How many of you are bird watchers?

[bmathison1972]

Got a lifer today in Cassin's Finch:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S155261743

[bmathison1972]

Hepatic Tanager in Utah! First formal record of the species in the state!!! It's been here for nearly a week, but I picked it up yesterday. Not a lifer, as I got it in Arizona back in April of this year, but a very rare vagrant here, that's for sure:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S155816699

[Lanthanotus]

Very nice find, Blaine.

Not that impressive, but I got a common kingfisher for the first time in my garden two days ago.

[bmathison1972]

I had to speak at a meeting in Philadelphia on Friday and stayed the weekend so a birding friend can take me on some marathon birding up and down the NJ and DE coasts and wetland areas!

Ended up with 95 species and 22 lifers (two of the 'lifers' on the list are ebird lifers but not personal lifers).

https://ebird.org/tripreport/177920

[bmathison1972]

Been on vacation this last week and spend a good chunk of it birding locally. Here is my report for the week!

https://ebird.org/tripreport/189392

[Zephyr2007]

Participated in three Christmas Bird Counts down in the Miami area last week, as is tradition for me this time of year. Ended with 102 species between the three counts, including self-found Dickcissel, Wilson's Warbler (2), and Vermilion Flycatcher.

Tallied 20 different warbler species, as well as Summer Tanager, Painted Bunting, Least Flycatcher, and a bunch of other goodies.

[bmathison1972]

Got a lifer yesterday in the Greater White-fronted Goose!

[bmathison1972]

Got another lifer yesterday! A vagrant Gilded Flicker has been hanging out in the cemetery in my neighborhood:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S159233903

[brettnj]

Somehow I never noticed this thread.

I'm not a birder per se but I photograph wildlife, mostly in New Jersey.

My favorite (but also most brutal (winter for almost all species here, which means lying in mud, ice, snow, or on jetty rocks, or kneeling in the surf or sitting in very cold water...)) shoots are for waterfowl, ducks especially.

I've gotten frameable images (though there are a few I'd like to get differently, a few better still) of every non-extralimital duck species (plus a few extralimitals) in the state. Geese are much tougher. Only started on warblers, migrant songbirds the last spring or two.

Species that are driving me crazy--great horned owl (very tough to find, especially low enough), common loon (full breeding plumage--very rare here), brown pelican (I have one from Florida. Pretty much need a boat in New Jersey.), harlequin duck (See different above (Need incredible luck to get one at eye level on the water here and I can't get to their one location often enough to boost the odds.).), blue-winged teal (too pretty to settle for the ones I have (See better above.)), Eastern meadowlark (very little native grassland and they seriously keep their distance), hooded warbler and scarlet tanager and other migrants (few, far away, mostly very limited windows, and I can't get out in the morning when they sing), evening grosbeak (almost never here (really only about 7 or 8 days one year out of all I've been shooting)), cedar waxwing (almost never low enough), American woodcock (very tough to find, especially with enough light), and a good number more...

But for all of the frustration associated with the above (I still have over 300 successful images...), it's an awesome hobby (And I make a bit of money from it as well.).

Brett
https://flickr.com/photos/brettklaprothwildlifephotography/with/52021853562
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BrettKlaproth?ref=related&from_page=listing&listing_id=1603873522#items

[bmathison1972]

Just got back from speaking at a meeting in Jacksonville, FL and got some birding in. 8 lifers! (the Pileated Woodpecker is an 'ebird lifer' not a 'true lifer'

https://ebird.org/tripreport/207306

[Perotorum]

I guess I passivly do a bit when doing other forms of photography, I live around the Mobile Bay area and so see a large number of eastern blue birds, red-winged black birds, occassionally an owl, or more commonly ospreys, a fairly large variety of herons, and if you have a fondness for sea birds, there is a very large number of cormorants, anhingas, and there is an island in the bay (Guilliard's Island) that serves as a major nesting site of brown pelicans.

[bmathison1972]

This past weekend I was at a meeting in New Orleans and stayed for some birding. Got three lifers in the Western Cattle Egret, Hooded Warbler, and Northern Parula.

Full trip report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/215050

[Zephyr2007]

Guided a tour group in Thailand earlier this month, my fourth trip to the country. I picked up more life birds than I expected, including Gray Peacock-Pheasant, Hodgson's Frogmouth, and Dusky Broadbill -- all species that I really looked forward to seeing at some point!

https://ebird.org/tripreport/206082/288657

[bmathison1972]

Z @Zephyr2007 - you have more species on that trip report than I have on my life list LOL

[ceratopsian]

My birding activities have been severely limited over the last few months by my ongoing issues with my arms.  As indeed has all my photography, birds or otherwise  However, they have improved somewhat and so I'm risking a few judicious photos and some birding.  A lifer for me, a short-eared owl on the reserve at Elmley, Isle of Sheppey, Kent, UK.  We stayed there one night in a shepherd's hut last week.  Taken as we arrived mid-afternoon.  Elmley is famous for its SEOs - they had 30 at the height of winter, though many have now gone.

[Zephyr2007]

Z @Zephyr2007 - you have more species on that trip report than I have on my life list LOL

Most of the world's diversity is still in the tropics! Hard to capture the true diversity of some large bird families with birding in just the United States/Canada or Europe. The broadbills are truly fabulous. I can imagine a time when passerines in tropical rainforest environments were either totally absent or dominated by broadbill-type forms. Tropical Asia's forest landbird avifauna also has a lot more non-passerines than we do -- barbets, bee-eaters, rollers, trogons, etc.

Carlos

[Dusty Wren]

@ceratopsian, that's a gorgeous photo! Well worth using one of your judicious photos for (sorry to hear about your arms, though). Owls are such beautiful birds.

[bmathison1972]

Yesterday was my b-day so as a treat to myself I hired a local bird guide to take me around. Got 87 species including six lifers:

Virginia Rail
Rock Wren
Black Rosy-finch
Clark's Nutcracker
Barn Owl
Burrowing Owl

Mammal highlights were bison, coyote, and North American porcupine

https://ebird.org/tripreport/217970

[Zephyr2007]

Happy Birthday, Blaine! Were you being guided by Tim Avery by any chance? He lives in your area. He showed me my life Flammulated Owl years ago.

Carlos

[bmathison1972]

Happy Birthday, Blaine! Were you being guided by Tim Avery by any chance? He lives in your area. He showed me my life Flammulated Owl years ago.

Carlos

Hi Carlos! Thank you! It wasn't Tim himself, but it was his company. It was one of his employees, Quinn Diaz. I run into Quinn birding regularly so we've become friends, so I hired him for my bday birding LOL. Unfortunately it was too early to get the Flammulated Owl since the habitat isn't as accessible now with all the snow.