How many of you are bird watchers?

[bmathison1972]

Lifer along the Jordan River Parkway today: Wilson's Snipe!
eBird link with complete list and numbers: https://ebird.org/checklist/S128189101

Congrats! I did some duck watching yesterday, no lifers but I wasn't expecting any. I'll be posting pictures in the wildlife photo thread soon.

The main reason I went to this location today is because a Long-tailed Duck was documented and photographed there yesterday by multiple people, a very rare sighting this far inland. I didn't see it, but Wilson's Snipe more than made up for it

Went back and got the Long-tailed Duck on Monday!!! 

[ceratopsian]

Well done!

[Gwangi]

Lifer along the Jordan River Parkway today: Wilson's Snipe!
eBird link with complete list and numbers: https://ebird.org/checklist/S128189101

Congrats! I did some duck watching yesterday, no lifers but I wasn't expecting any. I'll be posting pictures in the wildlife photo thread soon.

The main reason I went to this location today is because a Long-tailed Duck was documented and photographed there yesterday by multiple people, a very rare sighting this far inland. I didn't see it, but Wilson's Snipe more than made up for it

Went back and got the Long-tailed Duck on Monday!!! 

That's great! I remember when I got my first long-tailed duck. It was in NY so there was a big stink about it, an out of range species and all. Now that I live along the coast I see them all the time. Still no Wilson's snipe for me though...

[bmathison1972]

I had put this on ATF but not DTF. Here is my trip report from the Greater Atlanta area last week, covering four birding sites

https://ebird.org/tripreport/113582

[ceratopsian]

Thanks B @bmathison1972 - it was fun to click on some of the many names I don't recognise.  Hooded Merganser is something I've seen on a local-ish pond here in London once - but for us they are escapees.  But it was so amazing to see it expand its head plumage!  A real surprise to see you have a type of Waxwing.  We get them only in winter, and they generally don't come down to the south of England much unless in bitterly cold winters when there's a food shortage in Scandinavia. They are seen more in the north and up in Scotland. So I think of them as chilly region birds!  And how charming is the Tufted Titmouse, both in name and appearance!

[bmathison1972]

Thanks B @bmathison1972 - it was fun to click on some of the many names I don't recognise.  Hooded Merganser is something I've seen on a local-ish pond here in London once - but for us they are escapees.  But it was so amazing to see it expand its head plumage!  A real surprise to see you have a type of Waxwing.  We get them only in winter, and they generally don't come down to the south of England much unless in bitterly cold winters when there's a food shortage in Scandinavia. They are seen more in the north and up in Scotland. So I think of them as chilly region birds!  And how charming is the Tufted Titmouse, both in name and appearance!

@ceratopsian - I assume your waxwing is the Bohemian? We get them here, too. In fact, I got it this past January for the first time (we had an irruptive year for them in Utah this winter!)

[ceratopsian]

Yes, ours is the Bohemian, B @bmathison1972.

[BlueKrono]

I've never been much of one, but next month I'm taking a weekend off to try and see some elusive ibises here in Minnesota.

[Over9K]

Oh, I'm always watching 'birds'...

[bmathison1972]

I've never been much of one, but next month I'm taking a weekend off to try and see some elusive ibises here in Minnesota.

I come to Minnesota every May to lecture at a Global Health course at the U of M. I will bird off the Mississippi River near campus. Did it last year and it was fairly productive!

[BlueKrono]

I've never been much of one, but next month I'm taking a weekend off to try and see some elusive ibises here in Minnesota.

I come to Minnesota every May to lecture at a Global Health course at the U of M. I will bird off the Mississippi River near campus. Did it last year and it was fairly productive!

Great for birds I'm sure, but we're just on the edge of two species of ibis's range. A few dozen individuals come through in a couple counties next to the SD border every year, mostly in the second week of April.

[bmathison1972]

Went birding today at the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area. Got three lifers: Wood Duck, Long-billed Curlew, and Red-breasted Merganser

https://ebird.org/checklist/S132521325

[ceratopsian]

I'm up unusually early this morning and just heard the flock of Canada Geese flying overhead, just for a few seconds. Yesterday I visited a friend at the stables where I used to ride and saw my first swallow of the year, back from its winter home: one of my favourite markers of spring.

[bmathison1972]

Just got back from a big birding trip in Arizona. Below is the trip report (my friend I birded with added images for some). Three of the 'lifers' are not true lifers, but rather 'eBird lifers' (my first records specifically on eBird). I grew up in Arizona, so naturally several of these are not lifers. But I did get 26 official lifers

https://ebird.org/tripreport/118479

[bmathison1972]

Three lifers today while birding at Decker Lake and along the Jordan River Parkway: Sage Thrasher, Willet, Marbled Godwit

here is the trip report from three different spots: https://ebird.org/tripreport/121474

[bmathison1972]

Forgot to update lifer alerts!

This past Sunday I got my first Brewer's Sparrow at Decker Lake:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S136481706

Last night I went to Salt Lake Cemetery to get Lewis's Woodpecker (not a lifer, but rare here) and did get a lifer in the Dusky Flycatcher:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S136837187

[Halichoeres]

Just got back from a big birding trip in Arizona. Below is the trip report (my friend I birded with added images for some). Three of the 'lifers' are not true lifers, but rather 'eBird lifers' (my first records specifically on eBird). I grew up in Arizona, so naturally several of these are not lifers. But I did get 26 official lifers

https://ebird.org/tripreport/118479

I was wondering how it's possible to rack up two dozen lifers in a trip to your home state, but Santa Cruz county during spring migration, yeah, that'll do it.

[bmathison1972]

Just got back from a big birding trip in Arizona. Below is the trip report (my friend I birded with added images for some). Three of the 'lifers' are not true lifers, but rather 'eBird lifers' (my first records specifically on eBird). I grew up in Arizona, so naturally several of these are not lifers. But I did get 26 official lifers

https://ebird.org/tripreport/118479

I was wondering how it's possible to rack up two dozen lifers in a trip to your home state, but Santa Cruz county during spring migration, yeah, that'll do it.

Keep in mind, I wasn't birding when I lived there and don't remember or record what I may or may not have already seen

[Mellow Stego]

B @bmathison1972 you might have mentioned this before but what is a lifer/elifer?
I live in southern Arizona (Cochise county) so I'm running into birders every time I go for a hike.

[bmathison1972]

B @bmathison1972 you might have mentioned this before but what is a lifer/elifer?
I live in southern Arizona (Cochise county) so I'm running into birders every time I go for a hike.

@Mellow Stego - a lifer is the first time you see/document a species 'in your life'