Birding and Bird Photography

Dammit, I just zoomed in on the photo again and lightened the shadows to check again and it probably is a metal band instead of a white band...lame! Shoulda listened to you and checked closer before I submitted. I just emailed letting them know of the potential mistake.

You submit it to the bird banding lab (BBL, https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/bblretrv/) and they have options that you can select for what you saw on the bird. Then you basically just go through the steps and select how you recovered the bands, the state of the bird (alive, dead), what type of bands you saw, where they were on the bird, where you saw the bird, and your contact info (you don't have to tell them address and phone number, just email if you want). Then after you submit they have a page to submit photos. Then they try and track down the person who banded it based on the colors and species and hopefully the tag number.
Since I just had the photos at a distance I couldn't recover a number, but I submitted the colors and just sent in a correction email saying the white is probably a numbered metal band instead.

 

Got my vicious predator for the day.

DSCF0248.jpg by AdelphosChaz, on Flickr

 

Great shots Kevin! Love the wood ducks, and can't imagine banding something as small as a house wren LOL. And great shot of that yellow warbler, yesterday finally got my first one ever but not as good as yours. Talk about a bird not sitting still!

I have been thinking about it for awhile now... If all goes well hopefully the end of January will work out for me.

In most of the breeding areas here they build raised nesting boxes for the geese but they never use them. Must have seen more than 100 of them over the last 2 days but all empty. Foxes and Coyotes are both thick plus a lot of hawks lately. Most of the geese I have seen are still on the nest



Yesterday I got wondering if the geese at the lake in town might be ahead of the natural breeding cycle here because it is heated from the power plant and ices out faster than any other water around. Sure enough, ducklings are running around



And goslings are already fairly large. This one kept whacking on his sibling even using his stubby wings to smack him. Thought he was going to drown the other one more than once he kept pinning his head under water.



Red Wing black birds do a lot of mobbing here also. Saturday after taking the nesting goose picture I noticed an eagle sitting over a trout stream waiting for a fish to rise. GF got tired of waiting for me but if I had time I am sure that I could have gotten a fishing shot. He stared at the creek the whole time



As I came back up to the vehicle saw 4 Sandhills land around the corner.



When I got up there all I could hear was a couple of red wing black birds giving them hell. One kept dive bombing them and as I got in the vehicle to leave of course they took off. Was an unbelievable sight seeing a tiny black speck driving these 4 huge prehistoric sounding birds off. Any time a turkey vulture gets too low they attack them also. Have seen a lot of them escorting hawks away from their turf lately.

 

Haha, that's one mean-looking chick, Chaz! Based on that wide mouth I feel like he should still be in the nest...
Nice shots, Mike, especially the goslings fighting (or playing?)! Damn those redwings are badass.

 

Doo eeeet!

 

You should Ben! Last 2 weeks at work have been really rough hours wise for me. Getting too old for this 24 and carry on crap LOL. Finally got out this weekend both days and feel recharged.

Still have 10 pics to ID but a photo dump for now:

Been trying to get a picture of this Scarlet Tanager around the house for 2 weeks. Never sits still and only get a glimpse this is likely the best it is going to get


Scarlet Tanager

Did good with the warblers this weekend


American Redstart Warbler Male


American Redstart Warbler Female


Bay breasted Warbler


Chestnut sided Warbler


Yellow Warbler


Barn Swallow


Cedar Wax Wing


IndigoBunting

Not sure what was up with this Phebee, scratching? Seemed to be having fun anyhow!


upside down American Phebee

 

Wow Mike, nice job with the warblers. Im still waiting to see a bay breasted. Its a dead zone down here, idont think im gonna do any birding till fall, because there just inst much too see.

 

That is too bad Mark, it also sounds like this place in the winter. I am lucky here this is the Northern most edge of where Eagles winter over. In Feb. they do the mating ritual and I want to get some pictures this year. It is usually teens to twenties below zero F, electronics work better in the cold but the LCD displays do not. And there is the effect on your body too.

No argument from me Ben. Week before last for the In Flight competition I decided as a backup in case I couldn't get a decent hummer pic Plan B was a Bumble Bee on one of my Rhododendron flowers. I spent more time trying to trying to get a decent picture of the bee than I did a hummer!


Bumble Bee Rhododendron

 

I was able to go out in search or a rare yellow-green vireo that had been reported at a park 10 mins from the house. I spotted him litterally within the first minute of being there because he was so vocal. He happened to be covered by some branches so thos is the best shot i was able to get. I plan to try and get a better shot later thos week if he is still there. I was also able to see my first hooded oriole as well.

 

Was just finishing up a few things before leaving work this afternoon when a female Rufous Hummingbird caught my eye , I watched her buzzing around a cedar tree about 10' away from me and all of a sudden she just nestled in here

Haha , couldn't even see it from where I was ,moss and lichen as a camo job on the outside and the inside lined with spider webs and 3 eggs

I took the pics and walked about 20' away , and watched her buzz back and nestle in again

So awesome

 

You can easily sit and watch a harrier hunt for as long as it's in the area. Fascinating.

These two are great. Maybe a bit of fill light would help lighten up the bird?

 

Had a green heron fly over the house on Monday evening. Had never seen one here in MO before, but it was instantly recognizable. Blue herons are really common but I was excited to see a green.

 

I was able to find the Yellow-green vireo again today and got some better pics of him.

 

Im jealous of all the nice hawk pictures everyone is posting. I dont get to see many down here where im at..couple couple redtails every now and then, maybe im not looking hard enough lol

 

Nice shot Ben! Uh Oh we didn't turn this into the Birds and the Bees thread did we LOL. Somehow I could see you getting #100 with an owl... or at least a bird of prey.

Oz very jealous! First because a lot of people on a photo forum I visit are from BC and post tons of Rufous Hummer pictures taken with flash, and they are a beautiful bird I'm stuck with just the Ruby here. And second because I have never been able to find their tiny nest, great find!

MTgirl they are very territorial, especially right now. I have 2 pairs fighting over my deck which has several feeders and plants for them. The honeysuckle in the front yard hedge is in flower and they will zoom over them in a U shape back and forth letting everyone know hey this is my turf stay away.

Mark glad your still getting bird shots down there And a couple of nice ones of that Yellow Green vireo at that. I'm finding that getting a decent picture of a warbler or vireo is a lot more difficult than an Eagle.

 

Yeah, nice Harriers! I love seeing them do the dirty passes with legs dangling down.
Awesome hummer nest experience, Oz! It's so cool to see birds nestling down on the nests. At my internship there was a killdeer on eggs right next to the maintenance barn and we would pass by her all the time. Apparently the eggs just hatched, one of my friends showed me a picture of the little nestlings. So cute!
Wow, Mark, didn't realize that you had such an extreme drop in birds in the non-migratory seasons! Awesome shots of the Vireo, though!

I got back to my apartment this morning and saw a few swainson's hawks flying around in the area, so I started watching them for a bit. I think they were newly-fledged birds, 'cause they were doing all these weird, low bomb flights where they'd tuck their wings in, drop really fast, and then catch themselves. They weren't going for food, though. I coulda gotten some good photos, but I didn't have my camera. Of course, when I decided to go grab my camera, they were all gone by the time I got back. I did see a family of black phoebes, though, which was cool! Looked like maybe two or three hatch-year birds that were whining to their parents even though they were fully fledged. I think I got some good photos of them. I'll post them up this weekend or after finals...just finished my last day of undergraduate classes...it's a weird feeling!