Birds • Page 9

I've only been once myself, also in San Diego. I don't remember seeing much but I do remember a lot of the kids getting sick (I was an intern for my church's youth group lol)

 

might fuck around and rank the birds that commonly visit my feeders

 

Bird Journal 7/8/24

Got up early Saturday and went to the local Audubon headquarters which is right on a lake that happens to be the biggest hotspot for birds in the entire San Antonio area (as in more species reported than any other location nearby). I was there shortly after open at 7 AM and stayed for nearly 3.5 hours. Despite seeing over 30 different species of birds, I only added one new bird to my list.

I swear I spent more time removing spiderwebs from my hands/legs than I did looking through binoculars lol. And every other step I heard the flutter of wings, but not bird wings - grasshopper wings. Them mfers were everywhere and they were huge. Also had two different feral hog sightings, the first time I was pretty close and on foot, the second time was from the car.

Anyways, this is the sole new bird I saw. We saw them from time to time in Florida but I guess they come around here sometimes. There was a couple trying to hide amongst a flock of egrets.

Roseate Spoonbill (pic not mine):

 

Bird Journal 7/10/24

So we're finally moving to our own place after almost 1.5 years of living with my sister. Scoped out the trees around our new apt yesterday. Saw a bunch of grackles harassing a hawk as we turned onto our street so that was a good sign right away.

There's a big tree in the yard next door that stretches into the front of our building, and the back also has trees all around the lot. The house next door has two hanging feeders, including the biggest tube feeder I've ever seen. There's also a bunch of big trees behind the houses across the street, and one of the houses has a marten house in the front yard.

All in all, should be a good spot for casual birding. Only thing I'm uncertain about is what to do with my feeders since we don't have a yard anymore :(

 

Bird Journal 7/23/24

boy oh boy was the California trip fruitful. Not gonna do a full writeup because I'm lazy but I hit 4 places in 2 days.

I went to a wildlife reserve near Sherman Oaks where my dad lives and was able to see a Blue Grosbeak (dude kept flying away) and I climbed into a bush to see California Towhees. I also talked to a girl who was there trying to scout out the species to see if it was a good place to rehome ducks since she was part of an organization that does rehab for birds. We talked for like 20 minutes and I let her use my binocs and she was convinced she needed a pair by the time I left.

I took the train from LA to Oceanside which lets off basically right at the water. Wandered down there and saw some gulls, terns, pelicans, etc. Nothing exciting but all new to my list.

My mom's place ended up being a cool spot. Last time I visited I was able to see 4-6 new species just walking her block. This time I IDed another hummingbird (I got 2 there last November when I visited) and a Hooded Oriole. The Oriole was super cool to see, it apparently visits the hummer feeder because Orioles like sugar.

Lastly, my mom came with me to a park to look at birds for about an hour. I think I only saw one new species, but it just so happened to be her 60th birthday and it was special just to spend some time with her. I think I also got her husband into the hobby and I foresee myself getting lots of pics of birds that visit their yard in the future.

 

So I’m in Copenhagen and I’ve seen a couple birds that made me go “oh, the folks in the bird thread would like this” and snapped a few pictures… but Chorus is telling me the files are too big to upload. I’ll try to figure that out once I get back to the States, haha.

 

I will await those pics with bated breath

 

Don’t know what they are, but obsessed with the coloring. The black/teal is similar to some of my chickens.



This duck’s (?) feet were insane.



Mated swan pair with four babies!

 

1. Eurasian Magpie
2. Eurasian Coot
3. Mute Swan

Super cool! Birds make traveling so much more exciting.

 

Bird Journal 7/30/24

Went into the backyard to refill the birdbaths and there was an immature Cooper's Hawk just sitting on the fence. So cool. It was definitely presiding over the remnants of a White-winged Dove since there were feathers everywhere. Just stared at it through the binocs for like five minutes before I left it alone for its meal.

Moving out of here in a week so that's a cool send-off.

 

Bird Journal 8/7/24

Officially in the new apartment. I've left my phone on the back deck and front balcony recording with Merlin to see if there are any new birds around here. So far nothing new, which makes sense since I only moved ten minutes south. But you better believe this thread is getting bumped HARD when something new happens !!!!!!!!!

 

I was standing by a bird feeder a few weeks ago and for the first time I saw a humming bird hovering like a foot away from me for a good 15 seconds. Was really cool to see

 

I've had so much fun watching them this summer. Some of them get super territorial and will chase others away from our feeder. I've seen them chase bigger birds away too.

 

lmao love the inclusion of online trolling and taxidermy, very common hobbies

 

Nature and looking at cute animals, famously hated by women.

 

Bird Journal 8/26/24

This post is a long time coming. We moved from my sister's house to an apartment a few weeks ago. At first, I didn't bring the feeders. It is actually a converted townhouse and we live in the upstairs unit, so there is a 'yard' in the front, unlike most apt buildings. I then brought one feeder over after a few days. When I set it up in my sister's backyard, it was less than an hour before birds started visiting. Here, it took like a week and half before the first cardinal made an appearance.

I've got my safflower feeder up and now regularly get cardinals and titmice, though not as much as the old place. I also have a suet feeder on our balcony and have seen a few birds there as well, so they're discovering the food and hopefully will tell all their friends.

I've only seen one new bird, but it was a cool one. I was standing on the balcony trying to ID a repetitive screeching sound I kept hearing, but Merlin was struggling to catch it. It finally listed it as a Broad-winged Hawk, which is a rare appearance for the area. I was skeptical because Merlin isn't infallible. I played a few of the sample calls of the hawk through the app, and minutes later a shadow passed over the road and a hawk landed in a tree across the street. Got the binocs out and sure enough, it was indeed a Broad-winged Hawk. Super cool to see and also my 149th bird ID'd!

Pic for reference (not mine)

 

Bird Journal 8/31/24

just some fun notes:

- I have a friend in Austin who sent me some photos and a video of a hawk in a tree above their chicken coop and asked for help IDing it. love that I'm that person now.

- the other night I was giving our kid a bath and my wife rushed in and said 'I can take over, there's a weird bird noise outside!' I was elbow deep in bubble bath so she said she'd try to record it but it ended up only being a wren. that's true love, folks.

- thinking I need to do another state park trip soon. getting antsy and I'd like to see a Painted Bunting one more time before they're gone for the season

 

That sounds like a blast! I totally get lost in birdwatching too. I once spent an afternoon in my yard trying to identify a little warbler singing nearby—turned out to be a common yellowthroat, but it was such a thrill! Getting a birdfeeder and binoculars is a great plan; you'll be surprised at how many visitors you get.

 

how dare u

 

man

I have so much catching up to do in here. I'm up to 173 species. Going to Florida for Thanksgiving. I always lamented that I didn't get into the hobby until after we moved from there because there are all kinds of cool birds where we lived like Ospreys and Roseate Spoonbills.

Literally the only reason I'm excited to go. Also Skyline Chili is there but this isn't the thread for that

 

I k holed last weekend. Girl I was with whom also k holed said I couldnt name 50 birds. Named 137. Sure 137 isn't that impressive but it feels good to win.

 

that is actually kind of impressive!

I've played way too much Wingspan, I'd just vomit out a bunch of random birds and likely get them confused with each other lol

 

I'm no bird watcher but I know there's 1000s of birds and very knowledgeable people out there, the only impressive bit of my effort was the state I was in.

My strat was to go by category then with that category then by environment to get new categories
So like birds of prey, eagles, list all the eagles I could think of then all the falcons etc.
All the water birds
All Australian birds
All flightless birds

There was a great moment when It looked like I was slowing down and then I remembered owls and racked off a bunch (parliament? Don't know if that's right for different species) of owls.

 

I am more and more in awe. I might could name a few Australian birds just bc I've played the Oceanic version of Wingspan so much lol