Stepped outside, saw a pair of these hovering over my driveway gliding into strong headwind. They landed, and my phone took this pretty lame picture (full zoomed graininess). Best as I can identify, they are Western Kingbirds (Colorado in this case). The way they kicked up a ruckus when I stepped out says this bird site notes on them is accurate: Easily found perched upright on fences and utility lines, Western Kingbirds hawk insects from the air or fly out to pick prey from the ground. They ferociously defend their territories with wing-fluttering, highly vocal attacks. Vocalizations include long series of squeaky, bubbling calls as well as single, accented kip notes. Members of Flycatcher family.
Sweetwater Creek and Black Rock Mountain. Both were crowded, but once I got on less traveled trails I encountered virtually no one.
Never been to Blackrock. Went to Tallulah gorge and brasstown bald last week. Mostly just heard juncos and vireos at brasstown. Nothing exciting at the gorge
Saw and heard more summer tanagers than I ever have previously at Sweet Water and also got the parula there on a little oxbow. Got the black throated green at Black Rock, where I’ve always seemed to have great luck with warblers.
Owsley or anyone else, I’m not getting shit for hummingbirds this year. Is anyone experiencing this? North central Alabama area
I’ve gotten a ton in Atlanta. You should start seeing an uptick in activity soon as nestlings begin to fledge and everyone starts packing on the calories over the next few months to prep for the journey home.
Cool cool. Normally this time of year the feeder is getting good activity in the late afternoon, just not seeing many. I just put out some lantana so hopefully that helps. I miss them.
Was able to observe an American woodcock for quite a while today while in the woods. What a wonderful little bird.
The conservancy I used to volunteer at has a really nice population of Burrowing Owls. I miss seeing those little fuckers, they're one of the few owls you can reliably see during the day.
Those are my favorite birds. Really wanted to get on a project to work with them for gradschool but it didn't work out.
When I was a volunteer, the Burrowing Owl survey slots always got filled instantly. I really wanted in on at least one of those, they are such cool birds.
Was bored yesterday, hung around outside to try and get some good Hummingbird pictures. Allen's Hummingbird. Can't tell if male or female. Female Anna's. No idea what this is, but I liked the shot. A male Bullock's Oriole randomly showed up which was pretty sweet.
Snagged a couple good pictures of a male Allen's. Throat is fluorescent orange when the light catches it right, hard as hell to get a picture of.
Over the past few days, I’ve observed a chipping sparrow in my backyard feeding a nearly fully-fledged cowbird that must be at least 5x her size. I think there are a lot of mixed feelings about cowbirds out there, but as a native species I’ve always felt strongly about letting things be unless a species is at risk. It’s a bit sad watching her feed this screaming monster of a chick, but such is the natural world and who are we to blame the cowbird for doing what’s natural to them?
Hasn't deforestation allowed them to affect species they wouldn't normally have encountered? Their habitat is open ground right?
I was browsing at the feed store, just looking and learning in the bird section. They have an orange suet cake and the stocker answers my question, that yes, we do get orioles in the area. I'm now at home, feeder loaded, awaiting my first oriole
Orioles have pretty much left my jelly feeder alone so they are migrating south now from where I live. Judging by your Fan Of: section I’m assuming you’re in the south, so keep an eye open.
I don't know the exact (or even main/most populous) species to cross reference on eBird, but when I looked a handful of them, they seemed to be colored on the map as migratory. edit: here is the map, with my location as a black dot. I guess I might have to wait and buy another orange cake in Aug/Sept.
I got a picture of the ninja of my local birding world. I can't even remember the last time I actually saw one of these, let alone in my yard. "In the chaparral, the dense low brush that grows along the Pacific seaboard, Wrentits are often heard and seldom seen. Pairs of these long-tailed little birds move about actively in the depths of the thickets, rarely perching in the open or flying across small clearings. They are remarkably sedentary; a bird may spend its entire adult life in an area of just a couple of acres." Wrentit Also a random female Black-Headed Grosbeak showed up to munch on some seed.
I know I've been inundating this thread with pics; this god damn quarantine has turned me into a full fledged bird nerd. Just wanted to share this one because I doubt I'll take one as good as this ever again (you can zoom in a fair bit on it). Spoiler
I’ve looked at this for a while and all I can come up with is immature Allen’s. I’m no expert on western hummingbirds though, especially immature specimens. r/whatisthisbird is a really good ID resource if you want to post it there.
I pretty commonly see great blue herons near my office, but I believe I saw a little blue heron a few weeks ago. Last picture below, sorry for the poor quality.
I can't figure out what this bird is. Is it a Swainson's Thrush? Also, female/ juvenile male Nuttall's Woodpecker.
Had to look that one up, since it looks just like my downy or hairy woodpecker. You live in ~coastal CA area, Popovio ?
Did you ever nail an ID on that hummingbird Popovio? All of the females having white outer tail feathers is the kicker for me. Kinda gravitated towards black chinned on a second review, but I’m stumped.