I'm not above drunk posting. I just usually do Anelka highlight videos in the Chelsea thread, or talk about Nevermore in the Heavy Metal thread though.
lol, I’m sorry again all. Just was being silly, and not serious in my words a bottle. Love everyone, I hope that you guys have a nice new year.
Went birding this morning. Coyotes were out hunting gophers. Black Phoebe Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Probably my clearest photo of one. they move every 2 milliseconds. Red-tailed Hawk Ruby-crowned Kinglet was 3 feet from me. Slight glimpses of the crown. Coyotes eating gophers.
Great pics! Hey, sorry again. That was stupid, I was having a moment. Had a nice last day of the year birding. The light was pretty bad, and I’m a bad photographer. Doing a last day of the year/first day of the year trip. Yesterday went well -a horrible picture of a pretty badass bird. Eurasian Wigeon There was a snowy owl spotted by a friend yesterday, I”m going to try and find it today.
So for my east coast birders? There is definitely a major irruption for owls this year. With an I not an E. is always a tricky thing because- I love you photographers but don’t fucking harass owls? I’ll ask that kindly -because it happens a lot. An irruption means the food source got scarce up north. in the case of owls, it means lemmings and other rodents. But also applicable to some birds when the seed source goes scares for them. Three snowy owls have shown up here? Like a once in a decade irruptive thing? So cool, and if the rodent population really fails, terI might finally get my hawk owl here. There is a code, with this newfangled ebird and various GroupMe’s. “We” don’t share locations. I’ll try and get a bad pic. But it’s definitely a once in a decade snowy owl winter!!! Saw two on LBI, I haven’t seen one in years.
4-6” of snow here in Atlanta this morning. Just filled up the platform and mealworm feeders for the 3rd time today
Wish I had a camera. All the birds look awesome in the snow, but the pine warblers, eastern bluebirds, and eastern towhees take the cake for me.
2 things. 1) I have no idea wtf is going on but suggests it is a wild Rollercoaster ride. I don't get it but STOP W THE APOLOGIES. Thank you. 2. 5 to 8 inches of snow on ground. Have seen several Eastern bluebirds over the last several weeks. Today with snow I had 5 males all sharing and chilled out, at least to how they normally act in my backyard. Normally when I see them they never sit anywhere long and flit everywhere. Which is normal?
I’m definitely the most annoying person on this thread. I’m really sorry, Fuck you Prospector. I’ll apologize all I want? Sorry was that mean? I hope you got the joke. Kisses. I got a pink footed goose today. Nice year bird.
Let’s stick to bird business at hand. My Ohio State homerdom, is for other threads. That I view from afar. Do not participate in. Oh, it’s there. Panama trip, mind you- scheduled for after the natty game. Next Tuesday. Many horrible pics will, or will not be included. Maybe a few excessively verbose thread texts? Should be fun. love to all of you there is a male western tanager kicking around here, didn’t see it.
Stuck a banana on my friends fence. Sangre de toro. Crimson-backed tanager Greater Kiskadee red-lored amazon(horrible pic-sorry) shits about to get weird up in here. bless, go bucks. Got to Panama yesterday.
Sorry, i’m bad at this- bad picture of a red-lored Amazon. not the birds, the pics Ohhh it’s on, couple days in the city and then I’m gonna be off the grid but if I get a good pic, I’ll send it(I will not get a good picture, but it will be a cool bird)
They are everywhere here, like a pigeons. Black vulture. Familiar to Southeast birders Jorts it’s on like donkey kong.many birds to be seen(heard)
Cool first day in the forest. I was too busy looking at stuff to take pictures of most things, but the fruit feeder was rocking so I took a bunch there Chestnut-headed Oropendola Collared Aracari Gray-cowled Wood-Rail Keel-Billed Toucan Flame-rumped tanager edit- I misID, just wrong word. Flame-rumped Not a very good photo, but they’re impossible to get to perch. An incredibly strange bird of the strangest bills of any bird. A white-tipped sicklebill
Once again, not a photographer! Rocking a bridge camera. Cool birds though! Silver-throated tanager. Tough one to see The very very strange, and maybe most cryptic bird ever. A Potoo. Collared Trogon Rufous motmot Not to be outdone by his family member, a Lesson’s Motmot
Gray-headed Chacalaca Red-legged honeycreeper. There is actually an animal on this planet that looks like that honeycreeper, no filters or editing on that photo. Thick-billed Euphonia Black-chested Jay Ferruginous Pygmy Owl. Pretty crazy, as I mentioned before I used to live and work here. Literally have high speed internet at the lodge!
I can't compete with Hippocast's insane birds. Finally got the Anna's Hummingbird photo I've been trying to get though. Western Bluebird Lawrence's Goldfinch. Seeing these birds is always so damn cool. You never know where they will show up, and they have such a small range. Cassin's Kingbird
Dude Popovio not in a million years are my pictures 1/100 as good as yours.That Lawrence’s goldfinch is awesome. I bit the bullet this trip, and hired a guide(the son of one of my former colleagues). I’m stubborn, and halfway decent at neo-tropical avifauna. Was so worth it, and it was 20 bucks a day. He drove part of the time(that shit gets hairy at times here). Bought him a few beers. It’s so overwhelming(in a positive way) with birds down here,having a knowledgeable person with you is highly recommended. There are 99 species of tyrant flycatchers, good luck with that if it’s not your full-time job and grew up here. Oye Tino, gracias por todo. where there are 1,000 species of birds, there are that times a lot of insects. Even wearing long pants and long sleeves, some of those bitches are relentless bloodsuckers. Ankles are so itchy, I don’t know what the fuck it was? Chiggers maybe. Worth it crimson-backed tanager The impossibly beautiful golden-hooded tanager love to all
Chucha, I love that place so much. Nicest people in the world. Went p hard. I know like 5 people read this thread. Didn’t really say, but despite my breakdown- pretty affable normal dude. Was guiding for a weathly super nice couple from Manhattan. You want to go there Popovio? I got you, dm me. On me. Fuck Costa Rica, unless you want to do yoga, and fuck a hippie from the Bay Area. It’s overrated btw. Not the hippie idgaf young women, that’s solid- meant the birds. Panama is where it’s at. Columbia>everything for birds. Go there. That couple are going to hire me to go to Minnesota, once in a lifetime irruption of owls in the upper Midwest Emma. Don’t tell anyone, I’ve never seen a great grey owl. Shhhh, they don’t know any better. Our little secret. But I will see it, fake the rest. Collared Aracari again, just - hey a badass bird. Point, peroid Red-crowned woodpecker, very similar to the red-bellied in e North America
Minnesota trip is on. All the owls. Epic irruption. More my wheelhouse than the neotropics. But, honestly I’ve never seen a Great Grey Owl, a Boreal Owl, or a northern hawk owl. I’ve seen a snowy. Shhhh, don’t tell my client. Fake it til you make it. 75% shit talking 25% knowledge. Bad pics of cool birds to follow next week. Target birds the owls, pine and evening grosbeak, redpolls, and northern shrike. edit. Sax-Zim bog area, NW of Duluth.
Huh, hope I’m not boring you. Super bad pic, went to digital zoom. Looking them over- that’s a wood stork. Not a crazy bird. I’ve seen them in Florida, but I have not seen them in the city there like that. Missed that. A shit ton of stilts, pelicans, white ibis, great egrets, laughing gulls, neotropical cormorants, if you look in the foreground there is a little blue heron, top right(half in frame) is a Cocoi Heron. Magnificent frigatebirds, laughing gulls, black vultures Smooth-billed Ani Savannah Hawk That’s it’s -not birdflexing, hope you enjoyed the photos
This weekend was great; weather is fucking perfect. Anna's Hummingbird Allen's Hummingbird. Taken at dawn, so it looks extra orange.
More stuff from this weekend. A young Vermillion Flycatcher Green Heron Orange-crowned Warbler showing the orange. White-faced Ibis Say's Phoebe Great Blue Heron
Motherfucker, I need a better camera. Or be a better photographer. Or both. Vermillion flycatcher is one of my favorite birds. Those pictures are beautiful, thanks for sharing Popovio. That Allen’s is spectacular also!! An orange hummingbird!
Going to the great north. I have no idea what I’m doing. Totally faking it. Just like I unfortunately let loose in this thread, I’m full fuck it. Hey, Duluth see you soon. I think I can find a white-winged crossbill, a redpoll, a boreal chickadee. A lot of agita on finding those owls.
Let’s get at it? Why not? I have a skill set, might as well? View attachment upload_2025-2-18_6-24-41.jpeg
Northern Minnesota trip going well. Weather even broke a little today and going to be warmer. It was insanity cold when I first got here! Red-breasted Nuthatch Redpoll female Hairy Woopecker Black-capped Chickadee Boom! Great Gray Owl. Huge, just huge in person. I’ve actually seen four now and the picture is not great, but that was my best look. Was a lifer for me this week. I didn’t get a picture, but I saw northern Hawk owll, also a lifer. Some other cool stuff. Evening and Pine Grosbeak, White-winged Crossbill, Magpie, Canada Jay.
Better look today, still not a good pic. They don’t “spook” at all. I’ve heard this postulated about Arctic birds that they don’t really see people, so don’t care. Also don’t want to waste energy when it’s that cold. The problem is it’s a freaking bog, So it’s not like you can hike closer to them you just have to look from the road. Very cool(very cold, but not today) Pine Siskin Like hundreds of Siskins. More than I’ve ever seen in my whole life put together. Anyway, I hope I’m not shutting this thread down. Northern Minnesota is great. View attachment upload_2025-2-23_21-45-26.jpeg
Saw my first to me waxwing. What a beautiful bird. Sucks it was dead in my backyard. Guess window incident.
I played around with photo editing, actually think the bird looks more gray than brown like that picture: I actually think that’s the best picture I ever took? Not a photographer . i’m not sure why they’re weird JPEG’s after my posts?
Some stuff from this past week. Western Grebe Clark's Grebe. But I honestly have a suspicion that this might be a Western x Clark's hybrid. But presents more for Clarks. California Scrub-Jay Tree Swallow. They were fighting the Western Bluebirds for cavity spaces. First time I've seen that. Red-shouldered Hawk
I refuse to call my Scrub Jays Californian. I think I'm on my second generation of Scrubs, possibly third. It's said they live about a decade and I've been feeding mine for over 20 years. I can't remember a time when I didn't have a mating pair living on my property. I got my first pair to take nuts from my hand but stopped doing that because it clearly made them nervous. They stay year round, probably have never been to California. I saved one of the babies years ago that fell out of the nest way too early and couldn't fly. I have photos somewhere. It was a week before it could fly good enough to get on the fence and off the ground. Mom and dad seemed totally cool with me handling him and moving him to a safer area with cover so he wouldn't be seen by the owls. I'd like to believe my current pair is the little guy and its mate.
Ok so it was a little longer than I thought, I might very well be on my third gen of Scrubs. Here's my boy on 6/2/2012 after falling out of the nest early and angry at the world. Here he is 8 days later, 6/10/2012, still on the ground but had attempted flight multiple times that morning. He's got more feathers and is already damn near twice the size he was. Few hours later he was able to get up on the small 4' fence. Another week goes by and on 6/17/2012 he is able to fly up onto the shed. At this point he's on his own and I stop trying to protect him. Mom and dad were always up high in the tree watching where I take him as I rotated him around the acreage out of the way of things going on and obviously they kept him fed. Mom & Dad.
The Grebe pictures are amazing Popovio. Yes that is certainly a possibility, a hybrid. I cheated and asked my west coast ace birding friend. And yes westerns have the black all the way below their eye, and Clark’s above. Non breeding adult Clark’s the black goes lower than in breeding plumage. But you could be right -and that’s very cool that the difference! burnttatertot, it’s always interesting. That young birds get to full size so quickly, and never grow again. Unlike mammals and reptiles. The plumage is different, but they never grow again. Kinda, but not much. And yes they split the Jays. Woodhouse, California, island most notably the Florida disjunct population. back to pop’s awesome pictures. The red-shoulder hawk is for me a very SE eastern North American bird. But it weirdly has a population in California! very cool pictures thank you for sharing!
It's crazy that our Red-shouldered Hawks are separated from the nearest populations by like 1000+ miles. And they're everywhere out here.
Yup!, my point being the Florida scrub jay is the same kinda of thing!. So weird. Also- I’m not gonna apologize for grammar anymore. it’s just who I am. Voice texting, no reading glasses