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Fake Birds

Started by Benjamin DeHaven, Sep 05 2012 05:42 PM

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#1 Benjamin DeHaven

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Posted 05 September 2012 - 05:42 PM

Hey all!

This looks like a golden crow, right? I just need to make sure I didn't drift too far over the line where everything starts to looks like a bird. :blink: The whole ride home I kept seeing a spot of dirt on my windshield and kept getting excited thinking it was a hawk in the sky up ahead.

Posted Image
DSC_0165 by BadBirds, on Flickr

Thanks!

Benjamin

PS: if this turns into a "everybody post your fake bird shots" I'm fine with that!

“Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent,

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#2 Clip

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Posted 05 September 2012 - 08:46 PM

Benjamin I have a couple of those. One is an American goldfinch (yellow leaf) and the other is a hawk (broken tree branch) :rolleyes:

#3 sailormom64

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Posted 05 September 2012 - 09:28 PM

LOL I have many pine cone pics that I just knew was a bird I had been looking at earlier!
What I have learned so far.... just because you think that bird is just another _____ (house sparrow, chickadee, crow or whatever you are used to seeing) look a little closer... you just might be surprised!

#4 fisherman1313

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Posted 06 September 2012 - 04:02 AM

I saw my lifer Northern Pygmy Owl near the town of Twain Harte, CA two years ago. I watched it for several minutes and then it turned into a squirrel! I'm still looking for a NPO that is not a squirrel.

New Year's Resolutions:
Get my lifelist to 300 (currently 293)
Finally get Mountain Quail and Vesper Sparrow
Top my previous single year best (2011-253) I'm at 193 as of 5/12.

Latest Lifer(s):Harris's Sparrow, Oka Ponds, Campbell, CA, 1/1/13

Favorite Recent Bird(s):Yellow-breasted Chat, Knights Ferry Rec Area, Knights Ferry, CA, 5/20/13; Blue-winged Teal (Pair), Peregrine Falcon, Sanderling (3),Franklin's Gull (9), Modesto Wastewater Treatment Facility, Modesto, CA, 5/12/13, MacGillivray's Warber, Adair Rd., Modesto, CA, 5/5/13, Long-eared Owl, Mercy Hot Springs, Fresno County, CA, 4/29/13, Lawrwnce's Goldfinch, Panoche Shool, San Benito County, CA, 4/29/13,Lawrwnce's Goldfinch, McHenry Rec Area, Escalon, CA, 4/21/13, Snowy Plover, Modesto Water Treatment Plant, Modesto, CA, 4/14/13, Blue-winged Teal, Redhead, San Luis NWR, Merced County, CA, 3/11/13, Eurasian Wigeon, American Bittern, Santa Fe Grade Rd., Merced County,, CA, 3/9/13

#5 meghann

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Posted 06 September 2012 - 04:13 AM

fisherman, I've had a similar experience.

Hey, what's that, hiding in the grass?! Eyeline, white supercilium, hmm. . .

Attached File  IMAG0139.JPG   471.43K   75 downloads

Ah.

Attached File  IMAG0141.JPG   392.55K   73 downloads

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#6 fisherman1313

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Posted 06 September 2012 - 05:30 AM

My "owl" was in plain sight, on a very distant tree branch and it was silhouetted against the sky, but it was the right shape and I was starting get excited. I've since seen a mounted Northern Pygmy Owl at a local museum and now I know that the "owl" I saw was WAY to big.

On recent trip to the mountains I spent several minutes chasing a chirping "bird" through the brush only to figure out it was a chipmunk.

New Year's Resolutions:
Get my lifelist to 300 (currently 293)
Finally get Mountain Quail and Vesper Sparrow
Top my previous single year best (2011-253) I'm at 193 as of 5/12.

Latest Lifer(s):Harris's Sparrow, Oka Ponds, Campbell, CA, 1/1/13

Favorite Recent Bird(s):Yellow-breasted Chat, Knights Ferry Rec Area, Knights Ferry, CA, 5/20/13; Blue-winged Teal (Pair), Peregrine Falcon, Sanderling (3),Franklin's Gull (9), Modesto Wastewater Treatment Facility, Modesto, CA, 5/12/13, MacGillivray's Warber, Adair Rd., Modesto, CA, 5/5/13, Long-eared Owl, Mercy Hot Springs, Fresno County, CA, 4/29/13, Lawrwnce's Goldfinch, Panoche Shool, San Benito County, CA, 4/29/13,Lawrwnce's Goldfinch, McHenry Rec Area, Escalon, CA, 4/21/13, Snowy Plover, Modesto Water Treatment Plant, Modesto, CA, 4/14/13, Blue-winged Teal, Redhead, San Luis NWR, Merced County, CA, 3/11/13, Eurasian Wigeon, American Bittern, Santa Fe Grade Rd., Merced County,, CA, 3/9/13

#7 jblakelock

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Posted 06 September 2012 - 05:47 AM

I once identified a clump of pinecones across a pond as a Northern Saw-whet Owl.

I have also seen many Great-horned Owls. They seem to like perching on top of telephones poles and on roofs.
Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake - Wallace Stevens

#8 BarnSwallow

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Posted 06 September 2012 - 03:17 PM

My daughter saw one of those owls this summer. She yelled "There's an owl!" I said "Yeah, it's there every day."

#9 creeker

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Posted 06 September 2012 - 06:01 PM

Liam needs to post his stump/Screech Owl pic here. :P
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#10 folkeye

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Posted 06 September 2012 - 06:38 PM

Oh the number of times I've changed the odd shaped 'bird'. Happens each and every time! Doesn't help if there's an actual bird nearby making noise. Only adds to the illusion.

I once identified a clump of pinecones across a pond as a Northern Saw-whet Owl.

I have also seen many Great-horned Owls. They seem to like perching on top of telephones poles and on roofs.


I think we have one of those on our roof everyday too! Wonder if they're the same species :D
Starting a NEW gallery of my better bird shots. Due to flickr changes I felt it was a good time to explore elsewhere for future postings:

http://www.ipernity....e/293739?rev=31

Bird's I've seen (UPDATED 04-11-13!)

flickr.com/photos/23662662@N08/sets/72157630138099432/

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#11 sailormom64

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Posted 20 September 2012 - 06:26 AM

I saw the PRETTIEST hummingbird today, I was trying to pay close attention and get some colors/field marks so I could find out which one it was...At first it was just flitting around, and then it perched. Well, after I stood there for a LONG time and it was STILL perched, I moved closer, found out it was just a little leaf that had fallen from a branch above, landed on a lower branch as its "perch" and its stem was the "bill" of my hummingbird! There was nobody else around to see this, I checked! My excitement changed to "Oh geez" and I straightened up, wiped the giddy look off my face, and just moved on as if the hummingbird incident never happened. But it happens to me at least once a day when I am out trying to see what I can see, maybe my eye doc needs to change my lenses!
What I have learned so far.... just because you think that bird is just another _____ (house sparrow, chickadee, crow or whatever you are used to seeing) look a little closer... you just might be surprised!

#12 illin

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Posted 20 September 2012 - 12:41 PM

99% of Snowy Owls that I have seen were plastic bags.
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#13 cwj2323

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Posted 21 September 2012 - 12:31 AM

99% of Snowy Owls that I have seen were plastic bags.


Groan.... I almost forgot about our winter looking for the Snowy Owl... Did you actually pull over to get a photo? I did.


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#14 illin

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Posted 21 September 2012 - 12:48 AM

I stopped and looked at probably 100 bags, but only took pics of the 1 Snowy I saw.

Posted Image
Snowy Owl by Laramore, on Flickr
Link to my nature blog. www.naturecloseup.blogspot.com/

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#15 Benjamin DeHaven

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Posted 22 September 2012 - 02:08 AM

"On their wintering grounds they’ll also perch atop a fence post, hay bale, building, telephone pole, grain elevator—anywhere with a good view."

Is your owl sitting in a hole?

“Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent,

leave the house before you find something worth staying in for. ” 
                                                                                                                             ― Banksy

 

Life List: 236 ** ABA 2013: 172 ** Maryland Life: 205 ** Maryland 2013: 152 ** Baltimore Life: 159 ** Baltimore 2013: 123 ** Delaware Life: 126

Latest Lifers: Northern Bobwhite (actually saw it!), Red Knot, Ruddy Turnstone, Warbling Vireo, Canada Warbler, Veery, Rusty Blackbird, Pectoral Sandpiper

#16 Kaysei

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Posted 23 September 2012 - 01:17 AM

Early this summer I took about 10 pictures of a red-tailed hawk that flew right over me in the park and perched on a tree stump in the woods across the street. I was delighted that it sat so still and posed for me for several minutes. That's because it morphed into a tree stump as it landed. :rolleyes:

#17 Liam

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Posted 23 September 2012 - 01:27 AM

Creeker, you mean this one?
Posted Image Liam
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#18 creeker

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Posted 23 September 2012 - 04:33 AM

Creeker, you mean this one?


Awesome! I love that pic!
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#19 Jenny81

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Posted 04 October 2012 - 05:37 PM

The flycatcher subspecies of the leafbird.Posted Image

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#20 cestma

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Posted 04 October 2012 - 06:30 PM

The flycatcher subspecies of the leafbird.Posted Image


Heh, heh--exactly!

Posted Image
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