15 replies to this topic

[Gordo]

Hi Folks,

I couldn't find a topic/thread already posted wherein new members could introduce themselves. I hope it's ok that I created this one to do so.

I'm not much of an 'internet guy' and not sure how all the rules of message forums work so please let me know if I'm out of line at any time.

My wife and I live in Southern Ontario and have always enjoyed time spent outdoors. The last couple of years we've made bird watching (and bug & critter watching) our primary recreational passtime. Nothing beats it for helping the soul find peace and the body & mind to recover from the sensory onslaught that is today's modern city life. Fortunately for us we live right next to Lake Ontario and wetlands, marshes, river courses and the wonder that is the Niagara Escarpment are within minutes of our apartment.

We've enjoyed watching birds for years. I hesitate to say we're "bird watchers" because it never seemed important to know what specific bird species we were seen. Just watching (& listenening) as they went about their lives was enough. We could identify all the 'regulars' that any Canadian kid can but knowing what type of comorant, gull or hawk we saw was often beyond us.

We also love photography. Birds, flowers, insects... the list goes on. We have a couple cameras, both at least 5 years old and while I'd never profess to being really good at it (especially after seeing some of the offerings from members of this forum) I admit to believing I'm not bad at capturing half decent shots now and again (I'm a 4th degree black belt at blurry, overexposed and "huh?" shots but I don't want to blow my own horn so I won't talk about those)

I blame Facebook for instilling in us the necessity of learning the true identity of the birds we shoot since it is there we first posted them and shared them with others. Our photos got a lot of "Wow! What kind of bird is that?" comments and we were unable to answer. It dawned on me then that I was beholden to the birds to learn more about them. For all the enjoyment they have give freely to me by the very act of living I owe it to them to educate myself so that I can understand more about them and hopefully, give a little something back to them so they continue to have places to live their lives.

Identifying birds is a lot harder than I thought. Even when I'm sure I'm never really sure.
My wife discovered Whatbird and suggested I check it out. I've been feeling my way through the site for awhile now (remember, I'm not a wiz at this internet stuff) and only today discovered this forum community.
So I wanted to say hello.

Later today I'm going to attempt to post my first topic asking for help identifying a bird.

Thanks for allowing me to join your online community.

Peace,
Gordo

(apparently I'm not yet allowed to access or edit my profile)

[Bigfoot]

Welcome to Whatbird, There are spam filters in place to catch the spammers, just post normally and the filters will be removed.

Bigfoot
Whatbird Moderator

[Melissa :)]

Welcome to Whatbird, Gordo!! Don't worry, there are plenty of people who have trouble IDing birds (such as myself ). And I'm sure almost everybody here is wiling to help in any way they can. Its great to have another lover of nature! Once again, welcome to the site!!

[lonestranger]

Welcome to Whatbird, Gordo. It sounds like you and your wife do a lot of your birding in some of the same areas as my girlfriend and I. Living up on the Niagara escarpment ourselves, we do a lot of hiking along the Bruce Trail and many of it's side trails. The wildlife in the area is quite diverse and there's always plenty to photograph, even when the birds aren't cooperating. Again, welcome to Whatbird, I'm sure you'll find it a very helpful, and friendly community.

[creeker]

I would love to see a "Meet the members" thread on here. It would be nice to know a bit about everybody, and see a pic of each in their natural habitat . Guess I'm just nosey like that.

[JimBob]

Welcome to Whatbird!!!

[guy_incognito]

Welcome! I certainly don't claim to be an expert identifier, but I definitely have come a long way mainly due to this forum. If you really want to get better at figuring those birds out, it helps to not only study and post the birds you see, but also spend time in the identification forum. I would, and still do, look through the ID forums and try to ID those birds myself. Then you can check and see what others say, and often there may be a discussion on how the ID was made. I've learned several tips this way that I wouldn't have learned from the typical field guides.

[threeofhardts]

I just today discovered this 'General/Off Topic' forum. (Seems I'm always a day late and a dollar short.) But I wanted to say welcome to Whatbird, Gordo. I really enjoyed reading your intro and agree wholeheartedly that birding is good for the soul.

So nice to 'meet' you!

[Triplefeather]

I would love to see a "Meet the members" thread on here. It would be nice to know a bit about everybody, and see a pic of each in their natural habitat . Guess I'm just nosey like that.

Oh nuuuuh not a pic lol. My face is to pretty to be plastered on a forum.

Edit: Whoops, I had no idea this was way old.

[JimBob]

My face is to pretty to be plastered on a forum.

*too ()

[Eclectic Rhapsody]

Welcome to WhatBird, Gordo! Don't worry about learning about identifying birds. It's always a learning process. Would be interested in seeing your photos.

[Triplefeather]

*too ( )

That is what I MEANT.

[Oops3]

hi!
I am also new to WhatBird. I come originally from Long Island, NY, but have been in south Florida for the past 20. I cannot begin to tell you how much I miss chickadees! We always put up feeders in the winter, one year we put up the Christmas tree in a snow bank and used that to hang feeders! The snow was so deep that year, that the birds couldn't wait for me to fill the feeders and I had cardinals pecking around my feet! So awesome...
So my kids were raised around birds. My daughter spoke seagull for awhile, pet bumblebees, typical suburban things. She just got her Masters in Environmental biology, subheading birds from Columbia. Think that early birding stuck?
Now I'm about 8 miles or so inland from the East Coast of Palm Beach Gardens FL. When I landed here 20 years ago, we had lots of birds, but ater the West Nile epidemic, it seems theperching bird populations here just crashed! The water birds seemd ok though, it was the migratories that vanished. It was so quiet, it was awful!
The hawks have come back, the bluejays, cardinals are rebounding as permanent residents. Woodpeckers (a Pileated made holes in a dead pine I left just for that purpose!) and Flickers like crazy, and a few days ago we saw the first wild flock of Roseate Spoonbills I've ever seen up here. They're usually further south. And always the turkey ultures.Then about now the LBBs come in and drive me nuts because I have no idea what they are and they dont stay still long enough for me to whip out my iPhone and shoot. I need an app like SoundHound where it tapes a song and compares it to a database to give you the name(and a whole lot more) of the song. THEN I'd know what those little guys are...
Anyway, glad to have found you. I'll stop by now and then and catch up with y'all.
ps: Are there chickadees in Gainesville, FL? Is that north enough?
Thanks!

[jdeitsch]

hi!
I am also new to WhatBird. I come originally from Long Island, NY, but have been in south Florida for the past 20. I cannot begin to tell you how much I miss chickadees! We always put up feeders in the winter, one year we put up the Christmas tree in a snow bank and used that to hang feeders! The snow was so deep that year, that the birds couldn't wait for me to fill the feeders and I had cardinals pecking around my feet! So awesome...
So my kids were raised around birds. My daughter spoke seagull for awhile, pet bumblebees, typical suburban things. She just got her Masters in Environmental biology, subheading birds from Columbia. Think that early birding stuck?
Now I'm about 8 miles or so inland from the East Coast of Palm Beach Gardens FL. When I landed here 20 years ago, we had lots of birds, but ater the West Nile epidemic, it seems theperching bird populations here just crashed! The water birds seemd ok though, it was the migratories that vanished. It was so quiet, it was awful!
The hawks have come back, the bluejays, cardinals are rebounding as permanent residents. Woodpeckers (a Pileated made holes in a dead pine I left just for that purpose!) and Flickers like crazy, and a few days ago we saw the first wild flock of Roseate Spoonbills I've ever seen up here. They're usually further south. And always the turkey ultures.Then about now the LBBs come in and drive me nuts because I have no idea what they are and they dont stay still long enough for me to whip out my iPhone and shoot. I need an app like SoundHound where it tapes a song and compares it to a database to give you the name(and a whole lot more) of the song. THEN I'd know what those little guys are...
Anyway, glad to have found you. I'll stop by now and then and catch up with y'all.
ps: Are there chickadees in Gainesville, FL? Is that north enough?
Thanks!

Welcome to Whatbird!!!! Gainesville is right on the southern edge of the Carolina Chickadee's range, so, hopefully one will drop by and say hello.

[TheBillyPilgrim]

hi!
I am also new to WhatBird. I come originally from Long Island, NY, but have been in south Florida for the past 20. I cannot begin to tell you how much I miss chickadees! We always put up feeders in the winter, one year we put up the Christmas tree in a snow bank and used that to hang feeders! The snow was so deep that year, that the birds couldn't wait for me to fill the feeders and I had cardinals pecking around my feet! So awesome...
So my kids were raised around birds. My daughter spoke seagull for awhile, pet bumblebees, typical suburban things. She just got her Masters in Environmental biology, subheading birds from Columbia. Think that early birding stuck?
Now I'm about 8 miles or so inland from the East Coast of Palm Beach Gardens FL. When I landed here 20 years ago, we had lots of birds, but ater the West Nile epidemic, it seems theperching bird populations here just crashed! The water birds seemd ok though, it was the migratories that vanished. It was so quiet, it was awful!
The hawks have come back, the bluejays, cardinals are rebounding as permanent residents. Woodpeckers (a Pileated made holes in a dead pine I left just for that purpose!) and Flickers like crazy, and a few days ago we saw the first wild flock of Roseate Spoonbills I've ever seen up here. They're usually further south. And always the turkey ultures.Then about now the LBBs come in and drive me nuts because I have no idea what they are and they dont stay still long enough for me to whip out my iPhone and shoot. I need an app like SoundHound where it tapes a song and compares it to a database to give you the name(and a whole lot more) of the song. THEN I'd know what those little guys are...
Anyway, glad to have found you. I'll stop by now and then and catch up with y'all.
ps: Are there chickadees in Gainesville, FL? Is that north enough?
Thanks!

There are tons of Chickadees in Gainesville! I lived there for 5 years!

[Gordo]

Welcome to Whatbird, Oops3!

I think you'll find the good folks here on this forum are as friendly (and tolerant) as they are knowledgeable about the thing that brought us all here... our love/fascination/obsession with birds. Even when I'm not looking for help on a specific mystery bird of "my own" I still like to frequent the board to try my hand at identifying birds others are asking about. (I admit I was thrilled the first time I was the first to respond with an ID... AND get it correct.) I have learned TONS about the birds in my area and elsewhere from this site and "met" some great people too.