I did my first "go find specific birds" chase today, going after a snowy owl in at the marina in Edmonds, WA (didn't find it) and a american white pelican in Lake Sammamish right next to the State Park boat jetty (found it!). The pelican is quite rare up here west of the Cascades.

My partner saw the snowy at Edmonds (I think she saw the same list as you). Got a few photos but it's hard to see if they're any good on the camera LCD. There were lots of people out to see it. She wasn't sure if it was all together all right, it looked like it was panting a lot. There looks like maybe some blood around its mouth? But that may have been from a recent meal. We'll have to check the photos once we're back home at the computer. We made it to Arcata this evening, stopping at Emigrant Lake in Oregon. No golden eagles (though one maybe flew high overhead when we were on the interstate), but we got some good views of a kestrel, a prairie falcon, acorn woodpeckers, and assorted little birds like Western bluebirds, golden crowned sparrows, juncos and probably lesser goldfinches. It's absolutely gorgeous country down there.

Kenshin
Jan 10, 2007
That's not good news, there was chatter on the list about possible fishing line hanging from the owl's mouth.

Kenshin
Jan 10, 2007
I need a bit of advice here, though it might be just as appropriate for the birding photography thread.

I'm trying to find a (legal and ethical) way of getting close enough to Tufted Puffins (on land) to get good photos of them. So far my best idea is volunteering to help do some of the grunt work inherent in research in exchange for getting close to them during nesting season. There is a professor who works out of the University of Puget Sound who is one of the few people allowed to go to Protection Island and Tatoosh Island, two of the very few places near Seattle where the puffins nest.

Alternative ideas? My next best idea is flying up to Sitka, AK, and hiring a local with a boat, but that seems like something that would need substantially more research to be anything more than a total crapshoot.

Does anyone else have any experience with something like this?

Obviously I could go on a peliagic tour and hope for the best but that isn't really what I'm going for here as I'd like to get non-flying, non-swimming pictures.

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib

Kenshin posted:

I need a bit of advice here, though it might be just as appropriate for the birding photography thread.

I posted a reply in the PhotoBirds thread. Basically, I think your best idea is to talk to that prof, they might be happy to have you along as an assistant in exchange for a few photos they can use in their work - good photos of one's study organism are the difference between a decent presentation at a conference and a great one.

Keep in mind that field assistant pay ranges from low to "I provide the food and a place to sleep", kind of the academic equivalent to the much-derided concept of "exposure for your work" or "contacts and networking".

The Alaska option is not bad. There are certainly locals in Sitka who know where to go for good bird photos, they'll have taken people out before. This will be pretty expensive, like at least a few hundred bucks a day if you hire a guide for just yourself, but if you bring a friend (or two) you can split costs. Wildlife-watching tours (birds, whales, Sitka probably has bear tours, too - especially when the salmon are running) are easier on the wallet but you'll have fewer opportunities to get really close and you lose most of the control - the tour goes where the tour operators think are good places, and they are mostly not photographers. They'll accomodate reasonable requests, though, especially if you spell out what you're looking for ahead of time.

Finger Prince
Jan 5, 2007


We spent half the day in Arcata Marsh today, what an amazing birding spot!
Now I know how Moon Potato gets all his incredible photos! It's definitely worth the drive from wherever you're at.
We even saw the white tailed kite! Beautiful bird. Tomorrow we're either going to hit Point Reyes or San Pablo Bay, depending on what the weather is doing.

Moon Potato
May 12, 2003

Linedance posted:

We spent half the day in Arcata Marsh today, what an amazing birding spot!
Now I know how Moon Potato gets all his incredible photos! It's definitely worth the drive from wherever you're at.
We even saw the white tailed kite! Beautiful bird. Tomorrow we're either going to hit Point Reyes or San Pablo Bay, depending on what the weather is doing.

Hah, I was just coming here to tell you that the kites have started roosting in the marsh again. I'm glad you got to see one. Thanks for the compliments!

If anyone else is planning a trip, I'm happy to try to help people find their wish list of birds at Arcata Marsh or other hotspots in the area.

Slo-Tek
Jun 8, 2001

WINDOWS 98 BEAT HIS FRIEND WITH A SHOVEL
Sup bird people. We're experimenting a bit and going to drop this thread in Pet Island for a bit. If it doesn't work out, let me know.

Finger Prince
Jan 5, 2007


Could use some help id'ing this guy:

kingbird sp1 by Ruth O Birds, on Flickr

We think he's a tropical kingbird, but he's definitely a vagrant if he is. When flycatching off his post, he didn't have the black tail or dark back like a western kingbird, and his tail was quite long. He was seen near one of the ranches on the way to the lighthouse at Point Reyes near San Francisco.

Kenshin
Jan 10, 2007

Linedance posted:

Could use some help id'ing this guy:

kingbird sp1 by Ruth O Birds, on Flickr

We think he's a tropical kingbird, but he's definitely a vagrant if he is. When flycatching off his post, he didn't have the black tail or dark back like a western kingbird, and his tail was quite long. He was seen near one of the ranches on the way to the lighthouse at Point Reyes near San Francisco.

Sure looks like one. Doesn't have the grey band across its breast of a Western or Cassin's and the grey chin is too pale to be a Cassin's.

Looks like it's rare but not unheard-of, my Sibley guide lists it as a rare visitor all the way up the Pacific coast to Vancouver Island

Pablo Bluth
Sep 7, 2007

I've made a huge mistake.

Kenshin posted:

I need a bit of advice here, though it might be just as appropriate for the birding photography thread.

I'm trying to find a (legal and ethical) way of getting close enough to Tufted Puffins (on land) to get good photos of them. So far my best idea is volunteering to help do some of the grunt work inherent in research in exchange for getting close to them during nesting season. There is a professor who works out of the University of Puget Sound who is one of the few people allowed to go to Protection Island and Tatoosh Island, two of the very few places near Seattle where the puffins nest.

Alternative ideas? My next best idea is flying up to Sitka, AK, and hiring a local with a boat, but that seems like something that would need substantially more research to be anything more than a total crapshoot.

Does anyone else have any experience with something like this?

Obviously I could go on a peliagic tour and hope for the best but that isn't really what I'm going for here as I'd like to get non-flying, non-swimming pictures.
Chris Dodds runs a workshop to place called Saint Paul Island in Alaska that includes Tufted Puffins, although it's not exactly cheap. There's a small town on the island so you could try arranging your own trip.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

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

Linedance posted:

Could use some help id'ing this guy:

kingbird sp1 by Ruth O Birds, on Flickr

We think he's a tropical kingbird, but he's definitely a vagrant if he is. When flycatching off his post, he didn't have the black tail or dark back like a western kingbird, and his tail was quite long. He was seen near one of the ranches on the way to the lighthouse at Point Reyes near San Francisco.

I think so. Couch's seems like a slight possibility as well but I don't see these often enough to know what descriptors like "more colorful" means. There's been a Tropical around Walnut Creek all winter, and there's usually one or two in the area most years.

There was a cooperative scissor-tailed flycatcher in Half-moon Bay- I'll be interested to see if it stayed through the storms. I've seen them before in Oklahoma and Texas, but it's been a while, and I'd love a photo.

Pablo Booth posted:

Chris Dodds runs a workshop to place called Saint Paul Island in Alaska that includes Tufted Puffins, although it's not exactly cheap. There's a small town on the island so you could try arranging your own trip.

I posted this in the other thread- St. Paul is pretty remote but has some nice birding and photography opportunities. Besides seabirds (including Red-legged Kittiwakes and Thick-billed Murres that can be hard to find elsewhere), there's blue-morph Arctic Foxes and a big fur-seal colony. If you are really into listing, it's a good place to try for vagrant species from Asia.

BetterLekNextTime fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Dec 3, 2014

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib

Slo-Tek posted:

Sup bird people. We're experimenting a bit and going to drop this thread in Pet Island for a bit. If it doesn't work out, let me know.

Does this mean we all need to add Melopsittacus undulatus to our life lists?

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Pablo Bluth
Sep 7, 2007

I've made a huge mistake.

BetterLekNextTime posted:


I posted this in the other thread- St. Paul is pretty remote but has some nice birding and photography opportunities. Besides seabirds (including Red-legged Kittiwakes and Thick-billed Murres that can be hard to find elsewhere), there's blue-morph Arctic Foxes and a big fur-seal colony. If you are really into listing, it's a good place to try for vagrant species from Asia.
So you did. It's not exactly the right side of the world for me but it's on the already too long list of places I need to visit. Living in the south of England, I'm fortunately to have a colony of Atlantic Puffins in an affordable location. They really are great birds to watch and brilliant photography subjects.

Now we're in pets, presumably this would be the ideal time to muse that pet cats are an ecological disaster...

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply