Birding and Bird Photography

Yeah, the ocean is my home!

Check out this series of photos. Probably one of my favorites I've seen in awhile!

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1341548

 

I had my first ever blue bird sighting last week. He returned yesterday for a quick photo.

 

I subbed to this thread for the photos but now I am going to get active. I am in ornithology this semester and have to memorized 267 bird species (luckily by common name). I figured reading through this thread and having access to the wealth of knowledge will help. I will also be submitting some photos as well .

I am actually headed out for a walk and will be taking the camera with me just in case.

 

That's pretty cool! Good luck on the 267 birds

 

Nice! Ornithology was one of my favorite classes.
Is the 267 for local birds? My class did just CA birds, which is something like 330, I think. And seriously thank goodness it was only common name!

 

Yep, its all the species in Wyoming. Shouldn't be too bad, I just need to get the book and make a bunch of flash cards. So far the class is pretty cool. I like my Ichthyology class better though.

I didn't see much of anything on the run, which is good because I forgot my battery anyways .

 

Gah, for my History of Vertebrates class on our bird section we had 83 New Mexico birds and had to know everything from Kingdom to Species and even all the subclass whatnots if they applied. Also had to do it with fish, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. I wanted to take both Ornith and Icht this semester but they conflicted with my mandatory Grass taxonomy class

Well then, Got a pic of a cool sapsucker earlier, will post when I get off

 

Sibley's, Audubon, smart phone apps.

Audubon is nice for the way they organize their collection. I have a small card for the Bay Area.

 

Neat. I was deer hunting this year in an elevated box blind and 6 tundra swans flew by at head height and passed within 15 yards of my blind. It was pretty cool.

 

How do you guys easily distinguish between trumpeter and tundra swans?

 

I should have mentioned this but we can't use size very often, and we won't be given a sound clip. The skins shown in class were very similar in size as well.

I glance at those when I get home. I know one of them is supposed to have yellow on the bill but the one in class had very little. You had to expect it close up to see it.

 

Trumpeters are a lot more infrequent where I live, and when they are seen they're usually in single pairs. There is a stuffed trumpeter at the conservation area where I hunt ducks - those suckers are massive.

 

Congrats!! Glad you finally found some. Surprised they are still around your area they are long gone through here.

Like Polymerhead I kind of rely on where I am and numbers. On the North Shore I see Trumpeters in pairs usually also. Although sometimes 2 pairs or one pair with young.

 

Thanks lisa, that helps a bunch. Still hard to see from some of the pictures but hopefully they keep the test fair.

Would you guys be interested in a thread where one person posts a picture of a bird and then whoever properly identifies it gets to post the next? Just a fun game to pass the time and learn some birds?