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alnilam posted:seriously tho birds rule, and i want to learn how to look at them better Definitely the best way to learn. If you don't already have binoculars you could look around at the pre-christmas sales.
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Dec 17, 2014 01:26
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alnilam posted:seriously tho birds rule, and i want to learn how to look at them better Thirding everyone's recommendation on this. Going birding with other birders was my first step into madness. I would imagine Western PA would be somewhat dead in winter, but come spring things will really be hopping.
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Dec 17, 2014 23:41
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Well this is weird: http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/12/half-male-half-female-bird-has-rough-life
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Dec 26, 2014 15:48
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I just replied to a PM question about birding in the Edmonton area - I'm not in Edmonton, I live in Saskatoon and at the moment I'm at my parents' house in Calgary. I haven't done much birding in Alberta, but the question got me thinking. Tomorrow my GF and I are going to the Mosquito Creek wilderness hostel a bit north of Lake Louise for a couple of days of snowshoeing. Does anybody know of any good birding spots or just general advice for wintertime birding in the Canadian Rockies? I know there are a bunch of Alberta goons in this thread.
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Dec 27, 2014 07:22
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Ummm look in pine trees and you'll see Clark's Nutcrackers. (I've only gone to the area during the summer) Check the Facebook group 'Alberta Birds' it's really active and might give you some good insight into what's currently around in that area. Based on what's been posted there the past couple days, go east of Calgary around Airdrie, Strathmore, Irricana, and Beiseker; there's been tons of Snowy Owls in that area
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Dec 27, 2014 16:06
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I ran across what I think is a female merlin here in Seattle in the Magnolia neighborhood, near Discovery Park. I'm sure about the merlin part, but it's really hard to tell if it is a female or male: Didn't post it in the photography thread because it's a heavily cropped image (she was in a 25+ meter tree). Was a little surprised to see her instead of one of the local (to that neighborhood) red-tailed hawks, but I guess they do winter down here. Kenshin fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Dec 31, 2014 |
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Dec 31, 2014 22:14
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Kenshin posted:I ran across what I think is a female merlin here in Seattle in the Magnolia neighborhood, near Discovery Park. I'm sure about the merlin part, but it's really hard to tell if it is a female or male: It looks grey-ish to me, which makes me think it's a male (if it's a Pacific morph). Merlins get tricky because some areas are visited by multiple morphs, so it may be worth asking your local Audubon group if nobody here is a Merlin savant. It's finally getting cold enough up north that Short-eared Owls are visiting the Humboldt Bay area. Arcata Bottoms is chock full of them right now. They like to spend the late afternoon quarreling with the other raptors there and with each other.  owl-cover by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  owls-in-flight by Redwood Planet, on Flickr  seo-dive by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Edit: I saw this guy off the coast near Freshwater Lagoon today as the sunlight was fading. I'm thinking juvenile Surf Scoter or White-winged Scoter, but I'm not finding photos of either that are really a spot-on match. Anyone have a better guess than me?  
Moon Potato fucked around with this message at 07:28 on Jan 2, 2015 |
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Jan 1, 2015 22:55
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Moon Potato posted:Edit: I saw this guy off the coast near Freshwater Lagoon today as the sunlight was fading. I'm thinking juvenile Surf Scoter or White-winged Scoter, but I'm not finding photos of either that are really a spot-on match. Anyone have a better guess than me? Looks like a female surf scoter to me, though possibly a juvenile. If you lightened the exposure some to bring out any markings around the back of the head and beak, it might make it easier. As it is though, with the head shape and beak shape, plus the white patch on the back and possibly a little white around the base of the beak, I think female surf scoter is closest.
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Jan 3, 2015 17:37
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Linedance posted:Looks like a female surf scoter to me, though possibly a juvenile. If you lightened the exposure some to bring out any markings around the back of the head and beak, it might make it easier. As it is though, with the head shape and beak shape, plus the white patch on the back and possibly a little white around the base of the beak, I think female surf scoter is closest.
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Jan 3, 2015 19:00
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We went on a good little birding walk this afternoon with the local nature society. In addition to the expected winter birds around here (a fairly short list), we saw a bald eagle and two great horned owls. The first owl was sleeping in a tree adjacent to an open area, the second was hidden close to the trunk of a large spruce tree. We only discovered the second because of the large number of magpies that were being noisy and active in that tree; after about 10 minutes of this, the owl broke cover and took off too fast for me to get a picture. Still, a very good day.
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Jan 12, 2015 00:48
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Yesterday I saw a beautiful flight of a peregrine falcon that famously lives on the cathedral of learning in pittsburgh. I also saw it make a kill one time 
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Jan 12, 2015 00:59
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The weather in the NW is all gray, if I were to fly somewhere from Seattle for the weekend (sometime in the next month or two) that is warm and sunny specifically to go birding (particularly photography) where should I go? There are cheap flights to San Diego, Phoenix, LA... anywhere else I should look at? I can camp or find a couch surfing host or whatever, I just want sunshine and some warmth and places I can easily get to lots of pretty birds. I was looking at Albuquerque but there are no direct flights there from Seattle and it's kinda silly to have a layover from SEA to ABQ and back.
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Jan 12, 2015 23:53
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Kenshin posted:The weather in the NW is all gray, if I were to fly somewhere from Seattle for the weekend (sometime in the next month or two) that is warm and sunny specifically to go birding (particularly photography) where should I go? San Diego would be great- anywhere along the coast (e.g. Monterey, SF/Oakland) too, although rain/clouds gets more likely the farther north you go. Hard to beat the zoo there if you are interested in animal photos. Can you get to Tuscon? Much better than Phoenix. Sonoran Desert museum is awesome for pics of birds in and out of the cages.
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Jan 13, 2015 00:29
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BetterLekNextTime posted:San Diego would be great- anywhere along the coast (e.g. Monterey, SF/Oakland) too, although rain/clouds gets more likely the farther north you go. Hard to beat the zoo there if you are interested in animal photos.  Looks like it'll probably be San Diego, I do have a photographer friend down there even if she doesn't have a place for me to crash at.
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Jan 13, 2015 00:48
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Kenshin posted:Layovers. Tuscon is only ~2hr drive from Phoenix- not bad if you were going to rent a car. But yeah, San Diego would be great too.
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Jan 13, 2015 00:56
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Kenshin posted:The weather in the NW is all gray, if I were to fly somewhere from Seattle for the weekend (sometime in the next month or two) that is warm and sunny specifically to go birding (particularly photography) where should I go? San Diego would be my choice as well. Large numbers of wintering species in SD itself and you're a couple hours from the Salton Sea and a whole different assortment of birds there. They also get (and more importantly people actually find) a large number of rarities in SoCal. The only downside might be that there's just too much to cover for a weekend, even a three day one.
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Jan 13, 2015 06:01
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BeastOfExmoor posted:San Diego would be my choice as well. Large numbers of wintering species in SD itself and you're a couple hours from the Salton Sea and a whole different assortment of birds there. They also get (and more importantly people actually find) a large number of rarities in SoCal. The only downside might be that there's just too much to cover for a weekend, even a three day one.  Sounds good. I think I'll do this, I haven't had good lighting for bird photography here in Seattle for a few weeks.
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Jan 13, 2015 06:30
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Kenshin posted:"Too much" is only a curse if you want it to be one. I wish this were true. I've run out of counting how many places that I wish I could bird just one more day. Salton Sea is one of those, but I'm headed back in March, thankfully.
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Jan 13, 2015 22:14
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This is why I'm hesitant to buy a drone http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2909754/Bird-strike-Aggressive-falcon-takes-glider-flies-close-nest.html
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Jan 14, 2015 18:54
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For the second winter in a row, a lone Long-eared Owl has settled in Arcata Bottoms. I missed seeing it last year, so I went to stake out the grove of trees where it had been spotted yesterday evening. It tried to come out and hunt while the sun was still out a couple times, but the White-tailed Kites there chased it away. After the kites roosted for the evening, it was able to come out and hunt without being harassed, although the light was pretty much gone then and filming became difficult. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe7AbRzAxE8 I was working with pretty long shutter speeds to be able to film after the sun went down, but I was able to pull out a couple frames that look okay as stills.  long-eared-owl by Redwood Planet, on Flickr Moon Potato fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Jan 25, 2015 |
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Jan 25, 2015 20:33
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Nice! Long-eared is probably my nemesis bird right now. Probably the most broadly distributed NA bird that I haven't seen. I haven't been chasing it but the few times I've gone to a reported roost site I've missed it. Seeing your flight vid I forget how similar they actually are to short-eared.
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Jan 26, 2015 18:56
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Nice! Long-eared is probably my nemesis bird right now. Probably the most broadly distributed NA bird that I haven't seen. I haven't been chasing it but the few times I've gone to a reported roost site I've missed it. Edit: it looks like it's roosting pretty close to where the kites have a nest and where the wildlife area meets the adjacent farm. I don't think I'm going to get a clear look at it in the daytime without trespassing or upsetting the kites. It doesn't seem to mind approaching humans when it's out hunting, though - it came extraordinarily close to me last night.   
Moon Potato fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Jan 29, 2015 |
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Jan 27, 2015 18:14
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Any southern Alberta birders care to speculate on what bird I saw based only on rough description? I was going up a chairlift at sunshine village and saw a raven chasing a small grayish raptor around. They landed in a couple of nearby trees while the raven croaked at it. My first impression was some kind of falcon, it was about half the size of the raven. As the chair went past, I got the impression it's head was too broad to be a falcon, and I think I noticed some ear tufts. So some kind of small owl? Mostly grey, slightly paler breast, looked like maybe some dark possibly black marks around the face. Too small to be a male northern harrier.
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Feb 1, 2015 21:33
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I enjoy going to the parks nearby to spot some birds, bit for the winter I decided to get lazy and put some bird feeders out. I also feel good because I know the birds aren't going hungry. Found out I have 3 different types of woodpecker around and even saw some birds I haven't seen before. And I can watch them be dumb birds from the comfort of my home.
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Feb 2, 2015 16:52
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Linedance posted:Any southern Alberta birders care to speculate on what bird I saw based only on rough description? The only gray owl with east tufts in that area appears to be Great Horned, but it would be pretty close in size to a Raven. Northern Hawk Owl kinda fits your description, minus the ear tufts, and is proportioned more like a falcon than most owls. They're also active in daylight. Google some photos and see if it looks right?
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Feb 3, 2015 06:51
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Rotten Cookies posted:I enjoy going to the parks nearby to spot some birds, bit for the winter I decided to get lazy and put some bird feeders out. I also feel good because I know the birds aren't going hungry. Why not add to this and show some pictures.  Downy Woodpecker by RottenCookies  Northern Flickr by RottenCookies  Starling v Junco by RottenCookies
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Feb 3, 2015 07:13
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Mom is roosting, and one of the eggs has had some pips. Expect great horned owl chicks to start hatching very soon: http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/46/Great_Horned_Owls/ HD video feed with audio of GHO nest.
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Feb 3, 2015 22:02
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BeastOfExmoor posted:The only gray owl with east tufts in that area appears to be Great Horned, but it would be pretty close in size to a Raven. Northern Hawk Owl kinda fits your description, minus the ear tufts, and is proportioned more like a falcon than most owls. They're also active in daylight. Google some photos and see if it looks right? Yup, did a bit of research once I got back and I'm pretty sure it was a Northern Hawk Owl. It explains my initial reaction that it was some kind of falcon when I saw it flying (long, thin tail), and the ear tufts weren't so much ear tufts, as an illusion of them made by the facial patterning/colouring. Having looked at photos and ID tips, I'm almost certain that's what it was. Cool, never expected to see an owl out on a ski hill!
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Feb 3, 2015 22:39
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Kenshin posted:Mom is roosting, and one of the eggs has had some pips. Expect great horned owl chicks to start hatching very soon: Awesome! That's going to get real gory real fast.
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Feb 3, 2015 22:53
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Kenshin posted:Mom is roosting, and one of the eggs has had some pips. Expect great horned owl chicks to start hatching very soon: And this is now up on a big monitor at work.
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Feb 4, 2015 03:46
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There is a big citizen science project this weekend called the Great Backyard Bird Count. If you have any bird lists from Friday or Saturday, or are going out (or just watching your feeders) today or tomorrow, it's pretty easy to submit your data. Or just stare at the world map showing new checklists coming in, or admire the photo contest submissions.
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Feb 15, 2015 20:39
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Perhaps I can wake this thread up again. Let's talk birding travel. I just purchased this today: Gulf coast, peak migration. Hell loving yea. And I'm going to split my time between Galveston and the Lower Rio Grand Valley, because when am I going to be in Texas again with no goals other than birding? I bought the tickets with frequent flyer miles and am going to buy a tent and camp. I'm hoping to spend less than $500 for the whole trip. This is the first page of my spreadsheet of possible ABA area life birds (I've seen half a dozen of these in Belize). This list goes on for 30 more entries.  Next month I'm headed to southern California where I get a couple of days around the Salton Sea and in May I'm supposed to be in North Carolina for work where I'll be two hours from the Blue Ridge Parkway and warbler heaven. It's going to be a good spring.
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Feb 21, 2015 06:26
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Lower Rio Grande Valley is bonkers species wise. Funny you should mention it, yesterday I got a random fav on a pic from a very old flickr set from a winter trip there. It got me looking through the birds again (green jay!  ) and also how my standards for what makes a good photo have changed in the past 8 years. Green Jay on FlickrNever been to the gulf coast for migration- that should be awesome. Sounds like you'll have a great start on a big year this year.
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Feb 21, 2015 20:20
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I'm only a few pages into this thread, but had to pop in and say: Guys! GUYS! I just saw a male kestrel! He cruised over my balcony and landed in a tree across the street, but took off immediately before I could get a blurry snapshot. So striking. Only other raptors I've spotted this close in the past few years are sharp-shinneds. (Local funeral home keeps release "doves" and the sharp-shinneds appreciate it.) --Lowertown Paducah, KY, US
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Mar 2, 2015 00:03
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I might have missed it but what would be a good pair of binoculars in the 200-300 range to get started?
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Mar 2, 2015 05:17
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Rakins posted:I might have missed it but what would be a good pair of binoculars in the 200-300 range to get started? There can/will be arguments as long as a piece of string about this, but Eagle Optics make excellent bins in all price ranges, and in that price range I'd go with their Ranger ED. I have a pair of Shrikes that I got for cheap, and they are decent cheap bins, my partner went through the whole binoculars shopping anxiety thing and ended up with the Ranger EDs. Unless you're doubling your budget, you won't find much better.
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Mar 2, 2015 07:30
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Arriviste posted:I'm only a few pages into this thread, but had to pop in and say: Thats pretty sweet, kestrels are beautiful birds, with all those oranges and blues! They're quite colourful for a raptor. I'm out on the west coast at the moment doing some birding and it's raptor crazy our here. Bald eagles everywhere, harriers, the odd red tailed hawk, we even saw a golden eagle!
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Mar 2, 2015 07:34
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Er. I'd like to ask about feeding birds in urban Europe. My test looks like this: Honey sticks, the things are called. The larger context (before I put them there):  I have had them for 3 or 4 days, without any visitors. I don't know if it's a matter of more time, or a different season, or maybe I'm in an inauspicious place, or that's a completely bad setup. I can't say birds otherwise hang out here. I've seen a couple tits, I believe, of some variety, fly or sit in a tree (if you can call it that) sort of visible in the first picture, and they obviously are attracted to the garbage container in the background. There's obviously more birds in more wooded areas from which I'm separated by a 100+ yard radius of parking space among other things. Any help? I'm specifically interested in some kind of window arrangement, because the idea is mainly about my entertainment, as I'm selfish like that.
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Mar 2, 2015 16:53
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supermikhail posted:I have had them for 3 or 4 days, without any visitors Your local birds will take some time to notice your feeder. Before they see it, they'll have to wander in close enough to recognize it as food. Having cover - bushes and trees - nearby is a good start, most little songbirds like to have something to hide in nearby. There isn't anything like that very close to my feeder, which I think is part of the reason why it took so long for the birds to find it the first time. The season also probably matters - I think birds in winter are less willing to explore for new food sources, they'll stick with the reliable sites they already know, but in summer they move around more. This might be pure conjecture on my part, and the fact that I live in a part of the world where overnight frost kills of songbirds is a major source of mortality for the little guys might make that true here but not true in "urban Europe". Where are you?
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Mar 2, 2015 17:12
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Rakins posted:I might have missed it but what would be a good pair of binoculars in the 200-300 range to get started? I'd recommend the Vanguard Endeavor 8x42. If you click on that link there's an open box pair on Amazon for $209. They won at least one binocular shootout a few years ago and for the money they're amazing. You can also buy them through Eagle Optics (current price $240) along with the Ranger's Linedance reccomended and see which you like better and send the other one back. I believe Eagle Optics is pretty cool with this practice. Other options that come to mind at Nikon Monarch's (Monarch 5 8x42 is in your price range). My blind impression of the Monarch's is that they're a great safe bet. You can probably get a better performing binocular for the money, but everyone has them and everyone recommends them.
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Mar 2, 2015 17:17
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