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Agrinja
Nov 30, 2013

Praise the Sun!

Total Clam
That's my experience as well, I only thought there was a couple kind of birds local to me.

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El Burbo
Oct 10, 2012

Saw a group of swallow-tailed kites today.

my cat is norris
Mar 11, 2010

#onecallcat

Oh, how pretty!

waffy
Oct 31, 2010
Awesome! Where are you located? I’m still waiting to see a kite; they’re hard to find here in the northeast.

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

El Burbo posted:

Saw a group of swallow-tailed kites today.



ooooh gorgeous

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006
Those are some fancy looking birds.

El Burbo
Oct 10, 2012

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

HappyHippo
Nov 19, 2003
Do you have an Air Miles Card?

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

dupersaurus
Aug 1, 2012

Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'
No pictures but I’ve seen a bunch of black-billed magpies for the first time this weekend and I’m now a fan

Bloody
Mar 3, 2013

The neighborhood crow fledglings are starting to show themselves :3:

Enfys
Feb 17, 2013

The ocean is calling and I must go

Bloody posted:

The neighborhood crow fledglings are starting to show themselves :3:

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.

BRAKE FOR MOOSE
Jun 6, 2001

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.

It always cracks me up that fledglings will stand on top of a we 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.

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.

Eeyo
Aug 29, 2004

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.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer
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.

EPICAC
Mar 23, 2001

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.

waffy
Oct 31, 2010
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.

HappyHippo
Nov 19, 2003
Do you have an Air Miles Card?
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 :mad:

fawning deference
Jul 4, 2018

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?

HappyHippo
Nov 19, 2003
Do you have an Air Miles Card?
Do you have any pictures at all? Even a bad picture could be helpful

fawning deference
Jul 4, 2018

HappyHippo posted:

Do you have any pictures at all? Even a bad picture could be helpful

I'll try to get one later.

vonnegutt
Aug 7, 2006
Hobocamp.

Could be a juvenile red-winged blackbird. They're brown and white and don't really look like their adult forms.

fawning deference
Jul 4, 2018

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.

cheese eats mouse
Jul 6, 2007

A real Portlander now
I should get a sound clip of my area of Central Park in the mornings. There are so many calls it's wonderfully rich.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer
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.

Fitzy Fitz
May 14, 2005




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.

Eeyo
Aug 29, 2004

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.

Chard
Aug 24, 2010




i can hear three or four great horned owls having some kind of gently caress/fight party in the trees outside right now

fawning deference
Jul 4, 2018

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?

Chard
Aug 24, 2010




you could try chili powder. might make the water foul faster but birds cant taste capsaicin

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006
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.

BetterLekNextTime
Jul 22, 2008

It's all a matter of perspective...
Grimey Drawer

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.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006
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.

fawning deference
Jul 4, 2018

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.

Fitzy Fitz
May 14, 2005




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.

YggiDee
Sep 12, 2007

WASP CREW
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.

Fitzy Fitz
May 14, 2005




There's a wren nesting in my mailbox and it's clear she thinks we're the ones imposing

Chard
Aug 24, 2010




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.

Lead out in cuffs
Sep 18, 2012

"That's right. We've evolved."

"I can see that. Cool mutations."




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.

Fitzy Fitz
May 14, 2005




I have a feeling the mail carrier hates our house.

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H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006


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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