Birding and Bird Photography

Oh ok, you said PNW before, and I thought that only included WA, OR, and CA. Yes, that makes sense then, that is odd that you would see quail, but if they keep coming back then that's their winter area! Cooper's hawks are bird-eating hawks, too, so that also makes sense. Yay for bird oddities!
I'll definitely check out your list! Birder's generally keep several lists: Life lists (what you're doing), Annual lists/Big years (what I'm doing, but without the intensity of an official big year), Big days, and then conservation groups will do various bird counts, usually in the winter - the christmas bird counts.

Do you mean mine? I didn't see Ben post any woodpeckers, and the only other one is clearly a Pileated. Acorn woodpeckers have solid black wings and white in the center of their backs, while Nuttall's have that kind of ladder on the back up to the shoulders, so mine is definitely a Nuttall's.

Another good resource is whatbird . com. It's the same database as the iBird app for iPhone and Android, so it'll have photos, illustrations, random facts, life history, sizes, and calls/songs.

For the scientific stuff, check out Birds of North America Online (google it, I don't know the URL). You need a subscription, but usually Universities have a subscription so you can log in through your library VPN. That's got tons of fantastic, peer reviewed information in there.

 

Yeah your pic , not Ben , sorry got the posts mixed up

BTW , CALI is not in the PNW

 

No worries.

Not even northern California? I was only considering north of the Eureka forests as the CA portion of the PNW, but I have no idea.

 

No

No California , no Idaho

 

I like my Audobon Society Western Canada bird guide

 

I understand what you mean , I usually use the book and cross reference with online sources

I also have a birding / bird call app called Chirp! Canada , that helps a lot when you have to ID birds at a distance by their song too

 

Haha, wikipedia says we're all right about the PNW anyways, so whatever.

I have used a Sibley guide the most for Western North America, I use the Nat Geo for North America, and I also have the iBird app. It's nice to only have to carry your phone/ipod in the field instead of the guide, but the app lacks in it's searching power. With a guide, once you learn where the orders are and how to determine an unknown bird's order, then it is much easier to look in the book to compare different species than to try to search and compare species in the app.
The app's saving grace is the calls. BUT, it's important to consider the ethics of playing bird calls. There are numerous opinions but generally playing the call has the potential to distract birds that are migrating or raising young from collecting food, which could lower their fitness. For my field surveys that I have done, it is illegal for me to play a recording of an endangered bird call because I didn't have the proper permits. Now obviously they can't enforce that on birders, I was doing environmental impact survey work, but it's just something to consider before playing the call.
I usually don't broadcast the call to attract the bird, but will listen to the recording on a low volume up against my ear to compare the live bird to the recording to identify the species.

 

Yeah , I'm pretty cautious with the bird calls

 

iChirp seems like a pretty interesting app. Would never have thought about that.

 

Ravens do a really interesting thing , they will soar along , pull in their wings , roll upside down and when they are directly upside down they let out a single " knock " sound

 

Haha, yeah that'll happen. Check black-headed grosbeak and hermit thrush, too, though, they sound kinda similar.

 

I've seen crows do that sorta thing, too. They just kinda tumble downwards on purpose and recover at the last second. I've never heard of the knock sound, though! That's weird!

Duuuude...so much weird in this post! Did you catch/remember the wing/body shape of that one that changed direction instantaneously? How was it flying otherwise?
Geeze, an Eagle flying backward? That's crazy!

 

Damn, haha, I got nothin'. Crazy story!

 

The ravens make this knock sound quite often , they seem to use it quite a bit around their nesting site and when they are calling others at a distance too

The raven starts knocking at 1:55

https://m.soundcloud.com/wildaroundus/common-raven-knocking-1

 

Such a weird sound!

 

I like it

They use a single knock when they do the upside down flying thing

 

Oh and here's what happened when I tried to take a picture of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet...damn guys are so fast!

Ruby-crowned Kinglet by 92shawman, on Flickr

 

I hope it is OK to ask this here but finally some people that know what I'm looking for. I haven't upgraded my digital camera in years mainly because the main thing I am looking for is to take pictures of Birds in Flight. And this thread has some stunning pictures if anyone would know you all would.

I've read a lot about BIF and cameras and by the time I am done end up more confused each time on what it takes. I can purchase a Pentax K-50 16MP Digital SLR Camera with DA L 18-55 and 50-200 WR Lenses right now for a pretty decent price through the military exchange. Not sure if I can get there from here with that setup? I would love to be able to get a picture of a ruffed grouse at launch and first few yards of flying and their wing beat is ~50 sec, close to a hummingbird which is 50-70 or so. Of course I want the detail and sharpness, etc. Does anyone think the K-50 which is also water resistant and those lenses would work for that and general bird pictures? Or do I need to move up in quality?

 

Thanks, yeah most everyone says you will want a 400 from what I have read. Just found a 150-500 that will fit it at the Exchange too. This site has cost me a small fortune for the truck now I have a feeling it is going to hurt the bank account in other ways LOL. But it will be worth it I'm sure. Your pictures of birds in flight aren't helping me any!

 

Most of my bird stuff is either 300 or 500. FWIW, I turn the stabilizer off. I do use either a monopod or a Wimberly on a tripod.