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Tony

Trad climber

Pt. Richmond, CA

Apr 19, 2015 - 10:00pm PT

Thanks to dee ee for excellent guiding around OC birding spots. A fun group and good birds. Here are a few photos from days 2 and 3.

At Bolsa Chica there were a lot of birds in confusing transitional plumage. This seems to be a Blue-winged Teal in molt.

This Eared Grebe was pretty far along, though.

Willoughby

Social climber

Truckee, CA

Apr 20, 2015 - 01:20pm PT

Hey Ron, Sandhill Cranes have been reclaiming lost breeding range by pushing south over the last dozen years or so. I know they're all the way down to Bridgeport these days, and they've been in the Carson Valley for a couple of years. Starting to see them mid-summer in Truckee too, but no breeding here just yet. A handful in Kyburz Flat, and gobs in Sierra Valley.

By the way, your marten and horned owl mounts put in great performances at the Squaw Earth Day Saturday, plus a "friend-raiser" on Friday night. Next weekend they'll be at South Lake and Reno Earth Days. They've been seen and enjoyed by many thousands at this point!

dee ee

Mountain climber

Of THIS World (Planet Earth)

Apr 20, 2015 - 08:41pm PT

BIRAPALOOZA TOTAL

To the best of my ability, after one beer, I've got a total of 137 or so species for our 3 day marathon.

CAGO
WODU
GADW
AMWI
MALL
MALL (domestic)
CITE
NOSH
GWTE
LESC
BUFF
RUDU
INPE
PBGR
EAGR
HOGR
WEGR
CLGR
DCCO
AMWP
BRPE
LEBI
GBHE
GREG
SNEG
GRHE
WFIB
TUVU
OSPR
SSHA
COHA
RSHA
RTHA
VIRA
SORA
RIRA
COOT (AMCO)
BNST
AMAV
SEPL
KILL
GRYE
WILL
WHIM
MAGO
DUNL
LESA
WESA
SBDO
LBDO
RUTU
WISN
SPSA
RBGU
WEGU
CAGU
CATE
FOTE
ROPI
BTPI
EUCD
MODO
GRRO
WTSW
BCHU
ANHU
ALHU
RUHU
ACWO
NUWO
DOWO
NOFL
PEFA
DCFL
PSFL
BLPH
ATFL
BEVI
CAVI
HUVI
WAVI
WSJA
ANCR
CORA
NRWS
TRSW
BASW
CLSW
OATI
BUSH
ROWR
HOWR
MAWR
BEWR
RCKI
WREN
WEBL
AMRO
NOMO
EUST
CEWA
OCWA
NAWA
COYE
YEWA
YRWA
BTGW
TOWA
WIWA
YBCH
STTO
CATO
LASP
SASP
SOSP
LISP
WCSP
DEJU
WETA
BHGR
RWBL
BRBL
GTGR
BHCO
HOOR
BUOR
HOHI
LEGO
AMGO
HOSP
SBMU
PTWH

A few of the best were Least Bittern, Greater Roadrunner, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Dusky-capped flycatcher, Nashville, Townsend's, Wilson's, Yellow and Black-throated Gray Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Cassin's, Hutton's and Warbling Vireo, Ridgeway's Rail, Black-headed Grosbeak, Peregrine Falcon (2), Ospreys, Whydahs, Munias.... and.... not one gad damned owl.

PS. I got a lifer today! Gray Flycatcher.

Darwin

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Apr 21, 2015 - 10:18pm PT

I love the Birdapalooza photos, you all. Good photos of many what would have been lifers for me! My Leavenworth trip was good for climbing but migration must not have hit full force over there. Or I wasn't paying attention. These are from Seattle this morning.

and gender equality (sorry about the framing, but all the bill is in the field). Edit:OK the one below was closely hanging with the CT above, but looking at the photo and book, I'm not sure what the one below is.

I should have recorded the vocalizations of these. Weird.

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Apr 22, 2015 - 06:43am PT

Why did I come to Canada? Oh, right, family. It bloody hailed and sleeted all yesterday!
But I did see a Caspian Tern the day before! WOOT!

Edit:

It doesn't look like we'll be seeing a big arrival of warblers today, does it?
Did I mention today's high is +3?

dee ee

Mountain climber

Of THIS World (Planet Earth)

Apr 22, 2015 - 03:48pm PT

Wow, that looks COLD!

The woblers are going off in the OC!

Darwin

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Apr 22, 2015 - 04:56pm PT

I probably haven't been paying attention, but:

Reilly,
What are you doing there?

Bob D'A

Trad climber

Taos, NM

Apr 22, 2015 - 06:56pm PT

Great stuff above.

Happy Earth Day all.

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

Apr 23, 2015 - 09:14am PT

Darwin, I ask myself rhat every day. Let's just say that you can pick yer friends, eh?
This is what we awoke to today!
Did I mention the wind is straight outta the north at 30 kph? Yes, a wind chill in the low
teens! Fookin' eh, it's colder than a loan shark's heart!

Well, between Photobucket and this POS iPhone my pic of two new inches won't post, but
trust me, we won't be seeing warbler one on this trip.

matty

Trad climber

under the sea

Apr 23, 2015 - 09:26am PT

Will post my birdapalooza shots after I get a dang virus off my machine at home. Had a great time with everyone again.

dirt claud

Social climber

san diego,ca

Apr 24, 2015 - 08:20am PT

Birding is Hard
By Greg Neise, on April 22, 2015

I started birding in 1972, and took to it like an ibis takes to drainage ditches. I pretty quickly learned all of the birds that could be reasonably expected in the city parks of Chicago, where I grew up. By 1975, I was a fully fledged, vagrant-hunting birder. By the time I was 13 years old, there was nothing I couldn’t find, no bird I couldn’t identify.

It took me another 10 years to learn just how hard birding really is.

That knowledge—an awakening, really—doesn’t happen in the form of an epiphany. It’s a very slow process which begins with realizing that, after a dozen years at this, you really don’t know jack.
Feel lucky, punk?

Feel lucky, punk?

For some it’s gulls, for others it’s warblers or sparrows. But at some point you will realize that you cannot identify every individual of even the most common species that you see “every day”. Birds are variable in plumage, size, habits, and habitat choices. Put that all together, and you’re going to get thrown on your ear by a Song Sparrow or a Ring-billed Gull, at close range, and with 50 killer photographs. It’s inevitable.

It will be humiliating. And, if you’re open-minded, exhilarating.

Then, the tough birds get even tougher. You start to doubt all those yellowlegs that you glibly counted off as “16 Lesser and 27 Greater”. You’ll start rethinking that Baird’s Sandpiper, which now you realize, probably wasn’t.

Seeing gestalt and detail simultaneously is the mark of a truly experienced birder. Taking in tertial pattern, and undertail coverts, while comparing size, shape and overall “feel” to what you know, or the birds around it. One such birder was describing to me his experiences with Slaty-backed Gulls (a particular nemesis of mine), and while talking about all the field marks, said, “every Slaty-back I’ve seen … I’ve just known it when I see it.”

Musicians, especially drummers, use the term “feel” for that natural, almost indescribable ability to not only play music, but move within it, and stay in-time. It’s similar with birding. Study the common species, so that you become so familiar and comfortable with them, that something different—no matter how subtle—doesn’t have to be picked out so much as it reveals itself.

Differentiating the unusual from the common or expected is almost always how rarities are discovered (though, sometimes they do just seem to jump up and say, “hi!!”). Getting on that unusual bird and “working it”—taking in all the details, keeping field notes or getting photos, listening for calls—all will add up to a solid base of information to work through a tough identification. Often times, the key to identifying a bird is something you photographed or took note of, but didn’t give particular attention to while actually watching it.

Well, punk? Do ya?
Photo by Dan Wilkerson

The impetus for this essay was the “brown” shrike currently confusing the hell out of everyone in California. In a photo essay about this bird at Bourbon, Bastards and Birds, author Seagull Steve wrote, “What do I think? I think birding is hard.”

When this bird was originally discovered, it was photographed, and subsequently seen and documented as a Brown Shrike (an Asian vagrant) by many. Though skittish, it has stayed in one location for over a month—and during that month it’s been molting. Into something that is not a Brown Shrike. Oh, it’s a shrike, and it has brown on it … though considerably less brown than it did a month ago. It was speculated that it could be a Red-backed Shrike (as yet unrecorded in the ABA area). But as the bird continues to molt, it appears to be losing its “red back”. Experts from all over the world are flummoxed by this bird, that has been photographed hundreds of times, and even heard singing. It may never be identified to species (and, just for fun, may be a hybrid).

I have several friends who are eBird reviewers. It’s a thankless job that requires considerable skill, patience, good humor and a thick skin.

“I know what I saw!”, is a common response from novice birders whose sightings are questioned because they “throw a flag” in the eBird system. Being flagged means it’s out of range, out of season, or for some other reason, an unusual sighting. Even when the submitted sighting is patently absurd (a flock of Winter Wrens at a feeder?), the reviewer’s job is to contact the person that submitted the sighting, and ask for more details. Often, they are met with defiance from novice birders who take the questions as a personal affront. Of course, nothing could be farther from the truth. An experienced birder, when told that they might have made an identification error, thinks, “hmmm … I didn’t consider that”. And then they consider it; most often agreeing that a mistake was made. (And sometimes, reviewers and records committees can make a mistake. But it’s quite rare.)

An old birding maxim—I don’t know who originally said it—goes something like this: the main difference between a novice and experienced birder is that the experienced birder has had the time to mis-identify more birds.

For me, anyway— that’s the biggest part of what continues to make birding exciting, even after being at it for over 40 years. Even after studying this stuff for decades, it can still throw you for a loop. There’s always more to learn. Your skills can never be honed or practised enough. And, you can take it at your own pace, make it your own thing. But it’s not simple, and it’s not easy or predictable. Which is why birding is so much fun.

–=–

Update: I found the quote that I reference above (“an old birding maxim…”). It’s by Pete Dunne, from his 2003 book titled, Pete Dunne on Bird Watching: The How-to, Where-to, and When-to of Birding. It goes like this:

“The difference between a beginning birder and an experienced one is that beginning birders have misidentified few birds. Experienced birders have misidentified thousands.”

dee ee

Mountain climber

Of THIS World (Planet Earth)

Apr 24, 2015 - 09:38am PT

^^^Yep!^^^

A couple from yesterday, #270 and #271 for OC 2015.

john hansen

climber

Apr 24, 2015 - 08:35pm PT

Back on the Main Land for a few weeks.

Really enjoy this thread. Great shots everyone.

Got these today.

[photoid=407772

dee ee

Mountain climber

Of THIS World (Planet Earth)

Apr 25, 2015 - 07:27am PT

At Bolsa Chica yesterday, new county bird (and year), Gull-billed Tern, there were 4 that I saw.

cyndiebransford

climber

Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Apr 25, 2015 - 05:51pm PT

Greater White-fronted Geese have arrived on the Kenai Flats. There were about 30 Sandhill Cranes too, but they were too far away to photograph.

Craig Fry

Trad climber

So Cal.

Apr 25, 2015 - 07:20pm PT

What happened to the common courtesy of labeling your posts with the name of the bird you are showing us ????

Are we playing the "name that bird game"??
no, I see no pretenses of games, just laziness.

Bob D'A

Trad climber

Taos, NM

Apr 25, 2015 - 08:06pm PT

Great stuff above.

Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Fred Baca Park, Taos, NM

Migration is starting here in Taos.

dee ee

Mountain climber

Of THIS World (Planet Earth)

Apr 26, 2015 - 09:15am PT

OK Craig, don't get your panties in a twist!

Nashville Warblers at Tucker yesterday.

Black-headed Grosbeaks at Tucker, I saw at least 8.

After Tucker I went to Gilman Park again, there was a Cockatiel reported there on Wed. I couldn't find it.

Western Tanager