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That's my experience as well, I only thought there was a couple kind of birds local to me.
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# ? May 27, 2021 20:17 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 16:19 |
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Saw a group of swallow-tailed kites today.
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# ? May 30, 2021 05:53 |
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Oh, how pretty!
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# ? May 30, 2021 14:50 |
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Awesome! Where are you located? I’m still waiting to see a kite; they’re hard to find here in the northeast.
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# ? May 30, 2021 15:32 |
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El Burbo posted:Saw a group of swallow-tailed kites today. ooooh gorgeous
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# ? May 30, 2021 15:50 |
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Those are some fancy looking birds.
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# ? May 30, 2021 16:36 |
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waffy posted:Awesome! Where are you located? I’m still waiting to see a kite; they’re hard to find here in the northeast. I'm in south Florida, this was a little into Everglades park. Saw them (a group of three) circling around a wooded area, hunting by the looks of it. El Burbo fucked around with this message at 20:42 on May 30, 2021 |
# ? May 30, 2021 18:48 |
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creatine posted:This thing would fit a pretty wide range of current phones. It's pretty adjustable Trip report: It's pretty fiddly, but it works. Here's an indigo bunting and a hummingbird I saw today
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# ? May 30, 2021 20:20 |
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No pictures but I’ve seen a bunch of black-billed magpies for the first time this weekend and I’m now a fan
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# ? Jun 6, 2021 02:56 |
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The neighborhood crow fledglings are starting to show themselves
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# ? Jun 9, 2021 14:39 |
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Bloody posted:The neighborhood crow fledglings are starting to show themselves I love watching gangly crow fledglings beg their parents for food the same way and with the same body language as the tiny sparrow fledglings are, just much larger and louder. It always cracks me up that fledglings will stand on top of a feeding table and shriek wildly at their parents for food even though it's right there in front of them and would be less effort for them to get it themselves.
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# ? Jun 9, 2021 15:04 |
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Enfys posted:I love watching gangly crow fledglings beg their parents for food the same way and with the same body language as the tiny sparrow fledglings are, just much larger and louder. Yeah, I love this too. The ones in our yard occupy perches on the feeder and wave frantically, while mom reaches in from another perch to grab a seed and contorts herself to reach the fledgeling. Starlings have an issue with our feeder in general because they're just a little too big, but the juveniles that have just started feeding themselves are beyond comical.
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# ? Jun 9, 2021 15:12 |
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I just noticed that the "hotspots" on ebird show the most recent checklists that tag the location. I think I've got a lot to learn still, the other checklists I see have like 30 species or something, usually when I walk around in the same areas I can positively identify about half a dozen species, and maybe 3 or 4 I can't identify. But I usually go out later in the morning so maybe there's just that much less activity.
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# ? Jun 15, 2021 20:26 |
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Getting out early definitely helps. Probably the biggest trick for getting more birds is to start picking up their calls and songs. It's not too unusual for me to get half or more of the species on a list by ear. Even if you don't know what it is, if you start to listen for differences in the sounds you're hearing you can try to track down what's making the call and then get a visual on it.
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# ? Jun 15, 2021 21:38 |
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Agree with the above poster about calls, they really help. I was at a former coworker’s house this weekend, and had about 15 species only paying fleeting attention, mostly IDed by sound. Experience and just getting out ther and birding more helps a lot too, especially with being able to confidently ID a bird from what might be a few seconds of visibility. Once I started birding more regularly I found that I went from 10 species checklists up to >30 pretty quickly.
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# ? Jun 16, 2021 00:16 |
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Same experience here, and there’s definitely truth not only to getting out early, but knowing where to look and when. You’re probably going to see more in certain seasons, and maybe with certain weather as well (for example, I always find it difficult if there’s more wind, which makes it harder to pick out movement in trees). And at some times, things are just quiet, and even the best birders won’t find much. Going to a place with multiple habitats (i.e. forest, wetlands, fields) will give a better shot at more species too, since certain birds stick to certain ones. The most impressive checklists I’ve ever seen (like over 100 species) have been during spring migration in places that cover all different habitats. Granted, I think they were probably also several hours in duration.
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# ? Jun 16, 2021 04:09 |
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Second learning the calls. It's very helpful. I didn't realize how many Baltimore Orioles there were in my area until I learned their call. It also helps with IDing. If your eyes and your ears agree you can be pretty confident. BirdNET is very helpful for learning calls, I recommend trying it. I wouldn't take it's determinations as gospel, but if you analyze a call and it says something interesting it's a good hint to stick around and try to find the bird. Saw a ruby-crowned kinglet a month ago because the app suggested it and that convinced me to keep looking. Found a warbling vireo the same way. OTOH I spent 20 minutes trying to find and American Redstart with no luck at all
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# ? Jun 17, 2021 19:57 |
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I can't get a good picture of it, but I'm trying to figure out which bird is currently at my feeder in Connecticut. It looks to be about the size of a blackbird. It's all rustic brown except for a touch of faded white on its wing - almost as if it were a red-winged blackbird but a white-winged brown-bird. I thought it might be a female RWB but it doesn't look like that. It might be a common blackbird with some stuff on its wing? It's also currently only eating from the nyjer feeder and blackbirds don't tend to eat nyjer. Any ideas?
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# ? Jun 18, 2021 14:50 |
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Do you have any pictures at all? Even a bad picture could be helpful
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# ? Jun 18, 2021 16:44 |
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HappyHippo posted:Do you have any pictures at all? Even a bad picture could be helpful I'll try to get one later.
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# ? Jun 18, 2021 18:29 |
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fawning deference posted:Any ideas? Could be a juvenile red-winged blackbird. They're brown and white and don't really look like their adult forms.
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# ? Jun 19, 2021 12:58 |
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vonnegutt posted:Could be a juvenile red-winged blackbird. They're brown and white and don't really look like their adult forms. This is it! That's awesome.
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# ? Jun 19, 2021 14:03 |
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I should get a sound clip of my area of Central Park in the mornings. There are so many calls it's wonderfully rich.
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# ? Jun 19, 2021 15:13 |
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MerlinID apparently has a new feature to ID North American birds by song (like Shazam). I know this has been in the works for a while. I'll be interested to try it out.
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# ? Jun 24, 2021 07:23 |
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It took a while this year, but we've finally got a resident ruby-throated hummingbird in the garden. They usually show up a lot earlier while the honeysuckles are still blooming. This morning she buzzed around several poorly suited flowers before hovering directly in front of my face for nearly 20 seconds as if to tell me we needed to do better. I just put out the feeder... Also spotted a great-crested flycatcher just now. Love those goofy things.
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# ? Jun 24, 2021 17:04 |
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I had a hummingbird regularly visit my balcony last year, it liked my morning glories. I’ve got 2 vines this year and they’re much bigger so I’m hoping I can attract another hummingbird. Plus I’ve got a cypress vine which should make red flowers.
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# ? Jun 28, 2021 05:39 |
i can hear three or four great horned owls having some kind of gently caress/fight party in the trees outside right now
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# ? Jun 30, 2021 05:46 |
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Is there a standard way to keep squirrels out of a bird bath? I want to get a good bird bath, one which stands, but am worried squirrels will routinely get into it. I guess it doesn't matter if it's just water?
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# ? Jun 30, 2021 23:16 |
you could try chili powder. might make the water foul faster but birds cant taste capsaicin
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 01:50 |
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Do you have a squirrel problem now or are just worried about it? I don't think I've ever seen one in bird baths near us.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 01:57 |
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fawning deference posted:Is there a standard way to keep squirrels out of a bird bath? I want to get a good bird bath, one which stands, but am worried squirrels will routinely get into it. I guess it doesn't matter if it's just water? Just let 'em drink. Squirrels can suck when they find your bird feeders since they tend to overeat, scare birds away, and damage the feeders. I doubt they'd do the same to a bird bath. They'll probably get a quick drink and be on their way. Plus anything you do to keep them away might inadvertently hamper any cool nighttime friends who come to visit (opposums, foxes, flying squirrels, etc). It might be worth checking with your local bird seed store/audubon society chapter to see if there are any precautions for bird baths in your area. For example, there was some sort of disease hitting mostly finches on the West Coast this spring and people were advised to take down their feeders and empty their bird baths.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 02:06 |
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Oh and put some rocks in it! Ours has gotten a ton of use now that they can hop around on the rocks in and out of the water.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 02:18 |
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Good to know. I have a baffle on my feeder pole and it works like a charm. So yeah I'll just let them use it if they choose to.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 03:33 |
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I watched a hummingbird chase a poor titmouse several laps around the yard this morning. Never seen them harass a larger bird like that. They're so feisty.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 03:38 |
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All songbirds have the same amount of bastard in them so the smaller they are the more concentrated it is. It's also why wrens are so loud.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 04:05 |
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There's a wren nesting in my mailbox and it's clear she thinks we're the ones imposing
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 04:10 |
Fitzy Fitz posted:There's a wren nesting in my mailbox and it's clear she thinks we're the ones imposing well knock it off then. leave her alone.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 04:50 |
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Fitzy Fitz posted:I watched a hummingbird chase a poor titmouse several laps around the yard this morning. Never seen them harass a larger bird like that. They're so feisty. I saw a hummingbird yelling at a crow once. Re: the wren, I know in Canada there are laws prohibiting disturbing birds' nests. I suspect there are similar in the US. So I think your wren just knows her rights here.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 18:11 |
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I have a feeling the mail carrier hates our house.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 18:21 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 16:19 |
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We've been adding new bird feeders to attempt to increase diversity in our yard. Previously we just had a nijer seed feeder for the gold finches. Now we seemingly have more and more elaborate ways of feeding gold finches.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 18:50 |