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InternetJunky
May 25, 2002

BeastOfExmoor posted:

Zeiss Photoscope is possibly the answer if you actually meant budget wasn't a big issue.

Honestly, I don't really get the whole digiscoping thing. It can certainly come in handy in a pinch for documenting rarities, but in general I think they turn out poor photos of any bird you need a scope for. You can certainly sit in your backyard and get ok photos of birds at your feeders with one, but you could do that even better with a DSLR and a cheap lens. Superzooms seem like they might be a better solution for a cheapish way to document distnat rarities, etc. and they are way less awkward than holding a P&S/Phone up to your camera. I'm certainly not an expert, however, so feel free to show me I'm wrong.
I've seen some pretty impressive shots from digiscoping. Obviously atmosphere plays a big role at those ranges but I think with really good glass and a good dslr on the end you can get some good results. I'm interested in getting more into video as well, for which the quality isn't as critical.

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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:

Assuming budget wasn't a big issue, if you had to get a birding scope that would also working well when digiscoping, what would you pick?

If the above-mentioned Zeiss seems too steep, then Swarovski ATX 30-70/90x is the next tier. Behind that are the new Zeiss Diascopes and Kowas - which are great scopes, although even their prices have more than enough air. Nowhere near Swaro, though!

edit: ATX has all kinds of accessory meant for digiscoping with DSLR setups and the scope itself is phenomenal.

InternetJunky
May 25, 2002

El Perkele posted:

If the above-mentioned Zeiss seems too steep, then Swarovski ATX 30-70/90x is the next tier. Behind that are the new Zeiss Diascopes and Kowas - which are great scopes, although even their prices have more than enough air. Nowhere near Swaro, though!

edit: ATX has all kinds of accessory meant for digiscoping with DSLR setups and the scope itself is phenomenal.
Yeah, the Zeiss really isn't what I'm looking for. I have camera equipment that puts the built-in camera on that scope to shame. I'm definitely looking for something I can integrate with my existing camera bodies.

I've been researching the Swarovski ATX a lot these past couple of days and that will probably be my choice. I spend so much time observing owls, and much of that time is when they are beyond the reach of my camera gear. Being able to record video/photographs of their behaviour even when they are further away is going to be a huge value to me.

EPICAC
Mar 23, 2001

razz posted:

It's not a Common Nighthawk. How big was it? Did you see it fly? Chuck-Wills-Widows are HUGE compared to all the other nightjars. Looks like a either Common Poorwill or Whip-Poor-Will to me just by the way it's sitting and the coloration but hopefully someone else more knowledgeable will know.

Did it have any white on the tail that you notice when it flushed? Common Poorwills have VERY obvious white corners on their tails.

Sorry for the late reply, I was at my parent's house and their internet is unbearably slow. The wings were also not the right shape for a Common Night-Hawk, and the size seemed too small for a Chuck-Wills-Widow. I didn't get a good look at field marks in flight. It was flying towards the sun and he silhouette was really all that was visible.

I submitted it to eBird, and the regional data reviewer sent an e-mail asking for more pictures. He thought it was an Eastern-Whip-Poor-Will, but was interested in the length of the wings in relation to the tail to differentiate between the Poor-Will and but none of my other photos showed that detail. People on another birding forum guessed Common Poor-Will because they can enter a state of torpor, and would thus be more likely to be found farther north in the winter.

I think I'll just have to leave this one as a sp.

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib
Does anyone have any strong opinions one way or the other regarding bird feeding?

I got a nice birdfeeder for christmas, identical to the one in my mother's back yard in Calgary that is currently a home for a flock of about 30 House Sparrows. She also sees a few Chickadees and the occassional Blue Jay or Mockingbird, plus the black squirrels that run around all year. In summer she gets a much wider variety, of course, and it's placed in a good spot in her backyard such that it's visible from the kitchen or from the dining room.

Anyway, I put mine on my balcony with a big shepherd's hook on the railing and I'm hoping to attract at least a few Chickadees. Is there some ethical issue here I'm unaware of? Am I likely to get an angry rant from somebody?

Pablo Bluth
Sep 7, 2007

I've made a huge mistake.
Not really*. I can only speak for the UK, but garden bird feeders is a national pastime. Just keep them clean to avoid spreading Trichomonosis and what not.

* There is an argument to be had that the land, fuel and water required to grow and transport the millions of tons of bird food around the world is ultimately counterproductive and it'd be better to give the land over to wilderness.

razz
Dec 26, 2005

Queen of Maceration

EPICAC posted:

Sorry for the late reply, I was at my parent's house and their internet is unbearably slow. The wings were also not the right shape for a Common Night-Hawk, and the size seemed too small for a Chuck-Wills-Widow. I didn't get a good look at field marks in flight. It was flying towards the sun and he silhouette was really all that was visible.

I submitted it to eBird, and the regional data reviewer sent an e-mail asking for more pictures. He thought it was an Eastern-Whip-Poor-Will, but was interested in the length of the wings in relation to the tail to differentiate between the Poor-Will and but none of my other photos showed that detail. People on another birding forum guessed Common Poor-Will because they can enter a state of torpor, and would thus be more likely to be found farther north in the winter.

I think I'll just have to leave this one as a sp.

Not sure what Whip-Poor-Wills are like in flight, but Poorwills have a really floppy, slow, moth-like flight. And yes Poorwills can go into a state of torpor. At least one native american tribe's name for the Poorwill meant "The Sleeping One".

InternetJunky
May 25, 2002

ExecuDork posted:

Does anyone have any strong opinions one way or the other regarding bird feeding?
The only thing I've heard is that if you're going to offer a feeder during the winter in Canada you pretty much have to commit to keeping it full for them for the entire winter since there just isn't enough food naturally to support them otherwise. I'm not sure I buy that completely, but on days like today when it's below -40 with wind chill my feeders are completely full of birds the entire day. I'm sure a lot of them would simply die if I didn't keep the feeders full.

El Perkele
Nov 7, 2002

I HAVE SHIT OPINIONS ON STAR WARS MOVIES!!!

I can't even call the right one bad.

ExecuDork posted:

Does anyone have any strong opinions one way or the other regarding bird feeding?

I got a nice birdfeeder for christmas, identical to the one in my mother's back yard in Calgary that is currently a home for a flock of about 30 House Sparrows. She also sees a few Chickadees and the occassional Blue Jay or Mockingbird, plus the black squirrels that run around all year. In summer she gets a much wider variety, of course, and it's placed in a good spot in her backyard such that it's visible from the kitchen or from the dining room.

Anyway, I put mine on my balcony with a big shepherd's hook on the railing and I'm hoping to attract at least a few Chickadees. Is there some ethical issue here I'm unaware of? Am I likely to get an angry rant from somebody?
Values, values.

If you are feeding birds throughout winter, you are essentially forcing them to change habits and habitats for your own pleasure! Of course, humans have changed habits and habitats for millennia and birds are remarkably flexible.
You are changing community species compositions! This is true and not always necessarily desirable if you view a species composition of year X preferable to that of year X+n. Several North European species have benefitted wildly from widespread bird feeding. This might lead to increased competition in feeding places viz "more original" species (Blue Tits vs. Willow Tits, for example), increased winter and nesting populations (Greenfinch), changing overwintering habits (Blackcap, Blackbird, Robin, Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch etc.) and thus changing genotypes etc. Of course, urbanization could very well itself lead to these, so... If bird feeding becomes a beneficial factor for an invasive species, then I would most definitely advise against it - at least for some time.

Pablo Bluth's remark about bird feeding being ultimately wasteful for humans and nature alike is definitely true - but then again, most of the things mankind does are, so unless you're really adverse to hypocricy in your everyday life and moral choices, you can pretty safely ignore that.

Pablo Bluth
Sep 7, 2007

I've made a huge mistake.

InternetJunky posted:

The only thing I've heard is that if you're going to offer a feeder during the winter in Canada you pretty much have to commit to keeping it full for them for the entire winter since there just isn't enough food naturally to support them otherwise. I'm not sure I buy that completely, but on days like today when it's below -40 with wind chill my feeders are completely full of birds the entire day. I'm sure a lot of them would simply die if I didn't keep the feeders full.
There is research that shows that when feeders become empty the birds don't always disperse quickly in search of new food sources, but hang around for a while. Repeated yoyo-ing between plenty and empty feeders is unlikely to be good for the population.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer
I suppose if you are in an urban/suburban area that already has a lot of feeders, adding a new feeder shouldn't have much of a downside, all else equal. You'd be helping birds that were already there, rather than changing the behavior of new birds. At least that's my guess.


The ABA has this to say:

quote:

3. Ensure that feeders, nest structures, and other artificial bird environments are safe.

3(a) Keep dispensers, water, and food clean, and free of decay or disease. It is important to feed birds continually during harsh weather.

3(b) Maintain and clean nest structures regularly.

3(c) If you are attracting birds to an area, ensure the birds are not exposed to predation from cats and other domestic animals, or dangers posed by artificial hazards.

So clean the feeders periodically to minimize the spread of disease. In particular watch for birds with their eyes swollen shut- there are various conjunctivitis or similar diseases can be transmissable. Also, birds with respiratory issues (lethargic, panting).

For other hazards, if you have a ton of feral cats around your house, probably best not to feed on the ground or have a feeder that spills seeds on the ground that sparrows, juncos or other ground-foraging birds might come in to. And keep an eye out for window-strikes. If you seem to have birds hitting your windows, maybe move the feeder to a different part of your property.

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib
I have a one-bedroom apartment with a long, narrow balcony on the second floor. I haven't seen any cats nearby, and my building doesn't allow pets. The feeder is over the balcony itself, so only a little of the inevitably-spilled seed is likely to end up on the ground. The glass strikes thing is a good point, I'll make some cardboard cutouts for my sliding glass doors, though the feeder is only about 1m from the window so any bird taking off from it straight into the glass would probably not get injured (I'm guessing) and it seems unlikely that any bird would come straight in really fast, miss the feeder, and smack the glass. Still, a little visual reminder to the birds that glass is a thing seems like a good idea.

I'm hoping to attract native birds primarily, but if I end up supporting a few House Sparrows or Starlings I won't be too unhappy. It's an urban area, and there's a community garden in a park about a block away that probably ends up feeding tons of birds in the summer.

I long ago made peace with myself regarding environmental footprint and carbon issues - I'm finishing up my PhD on greenhouse gas dynamics in Arctic soils, which has already included several thousand tonnes of emissions via flights.

Knockknees
Dec 21, 2004

sprung out fully formed
What is the best book for helping me differentiate raptors in the Midwest (eg. OH, IN, IL, WI). I'm still a beginner, but I love love love detail, especially tips like where its wings come in relation to its tail when perching, behavior, wing flapping, silhouettes, and all that jazz.

I already have Sibley's Guide to NA but I'd love a raptor or hawk specific book.

InternetJunky
May 25, 2002

Knockknees posted:

What is the best book for helping me differentiate raptors in the Midwest (eg. OH, IN, IL, WI). I'm still a beginner, but I love love love detail, especially tips like where its wings come in relation to its tail when perching, behavior, wing flapping, silhouettes, and all that jazz.

I already have Sibley's Guide to NA but I'd love a raptor or hawk specific book.
I would recommend A Photographic Guide to North American Raptors. Lots of pictures in the book, and there's a section at the end that shows pictures of common raptor situations (i.e. perched juvenile raptors) and what to look for to help with ID.

I spent a lot of time this past summer driving around banding hawks with one of the book's authors (William Clark) and can safely say the guy is currently forgetting more about raptors every day than I will probably learn in a lifetime.

Tardigrade
Jul 13, 2012

Half arthropod, half marshmallow, all cute.
Anyone have any good experiences owling? It sounded like a terrible hazing ritual at first - midnight, cold, rainy, nothing in sight - but somehow it all feels justified when you finally see (and hear) that screech owl. So worth it.

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.

Knockknees posted:

What is the best book for helping me differentiate raptors in the Midwest (eg. OH, IN, IL, WI). I'm still a beginner, but I love love love detail, especially tips like where its wings come in relation to its tail when perching, behavior, wing flapping, silhouettes, and all that jazz.

I already have Sibley's Guide to NA but I'd love a raptor or hawk specific book.

Hawks In Flight 2nd Edition is the one I've heard recommended most frequently. The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors also looks pretty interesting.

Tardigrade posted:

Anyone have any good experiences owling? It sounded like a terrible hazing ritual at first - midnight, cold, rainy, nothing in sight - but somehow it all feels justified when you finally see (and hear) that screech owl. So worth it.

Yes, not so much anymore now that I have a baby that needs to be put to bed at a reasonable hour, but I owled a lot last year. My highlight was probably this most recent October when I went out to an area I suspected would be a good spot for Northern Saw-Whet Owls during their fall migration. I turned up one on the very first spot, and proceeded to locate 3-4 more in the next couple hours before sunrise. I never did get one in the flashlight beam, but I had several fly within feet of my face. FWIW, I read a few species accounts in Birds of North America that mentioned the species being most active in the four hours before sunrise. I've had much better luck at those times than just after sunset. I also completely avoid crappy weather after a local owl guy told me he almost never gets responses when it's raining.

Added another rarity to my county list today: Northern Mockingbird. Yep, everything's rare somewhere..

El Perkele
Nov 7, 2002

I HAVE SHIT OPINIONS ON STAR WARS MOVIES!!!

I can't even call the right one bad.

Tardigrade posted:

Anyone have any good experiences owling? It sounded like a terrible hazing ritual at first - midnight, cold, rainy, nothing in sight - but somehow it all feels justified when you finally see (and hear) that screech owl. So worth it.

Rainy is bad. Hampers activity and hearing range. Good weather is generally calm, preferably clear or broken skies, and not too cold. Last year we were owling when it was -25 F (-32C) and holy poo poo did it suck balls. We heard one GGO and few Tengmalms, which was bad for that area. I was expecting ~20 owls!

But yes, it is a horrible hazing ritual. Generally my friends take glühwein and other warm alcoholic drinks with them and I drive. At least makes it tolerable. And you get to see stars, night, mammals and visit places you have never ever even heard of before.

If you really want to hear stuff, you should also look at the normal calling times for different species. Same route can give you completely different species composition if you go through it from 6PM-2AM or from 11PM-6AM.

helno
Jun 19, 2003

hmm now were did I leave that plane
I saw a snowy owl yesterday just hanging out on a post.

At first glance I thought it was a plastic bag until it moved.

Kawalimus
Jan 17, 2008

Better Living Through Birding And Pessimism
I've had HORRIBLE luck with Snowies. But thankfully I have seen just one of them, so I won't completely miss them. But every. single. time. I try to go find one I either don't find one or the one that was there isn't present.

It's balancing out I guess from how lucky I got with the irrupting winter finches last year. I got them just about every time I tried and scored big on the Common Redpolls.

InternetJunky
May 25, 2002

I went birding at a power station cooling pond yesterday. It's a great location because the waters don't freeze so thousands of waterfowl overwinter there. I even saw a bird that triggered a rare bird alert (Ring-necked Duck) which was a first for me.

Just curious about these guys though:


They were quite far out so this is a heavy crop. Is it an American Wigeon?

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.

InternetJunky posted:

I went birding at a power station cooling pond yesterday. It's a great location because the waters don't freeze so thousands of waterfowl overwinter there. I even saw a bird that triggered a rare bird alert (Ring-necked Duck) which was a first for me.

Just curious about these guys though:


They were quite far out so this is a heavy crop. Is it an American Wigeon?

Looks like a Gadwall to me. I always think they're female Wigeon at first because the head shape is so similar.

Congrats on the RBA. That's basically my favorite thing about birding.

InternetJunky
May 25, 2002

BeastOfExmoor posted:

Looks like a Gadwall to me. I always think they're female Wigeon at first because the head shape is so similar.

Congrats on the RBA. That's basically my favorite thing about birding.
Comparing with other Gadwall shots online I can clearly see that's what I shot as well. Thanks! I wish my guide had better reference pictures for ducks. The actual male Gadwall looks very different than the picture in my guide.

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib

InternetJunky posted:

Comparing with other Gadwall shots online I can clearly see that's what I shot as well. Thanks! I wish my guide had better reference pictures for ducks. The actual male Gadwall looks very different than the picture in my guide.

Which guide are you using?

In other news, the birdfeeder I put up two weeks ago has yet to attract a single bird. Do the little passerines that hang around all winter (I'm in the cold part of "cold-temperate" - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) mostly just hunker down in small areas, and not explore much during the winter?

InternetJunky
May 25, 2002

ExecuDork posted:

Which guide are you using?

In other news, the birdfeeder I put up two weeks ago has yet to attract a single bird. Do the little passerines that hang around all winter (I'm in the cold part of "cold-temperate" - Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) mostly just hunker down in small areas, and not explore much during the winter?
I'm using Lone Pine Field Guide: Birds of Alberta. I like it quite a bit, but there are some weak areas.

When I first put up my feeders it took forever for something to come. It's been too warm here lately which keeps the birds away too.

On an unrelated note, I just got back from a day trip owling in a new area. It was too warm for owls although I did see a couple of great grays for a few minutes. The real treat was dealing with the local rear end in a top hat who really didn't like me driving around his farm. He pulled up beside me while I was pulled over looking through my binoculars and just started right in with "what the hell are you doing here" and "I've already reported your license to the police". I was on public roads and never once stepped foot over a fence, so this behaviour certainly surprised me. After a brief conversation trying to explain that I was birding I drove off and went down what turned out to be a dead end road, and he followed me down there and blocked my exit. He laid into me again saying this time I was on his land (it was still a public range road) and it took me a while to get him to calm down. Not a great situations and not something I care to repeat.

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib
Farmers can be weird. Most of them are cool, but I've run into an rear end in a top hat like that. I wasn't birding,I was navigating in a TSD rally, but he laid into us with a similar (bullshit) story about private land while we were frantically trying to refill the leaking radiator on our Saab.

Could have been worse - that same day, one of the rally organisers had a different farmer show her his gun. Not *quite* point it at her, just lift it off the seat of his truck and sort of talk about it in a kind of abstract way ("I own a rifle! This one! See?"). Fun times in the rural prairies!

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.
I bird a lot of wildlife areas that are managed for pheasant and duck hunting. 8 months out of the year you basically have the place to yourself, but the day hunting season starts it can get complicated. 3/4 of people are pretty cool as long as you are cool back and don't act like you're from PETA, but it gets heated from time to time. On Tuesday I had a guy tell me what I was doing was against the law because I was harassing the hunters ducks. What was I doing? I was walking a row of trees < 100 yards from the parking lot looking at sparrows. He informed me that nobody except duck hunters were supposed to be here at this time of year (not true) and that anyone could call the the wardens on me at any point. I didn't feel like arguing, but I have read the applicable laws and he's 100% wrong so I just said, "thanks for the info" and he moved on. The hunter thing is always complicated by the fact that they always have a visible gun and assume you don't.

My rule of thumb is always try to calm people down by trying to be the coolest person ever. I'm basically doing the least invasive thing ever so I just try to act like it. Try to find some common ground or give someone info that they find interesting. Some fact like, "The Great Gray Owl is the largest owl in the world and is found not only in America, but also in Europe and northern Asia" is pretty fascinating. Most people don't know which birds are found around them and really don't know where they come from. Any time I'm chasing a rarity I make a point to tell people that talk to me where the bird "should" be and where it migrates from. I don't think people realize how many birds start out in South America and end up in their own backyards.

InternetJunky
May 25, 2002

BeastOfExmoor posted:

My rule of thumb is always try to calm people down by trying to be the coolest person ever. I'm basically doing the least invasive thing ever so I just try to act like it.
Yeah, I certainly didn't try to escalate anything and eventually we got to talking about owls and eagles and I think he realised I really was just looking for birds and not some robber from the city. I shouldn't have to deal with that though if I'm not doing anything illegal, and I can't tell you how intimidating it is to be blocked from leaving an area by a huge truck while you are in the absolute middle of nowhere with no one else in sight.

All my other experiences with grumpy farmer types has always turned completely positive by the end. I spend a lot of time in farm ditches photographing owls, and lots of farmers will come out very hostile at first and once they see what I'm doing they immediately change their demeanour and usually even offer me access to their property if I want.

I'm tempted to report his farm as a birding hotspot for great gray owls on ebird. :)

El Perkele
Nov 7, 2002

I HAVE SHIT OPINIONS ON STAR WARS MOVIES!!!

I can't even call the right one bad.
Went birding yesterday. ~9½ hours gave me a whopping 32 species, with 3 dips and maybe around 2 easy misses. It was also minus -21 degrees C. God bless winter birding here!

Right now 32 species a day is not the maximum, over 33 a day is good, and over 40 almost impossible.

Marshmallow Blue
Apr 25, 2010
This is January 12th? in Connecticut . Any ideas on what bird this is?

Sounds more like an insect than a bird





Sorry about the quality, its an iphone photo

Marshmallow Blue fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Jan 20, 2014

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.

Marshmallow Blue posted:

This is January 12th? in Connecticut . Any ideas on what bird this is?

Sounds more like an insect than a bird





Sorry about the quality, its an iphone photo

Looks like a Carolina Wren to me.

Marshmallow Blue
Apr 25, 2010

BeastOfExmoor posted:

Looks like a Carolina Wren to me.

Google confirmed


Thanks!

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib
I'll be travelling in Austria for a little bit in May this year, and I plan to visit as many of their 6 national parks as I can (schedule hasn't been worked out yet, so I might or might not have time to hit them all). Anyway, I'm hoping for a recommendation for a good European Bird Guide.

I found Birds of Europe, 2nd Edition on Amazon, and not much else. Reviews are very positive, but I was hoping for an opinion from the Goon Hivemind.

BeastOfExmoor
Aug 19, 2003

I will be gone, but not forever.

ExecuDork posted:

I'll be travelling in Austria for a little bit in May this year, and I plan to visit as many of their 6 national parks as I can (schedule hasn't been worked out yet, so I might or might not have time to hit them all). Anyway, I'm hoping for a recommendation for a good European Bird Guide.

I found Birds of Europe, 2nd Edition on Amazon, and not much else. Reviews are very positive, but I was hoping for an opinion from the Goon Hivemind.

That's what you should buy. It's excellent. In Europe it's sold add Collins Bird Guide and is by far the dominant guide as far as I know. I own a copy just for fun and I've never even been to Europe.

Pablo Bluth
Sep 7, 2007

I've made a huge mistake.
As I Brit/European, I can confirm that is the gold standard for European bird guides. The book section of Birdforum.net can be a useful place to find out which are the best guides for different regions.

Pablo Bluth fucked around with this message at 10:21 on Jan 22, 2014

El Perkele
Nov 7, 2002

I HAVE SHIT OPINIONS ON STAR WARS MOVIES!!!

I can't even call the right one bad.

ExecuDork posted:

I'll be travelling in Austria for a little bit in May this year, and I plan to visit as many of their 6 national parks as I can (schedule hasn't been worked out yet, so I might or might not have time to hit them all). Anyway, I'm hoping for a recommendation for a good European Bird Guide.

I found Birds of Europe, 2nd Edition on Amazon, and not much else. Reviews are very positive, but I was hoping for an opinion from the Goon Hivemind.

You're all set and have the best practical book.

For songs and calls I would recommend Vogelstimmen in phone, but it's kinda expensive. But it does have everything. Every single ridiculous thing.

El Perkele fucked around with this message at 10:34 on Jan 22, 2014

the yeti
Mar 29, 2008

memento disco



razz posted:

Mainly old white dudes in their 60s-70s, they're the worst offenders.

Worst people in general, really, but yeah you can't trust a single word from an old redneck or rancher about wildlife. It's turkeys eating quail and "cottonmouths" and hoop snakes all the way down.

ExecuDork
Feb 25, 2007

We might be fucked, sir.
Fallen Rib
Thanks, everyone! Collins/Svensson et al. is on its way!

razz
Dec 26, 2005

Queen of Maceration

the yeti posted:

Worst people in general, really, but yeah you can't trust a single word from an old redneck or rancher about wildlife. It's turkeys eating quail and "cottonmouths" and hoop snakes all the way down.

I had an old dude in Missouri tell me he had mountain lions on his property. On his tiny 80 acre "ranch" that was all row corn and surrounded by miles of the same. I just happened to be working on a project tracking mammals and we had track plates all around his property. We saw lots of cat tracks alright... domestic cat tracks.

Finger Prince
Jan 5, 2007


My girlfriend and I have gotten into birding recently, I'm really enjoying it. It's a great excuse to get out into the outdoors and really gets you to take in all that's around you. You stop and look for a while and all the creatures that you see, it's amazing. I liked birds before but never really realized just how many there are around doing bird things while you just walk past doing people things. I like watching the bird behavior as much as anything, I saw some Moorhens fighting in the water which was cool, they kick at each other with their enormous feet. Some nesting cormorants in a tree too, the way they greeted each other was cool to watch. The people you meet are usually pretty friendly too, and happy to point out things they've seen.
Anyway I thought I'd share this because it was so cool. Bitterns are awesome.

x-posting from the making GBS threads birds thread in the dorkroom:

Linedance posted:

I went birding with my girlfriend yesterday at some old gravel pits converted to wetlands up in Hertfordshire. We saw a few Snipe, which are cool freaky but cute waders with enormous beaks. Normally very hard to spot because of their camouflage, but these guys were relatively easy to spot from the one lookout point.


Common Snipe by Ruth's Bird Pictures, on Flickr


Common Snipe by Ruth's Bird Pictures, on Flickr

But the highlight that I have to share is this Eurasian Bittern! Photos are a bit grainy because they were taken with EXXXTREME zoom, but what a cool bird! I was watching it in our scope (now my camera is back from repair I'm going to try some digiscoping, see how that works out). It's like a dinosaur or something, the way it skulked across the reeds... so awesome, I think it's my favourite bird at the moment.


Eurasian Bittern by Ruth's Bird Pictures, on Flickr


Eurasian Bittern by Ruth's Bird Pictures, on Flickr

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pomegranates
Oct 16, 2012

Does anybody know of any interesting bird spotting adventures I could go on in Hawai'i and Central America? I'm not exactly a "birder", but tropical birds tend to be pretty beautiful and I love any excuse to hike through the jungle. I just read something about the parakeets that nest in the crater of Volcan Nindiri in Nicuragua, which sounds totally fascinating and exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for!

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