How many of you are bird watchers?

[bmathison1972]

Concrats Shane!

I have a work trip coming up to Anaheim and I hope to do some coastal CA birding! Could come back with a TON of lifers LOL

[Halichoeres]

Concrats Shane!

I have a work trip coming up to Anaheim and I hope to do some coastal CA birding! Could come back with a TON of lifers LOL

Ha, I'm going to Orange County for a wedding. Maybe I should bring my binoculars too.

[bmathison1972]

Concrats Shane!

I have a work trip coming up to Anaheim and I hope to do some coastal CA birding! Could come back with a TON of lifers LOL

Ha, I'm going to Orange County for a wedding. Maybe I should bring my binoculars too.

When are you going @Halichoeres - I will be there tomorrow through Thursday!

[Halichoeres]

Concrats Shane!

I have a work trip coming up to Anaheim and I hope to do some coastal CA birding! Could come back with a TON of lifers LOL

Ha, I'm going to Orange County for a wedding. Maybe I should bring my binoculars too.

When are you going @Halichoeres - I will be there tomorrow through Thursday!

I arrive Thursday midday!

[bmathison1972]

Concrats Shane!

I have a work trip coming up to Anaheim and I hope to do some coastal CA birding! Could come back with a TON of lifers LOL

Ha, I'm going to Orange County for a wedding. Maybe I should bring my binoculars too.

When are you going @Halichoeres - I will be there tomorrow through Thursday!

I arrive Thursday midday!

Ha, right as I am leaving!

[bmathison1972]

Just got done birding in Orange Co., CA (was there on work).

Got 88 birds, including 27 lifers. The eBird trip report there denotes lifers with a checkmark:

https://ebird.org/tripreport/147654

Other animals of interest:

FISH:
round stingray
mullet

MAMMALS:
Fox Squirrel
California Ground Squirrel

REPTILES:
Orange-throated Whiptail
Western Fence Lizard
Side-blotched Lizard

[ceratopsian]

The Bearded Tits of Rainham Marshes (Essex, just to east of London by the Thames) have bred well this year.  And they've forgotten they're supposed to be shy birds glimpsed as they fly across narrow water channels from one reed bed to a new hiding place.  They're out in the open pecking around in a shallow pool, known romantically as "Dragonfly Pool", and giving endless pleasure to those watching their antics and listening to their unmistakable "pinging" calls.





And finally a rather sad image for me.  Since the early 1990s, I've visited a riding school in Hertfordshire regularly - at one point as much as six times a week in the days when I looked after an Arab there.  That dropped to more like three day in the year before Covid hit, then I stopped riding.  I still went to the stables fairly regularly though, as my friend still rode there and latterly kept her horse there.  She's just moved and the following is a photo of a juvenile swallow.  The stables are wonderful for swallows and I used to love seeing them arrive, and breed, each year - less wonderful to see the droppings on the horses' backs of course from the nests in their boxes!  Swallows aren't so easy to find near us and I'll miss seeing their abundant presence.

[Halichoeres]

A poignant reminder of your friend! I hope you two find ways to keep in touch. It's a familiar feeling; in academia one's friends move all the time.

B @bmathison1972 This morning I saw a side-blotched lizard and some rock squirrels myself! Old friends from my years in Arizona.

[ceratopsian]

I was not clear enough. She's just moved her horse to a new yard, not moved house! So I'll still see plenty of her and her pony, @Halichoeres. It's just the old yard I'll miss with all its familiarity and memories. And of course, maybe the new yard will have swallows too. Muck heaps are good at attracting birds because of the profusion of insects they harbour.

 

A poignant reminder of your friend! I hope you two find ways to keep in touch. It's a familiar feeling; in academia one's friends move all the time.

B @bmathison1972 This morning I saw a side-blotched lizard and some rock squirrels myself! Old friends from my years in Arizona.

[Halichoeres]

Oh I see! Well, glad you'll still see your friend at least. 

[Gwangi]

I have a feeling that in the UK someone cannot really move house without still living close by. Compared to the U.S. at least. 

I adore those bearded tits! 

[ceratopsian]

It's all a matter of perspective @Gwangi!!

[bmathison1972]

Was in Baltimore, MD this past weekend for my annual baseball stadium trip and got some birding in. 40+ species with 8 lifers:

https://ebird.org/tripreport/149908

checkmarks denote the lifers

[bmathison1972]

Was in Austin, TX for work the last three days and birded a little. Got a lifer in the Black-bellied Whistling-Duck

https://ebird.org/checklist/S147917114

[Shane]

Something fun...my backyard is a really good spot for some casual birdwatching, and a few times I had spied hummingbirds up in the trees buzzing around, but it never really occurred to me until recently to try to put a feeder out for them.

I did some research and got a feeder and got to work mixing the right ratio of sugar to water and put it out and crossed my fingers. I didn't see any action for a while, but one day I noticed the level of the fluid had been dropping, quicker than evaporation could explain...so that day around dusk I just stood around for a while watching the trees, and soon saw some flitting about that confirmed that indeed, a hummingbird was nearby! I mentally tried to send messages to guide it towards the feeder, but I lost it amongst the leaves (very easy when they're so tiny and fast and up high).

But then, glancing over at the feeder, there it was! Flitting around and poking its beak in the little flower-shaped feeding ports.

The next evening I did the same thing and saw a different hummingbird (first one was a female or juvenile, this second one was a subadult). I'm assuming they're ruby-throated, as they're the most common in the area and tend to be found closer to water, though I suppose they could be black-chinned. I haven't spied any action recently, but from what I've read up about they usually leave around September so I may have just caught them at the last possible time!

[Roselaar]

I'm not a bird watcher myself, but my father certainly is. As one of the Netherlands' most renowned ornithologists, he spends more time in the field than at home, unless there's a football match on.
He tried a little too hard in my youth to make his passion mine, which didn't work. But I'm still very interested in animals and love being in nature looking at alll manner of beasties. And I'm very proud my father discovered a species of bird and has another (sub)species named after him.

[Duna]

I'm not a bird watcher, but I enjoy watching birds - everywhere. My husband was a bird photographer (before digital cameras) but not professional.
We are bird breeders, too, we have bred many species but never psittaciformes (I can't stand screaming birds). What we bred now: Spinus cucullatus, Spinus atratus, Spinus spinus and Carduelis carduelis. Some of them in colour morphs - breeds.

[bmathison1972]

Something fun...my backyard is a really good spot for some casual birdwatching, and a few times I had spied hummingbirds up in the trees buzzing around, but it never really occurred to me until recently to try to put a feeder out for them.

I did some research and got a feeder and got to work mixing the right ratio of sugar to water and put it out and crossed my fingers. I didn't see any action for a while, but one day I noticed the level of the fluid had been dropping, quicker than evaporation could explain...so that day around dusk I just stood around for a while watching the trees, and soon saw some flitting about that confirmed that indeed, a hummingbird was nearby! I mentally tried to send messages to guide it towards the feeder, but I lost it amongst the leaves (very easy when they're so tiny and fast and up high).

But then, glancing over at the feeder, there it was! Flitting around and poking its beak in the little flower-shaped feeding ports.

The next evening I did the same thing and saw a different hummingbird (first one was a female or juvenile, this second one was a subadult). I'm assuming they're ruby-throated, as they're the most common in the area and tend to be found closer to water, though I suppose they could be black-chinned. I haven't spied any action recently, but from what I've read up about they usually leave around September so I may have just caught them at the last possible time!

S @Shane - I will be in Jacksonville at the end of February next year for a symposium (I'll be presenting weird and bizarre parasite cases LOL) and plan on birding in the area. A colleague/friend will take me to a local hotspot (we walked there when I was last in town, but I wasn't birding then)

[Shane]

S @Shane - I will be in Jacksonville at the end of February next year for a symposium (I'll be presenting weird and bizarre parasite cases LOL) and plan on birding in the area. A colleague/friend will take me to a local hotspot (we walked there when I was last in town, but I wasn't birding then)

I still haven't gone to many hot spots since I've been here - honestly I get spoiled by my backyard. But I will say that if you're willing to schlepp out toward the beach, I saw lots of cool stuff at Tide Views Preserve - it's a nice boardwalk area that goes over some salt marshes. Went to watch the sunset there with my girlfriend a week or so ago and saw spoonbills, night herons, and some other cool birds.

Honestly most areas in Jacksonville it seems you're not too far from some good birdwatching - there's a brewery on the river called Wicked Barley where I spied a lot of yellow-crowned night herons, and I was at a rooftop bar called Hoptinger's a few months back where you can sit and watch black-crowned night herons fly overhead at dusk. Even though it's in a pretty busy area, it's pretty close to some woods and they all seemed to be going out for the night to hunt.

I'm sure your colleague has better intel than me on where the good stuff is. I honestly haven't gone investigating, but as I said there's pretty decent bird activity not too far from wherever you may end up!

[bmathison1972]

spoonbills are a major target bird for me :-D