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03-11-2020, 11:45 PM
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#61
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 4,655
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronstar
We've had a hummingbird feeder outside our kitchen window for years and enjoy watching them. But I just started bird watching more frequently in January. I made a bird feeder and put it about 30' from my home office window. Then I set up my camera on a tripod in my office and I take photos of the birds through the window. Mostly cardinals, chickadees, red bellied woodpeckers, house finches, titmice.
I take my camera and a telephoto lens hiking a couple times a week. Mainly in search of bald eagles and pileated woodpeckers. I've seen several of both, but haven't got a good photo of the pileated woodpeckers yet.
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Great pic, Ronstar!
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03-12-2020, 05:59 PM
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#62
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Posts: 5,290
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Went for a birding walk today, beautiful day. In an hour I saw 20 different species including some first of the season warblers. No one else was on the trail so I was social distancing. Speaking of social distancing I think I will use this time while I am staying home more to brush up on my skills of bird identification by sound. I am pretty good at identifying birds if I can see them but I feel my ability to identify bird solely by sound is lacking and I would like to improve that. Anyone have any suggestions for programs/software/websites/apps to help me identify birds by sound?
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03-12-2020, 06:56 PM
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#63
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gone traveling
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 284
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Birding
I got inspired, so I went to Myakka River State Park in Sarasota, FL... it is a great spot. Here are two flight shots from today... my best Roseate Spoonbill ever, and a Tri-colored Heron.
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03-12-2020, 08:24 PM
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#64
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Location: No fixed abode
Posts: 8,764
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Amazing pictures. I have a digital camera, and just set it to auto and snap. Sometimes I get something worth keeping, often just a blur. You obviously know which end of the camera should point at the subject.
I'm more like
__________________
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Anonymous (not Will Rogers or Sam Clemens)
DW and I - FIREd at 50 (7/06), living off assets
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03-12-2020, 11:41 PM
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#65
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 4,655
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BoodaGazelle
I got inspired, so I went to Myakka River State Park in Sarasota, FL... it is a great spot. Here are two flight shots from today... my best Roseate Spoonbill ever, and a Tri-colored Heron.
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Wow! Great shots!!
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03-13-2020, 04:12 AM
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#66
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gone traveling
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 284
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Thanks for the kind words. All photography requires spending a lot of time in the field. An old expression was “f8 and being there”, which refers to an F-stop on the camera... the joke being that if you weren’t “there” you wouldn’t get the shot.
Also, with birds, it is difficult because they are often/mostly moving. Modern digital cameras, with their ability to set the ISO speed and shutter speed for each shot, help. The best advice I can give to budding bird photographers is to make sure your lens is wide open, i.e., use the smallest aperture you can. You need as much light as you can get, for the second part: shoot the fastest shutter speed to stop the action... Modern cameras in their auto modes will adjust based on the lighting... this can lead to bad exposures, because the camera doesn’t know that the thing you are taking a photo of is moving.
Finally, there is a lot of luck involved, especially for flight shots like those above. I use my Canon 80D with a 100-400 zoom that has “image stabilization”, and also they have a feature called “AI Servo”, which means that their autofocus *will* try to keep up with a moving subject. Still, with digital, you can take hundreds of photos, and simply throw away the bad ones. It is not an exaggeration to say that I probably only keep 1 percent that I consider professional quality images.
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03-13-2020, 07:19 AM
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#67
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,459
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One of these days I am going to get a nice camera for catching my hummers. My last two camera purchases were for underwater turtle action, and kayaking use. Great photos everyone.
__________________
For me experiences are not good or bad, just different
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03-13-2020, 07:43 AM
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#68
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Posts: 5,290
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BoodaGazelle (interesting name!). Thanks for those great pictures!
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03-13-2020, 10:55 AM
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#69
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,459
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Yesterday was a two Cardinal day, a male Northern Cardinal and our resident Pyrrhuloxia AKA Mexican Cardinal. Although throughout the south and central Arizona, my property is grassland/ chaparral and N.Cardinals only show up about once a year.
__________________
For me experiences are not good or bad, just different
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03-13-2020, 11:13 AM
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#70
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Fair Lawn
Posts: 2,936
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I signed up for a birding class a while back; I was the newbie in the group.
I learned, quickly, some of the unusual names for the various birds we saw.
For example (yes, this is a true story), I saw a pretty jet black bird. I asked, "What's that black bird with the red wings called?" The leader's answer: "Oh, that's a red-wing blackbird." Now I know.
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03-13-2020, 12:04 PM
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#71
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Ventura County
Posts: 1,431
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03-13-2020, 03:34 PM
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#72
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gone traveling
Join Date: Mar 2017
Posts: 284
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Re: Birding
Quote:
Originally Posted by harllee
BoodaGazelle (interesting name!). Thanks for those great pictures!
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As you can imagine, there is a story behind the name. It's mostly just a silly one... nothing else.
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03-14-2020, 11:59 AM
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#73
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 69
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Avid birder here! I've been self-taught for the last 10 years or so, just by having an affinity for birds, underwater and nature photography (just a hobby) . I completely agree with the discussion about such hobbies building an increased awareness of the worlds around you.
Although I love the alone-time of birding, I started getting serious last year by hooking up with local Audubon societies in new places where I travel. This has been a great way to expand my experience, gain local knowledge and meet like-minded bird geeks. Ebird has a great map to find local birding areas around the world ( https://ebird.org/hotspots).
I now know enough to mention that Boodagazelle's roseate spoonbill is a juvenile, while Stepford's is an adult (Adults are bald headed). Spending this winter in SW Florida has been great for feeding my birding habit, where I venture out for hours, several times a week.
I'm looking forward to spring migration and have also used this map as a reference, using radar as the OP alluded to: https://birdcast.info/live-migration-maps/
Finally, one poster was in search of pileated woodpecker, so here's hoping that you'll find one as close as I did last month. (PS This one is a male, with red on cheek)
__________________
~Michele
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03-15-2020, 04:35 PM
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#74
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,962
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Quote:
One of the most amazing birding flights I've ever seen was a sunset cruise on Florida Bay near the old Flamingo Visitor Center in the Everglades. As the sun went down thousands of birds came in from their feeding areas to roost. The sight was simply unforgettable.
I thought of this thread this afternoon because a flock of tundra swans are feeding today in the wetland behind my house. Their call sounds a little like a sandhill crane's, but not as loud.
__________________
Tick tick tick tock goes the clock on the wall as we're dancing the evening away -- Tick Tock Polka
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03-18-2020, 06:07 PM
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#75
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Posts: 5,290
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While we are social distancing I am trying to learn to ID more birds solely by sound. Today I went on a hike at my favorite birding spot and identified 15 different bird species by sound alone in about half and hour so I am making progress. I have the most trouble identifying warblers by sound.
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03-20-2020, 01:12 PM
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#76
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Location: No fixed abode
Posts: 8,764
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Got a couple of interesting pictures today, right from my yard. Sorry about the quality. I took the pics with my phone, and it's so bright out I couldn't see the screen when I took them, so they're off center and not as close up as I would like. I was taking the picture of the pileated woodpecker, and didn't even see the red bellied woodpecker until after I took the pictures. Pretty fun.
__________________
"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." - Anonymous (not Will Rogers or Sam Clemens)
DW and I - FIREd at 50 (7/06), living off assets
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03-20-2020, 01:36 PM
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#77
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 69
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harllee
While we are social distancing I am trying to learn to ID more birds solely by sound. Today I went on a hike at my favorite birding spot and identified 15 different bird species by sound alone in about half and hour so I am making progress. I have the most trouble identifying warblers by sound.
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Birding by sound is something I'm working on was well. The other day I heard a few prairie warblers. For some reason, their song reminds me of a bouncing ball. It gets higher pitched as it speeds up... kind of like the northern parula but not as buzzy as the parula, which people describe as a zipper.
__________________
~Michele
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03-20-2020, 02:28 PM
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#78
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Posts: 5,290
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harley
Got a couple of interesting pictures today, right from my yard. Sorry about the quality. I took the pics with my phone, and it's so bright out I couldn't see the screen when I took them, so they're off center and not as close up as I would like. I was taking the picture of the pileated woodpecker, and didn't even see the red bellied woodpecker until after I took the pictures. Pretty fun.
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Very nice pictures--double woodpeckers! A few years ago we had 2 pileateds land on a small tree in our back yard. In just a few minutes that had totally taken the tree down.
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03-21-2020, 04:38 PM
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#79
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,459
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Two first of the season birds today, Scott's Oriole, and Black-chinned hummingbird.
__________________
For me experiences are not good or bad, just different
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Lucifer hummingbirds back.
03-25-2020, 05:38 PM
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#80
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 2,459
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Lucifer hummingbirds back.
March 24 first of the season Lucifer hummingbird, I have a 2 breeding pairs that will stick around until late Sept-Oct.
__________________
For me experiences are not good or bad, just different
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