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BetterLekNextTime posted:Maybe Northern Flicker? Maybe also check Kestral or sharp-shinned/coopers hawks. ohhh yeah I think the Flicker is the culprit, the second call here is pretty dead on: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Flicker/sounds I haven't heard any drumming so I didn't think to look up woodpeckers too closely. Thanks! 
the yeti fucked around with this message at 22:53 on May 9, 2016 |
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May 9, 2016 22:51
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Yep birding is awesome. Just spent last weekend enjoying the festival of birds at Point Pelee. I had no idea the second largest north american bird migration happened so close to me and I'll certainly be back next year. I was informed that the wonky weather has caused the festival to begin slow, but there were still many species to be seen. Here are my highlights from the weekend: * wood duck male and female with their offspring * screech owl * hooded warbler * magnolia warbler * black throated green warbler * red hooded woodpecker * downy woodpecker * great horned owl nesting with babies My $70 binoculars were great for my first time birding. Although I used my friend's $300 vortex bins for a bit and noticed the better quality. I wouldn't be surprised if I upgrade for the fall migration and use my current bins for all the canoeing/hiking I do during the summer. Thanks again for the advice all!
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May 10, 2016 00:16
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How is it decided where a species is divided? The other day I was at an event and the leader of our hike was telling us about how the golden-winged warbler was in decline because they were interbreeding with the blue-winged warbler, and the resulting offspring sometimes backcrossing further. Either bird might learn the other's song, too. But, like, if the two species can successfully breed and the hybrids are fertile and they live in the same spaces and share songs, aren't they the same dang bird? Is this a matter of species conservation or bird eugenics? While I'm at it, are we sure that Empidonax flycatchers are actually different species or is it just kind of a prank on new birders? Also while I was there we saw, among other things, Sandhill Cranes with a chick, and two Piping Plovers hooking up.
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May 31, 2016 01:56
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YggiDee posted:How is it decided where a species is divided? The other day I was at an event and the leader of our hike was telling us about how the golden-winged warbler was in decline because they were interbreeding with the blue-winged warbler, and the resulting offspring sometimes backcrossing further. Either bird might learn the other's song, too. But, like, if the two species can successfully breed and the hybrids are fertile and they live in the same spaces and share songs, aren't they the same dang bird? Is this a matter of species conservation or bird eugenics? While I'm at it, are we sure that Empidonax flycatchers are actually different species or is it just kind of a prank on new birders? As a non-scientician, it's definitely a weird thing that certainly looks like bizarre bird racism/eugenics if you look closely. Especially when you start getting into "invasive species". Like, if you applied the same standards to homo sapiens, things start getting veeeeery uncomfortable. But ha ha it's just birds! Best not think of it like that!
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May 31, 2016 02:15
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hi i would just like all of you to know that im becoming my dad, because i saw a bird and for like AN ENTIRE WEEK i was obsessed and looking through bird books at the library. figured out it was probs an indigo bunting, a very glorious and musical boy. I'd never seen a bird with such electric coloring before, it was really cool also the cardinal pair is back in my neighborhood. this is like year 3 or 4 they've been hangin out :3
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May 31, 2016 03:44
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YggiDee posted:How is it decided where a species is divided? The other day I was at an event and the leader of our hike was telling us about how the golden-winged warbler was in decline because they were interbreeding with the blue-winged warbler, and the resulting offspring sometimes backcrossing further. Either bird might learn the other's song, too. But, like, if the two species can successfully breed and the hybrids are fertile and they live in the same spaces and share songs, aren't they the same dang bird? Is this a matter of species conservation or bird eugenics? While I'm at it, are we sure that Empidonax flycatchers are actually different species or is it just kind of a prank on new birders? I don't know exactly how species limits are set, but I know it's not entirely based on the Biological Species Concept (i.e. lack of potential or actual interbreeding). Some groups of bird (like ducks) can successfully interbreed across genera, and it gets even trickier when some of the isolation mechanisms are based on learning (like songs), which can be messed up through weird interactions like brood parasitism or allee effects. Speciation can be a murky and prolonged process, and the committee who decides on lumping/splitting has to decide how far along and complete that process has proceeded based on behavior, color/morphology, life history, and genetics. And gently caress Empidonax all day long.
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May 31, 2016 19:41
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YggiDee posted:But, like, if the two species can successfully breed and the hybrids are fertile and they live in the same spaces and share songs, aren't they the same dang bird? does this mean im a neanderthal 
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May 31, 2016 19:59
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A lot of people are a few % neanderthal, with maybe some Denisovan thrown in there. I'm not totally up on the human evolution lit but there was definitely a lot of genetic exchange between modern humans and the other related lineages. Some evidence that Male Neanderthal x Female Human didn't work as well though. Maybe not quite the same as the bird example... The F1s of Blue-winged and Golden-winged warblers ( Lawrences Warbler, Brewster's Warbler )are distinctive and quite pretty.
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May 31, 2016 20:21
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BetterLekNextTime posted:A lot of people are a few % neanderthal, with maybe some Denisovan thrown in there. I'm not totally up on the human evolution lit but there was definitely a lot of genetic exchange between modern humans and the other related lineages. Some evidence that Male Neanderthal x Female Human didn't work as well though. Maybe not quite the same as the bird example...
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May 31, 2016 20:57
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Watched a juvenile peregrine eyeball and then rob a nest of one of its babies. Then I watched the juvenile rip its meal apart. Coolest poo poo ever. 
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Jun 8, 2016 03:37
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I've got a pair of Brown Headed Cowbirds as regulars at my balcony feeder, and I'm curious about the species. There's a fair bit of opinion around suggesting that BHCs are pretty much the worst thing EVAR because they're nest parasites. Most of these discussions, including the Wikipedia page, come down to a series of old reports by Herbert Friedmann and co-authors in the 1960's and 1970's. The relevant bit on the wiki:Wikipedia posted:The brown-headed cowbird eggs have been documented in nests of at least 220 host species, including hummingbirds and raptors.[5][6] That sounded like an interesting bit of natural-history to procrastinate at work reading about, and I stumbled across the 1977 paper by Friedmann, Kiff, and Rothstein. It's an old-school Natural History Report, with "notes" (a paragraph or two) about each of the species of birds reported to have been parasitized by BHCs. That quote above is based on a subsequent report from 1985 that I haven't been able to get my hands on, yet, but if you're interested in the 1977 version it's at the Smithsonian: https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/5409 I don't know if that's behind a paywall or not, I came to it through a series of journal articles, starting in Ecology. No hummingbirds or raptors that I could see in my skim through the 1977 report, though I think it's worth pointing out that some of the species listed are represented by a single record of a person looking in a nest and seeing a cowbird egg. The first species listed for BHC (the report also talks about other Cowbird species) is the Virginia Rail (Rallus limicola), from a single record, and is described as "an accidental host choice, an error on the part of the parasite." Cowbirds seem to be one of those species that people love to impose their own morals upon - how dare they leave their young to be raised by others! - but it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I think they're lovely birds and they are quite welcome at my urban, apartment-balcony feeder.
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Jun 14, 2016 20:58
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Cowbirds are pretty awesome. Not quite as gruesome as cuckoos or honeyguides that outright kill all the host eggs or nestlings. I feel the same way as you- something that could seem repulsive as a human behavior is a super-cool adaptation in another animal. There are some cases where cowbird parasitism is causing problems for sensitive bird populations, but other species do ok even with fairly high parasitism rates. Researchers are still learning a lot of crazy things about cowbirds. For example, around fledging, some cowbirds will leave nests at night and return in the morning, potentially being led away by their mothers. And adult cowbirds monitor host nests fairly closely. Whether they try a given host nest in the future depends on whether the cowbirds fledged last time, and there's at least some evidence for a "mafia" hypothesis, that the cowbirds might destroy nests of hosts that rejected the cowbird eggs, selecting against rejection behavior and "blackmailing" hosts into accepting their eggs. There's pretty low cost to a cowbird laying in any possible nest given how many eggs they can lay in a season- I'm not surprised there are oddball host choices. That's true for a lot of different birds including ducks and galliforms too (I even wrote a paper about that once...)
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Jun 14, 2016 21:46
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I figure if I can think that, say, hawks are cool then I can also be okay with cowbirds. Because while laying your eggs in someone else's nest is not neighborly behavior, it's still friendlier than eating them.
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Jun 14, 2016 22:03
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YggiDee posted:I figure if I can think that, say, hawks are cool then I can also be okay with cowbirds. Because while laying your eggs in someone else's nest is not neighborly behavior, it's still friendlier than eating them. I have bad news for you cowbirds often remove one of the host eggs when they lay one of their own I guess still better than how hawk prey probably dies... VVVV That was me
BetterLekNextTime fucked around with this message at 01:04 on Jun 15, 2016 |
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Jun 15, 2016 00:21
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BetterLekNextTime posted:I have bad news for you cowbirds often remove one of the host eggs when they lay one of their own There was a guy in the bird threat in the photo forum talking about how he once caught a great horned owl raiding a robin nest to feed the robin chicks to the owl's chicks.
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Jun 15, 2016 00:53
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Cowbirds are awesome. I got to see one peering intently at another bird's nest, going for it as soon as the parent left, and being chased off loudly. There's all sorts of ecological and evolutionary interactions at work too. The mafia hypothesis was already mentioned, but did you know that they are nest parasites because they coevolved with bison? They used to follow the migrating bison herds, and since they couldn't settle down, they'd parasitize a nest and keep going. But we all but hunted the bison into extinction, leading cowbirds to follow cows instead (hence the name). Cows don't go anywhere though, so the cowbirds end up overparasitizing the area. Even worse for the cowbirds, they will also parasitize house finch nests. House finches were introduced to the East (good job, us) and are not typical cowbird hosts. This is because they feed their young seeds, whereas cowbirds need insect food. Any cowbird chick unfortunate enough to hatch in a house finch nest is stuffed with seeds until it dies. And then, of course, the cowbird retaliates... In short, humans (not cowbirds) are assholes.
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Jun 15, 2016 03:42
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There are lots of Northern Mockingbirds in my area (unsurprisingly) and a few weeks ago I noticed that the songs immediately near my office had changed a lot. I'm pretty sure that the new generation took over the territory here. The youngling's calls are all super simple, loud, and shrill in comparison, he's still learning  Anyway the point is that birding can be rewarding even if you just pay attention during your daily routine, if you can't get out for a hike too often.
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Jun 15, 2016 17:16
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So there's this bird in a bush in our front yard that's been driving us nuts with its calls, I don't have a picture but recorded a crappy video of its call real quick. Just kinda curious what kind of bird it is. Figures when I want to record it it doesn't make the sound. It's kinda faint but hopefully good enough. I'm in southeastern Massachusetts. https://youtu.be/521BtJeFXeU Edit: Got a slightly better one https://youtu.be/tLL2HkP6ggU A Proper Uppercut fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Jul 5, 2016 |
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Jul 5, 2016 01:06
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sounds like a cat to me 
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Jul 5, 2016 01:37
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Gray Catbird!
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Jul 5, 2016 01:55
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Hey yes that's definitely it. Thanks! It's really annoying.
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Jul 5, 2016 02:04
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Trip to Australia was awesome for birding. Saw Rainbow Lorikeets, Cockatoos, and snapped this picture of a Laughing Kookaburra that just came down to eye level and hung out a few feet from us.
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Jul 19, 2016 22:53
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Thanks for the ID! That's a cute little sucker.
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Jul 20, 2016 16:05
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I followed the instructions on some YouTube video and became friends of some crows at my sisters' house! I gave them disgusting bugs, and they gave me a 3 musketeers wrapper and some tin foil, and some feathers from other birds. Wow! So shiny!
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Jul 24, 2016 19:06
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Link to the vid? Sounds like fun!
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Jul 25, 2016 04:21
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If anyone is looking for a spotting scope (critical if you start to get into IDing shorebirds, ducks, gulls, raptors, etc), B&H has a good "daily deal" on a Kowa scope. Be sure to get the eyepiece too.
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Jul 26, 2016 19:03
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 It isn't the greatest photo, but I finally got a shot of the little guy that
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Jul 26, 2016 20:36
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I thought I had found the "how to befriend crows" video here in this thread. I'll try and dig through my YouTube history.
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Jul 26, 2016 21:41
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No pictures because they all scatter if they see me, I have to move like a sloth to even see, but the birds at my feeder include two male Goldfinches with the brightest yellow feathers I've ever seen and a Cardinal with some absolutely rockin' punk hair. Get a feeder. It's cheap entertainment.
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Jul 27, 2016 01:34
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Apparently the North American Big Year record has been broken. 753 species so far in the ABA area, and it's not even August yet! 
BetterLekNextTime fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Jul 27, 2016 |
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Jul 27, 2016 02:19
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ExecuDork posted:Get a feeder. It's cheap entertainment. truth 
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Jul 27, 2016 16:47
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ExecuDork posted:Get a feeder. It's cheap entertainment. I have one in Florida. It's 50% squirrels, 20% cardinals, 20% blue jays, 9% woodpeckers, 1% titmice. Until the grackles discover it at which point my yard gets covered in grackles until I take the feeder down for a few months.
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Jul 27, 2016 17:23
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I spotted a whole family of wild turkeys yesterday! I was riding my bike and didn't have my phone so unfortunately no pictures, but there was one adult on the ground with three juveniles and the other adult was 30' up a tree making indignant noises at me.
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Jul 27, 2016 17:27
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Cythereal posted:I have one in Florida. It's 50% squirrels, 20% cardinals, 20% blue jays, 9% woodpeckers, 1% titmice. I know squirrel repellent feeders can be hit-or-miss but if you get the kind that spins them off you'll double your entertainment. There's also ones that prevent birds over a certain size from having feeder access, but I don't know how invested you actually are in bird feeders. What kind of seed are you using?
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Jul 27, 2016 18:04
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YggiDee posted:I know squirrel repellent feeders can be hit-or-miss but if you get the kind that spins them off you'll double your entertainment. There's also ones that prevent birds over a certain size from having feeder access, but I don't know how invested you actually are in bird feeders. What kind of seed are you using? Generic wild bird seed from walmart. The squirrels never seem to be able to actually get at the bird food, but they know it's there and will spend lots of time trying to access the feeder. The blue jays and woodpeckers are also very messy eaters and scatter lots of food onto the ground, which the squirrels seize on. I like the blue jays, mind, but the squirrels I could do with less of.
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Jul 27, 2016 18:10
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There's probably eight or so different types of bird seed, all of which attract different bird combinations, but Mom swears by safflower seeds to keep the squirrels at bay. They also do not care much for Nyjer seed, which is the preferred seed for goldfinches. If you're really determined, some people mix in just a little bit of hot pepper flakes in their seed mixes, which squirrels dislike and birds are physiologically incapable of tasting. (*Please note that this is all second hand knowledge, I don't live in a feeder friendly area myself but Mom has five or six different feeders at any given time so I assume she knows what she's doing)
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Jul 27, 2016 18:31
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Noted, but to be fair I live in Florida. In the five years I've had this feeder here's a sum total of all the birds I've seen visit the feeder: Mourning Dove Collared Dove Blue Jay Northern Cardinal Tufted Titmouse Downy Woodpecker Red-Bellied Woodpecker Common Grackle Boat-Tailed Grackle There are wrens and thrashers and mockingbirds and crows and bobwhites and pileated woodpeckers around in the neighborhood, but they've never expressed any interest in the feeder. Think I will check into adjusting the bird seed, though, I adore the titmice but they're very skittish and the only birds they will visit the feeder with are the cardinals and downy woodpeckers.
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Jul 27, 2016 19:29
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If you have a window nearby the feeders, a fun way to mess with the squirrels is sneak up to the open window and hiss like a cat at them. You can't do it too often or they'll figure out that there isn't really a cat, but otherwise it's an effective (and fun!) way to get the pesky rats to gently caress off for a while. My little brother discovered this technique by accident, and boy let me tell ya, growing up in rural Minnesota this sort of thing was the absolute height of entertainment.
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Jul 27, 2016 19:56
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Certain birds are more or less inclined to visit feeders based on diet/habits etc, a bunch of the birds you mentioned are either insect eaters or very shy of people. You might be able to get some if you put out water but attracting those sorts of birds is less of a 'buy a thing' job and more of a 'remodel your backyard for strategic shade and foliage, planting specific fruit trees and shrubs' sort of thing. Also it can take a while for birds to figure out that you have food, some will pass by at the start of the season and if you didn't have anything, they won't check back until next year. Hmm, I know orioles like fruit and nectar (with apparently a preference for oranges?) but their bills don't fit in most hummingbird feeders. Cedar waxwings also like fruit and blossoms, I once saw an entire flock mob and strip an apple tree. Pileated woodpeckers are HUGE and shy, I don't know if they'll go for a suet feeder, you might have to give them a whole dead tree. Gold finches prefer Nyjer and thistle seed, but I think their breeding season just ended so it might be a little late for them? Actually that might be a factor, I don't know what seasons birds are active in down in Florida, like right now I'm pretty sure half your birds are up north with me right now. If I ever manage to dig up my bird book again I'll get back to you on that one. On the bright side you apparently have tufted titmice in your backyard, which are the cutest loving birds on the planet and if I ever saw more than a few a year I might die of joy.
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Jul 27, 2016 20:10
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 06:21 |
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Lutha Mahtin posted:If you have a window nearby the feeders, a fun way to mess with the squirrels is sneak up to the open window and hiss like a cat at them. You can't do it too often or they'll figure out that there isn't really a cat, but otherwise it's an effective (and fun!) way to get the pesky rats to gently caress off for a while. My little brother discovered this technique by accident, and boy let me tell ya, growing up in rural Minnesota this sort of thing was the absolute height of entertainment. On the upside for those of us living in areas with urban raptors, putting the feeder in the middle of a big open grassy area can really help the hawks get easy squirrel pickings. 
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Jul 27, 2016 20:11
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