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Forum Birdwatching 2012

sphenisc said:
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.
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I see where you're coming from with the beak looking too big for Little Auk (Dovekie to us in the States). I think, however, that Little Auk is the correct identification. The bird is in its non-breeding plumage, with white extending up the side of the face behind the eye. The beak looks a bit hefty both from the angle but also because we rarely get to see such great close-up photos. I also found photos of Little Auks with little to no apparent white streaks in the scapulars.
 
joobie said:
more shots of the same american black duck:
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I hate to be a party pooper joobie, but I think what you've got in these shots is actually a mallard. Mallards have been domesticated and bred into a great variety of forms. The one in your photos seems to be one of the big, dark-all-over forms, perhaps something like a "Cayuga Duck."

Check out this explanation (with photos).

Behavior can be an important clue to identification too. A proper, wild American Black Duck probably wouldn't let your dog get within 1/4 mile.

Have fun!
 
Skwinty said:
There is a possibility that the tortoise was killed by the council tractor mower that cuts the grass around the wetland reserve.

However, after some research, it appears that crows do indeed prey on tortoises.

http://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&rc...74DQBw&usg=AFQjCNGvy6SFRtYeBlCBbcybuwHPoovc2Q
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It's an unfamiliar tortoise to me, but if it had been alive, would its shell be colored that way? Crows around here are certainly carrion fanciers, but they're also pretty fast eaters, so I would not expect a freshly killed tortoise to show much sign of deterioration. They'll empty a shell quickly.
 
The Shrike said:
I see where you're coming from with the beak looking too big for Little Auk (Dovekie to us in the States). I think, however, that Little Auk is the correct identification. The bird is in its non-breeding plumage, with white extending up the side of the face behind the eye. The beak looks a bit hefty both from the angle but also because we rarely get to see such great close-up photos. I also found photos of Little Auks with little to no apparent white streaks in the scapulars.
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Do you see any positive traits for Little Auk?

I see a crown to bill base: bill length ratio of about 1.5:1, whereas for little auk I'd expect 2 or more.
The dark eye patch is small, nothing like the "panda" semicircle round a little auk's eye. the extent of white behind the eye is too high, giving an almost 3/4 surround to the eye, whereas little auk's forms around 180 degree line. Neck is too long, the head sitting well above the body line even in this relaxed posture.
White mark on the bill in the right position for razorbill. Lack of white in scapulars isn't conclusive on its own, but in combination with everything else it's a point against little auk.
 
bruto said:
It's an unfamiliar tortoise to me, but if it had been alive, would its shell be colored that way?
Crows around here are certainly carrion fanciers, but they're also pretty fast eaters, so I would not expect a freshly killed tortoise to show much sign of deterioration. They'll empty a shell quickly.
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Yes, it would have been that colour. Im not an expert in chelonian corpses but there is what appears to be a dried limb in the picture?

Skwintys theory sounds plausible. There is a nature reserve in the area, and i can see a tortoise wandering onto council land and meeting a gruesome end.
 
I think Quietus has identified the tortoise as young adult Angulate Tortoise Chersina angulata.

When I posted the pic, I made a misleading statement.

This was not intentional, merely trying to be brief. My bad.

I was not the one who saw and chased the crow, it was my neighbor.

I retrieved the tortoise 3 days after the fact.The tortoise, in my estimation is no longer than 15cm. ( and would probably weigh about 800g to 1kg.)

Fully grown they can weigh as much as 2.1kg.

It seems that the crow is able to peck all the way through the shell, eat most of the innards and then bomb drop to break the shell further.

The link I posted earlier deals with the crow tortoise predation and recommends culling the crows.
 
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Here's another interesting avian predation scenario.

The islands around Laangebaan are breeding grounds for cormorant and gannet. There is always a Nature Conservation presence on these islands.

They are there to chase pelicans away as the pelicans eat the young cormorant and gannet hatchlings.

This is apparently a learned behaviour of the pelicans. There was a chicken farm which regularly disposed of dead chicken hatchlings by feeding them to the pelicans.

The chicken farm has not been operational for a few years now and the conservationists are hoping to unlearn these pelicans.
 
It's an unfamiliar tortoise to me, but I certainly have no problem believing crows would catch and eat live ones, or that they can figure out whatever way is necessary to get all the meat out of a shell.
 
Lovely day in Washington DC - 20 degrees and the duck pond living up to it's name....mallards paddling about.

Ducks in a row :D

ducksinarow.jpg
 
Just back from a cruise, and of course I took my camera. Still sorting through the pics (I took a lot of pics), but while I'm going through:


Great Kiskadee
Seriously, I'd never heard of a 'great kiskadeee' until I went thumbing through Sibley's to figure out what this bird was.


A Pair of Brown Boobies
Taken from the ship. This picture isn't terribly sharp, and it wasn't easy to get, but it was much easier than the next one. Technically, it isn't a bird, but it was flying:

Flying Fish desktop
This was a challenging picture to take.
 
saw a hawk sitting on a lamppost while out today:


Untitled by philside92, on Flickr


Untitled by philside92, on Flickr

not the greatest light for photos, but i don't often get the chance to be that close to a raptor.

(here's hoping the Shrike pops in to tell me exactly what it is)
 
joobie said:
saw a hawk sitting on a lamppost while out today:
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In general, if you see an unidentified raptor in North America, it's probably a red-tailed hawk. Unless, of course, it's quite large, in which case it's a "big ol' red-tailed hawk."

In this case . . . well, that belly-band suggests a red-tailed hawk to me, though it's not a slam-dunk. Part of the problem is that red-tailed hawk coloration varies a lot. Sure looks like a lot of beak for a buteo, though, so there's at least one other possibility. How big did it seem?

not the greatest light for photos, but i don't often get the chance to be that close to a raptor.
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Actually, I think they're quite impressive photos.

(here's hoping the Shrike pops in to tell me exactly what it is)
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Agreed.
 
dasmiller said:
In general, if you see an unidentified raptor in North America, it's probably a red-tailed hawk. Unless, of course, it's quite large, in which case it's a "big ol' red-tailed hawk."

In this case . . . well, that belly-band suggests a red-tailed hawk to me, though it's not a slam-dunk. Part of the problem is that red-tailed hawk coloration varies a lot. Sure looks like a lot of beak for a buteo, though, so there's at least one other possibility. How big did it seem?
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i tend to think they are all red-tailed hawks as well myself, but i always feel like i have a lot more to learn about bird IDs. like i said upthread too, they all sort of look alike to me, plus i don't have a lot of resources to draw on. i did some looking about on the cornell website earlier and as usual, i came away just as confused as i did going in. i did think perhaps it's tail was a bit long to be a red-tailed, but i guess it's hard to tell.

it seemed pretty large. i am going to guess it was at least a foot from tailfeathers to head.

this picture may give you some more perspective on it's size. i snapped it with my phone because i didn't know if i would manage to get back with my camera before it flew off.


Untitled by philside92, on Flickr

Actually, I think they're quite impressive photos.
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thanks!
 
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i am really leaning towards red-tailed hawk. i'm just wishy washy about it. :)
 
Magnificent Frigatebird:


Headless Frigatebird

Seriously, it has "Magnificent" in its name? Oh, great, birds with egos.

Anyway, there were a lot of these things around, but I had trouble getting decent pictures of them. This picture was one of the few that were reasonably exposed, though I'm not wild about the missing head.
 
that's a beautiful picture.went to a different park than my usual haunt thursday.


HONK by philside92, on Flickr

took 52 photos to get the right one. totally worth it.
 
A Sharp Shinned Hawk seen in Central Illinois, USA. We see a few different hawks and falcons around here. Kestrels, Red-Tails, and Cooper's Hawks are common, but this is a new one for us to see right outside our window. It's a small bird, not much bigger than a Blue Jay. He didn't seem to mind me standing below his tree to take a few photos.

561598_4813741872059_1734681889_n.jpg
 
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