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It was none of that. I took care of all that stuff as it was on our balcony and self-contained from that point of view. Neighbor above complained that they couldn't use their balcony due to bird poop, which is silly. It was just some finches and sparrows and our balcony was just fine.
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Nov 23, 2019 02:57
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Probably just soulless bird-haters
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Nov 23, 2019 03:03
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I figured out a solution. I'm just going to throw a handful of birdseed in one of my plant pots/containers every few days and just play dumb if I get asked about it again.
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Nov 23, 2019 18:43
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I can’t get the link to work on my phone, but it looks like the National Audubon Society released a new set of binoculars ratings. Might be good to check out while the holiday sales are on if you are in the market for new bins.
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Nov 29, 2019 19:42
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I've been trying to get back into birding (haven't had a lot of time lately to go out and watch) but last weekend I spotted one of my favorite ever birds, an Eurasian hoopoe! Last one I saw in person was when I was a child, they've been on a population decline here in Spain, so I was pretty giddy when I saw it. Also spotted some jackdaws, a few black redstarts, and a black wheatear on the same trip 
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Nov 30, 2019 20:51
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Awesome bird! I’ve only seen one from a car at highway speed. I’ve worked in at least two university offices that had their network printers named after hoopoe (Upupa epops)
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Nov 30, 2019 23:07
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Alright bird nerds, who's doing a Christmas Bird Count this year!? I've got 2 this weekend. Our normal area leader for one of them is out of town so I'm taking over. I'm glad to do it but there's definitely more stress involved. Tides are at a funny time this year so that's shifted the schedule, and some of the other participants that I was hoping could lead a sub-group for a couple hours are now only going to be there half a day. And yesterday I found a write-up bird in our territory in a place that's not somewhere we normally go, so I'm trying to figure out how to work that in. At least the weather should be good.
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Dec 12, 2019 19:23
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I missed the Aussie Backyard Bird Count (October) but I have a mostly-inactive account at eBird and you've prompted me to try to remember to fit in a 15-minute session (or more) at the places I'll be over the next couple of weeks. I'm housesitting for some profs here and their house is in a lovely patch of (bone-dry drought-afflicted) bush near the university for a month, starting tomorrow, and from the 22nd to the 26th my family will be at a rental cabin in a national park on the New South Wales central coast, an ideal place for some semi-serious birding. Weirdly, Australia doesn't seem to do a christmas count. Everybody is on holiday in the sun, and birding is pretty popular around here, you'd think it would be A Thing. Oh well, I'll go out and mis-identify a bunch of stuff. Thanks for the prompt! Hopefully I'll remember.
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Dec 13, 2019 01:14
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I just started using eBird and only now found out about CBC, but unfortunately it's happening on the day I've got a lot of plans already so I'll be missing out. I got real lucky the first time I took the app out, got two ospreys (one caught a fish) and a location first bird, which was cool. eBird is basically turning into my picture dumping ground for photos that are mostly boring but still decently taken and I really like all the data entry features. I'm going to try to do a log a day since I have a walking portion of my commute that usually has a decent variety of species on the way and the occasional bird of prey.
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Dec 16, 2019 01:32
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Ebird is great for stuff like that. Probably you all know this but you can speed up data entry by clicking into the search bar and then entering the birds name. It will also take abbreviated bird banding codes, so Ruby-crowned Kinglet is RCKI, and usually just even the first 3 letters are enough to pull up the species. Some codes are similar, so typing AMCO will pull up American Coot and American Crow. Well, my 2 counts are done. Pretty good weather for both of them, although a little windy on Saturday. Don't have totals yet on the Saturday one but we got multiple Merlins, a peregrine hunting that a local newspaper reporter got to see, loggerhead shrike, cackling geese. The second one was the one I was leading. Weather fantastic. For whatever reason we missed a lot of common stuff. No turkey, mockingbird, downy woodpecker, red-shouldered hawk, savannah sparrow... The compiling numbers from when people separated was a bit of a pain but not too bad. Probably the hardest thing to adjust too was that everyone kept following me around all day! I'm used to walking a little ahead or behind the group sometimes so I can listen for birds or spend a minute standing still waiting for some birds to come out of the bushes or whatever. So the introvert rear end in a top hat in me had to be reminded by the rest of my brain that I was, in fact leading the group.
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Dec 16, 2019 19:50
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When a songbird fails to migrate south for the winter, is there anything you can reasonably do for it or do you just put out extra seed and pray? My mom's been having a chipping sparrow at the feeder for the last few days and we're in Southwestern Ontario. He should not be here.
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Dec 19, 2019 19:41
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YggiDee posted:When a songbird fails to migrate south for the winter, is there anything you can reasonably do for it or do you just put out extra seed and pray? My mom's been having a chipping sparrow at the feeder for the last few days and we're in Southwestern Ontario. He should not be here. Not much you can do. I wouldn’t worry too much— a sparrow has a better shot than say a warbler that’s depends on insects, and I’d guess you aren’t actually that far outside of Chippie’s winter range. A lot of birds do reasonably well in cold. I guess I’d look at it this way— if it doesn’t survive, that’s natural-ish selection acting on variation in migratory behavior. And if “not supposed to be here” is mainly determined by old wintering data, could be ranges are shifting north with climate change and you’ll start seeing more and more of them.
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Dec 19, 2019 21:57
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YggiDee posted:When a songbird fails to migrate south for the winter, is there anything you can reasonably do for it or do you just put out extra seed and pray? My mom's been having a chipping sparrow at the feeder for the last few days and we're in Southwestern Ontario. He should not be here. You sure it's not an American Tree Sparrow? They look similar and that would be more likely in Ontario in winter. Birds are surprisingly resilient. If they can find enough food, a sparrow would probably be just fine through the winter. I live in a place where it fairly frequently drops below freezing and yet we have Anna's Hummingbirds, kinglets, three species of warblers, etc. throughout the winter.
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Dec 20, 2019 05:17
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BeastOfExmoor posted:You sure it's not an American Tree Sparrow? They look similar and that would be more likely in Ontario in winter. I won't say I'm 100% sure, but Mom's pretty reliable on bird IDs and this didn't have a chest splotch or a two toned bill and the eye stripe was too dark. And I guess there's not much I can do about it either way. I get that it's kind of how nature works, but I still have this basic 'oh no he looks cold  ' reaction when I see poofed out little sparrows at -12°C.
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Dec 20, 2019 06:15
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I had a barred owl hang out outside my house for a while tonight! First it posted up on my deck railing and looked in at us watching TV for 10min or so, then it flew around to a tree just outside our kitchen window and stuck around there for another hour and a half. Was cool seeing a fairly big bird like that up close. It's been around for a week or so, I've seen it in the backyard a few times when I took my dog out for his midnight poop sesh. This was the first time it showed up so early or did anything other than fly through.  Looks really big here due to the camera angle and being zoomed in a bit. I think wingspan looked like maybe 2.5ft or so.
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Jan 10, 2020 01:00
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Inspector 34 posted:I had a barred owl hang out outside my house for a while tonight! First it posted up on my deck railing and looked in at us watching TV for 10min or so, then it flew around to a tree just outside our kitchen window and stuck around there for another hour and a half. Really cool! How big is your dog? Maybe he's sizing up dinner!
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Jan 10, 2020 01:35
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He's a smallish great dane, so I doubt he's on the menu unless this owl is really ambitious.
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Jan 10, 2020 01:53
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Inspector 34 posted:I had a barred owl ... just outside our kitchen window... Whoo cooks for you? That’s awesome! Hope it sticks around.
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Jan 10, 2020 06:51
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Got a Mountain Bluebird, Whooping Cranes, and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers all in Florida today. All life birds!
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Mar 1, 2020 02:34
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Kawalimus posted:Got a Mountain Bluebird, Whooping Cranes, and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers all in Florida today. All life birds! All awesome birds! MOBL seems like it would be real unusual for Florida.
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Mar 1, 2020 03:29
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BetterLekNextTime posted:All awesome birds! MOBL seems like it would be real unusual for Florida. Yep! I was visiting my mother down here and before I came looked to see what was around. I couldn't believe when I saw that. It was just an hour and 30 mins away in Pasco county. Don't know what it's doing there! But I was happy to have that. I always wanted to see it. The cranes I thought had left or weren't coming to that spot anymore maybe. So when I got there I waited. And I was about to leave sat down in the car and in my peripheral vision I saw them flying in!! And they did this circle around the property and were vocalizing and stuff before landing. It was so cool. I always wanted all three of these birds a lot and just had been unlucky in the past. And never make it out west. But today was my day 
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Mar 1, 2020 03:56
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I spotted a golden variation of a purple finch the other day and it made me very happy. I don't have anyone else to share this with so please enjoy.
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Mar 2, 2020 03:21
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Does anyone recognize the long call in the background of this clip? https://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/htmwav/h7480so.mp3 One of them used to live in my backyard growing up so its call is burned into my memory but I don't know enough about birds to identify it.
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Apr 3, 2020 22:22
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ThingOne posted:Does anyone recognize the long call in the background of this clip? The background call sounds like a chickadee. The specific species depends on your geographic location, but others with more expertise could probably ID by call alone.
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Apr 3, 2020 22:40
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EPICAC posted:The background call sounds like a chickadee. The specific species depends on your geographic location, but others with more expertise could probably ID by call alone. yup... not sure which one either.
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Apr 3, 2020 23:33
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I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri so it looks like it could either be a Black-Capped Chickadee or a Carolina Chickadee. The song I remember always had five notes, if that helps.
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Apr 3, 2020 23:41
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Might depend on how old you are. Not sure exactly where the hybrid zone is/was in Missouri but Carolina's are heading north at almost a mile/year.
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Apr 4, 2020 01:02
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I've been entertaining myself by reading bird facts and lookin' at their pictures on all about birds lately. Does anyone know of a similar website that contains birds from the rest of the world? It's USA-focused and that's great, but I want to know more about more birds.
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Apr 4, 2020 02:36
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StrixNebulosa posted:I've been entertaining myself by reading bird facts and lookin' at their pictures on all about birds lately. Does anyone know of a similar website that contains birds from the rest of the world? It's USA-focused and that's great, but I want to know more about more birds. Cornell just put Birds Of The World online. It's a pay service, but some library systems and schools have subscriptions and you can access it through their proxy. I believe eBird users who submit something like 1000 checklists per year get free access? Nice username, btw. I actually use that as my Wi-Fi hotspot for my phone.
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Apr 4, 2020 04:33
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StrixNebulosa posted:I've been entertaining myself by reading bird facts and lookin' at their pictures on all about birds lately. Does anyone know of a similar website that contains birds from the rest of the world? It's USA-focused and that's great, but I want to know more about more birds. https://www.rspb.org.uk has a lot of stuff for UK birds. There's also youtube channel that does a lot of really good identification help for UK birds - search BTO bird id. Finger Prince fucked around with this message at 06:25 on Apr 4, 2020 |
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Apr 4, 2020 06:21
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Thank you for the links, just what I was looking for! I am, alas, not a birder - but drat if I don't love studying these magnificent beasts. I chose Strix Nebulosa as my username back in my early teens because it's a cool sounding name, and because the Great Grey Owl is one of the coolest owls. It's just magnificent to watch in motion. 
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Apr 4, 2020 13:54
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StrixNebulosa posted:Thank you for the links, just what I was looking for! I am, alas, not a birder - but drat if I don't love studying these magnificent beasts. Sounds like you are a pair of binoculars away from being a birder. Get on it! I follow a bunch of bird organizations on social media. Most are US/North American but some of them have partners in other places. Some of them just seem to be trying to post stuff to stay busy and keep connected since so many of their spring programs and events have been cancelled. The ones I remember off the top of my head... Audubon American Bird Conservancy American Birding Association American Ornithological Society Point Blue Institute for Bird Populations Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory
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Apr 4, 2020 22:03
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The wood thrushes are back 
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Apr 9, 2020 17:07
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Fitzy Fitz posted:The wood thrushes are back Jealous! Someone reported Swainson's nearby but I haven't been able to go out and look yet. We don't get Wood thrush or Veery out here, and the other day I was like "wow, 4 species of warblers" I miss spring in the east...
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Apr 9, 2020 18:17
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Spring is here in Florida, too. The catbirds are here.
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Apr 9, 2020 22:20
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My tulip poplars are blooming, and today a bunch of cedar waxwings are hopping around all the flowers bingeing on nectar. Only ever seen them do that with berries before. Also, chickadees are nesting in the box we put up
Fitzy Fitz fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Apr 11, 2020 |
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Apr 11, 2020 21:41
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My birding time in Asia was really helped by https://ebird.org/explore. Search by region was invaluable for help identifying birds in a country where you don't have a guide book.
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Apr 19, 2020 21:49
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lord funk posted:My birding time in Asia was really helped by https://ebird.org/explore. Search by region was invaluable for help identifying birds in a country where you don't have a guide book. Yeah that's pretty invaluable and we use it almost every time we travel. Guidebooks are great, but "what do people actually see in this specific location" really helps when you're dealing with completely unfamiliar birds.
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Apr 19, 2020 22:45
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lord funk posted:My birding time in Asia was really helped by https://ebird.org/explore. Search by region was invaluable for help identifying birds in a country where you don't have a guide book. Finger Prince posted:Yeah that's pretty invaluable and we use it almost every time we travel. Guidebooks are great, but "what do people actually see in this specific location" really helps when you're dealing with completely unfamiliar birds. I must say that I rolled my eyes a bit at the Merlin app because of how often I've seen people rely on it's photo ID feature above common sense, but when I was on a cruise that stopped in the Bahamas, Mexico, and Honduras last year it was incredible. It's basically a full field guide complete with sounds and it will allow you to sort birds by occurrence likelihood. The occurrence data is fantastic because it can really help narrow down an ID where one or more species may look similar and have overlapping range, but one is way more likely than the others. It looks like they don't have packs for most of Asia yet, but they're expanding pretty rapidly and have a sizable chunk of the world covered.
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Apr 19, 2020 23:24
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Saw Snow Buntings for the first time!  
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May 2, 2020 20:06
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