Forum Birdwatching 2012

[joobie]

adult male red-bellied woodpecker (melanerpes carolinus) by philside92, on Flickr

 

[bruto]

Once again without a camera at the time, but today out the back window of the house, for the first time ever, a FLOCK of bluebirds. There must have been at least a half dozen couples, gathering I imagine for the flight south. We've often seen a pair or two there in fall, but never this many. It was a blue blue morning!

 

[dasmiller]

Just arrived in Orlando for a business trip, with high hopes of seeing a bunch of birds I haven't seen before. On the drive from the airport to the hotel, I saw a group of 4 Sandhill cranes (hey, it's new for me) flying right over the highway.

I'm kinda geeked . . .

 

[GeeMack]

Just arrived in Orlando for a business trip, with high hopes of seeing a bunch of birds I haven't seen before. On the drive from the airport to the hotel, I saw a group of 4 Sandhill cranes (hey, it's new for me) flying right over the highway.

I'm kinda geeked . . .

Excellent. We see them occasionally when we go to the UP of Michigan.

 

[macdoc]

Here are some bird pics I took over the weekend.
On the Breede river between Witsand and Malgas.

ah Witsan - lovely area - never had time to do any birding other than ogling ostriches on the way there from Montagu and one lovely secretary bird.

Great pics

••

Once again without a camera at the time, but today out the back window of the house, for the first time ever, a FLOCK of bluebirds.

Blue birds in a flock?? Not blue jays?? Where the hell are you???

 

[joobie]

Once again without a camera at the time, but today out the back window of the house, for the first time ever, a FLOCK of bluebirds. There must have been at least a half dozen couples, gathering I imagine for the flight south. We've often seen a pair or two there in fall, but never this many. It was a blue blue morning!

i have 3 times now seen 7 or 8 cardinals grouped together, and each time been so bewildered by it there was no way i was going to be able to get a decent picture.

 

[Henry Skinner]

Maybe someone could identify this. Shot in Norway in Sept.

[qimg]http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m269/macdoc/ScreenShot2012-09-18atSep18201284423PM.jpg[/qimg]

Little Auk^WP, I'd say.

 

[macdoc]

Thanks - was just a random shot while waiting for a ferry - thanks.

••

Some Aussie treats including the most dangerous bird in the world.

Cassowary

here's a video link of it with a chick -- really was special - click on the image to play


GF was chicken to hand feed the Kookaburras

They are much fun - again a video link.


Lovely catbird

and an alpha male purple swamphen posing

 

[sphenisc]

Little Auk^WP, I'd say.

Juvenile razorbill - beak's a little too big and showing beginning of the white vertical marking, also no white streaks showing in the secondary coverts.

 

[Henry Skinner]

Little Auk^WP, I'd say.

Juvenile razorbill - beak's a little too big and showing beginning of the white vertical marking, also no white streaks showing in the secondary coverts.

Looks like you're right.

My excuse is that neither breed at the Dutch coast, so no juveniles here. Adults are a regular, though not common, sight in winter.

 

[dasmiller]

Made it out to Merritt Island in Florida today, which I recommend for anyone who's into wildlife photography. I'll post more over the next few days, but for now:

This time I have proof that it was a bald eagle:

Bald Eagle

It was windy, which meant that some of the flying birds were almost motionless. This can be handy:

Flyin' wit' th'buzzard

Finally, I don't often think of egrets as being particularly graceful, but:

Air Dance

 

[macdoc]

stunning

 

[joobie]

female american black duck (anas rubripes) 2 by philside92, on Flickr

 

[macdoc]

anyone got an ID for me - forest kingfisher - Tropical Queensland

 

[sphenisc]

anyone got an ID for me - forest kingfisher - Tropical Queensland

Yeah, looks like Forest Kingfisher, incomplete collar suggests it's a female.

 

[macdoc]

I was actually calling it a forest Kingfisher as I did not know the name - is that the actual name??

 

[dasmiller]

More from my prematurely-concluded trip to Orlando, but that's a tale for another thread.
While these birds were at Gatorland, they're not captive. They're simply local birds that have learned that there's a lot of easy food at Gatorland.

First, a black vulture closeup:

Black vulture profile

I watched this wood stork coming in from quite a ways out, so I had time to reset the camera. He flew right over me, close enough that I remember thinking I needed to rotate the camera to get his wings to fit in the frame. This is cropped a bit, and he was receding by this point:

Wood Stork flyover

Third, this one probably was a captive at the park, but he was so colorful that I'm including him anyway:

Grumpy peacock

I have a lot of pictures left to go through.

 

[dasmiller]

More from Gatorland in Orlando. I'm posting these here because I'm not sure that anyone else I know would appreciate them. But the big birds were so close and so active that it made photography difficult!

First, a close flyby. This isn't a crop; I was zooming out but still couldn't get much of the bird in the frame as it went by:

Second, I was trying to get a picture of a nearby skirmish when another egret flew past and blocked my view:

But these are fun sorts of complaints to have, and I had an awful lot of 'keepers' from that set.

 

[sphenisc]

Interesting piece on bird phylogenetics

http://sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/family-tree-birds-evolution-sheffield-university-1.220940

 

[macdoc]

Sacred Kingfisher I am told by someone knowledgeable.
Todiramphus sanctus

BTW - this is a good resource and community
http://www.birdforum.net