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I like how it takes three degrees of madness before the bird names sound implausible. (Dibs on Forest Tern)
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Dec 15, 2017 02:19
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 02:19 |
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I’m the Hoaly Titco’s Badwinch
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Dec 15, 2017 02:27
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Dufous partridge, derpeterius subspecies
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Dec 15, 2017 05:13
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If I can't be the dufous partridge then Dog-winged Buczardle
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Dec 15, 2017 06:47
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Dufous Partridge is the best, but I like picturing a Snowy Mourning Heron-Robin
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Dec 15, 2017 09:50
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It's me, the Koopa.
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Dec 15, 2017 10:34
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I've known a few Paucosian Rivetpeckers in my day. I'm rather fond of the perplexaquail dove though. 
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Dec 15, 2017 19:34
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I'm Buttmanxwecir.
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Dec 15, 2017 20:32
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Post your Christmas Bird Count trip reports. We've had warm and sometimes windy weather in Northern California so far. Saturday count was not great species-wise. We missed some regular stuff like Hermit Thrush, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Robin on our territory, although we did pick up the loggerhead shrike and cackling geese that are sometimes the only ones for the circle. Highlight was a watching a merlin eating a western bluebird. Don't have totals yet on this count. Sunday was way better. Really warm but not as windy. Still some weirdness (no goldfinches wth), but our territory stretches from SF Bay up into forest, so we always do pretty well in terms of bird diversity. 116 species this year, and the circle as a whole was 175 with a few groups still to report. I don't know that we had anything that was unique to our territory though- maybe the urban barn owls that a feeder counter goes out and checks for us.
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Dec 18, 2017 17:46
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Post your Christmas Bird Count trip reports. I hosed up for the second year in a row and scheduled family stuff on CBC day so I had an abbreviated morning and only walked my neighborhood. I was fighting a cold so I was exhausted after walking only a couple miles and kind of glad to be done for the day. Got a couple owls before dawn. I live next to a swan roost so I get a ton of flyover swans most mornings, but this was the first time I've actually counted them exactly. I counted over 400 Trumpeter Swans and a few Tundra Swans and I'm certain I probably missed some flying over before and after my walk.
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Dec 19, 2017 00:37
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Me and my crew did pretty drat good. We only had the morning but got almost 70 species. No flagged rarities but several that were basically rare just not flagged. Broke three high count records for the area. Had two years of crappy weather doing this count so this one felt real good. Cant wait for next year!
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Dec 21, 2017 01:20
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My fiance and I recently decided to pick up birding. We like going for walks & hikes here in Southern California, and every time we go I always end up watching the birds more than anything else. At her suggestion, I got us some starter binoculars and a southern california bird field guide. Excited to start birding!
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Jan 26, 2018 18:37
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Birdwatch from ther sofa... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHX9l2cvw-E
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Jan 26, 2018 19:01
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Zuul the Cat posted:My fiance and I recently decided to pick up birding. We like going for walks & hikes here in Southern California, and every time we go I always end up watching the birds more than anything else. At her suggestion, I got us some starter binoculars and a southern california bird field guide. Nice! SoCal has a ton of birds since you have desert, mountains, coast, and riparian all in close proximity. It can get bewildering but at the same time you'll always have more birds to see. If you haven't already, I'd recommend checking out eBird.org. Even if you don't create an account to keep track of your own sightings (there's a pretty convenient mobile app), you can see what other birders are finding at your favorite hiking spots. That's under the Explore Data tab. You can also snoop on your local bird sightings email lists at digests.sialia.com
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Jan 26, 2018 19:15
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Nice! SoCal has a ton of birds since you have desert, mountains, coast, and riparian all in close proximity. It can get bewildering but at the same time you'll always have more birds to see. If you haven't already, I'd recommend checking out eBird.org. Even if you don't create an account to keep track of your own sightings (there's a pretty convenient mobile app), you can see what other birders are finding at your favorite hiking spots. That's under the Explore Data tab. Thanks for the info! I created an account this morning and was poking around. There are tons of hotspots all around me which is nice. I didn't know about the app though, so I'll download that now! Out of curiosity, does anyone here sketch the birds they see? All I have is my iPhone and I don't think it'd be up to snuff to get pictures of those beautiful birds.
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Jan 26, 2018 21:46
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Hi friends, I saw some mysterious tracks on a beach and I'm curious if they look familiar to anyone. It might not be a bird but it also might be! Location: a beach in northeast Florida Tracks:   Each print was maybe oh, 3-4" across. It looks maybe like some kind of critter was hunting for tasty things under the sand? The way that in the first pic, many (but not all) of the tracks are facing the same sideways direction is kind of strange too, which adds to my theory that something was hunting rather than just walking along. Like as if a bird were waddling sideways and scratching at the ground like a chicken. Not pictured, is another stretch where the two sets of 4 "fingers" drag along the sand in parallel tracks (with some slight side to side wobble) for about 3-4 feet, about 9-12" apart. Kinda as if a bird took to very slight flight. The tracks ran from the sea about maybe 15 feet total up to a pool in the sand, where the kind of disappeared again but where there had been some digging (perhaps unrelated). Any ideas?
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Jan 26, 2018 22:02
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No idea on those tracks. Weird!Zuul the Cat posted:Thanks for the info! I created an account this morning and was poking around. There are tons of hotspots all around me which is nice. I didn't know about the app though, so I'll download that now! That's OG birding- some people still do that (especially the Brits- used to be the super-super-hard core birders would refuse to bring field guides out and only sketch what they saw so they were catching the field marks in front of them and not what they were supposed to see based on the books). Anything that helps you focus on overall shape and field marks is great. I bet there are some resources out there to help with the basics of bird sketching. You can also practice holding your phone camera up to your binoculars. It's not easy but might work for the few birds that sit still. Bird photography is a dangerous rabbit hole, but if you are willing to get used gear and accept some limitations you can get in for relatively cheap. There's a Bird Photography thread in Dorkroom if you have questions.
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Jan 26, 2018 23:43
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2 summers ago i partially bought an old SLR to shoot pictures of birbs, specifically a beautiful indigo bunting that was hanging out in a restored oak savanna along the river in Minneapolis. i realized quickly that my cheap used gear was not ideal, and that i no longer had any skill i may have had when i did photography as a kid, but i did manage a blurry shot of the little guy after going out there half a dozen times!! it is my proudest birding moment
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Jan 26, 2018 23:55
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I don't know if those tracks are from a bird. They look more like some subterranean beast like a crab or a clam or whatever clearing out its sand holes. That's assuming they aren't made by some kid's hands!
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Jan 27, 2018 01:18
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Finger Prince posted:I don't know if those tracks are from a bird. They look more like some subterranean beast like a crab or a clam or whatever clearing out its sand holes. That's assuming they aren't made by some kid's hands! Yeah, Florida native here. There aren't any shore or wading birds that have feet that look like that to my knowledge - they invariably have one toe sticking backwards from the leg.
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Jan 27, 2018 01:31
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alnilam posted:Hi friends, I saw some mysterious tracks on a beach and I'm curious if they look familiar to anyone. It might not be a bird but it also might be! I'd bet good money those are raccoon racks. Do an image search of raccoon feet and you'll see they have ridiculously long toes which they can basically use like fingers. I've seen a raccoon on the beach in Florida hunting crabs before as well. Not sure I can't explain the pattern though.  The Godzilla of Racoons by Josh, on FlickrI saw a White Wagtail today. In the USA nonetheless. Terrible look at a lifer, but I'll take it.
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Jan 27, 2018 08:05
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Cythereal posted:Yeah, Florida native here. There aren't any shore or wading birds that have feet that look like that to my knowledge - they invariably have one toe sticking backwards from the leg. I raise you sanderling
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Jan 27, 2018 16:51
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Bad cellphone photos inbound! My fiance and I went to the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve this weekend. We haven't gotten our binoculars yet, but we wanted to get out and about, so we just went to see what we could see. Was a really beautiful day, not terribly busy. Here's what we saw:   Not sure about this guy. Any ideas? Brown Pelican that came swimming up right to the bridge. It was swimming after a tired seagull.   There were 3 different species of Sandpipers there. I'm not that good to identify them just yet, but one was exceptionally small which made my fiance and I believe it was a Least Sandpiper. The second was maybe a Long Billed Curlew? We're not sure what the third was. It was as big as the (maybe) Long Billed Curlew, but obviously had a shorter black beak.  Least Sandpipers   There are always some Herons & Egrets at the reserve. That's all I managed to get photos of. We saw plenty of Ducks, a few Grebes and I saw a Double-Crested Cormorant in flight, which was pretty cool. Really distinct shape to the head & neck as it flies. Reminds me of the SR-71 Blackbird plane. Highlight of the trip included a younger family walking down off the trail ahead of us down toward the water where the dad was picking up small rocks and handing them to his young kids to throw at the birds. My fiance lost her poo poo and stormed over there to tell them they're supposed to say on the trail (like the 500 signs they passed said) and that the lower areas were protected for the wildlife. They apologized and moved back up onto the trail. General landscape photo: 
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Jan 29, 2018 16:47
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Zuul the Cat posted:Bad cellphone photos inbound! That's an American Avocet. You can tell them by their upturned beak. They're pretty distinctive, though a rank amateur such as myself might occasionally mix them up with a Stilt. Is Bolsa Chica the same place as Seal Beach wildlife preserve, or separate?
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Jan 29, 2018 18:10
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That's pretty good without a camera or binoculars! Can't really tell if those are Least or Western sandpipers from the photo. Both are on the tiny end. Leasts have dull yellow legs and usually more buffy throat/upper chest, and westerns have black legs and usually a clean front. Small sandpipers can be hard even when you have a scope, so don't feel bad if you can't always pin them down to species. The one above that is a Willet. The egrets are Great Egret (yellow bill) and Snowy Egret, (black bill, yellow feet)
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Jan 29, 2018 18:23
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BetterLekNextTime posted:That's pretty good without a camera or binoculars! Thanks! Ah, they were westerns then, because I commented how their black feet/legs matched their black bills, and they had very solid color chests. Finger Prince posted:That's an American Avocet. You can tell them by their upturned beak. They're pretty distinctive, though a rank amateur such as myself might occasionally mix them up with a Stilt. Is Bolsa Chica the same place as Seal Beach wildlife preserve, or separate? I'm glad I posted the photos on here for confirmation on what species they were. I'm going to try to keep taking photos with my phone when I go. Hopefully I can get a better camera at some point. No, Bolsa Chica is just the stretch of coat, but the Seal Beach Wildlife preserve & the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve are about 5 miles from each other. You have to go on a tour of the Seal Beach one b/c it's attached to the Naval Weapons Depot. I guess they don't want people grabbing bombs or whatever. I want to try to go soon - last saturday of every month!
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Jan 29, 2018 18:55
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Can't really tell if those are Least or Western sandpipers from the photo. Both are on the tiny end. Leasts have dull yellow legs and usually more buffy throat/upper chest, and westerns have black legs and usually a clean front. Small sandpipers can be hard even when you have a scope, so don't feel bad if you can't always pin them down to species. I'm not even sure I can rule out Dunlin. Shorebirds can be tough. I checked eBird and all three of those species have been reported from Bolsa Chica in the last week. I don't think I've ever been to Bolsa Chica, but Newport Back Bay a bit to the south has always treated me well. It's been raining for weeks here so I'm really jealous of anyone in a dry location right now.
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Jan 30, 2018 00:42
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BeastOfExmoor posted:I'm not even sure I can rule out Dunlin. Shorebirds can be tough. I checked eBird and all three of those species have been reported from Bolsa Chica in the last week. The Back Bay has TONS of birds. That place is awesome. Really quiet since it’s down in that ravine. It can be a little sketchy sometimes though - we had a run in with a flasher hiding in the bushes. I think I’ll make that my next trip, maybe this Saturday. Stay tuned for pics!
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Jan 30, 2018 00:52
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Nigel the lonely gannet dies as he lived, surrounded by concrete birdsquote:Nigel lived for years on his own on uninhabited Mana Island off the north of the country, surrounded by concrete replica gannets. quote:Bell said after Nigel arrived on Mana five years ago he began courting one of the 80 concrete decoys which had been positioned on the eastern cliffs, with painted yellow beaks and black tipped wings. 
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Feb 7, 2018 13:59
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The tracks are a mid-sized gator.
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Feb 9, 2018 10:17
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Captain Log posted:The tracks are a mid-sized gator. Wouldn't you see at least some track from the tail?
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Feb 9, 2018 23:36
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Heads up for next weekend: Great Backyard Bird Count.
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Feb 11, 2018 02:09
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I've already done mine. Twelve sparrows, a blue jay, and a pair of cardinals. Sometimes, pigeons! That city life...
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Feb 12, 2018 14:54
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I'll participate if I remember. My prediction: House Sparrow x lots, American Crow x a few, maybe a Rock Dove or two. Quebec City is surprisingly terrible for urban birds. Does it count as my backyard if it's the shoreline of the St Laurence, 2 km away? It's covered in chunky ice and has been cold and grey for months, but yesterday I saw a Snowy Owl when I was out driving around in the snowstorm, so maybe there'd be something interesting down there.
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Feb 12, 2018 15:54
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Do my own hens count 
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Feb 12, 2018 15:56
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No surprises where I am. Mourning doves, northern cardinals, northern mockingbirds, blue jays, tufted titmice, carolina wrens, and this time of year, gray catbirds. Brown thrashers are in the area but not always easy to spot.
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Feb 12, 2018 16:25
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Doesn't have to be your literal backyard- you can count at a park or open space if you want. You can submit counts from multiple areas. And although it may not be exciting to count, even your regular species are important data. Your numbers are going into a big database to understand things like how climate and weather affect population trends, how different species are adjusting to urbanization, etc.
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Feb 12, 2018 17:24
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Can anyone help me ID this bird by me imitating its call? Location is Pennsylvania forests. It sounds like three medium-length fairly flat but maybe slightly descending whistles. Sometimes it's 2. https://vocaroo.com/i/s1azV1ZDllDq This is a decent likeness if I do say so myself. I hear it somewhat regularly, not as common as say a chickadee or a blue jay but not rare either. I've been wondering what it is for a while. The other day I thought I finally caught a blue jay in the act, but I listened to all of the blue jay calls on the Audobon website and none of them sound like this.
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Feb 12, 2018 17:38
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BetterLekNextTime posted:Doesn't have to be your literal backyard- you can count at a park or open space if you want. You can submit counts from multiple areas. Eh, sure, signed up for it and I'll submit reports when that starts this week. Mourning doves, blue jays, northern cardinals, northern mockingbirds, carolina wrens, tufted titmice, brown thrashers, red-bellied woodpeckers, and red-tailed hawks are all my very regular backyard birds. Grey catbirds are seasonal; downy woodpeckers, pileated woodpeckers, northern flickers, common grackles, boat-tailed grackles, american crows, swallow-tailed kites, red-winged blackbirds, and bobwhites are all occasional sights. Plus of course hordes of tiny brownish-yellow birds I've never been able to conclusively identify.
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Feb 12, 2018 17:40
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 02:19 |
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alnilam posted:Can anyone help me ID this bird by me imitating its call? Location is Pennsylvania forests. It sounds like three medium-length fairly flat but maybe slightly descending whistles. Sometimes it's 2. Hard to say, but I'd guess one of these three: Blue Jay (check ~2:59 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXSqCxwYdP0) Chickadee song (this is usually distinctly 2 -3 notes though "Cheese burger") Tufted Titmouse (check out the songs here https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tufted_Titmouse/sounds)
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Feb 12, 2018 18:04
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