General Discussion

Burrowing Owl....

PONYRCR — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:01:12 GMT

This is a sucky photo of a Burrowing Owl I took last night. I only had my little point & shoot with me.

This bird was at my place of work in West Los Angeles. I work at a movie studio. Not exactly the type of place you'd expect to find a Burrowing Owl!

A cool find for sure.

I've contacted a rescue agency who will probably come out this weekend to capture the little guy and relocate it to a safer more suitable habtiat.

Focus Issues

Photgog — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:24:53 GMT

As stated in the ID forum.. I am opening a discussion about focal problems with cameras... I heard that Sic1856 had an Issue. I will wait for his post to help identify the problem.

Fraser

A Day of Casual birding on the job

Jim Penny — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:55:57 GMT

During the course of my workday today in the Refinery, there was a good number and variety of birds observed. We have a number of areas where water either stands or it concentrated into ponds, so there are quite a few birds drawn to it. Many winter

Great Blue Heron -- 1 Snowy Egret -- 13 Great Egret -- 6

White Ibis -- 3 Roseate Spoonbill -- 8 Killdeer -- 7

Spotted Sandpiper -- 4 Least Sandpiper -- 10 Am. Avocet -- 2

Neotropic Cormorants -- 15 Double Crested Cormorants -- 7

Ring-necked Duck -- 20 (10ea male and female) Ruddy Duck -- 1 Gadwall -- 13 ( 7 male, 6 F)

Pied Grebe -- 2 Mallard (1m, 1F) N. Shoveler -- 18 (10m, 6 F)

Black-bellied Whistling Duck -- 9 (2adult, 7imm) Coots -- 15 Common Moorhen -- 3 (1adult, 2imm)

Belted Kingfisher -- 1

Mourning Doves -- 52 Eurasian Dove -- 2 Common Grackle -- 5

N. Mockingbird -- 4 Loggerhead Shrike -- 1 Red-wing Blackbird -- 4

Red-tail Hawk -- 1 Am. Krestrel -- 3 Accipiter -- 1 Black Vulture -- 1

What Magazines?

SPYBIRD — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:42:43 GMT

What Bird Magazines do you get? Birds and Blooms for me

What TV show about birds do you watch? I watch Birding Adventures

how about other web sites? books? anything bird related that others may not know about

Hello

mango matto — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:28:57 GMT

I am new to this forum, and I thought I'd say hello. I have large windows on the back side of my house and my daughters are always gazing out. I have seen a few different birds in the yard mainly cardinals. I would like to attract more birds to the yard for my princesses to enjoy watching. I would like to get advice from you all on the do's and dont's to attract birds.

Thanks,

Mango matto

Molting

Matt — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:51:40 GMT

Thought you would enjoy this response I got from a birding friend. I published a female rufous and complained that the exact feathers I needed to determine juvenile from adult were missing and in the wrong time of year.

Moulting, and timing of just about everything is controlled by the pineal gland. The pineal gland is influenced by the amount of light entering the retina. This light, daylight, stimulates the pineal gland which in turn activates the anterior pituitary gland that then sends out various hormones controlling much of what a bird does, the timing, the circadian rhythms and seasonal timing of everything. Temperature can be a slight modifying factor that influences when stuff happens. Hence, we had a seasonally warm summer, with temps remaining warm through September. This most likely this disrupted the moult slightly... my guess on this. We sometimes hear of individuals which do not migrate, or reverse migrate, that is they go north when they are suppose to be going south (usually from banding records and sightings). Guess what, malfunctioning pineal glands, pituitary glands or a combo. I was once on the west coast of Florida in the summer. And while birding for a week concentrating on coastal species, I came upon about 6 species that should have been in the Arctic breeding and here they where in Florida. I was a biologist for The Audubon Society at that time and notified the assistant director of Audubon Sanctuaries who managed a sanctuary just north of St. Petersburg. Dusty said he sees it every summer with Arctic breeding species who stay behind... yup screwed hormonally, from the anterior pituitary. So, the short of this, get your normal dose of sunlight or you may start walking in circles, yes, we too have a pineal gland, but it is not as active as those still quadupeds or with wings.

Ok, now I have a question for you. If I see a woodpecker that looks in every respect to be gila woodpecker, but it has no tail, have I just stumbled upon a new species, one that I can rightfully name Melanerpes tederii??? > TED

Feathers

Obnates — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:04:15 GMT

Saw this on a different message board:

http://www.lab.fws.gov/featheratlas/index.php

Fantastic website. Check it out.

size determines gender

Matt — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:26:43 GMT

All kinds of questions came to mind when I saw this. Red-tails are loners, what are they doing together? I assume female left, male right. They migrate but do they migrate together? Just trying to understand what these birds were doing together as this is not the mating season.

Field ID based on migration

Matt — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:32:41 GMT

I am big on yard birds. We have both Gilded and Northern Flickers in Arizona. Yesterday I caught a pair of flickers in my yard. Gilded do not migrate but Northerns do. Because these two birds were in my yard can I infer that the pair was Northern? I appreciated the fact that their underwing coloration is different but I cannot distinguish in the field and I was not able to get a flight shot.

thanks

where to go?

Lynne Stewart — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:56:20 GMT

I am currently in north Georgia (Hiawassee)...can anybody suggest where to go for nature photo ops?

I don't mind driving a bit to get there. Planting daffodil bulbs this morning and a very little black bear cub

wandered into the yard...the camera was in the house...I hate me.

I've got a spotted Towhee right outside my office window (pretty sure anyway)!

Freebird — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:39:07 GMT

Yesterday, as I walked to work I heard a really lovely bird song, repeatedly and I could see a small bird (maybe with some pale yellow on it), flitting from branch to branch and as I knew I had a day of meetings and little chance to get my camera out, I didnt bring it to work........so this morning, I was determined to check out the same bird and I couldn't find it.

As I turned up to the steps of my office, I am pretty fortunate, I have a corner office of a victorian mansion building and right outside is a dogwood and a conifer and I noticed that our ordinary sparrows here have turned into white-throated then all of a sudden I noticed a predominantly black bird, with some rusty red and a few splashes of white here or there. At first, I thought I had a strange robin (lots of robins around here) but then he came back again and I am almost 100% certain I have a spotted Towhee. What a dilemma, get into work on time at 8.30 or hang around outside for the shot :) Well, I got the shots and now keep looking out to see if he is still here - who knew I'd have something so unusual (for me), right outside my office.

I can barely wait to get home to upload the photos. Argh!

~FB

Houston, TX Birding

ally — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:13:09 GMT

I'll be in Houston the rest of the week and I was thinking about visiting the Arboretum and Nature Center. Is the birding good there this time of year? Any other suggestions? I'll be staying in the vicinity of the George R Brown Convention Center and won't have a lot of spare time but really want to get in some birding. Thanks.

Comments on specific birds

Danny Collins — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:34:42 GMT

I think we should use the- Comments on specific birds- section to post our pictures of the birds. or, have a section where we can do that. It would be very helpful to us newbies to id birds. It would be a great learning tool. Birds take on so many looks, male, female, juv, molting, winter, summer, fluffed up, wet. I actually had to have Bird Brain id an American Gold finch today, it was molting and I have never even seen a pic of a molting GF. What do you experts think? It may stop us newbies from annoying you with ids that we should already know.

For you all!

Freebird — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:00:55 GMT

This is just a "thank you" to everyone on here who helps new/inexperienced/poor photographers like me! Taken on Saturday morning, so pretty......

vultures

Matt — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:00:03 GMT

Does anyone know how old a kill has to be before a vulture will sit down to dinner?

published journals

natureboy — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:48:51 GMT

edit

American Kestrel

raptrlvr — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:10:28 GMT

Taken 9-29-09 in Southwestern New Mexico.

Nikon D200, Nikon 70-300mm Vr lens, 1/500, f10, ISO 200

For those who know about Hummers

Freebird — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:21:25 GMT

I was just down at the vegetable and flower garden, a short peek around after work (I was looking for the warblers actually), it was really overcast and just as I was about to give up on a warbler that was giving me the run-around, I stopped to take a last look around and all of a sudden this thing was whizzing around right by my face. I happened to be standing near to some very tall flowers and the thing was a hummingbird, buzzing around the flowers but watching me. Of course, I tried taking a shot but I couldn't focus quickly enough before it moved and then all of a sudden he is buzzing and staring at me, about 10 " from my face, as if checking me out - I was so shocked,I just stood there like an utter fool (and it did cross my mind he may peck my eyes out or something!), but it was absolutely incredible! Are they known for this, was he merely checking I wasn't some massive predator that was going to go after him or was he warning me away?

I am not even going to embarrass myself by posting the photo, it's a blurry picture of a blur- the most you can make out is the eye and beak but wowee, gorgeous and stunning bird moment. In hindsight of course, I should have quickly switched to video it....... just curious to know what those who know about hummers make of this. I couldn't even say which kind of hummer it was, except my eye remembers bluish and greenish and no red, more dull than some photos I have seen on here.

Wow, still cannot believe it! Didn't photo my warbler either :(

Problems composing posts

Freebird — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:10:57 GMT

Is anyone else having problems with composing their posts. Unless I click on B(old), the cursor inside the message body field turns into a cross and won't let me type ordinary text?

I had noticed the lack of email alerts (and I am still not receiving any) and wondered if this is an issue for anyone else too?

~FB

Night song

peacemakerjean — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:23:38 GMT

Greetings,

I live in the East Bay of San Francisco, CA.

I am hearing a bird song that is continuous from dark to first crack of dawn. In searching this sight it sounds closest to the Short Eared Owl. A neighbor collaborates what I hear. We wonder if it is the young we are hearing. There are very tall oaks, elms in the area.

Hummingbird in NJ

buytick — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:01:57 GMT

I have 3 beautiful hummingbirds, which I feed regularly. Something magical happened today. I was watering the plants outside with my garden hose set to shower, while one of the birds was feeding nearby. He purposely flew into the shower stream repeatedly, taking a bath. This went on for about 3 minutes.

What a treat. Was wondering if this is normal behavior? Has this happened to anyone else?

Hummingbird Photography

Photgog — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 04:22:11 GMT

About a month ago I chastised myself and by implication "we" birders in general... for not taking advantage of local birds in our collective areas that are "Rare" in other areas.

The subject was Abert's Towhee at the time but then I thought about the Hummingbirds that we have in Arizona. As I got into the identification more, began to realize that some of these little buggers are just difficult. AND some can be identified with better photos. Matt, was always quoting about "P10 and R5" and I'm scratching my head trying to see the P10 as the "darting devil" makes a banzai pass overhead or comes to the feeder and tucks his wings. Or even worse the little guy/gals slow their wing rate to a mere 35 flaps a second while they take a drink.

Photography... must be the answer. But HOW??? Many of my shots in the field show the wings but mostly as a blur.

I have been doing some experimentation with strobes and am beginning to see some improving results. A series of posts will show the progress and techniques.

The first post is the results of positioning three strobes crudely around the feeder.

Focus was an issue as you will see... but look at the wings on this shot. There is a distinct outline/shape of the wing.

Normally I would not post this stuff but it represents part of my learning process.

Camera Details Nikon D2x, 105mm 2.8 Macro lens, One SB-800 speedlight, 2 Su-r200 lights. Picture details F2.9,ISO 250 Shutter 1/250 Autofocus on

Fraser

Cool article on hawk from UK newspaper

Freebird — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:24:33 GMT

Aside from the article,check out the "comments"- seems birders are the same everywhere- this made me giggle:)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1214339/Dont-mess-bird-Hawk-slayer-protects-citizens-ToyTown.html

Also about to post an amazing eagle photo on the photo forum (hopefully the right place to put it)

~FB

Another migration question

Curlybird — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:47:31 GMT

I hate to be a pest but I'm really curious about some things, and this is my first migration season as a birder. I don't even know if anyone would know the answer to this but maybe someone does.

When birds (especially ducks) go south to spend winter, do they usually go back to the exact same spot they spent the previous winter, or is it just "random" where they end up, and vice versa - do they go back to same breeding location in Spring each year.

For example, a group of American Wigeons spent all of fall/winter at the (very large) lake that is in the middle of my apartment complex. By mid-April, they were all gone. I was curious whether or not the same group would come back to the same lake.

It's probably a silly question but I'm curious. I find it a little hard to believe that birds would remember the exact location they stayed at the previous year, since the world is a big place but I also know that birds have a way of knowing many things that we can't understand (i.e. migrating in the first place).

Bird watching in the Bay Area/Palo Alto etc - advice for October trip

Freebird — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:00:39 GMT

Could the San Francisco residents please provide some advice. I won't have a chance to get to many places, but if possible, I'd like to hit at least one "hot spot". Planning on visiting one of the last two weekends in October. Also,I would very much appreciate some advice on exactly what birds I should be looking for at that time of year, especially ones I won't see in Connecticut.

Thanks in advance, FB