Author Topic: Birding, how to get started?  (Read 41045 times)

Dogastrophe

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #300 on: May 07, 2023, 03:16:37 PM »
I saw my first Goldfinch of the season this morning. Last year we had a pair in a small patch of trees outside our building - my wife was expected someone to call the police while I was on our patio with the binos watching them, which from the ground would look like I was looking into the houses across the parking lot!

SpareChange

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #301 on: May 08, 2023, 10:20:50 AM »
Mom spotted the first painted bunting of the year on the feeder. Such beautiful birds. Also saw a rose-breasted grosbeak for the first time.

lentil

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #302 on: May 14, 2023, 07:11:19 PM »
Quote
It's an addictive hobby!  I went from being just generally 'into birds' as a kid to feeling totally naked traveling anywhere other than on local errands without my binocs LOL.

Just want to call out @wenchsenior for describing birding so perfectly (along with plenty of practical and useful advice!).

Rainy day here, so we went up into the montane forests to see how many woodpeckers we could find. Seemed logical at the time, and we found six different species of woodpeckers to reward us for our chilly, drippy choice. Plus lots of other birds and one very surprising moose. Highly recommend.

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #303 on: May 15, 2023, 06:53:23 AM »
We just had a walk in our local park. This park is not a traditional park with manicured lawns and recreation facilities. It has mostly meadows and forests. Beautiful park.Amazed at the number of birds we saw on the walk.

One interesting sight was to see about 30-40 turkey vultures all in a narrow cylindrical section from ground level to about 2000 feet. Maybe they had found a thermal there and were using it to climb up, since this was around 9 am and the day was just warming up.

wenchsenior

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #304 on: May 15, 2023, 12:07:50 PM »
We just had a walk in our local park. This park is not a traditional park with manicured lawns and recreation facilities. It has mostly meadows and forests. Beautiful park.Amazed at the number of birds we saw on the walk.

One interesting sight was to see about 30-40 turkey vultures all in a narrow cylindrical section from ground level to about 2000 feet. Maybe they had found a thermal there and were using it to climb up, since this was around 9 am and the day was just warming up.

Tis the season for huge flocks!

wenchsenior

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #305 on: May 15, 2023, 12:15:31 PM »
Quote
It's an addictive hobby!  I went from being just generally 'into birds' as a kid to feeling totally naked traveling anywhere other than on local errands without my binocs LOL.

Just want to call out @wenchsenior for describing birding so perfectly (along with plenty of practical and useful advice!).

Rainy day here, so we went up into the montane forests to see how many woodpeckers we could find. Seemed logical at the time, and we found six different species of woodpeckers to reward us for our chilly, drippy choice. Plus lots of other birds and one very surprising moose. Highly recommend.

Ooo, very nice.

Notable bird things from yesterday.

A GINORMOUS flock of cedar waxwings scattered all over one full block of a street near us. Normally they have moved out/through here by now, so this was a surprise. There were so many that I had to cover my facing ear the whole way down the block b/c that incredibly high-pitched contact call actually hurts my ears.

Then I got home and thought I heard some more waxwings (high-pitched buzzing) in our own backyard, but when I stepped out it was the other high-pitched-noise-creator-that-hurts-my-ears... male broad-tailed hummingbird.

Also, one of the Mississippi Kite pairs was copulating in the park when we walked by and they are already at work building their nest.

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #306 on: October 02, 2023, 05:34:00 AM »
Florida is awesome for birding. I went to St. Pete just before Labor day and wow, I got some great pictures.

For those (including me) who think you need a great camera to take pictures, you are wrong. I took my camera with me, but did not take it on walks with DW. My phone took great pictures. All the following are pictures taken by my phone.

The red shouldered hawk was taken about 30 miles inland since I had to relocate from St. Pete due to Hurricane Idalia. It was wet and did not appreciate being photographed.

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #307 on: October 02, 2023, 05:36:07 AM »
Here are a couple more, post has limitations on size.

The White Ibis were all over downtown St. Pete and they were not alarmed at me going close for a picture.

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #308 on: October 02, 2023, 05:37:29 AM »
Last couple of photos.

Trifle

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #309 on: October 02, 2023, 05:51:58 AM »
Awesome photos @CowboyAndIndian !   I always think pelicans are so odd looking, like dinosaurs.  Very cool. 

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #310 on: October 02, 2023, 05:57:12 AM »
Awesome photos @CowboyAndIndian !   I always think pelicans are so odd looking, like dinosaurs.  Very cool.

Thank you @Trifle.

I have always had the same thought about pelicans. If you remember Jurassic Park, the last scene of the original film had pelican's flying as seen from the helicopter(plane??). When I saw the film, I thought they were pterodactyl's escaping from the island, setting up for a followup film :-)
« Last Edit: October 02, 2023, 07:17:06 AM by CowboyAndIndian »

Trifle

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #311 on: October 02, 2023, 07:45:23 AM »
Awesome photos @CowboyAndIndian !   I always think pelicans are so odd looking, like dinosaurs.  Very cool.

Thank you @Trifle.

I have always had the same thought about pelicans. If you remember Jurassic Park, the last scene of the original film had pelican's flying as seen from the helicopter(plane??). When I saw the film, I thought they were pterodactyl's escaping from the island, setting up for a followup film :-)

I had the same thought!

GuitarStv

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #312 on: October 02, 2023, 08:39:41 AM »
Rather surprisingly, I spotted a peacock on our back yard fence a few weeks back.  Turns out he wandered away from the Toronto Zoo out an open gate, across the rouge river, up a ravine, and then through the suburbs before deciding on our fence.  Our dog REALLY wanted to meet him but that seemed like a bad idea.  (We called the zoo and someone came by to pick him up.)

wenchsenior

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #313 on: October 02, 2023, 11:52:37 AM »
Rather surprisingly, I spotted a peacock on our back yard fence a few weeks back.  Turns out he wandered away from the Toronto Zoo out an open gate, across the rouge river, up a ravine, and then through the suburbs before deciding on our fence.  Our dog REALLY wanted to meet him but that seemed like a bad idea.  (We called the zoo and someone came by to pick him up.)

It's fun to see something like that 'feral,' so to speak.

GuitarStv

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #314 on: October 02, 2023, 01:28:14 PM »
Rather surprisingly, I spotted a peacock on our back yard fence a few weeks back.  Turns out he wandered away from the Toronto Zoo out an open gate, across the rouge river, up a ravine, and then through the suburbs before deciding on our fence.  Our dog REALLY wanted to meet him but that seemed like a bad idea.  (We called the zoo and someone came by to pick him up.)

It's fun to see something like that 'feral,' so to speak.

There was a part of my reptilian brain thinking that it's pretty close to thanksgiving and that's a good sized bird . . .

:P

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #315 on: October 03, 2023, 06:30:00 AM »
Rather surprisingly, I spotted a peacock on our back yard fence a few weeks back.  Turns out he wandered away from the Toronto Zoo out an open gate, across the rouge river, up a ravine, and then through the suburbs before deciding on our fence.  Our dog REALLY wanted to meet him but that seemed like a bad idea.  (We called the zoo and someone came by to pick him up.)

It's fun to see something like that 'feral,' so to speak.

There was a part of my reptilian brain thinking that it's pretty close to thanksgiving and that's a good sized bird . . .

:P

I believe that in Victorian times, peacock was eaten in England. In ancient Rome, peafowl were a delicacy.

It is the national bird of India, so I was surprised to get woken up in Staten Island(mid 80's), NY with the ugly screams of peafowl. It is a very distinctive call and I did not expect it in Staten Island.  It seems that some family with an estate had maintained a flock of them.
« Last Edit: October 03, 2023, 06:41:20 AM by CowboyAndIndian »

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #316 on: October 25, 2023, 10:38:18 AM »
Rather surprisingly, I spotted a peacock on our back yard fence a few weeks back.  Turns out he wandered away from the Toronto Zoo out an open gate, across the rouge river, up a ravine, and then through the suburbs before deciding on our fence.  Our dog REALLY wanted to meet him but that seemed like a bad idea.  (We called the zoo and someone came by to pick him up.)

My neighbors (not too close, luckily) used to have peacocks, in a large outdoor enclosure. They are super fucking annoying, every spring they make a huge racket every time they hear a noise. This lasts through summer, then they seem to pipe down.

Apparently the Egyptians used them as guard birds, because they're so predictably re-active to noise.

One day years ago they both escaped in a storm. One was found the next day but the other disappeared.

Fast forward six months, I was at my dentists office, and somehow he mentioned that a peacock showed up near his house six months ago, and it likes to roost on his roof, and they were feeding it. The dentist lives about three miles from me.

Mystery solved, the wandering peacock returned home.

A few years ago it was killed by a raccoon ( *oh no* ).

GuitarStv

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #317 on: October 25, 2023, 11:41:25 AM »
Rather surprisingly, I spotted a peacock on our back yard fence a few weeks back.  Turns out he wandered away from the Toronto Zoo out an open gate, across the rouge river, up a ravine, and then through the suburbs before deciding on our fence.  Our dog REALLY wanted to meet him but that seemed like a bad idea.  (We called the zoo and someone came by to pick him up.)

My neighbors (not too close, luckily) used to have peacocks, in a large outdoor enclosure. They are super fucking annoying, every spring they make a huge racket every time they hear a noise. This lasts through summer, then they seem to pipe down.

Apparently the Egyptians used them as guard birds, because they're so predictably re-active to noise.

One day years ago they both escaped in a storm. One was found the next day but the other disappeared.

Fast forward six months, I was at my dentists office, and somehow he mentioned that a peacock showed up near his house six months ago, and it likes to roost on his roof, and they were feeding it. The dentist lives about three miles from me.

Mystery solved, the wandering peacock returned home.

A few years ago it was killed by a raccoon ( *oh no* ).

I'm surprised the raccoon got it!  They're not small birds.

jeninco

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #318 on: October 25, 2023, 03:48:03 PM »
Someone a few miles north of me apparently kept peacocks as, er, "pets" (as noted above, they're not the nicest pets...) and now there's a sufficient wild flock that they're self-sustaining (I think some of the neighbors feed them, and someone may provide shelter in the winter: if you're playing along, you'll note that I live in a place with somewhat significant winters...) It's always fun to go for a run in that direction and have to detour around one!

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #319 on: November 24, 2023, 06:17:40 AM »
Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you had a great day with family and friends.

We have a pre-meal tradition of the whole family taking a walk in a nearby park. While I was looking at the turkey vulture, a fellow walker pointed me to this red tailed hawk who was sunning himself.

Again, I did not have my camera, this is a cell phone shot

wenchsenior

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #320 on: November 24, 2023, 11:15:04 AM »
Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you had a great day with family and friends.

We have a pre-meal tradition of the whole family taking a walk in a nearby park. While I was looking at the turkey vulture, a fellow walker pointed me to this red tailed hawk who was sunning himself.

Again, I did not have my camera, this is a cell phone shot

Good shot, regardless.


Tis the season...for tons of immature red-tails looking super fluffy in the cold. Down here, as well.

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #321 on: December 12, 2023, 08:45:23 AM »
I remembered to take my camera and big lens to St. Pete just after thanksgiving. Had a couple of mornings when I could take photos.

These birds were almost posing....

This was more an exercise in photographing birds. I did get one exotic bird.

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #322 on: December 12, 2023, 08:48:23 AM »
Heres the exotic (invasive??) bird I mentioned. A Nanday Parakeet, native to Central South America. I found a tree full of them in downtown St. Pete (Vinoy park, if you are interested.

How did these parakeets get here?

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #323 on: December 12, 2023, 08:50:41 AM »
Here are a couple of photos which I am also proud of.


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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #324 on: December 14, 2023, 02:26:33 AM »
Amazing photos @CowboyAndIndian !!  Thank you.  Very interesting about the parakeets.  There are some weird situations in Florida with animal escapees. 

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #325 on: December 14, 2023, 05:55:54 AM »
Amazing photos @CowboyAndIndian !!  Thank you.  Very interesting about the parakeets.  There are some weird situations in Florida with animal escapees.

Thank you @Trifle.

 I wonder if there are a minimal number of birds needed so that there is a viable gene pool. I remember reading the need for atleast a 1000 individuals to propogate a speicies, otherwise there is a lot of inbreeding and the specie dies out.

wenchsenior

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #326 on: December 15, 2023, 10:59:01 AM »
LOVE pelicans!

Our 'local' male merlin, who generally winters in our neighborhood, finally showed up this week. I was getting a bit worried, but there he was on his usual telephone pole, scoping out the park and school yard. Between me FINALLY feeling human again after being ill starting back in late October and just getting over pneumonia, this was a good week.

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #327 on: December 18, 2023, 09:26:10 AM »
LOVE pelicans!

Our 'local' male merlin, who generally winters in our neighborhood, finally showed up this week. I was getting a bit worried, but there he was on his usual telephone pole, scoping out the park and school yard. Between me FINALLY feeling human again after being ill starting back in late October and just getting over pneumonia, this was a good week.

Glad you are feeling better!

jinga nation

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #328 on: December 18, 2023, 06:46:51 PM »
Heres the exotic (invasive??) bird I mentioned. A Nanday Parakeet, native to Central South America. I found a tree full of them in downtown St. Pete (Vinoy park, if you are interested.

How did these parakeets get here?

From: https://www.wildsouthflorida.com/nanday.parakeet.html
Quote
Nandays were first seen flying "wild" in St. Petersburg and Pinellas County back in 1969, most likely an escapee from a pet store or owner, or deliberately released.

Another good read: https://www.stpetebikingtours.com/post/what-s-up-with-those-squawking-parrots-in-st-pete

I've seen huge flocks of them flying around the area near Vinoy Park. Beautiful to watch the pandemonium.

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Birding, how to get started?
« Reply #329 on: December 19, 2023, 09:33:06 AM »
Thank you @jinga nation . That was really informative.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!