I'll definitely have to relearn my warblers again. Been years since I've really had to know them. Last time I really saw them in numbers was probably in grad school back in 2015.
There’s an owl around here who does not shit the fuck up. No knock, I enjoy the sound. That said at night I obviously can’t find him but he usually goes until 10AM. Neighbors probably think I’m a crack head looking around everywhere.
If you have a Bluetooth speaker or something of that nature play his call back at him. That could draw him in. When I was in college I used to come home to my parents house and blast barred owl calls out their living room window because they had quite a few in their neighborhood. Usually got them going
I did this all summer, never had any luck here but I’m not close to remote. Probably a bit too much activity.
Owsley and others, what do you believe the chances of the Ivory Billed woodpecker still being around are?
I ask because I only recently learned one of the last alleged sightings was near the White River in Arkansas back in 2005. The White River Refuge is a place we have been fishing since I was a kid and I can totally see how something like the Ivory Billed could live out there undisturbed for many many years. But I also wonder how efforts to spot it and birds of the sort go, especially now with drone technology.
Totally. Maybe it’s not zero percent, but it’s just incredibly low. There’s just been so much time and resources dedicated to finding it in the past 80ish years, that I think if there was a viable population somewhere it would’ve been found. There was a Cornell article from either 05 or 06 stating it had been rediscovered in Arkansas, but there wasn’t anything definitive enough to truly get my hopes up. There have been expeditions throughout the southeast and Cuba, but until a clear photo or video is produced it’s really just hearsay. The theory is that these birds require huge tracts of mature, swampy forest for just a single pair, so population densities are bound to be low to begin with. These tracts are often incredibly difficult to maneuver in and quite inhospitable for all but the most determined scientists, with the caveat that these birds are also incredibly wary to begin with. So there’s a lot going on. I want to believe... https://www.audubon.org/news/possib...ecker-footage-breathes-life-extinction-debate https://www.google.com/amp/s/api.na...p/animals/2005/04/extinct-woodpecked-arkansas
Yeah that's why I wondered about drones. Could reach harder to get places, but you'd still need something to go off of other than grainy video from 15 years ago. Any other similar stories of birds with more promising results in recent history?
I’m a biologist with a background in wetlands ecology and freshwater ecosystems. Most of my field work is related to these (wetland delineations and wetland plant surveys, fish electro-shocking, benthic macroinvertebrate collection, etc.) but I also get to do some other cool stuff like gopher tortoise/eastern indigo snake/eastern diamondback rattlesnake surveys, and bird surveys (predominantly shorebirds/seabirds and spring/fall migrations.) Birding is probably my oldest hobby/passion, and some of my first memories are sitting in my grandpas lap (insert Rivals joke) watching his feeders and him teaching me how to identify all of the different birds that we’d see. I inherited all of his field guides and binoculars, which are some of my most prized possessions to this day.
It's gone. TONS of money poured into the ivory bills research etc after that recording came out of Arkansas and it was never found. Enough people looked for a long time that if it was there, someone would have found it
I've never worked private sector. Public sector ain't bad if you get a good office and can insulate yourself from the politics some. Job I took in GA is is with usda, hopefully thats a little better than DOI right now
Band-Tailed Pigeons have been coming down from the mountains to feed. Pretty boring looking bird, other than the fact that they are massive. Like, the size of a crow.
I was walking out of my doctors office about 10 minutes ago and I had a massive bald eagle fly about 30 feet over my head. Stopped me dead in my tracks with awe. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised as there's a relatively large state park a few minutes away, but dammit that's one of the coolest things I'd say has ever happened to me.
Identified a brown thrasher the other day. Was poking around the bottom of a tree. squirrel came down right next to it to also search for food and it was totally unfazed. They both sat around the bottom of the tree for several minutes.
I don't know if I feel confident in Sharp-Shinned Hawk anymore. I feel like the color pattern should be more evenly distributed. Now I'm thinking it's a wild Turkey. Need this mystery to be solved.
Feathers are tough. I'd probably lean towards turkey with that length but I'm not sure. I don't think it would be a hawk and an owl but I'm just guessing
Have some eastern bluebirds around the feeder. One of the chaps is quite colorful and good looking. Deep blue and really pronounced orange.
I’m also like 60% sure I have a pair of Cooper’s hawks living nearby. I’ll occasionally see them perched nearby, a shadow, or catch one dart across my backyard. I’ve seen a similar big ass bird flew through my yard earlier in the year. I can never get close enough to ID for sure. I really do not think it’s a red tail because from what I’ve read they wouldn’t even be low enough for me to see. Also these fuckers almost never stay still outside being perched up on something. There was one that was sitting on a dead tree in my backyard but I could not get closer than 50 yards before he 50 cented me. I’ve recently busted out the binos and of course didn’t see them for three days. That is until today when one was literally in the middle of my open backyard. Was taking the dogs out and they started going ballistic. Needless to say If I had just looked out the window I would have had a clear shot. Other notes, the coolest patterns on the feathers. Again it’s really quick shots but I’ve seen their backs, which is another reason I believe they are Coopers. Last question, is there a quality camera I can get to zoom and shoot? I know this is TMB but I’m not looking to spend like $7k on it as it would literally be for this purpose alone.
But if you were asking specific questions I got a rebel series Canon DSLR and a telephoto zoom and I like it a lot. It's not perfect but I mostly take photos of waterfowl or wading birds while in the field for work so it does a pretty good job. Mine was probably $500 a decade ago for the package.
I bought something similar a few years. I think I spent in the $650-700 range at Costco for a Canon that came with two lenses. I wish the shutter was quicker, but other than that it’s been great. I’m no photographer, but in the rare instance everything comes together it takes some really nice pictures.
Set up an alert for DSLR and telephoto lens on slickdeals. Won’t take long for a good combo to come through
I’m a complete noob in the space so literally is DSLR and telephoto lens the exact words I should track?