Birding and Bird Photography

Any of you have a "white whale" of birds? A "unicorn" of rarity in capturing a photo of one? Just curious if I'm the only one or what, I have been on the hunt for capturing a photo of a Belted Kingfisher and those things are always around when I can't carry my camera, and never around when I do. Just curious what you guys might be struggling to capture.

 

Belted Kingfishers are skittish - zoom lens necessary. They are fairly common in Texas on lakes and rivers and at the coast around North Padre Island - though I have never snapped a solid pic of one. Never seem to have the right lens when they are around.

So... There is a very rare bird - the golden cheeked warbler (GCW) here in the Texas hill country. In 2012 I used the same camera for both birding and astrophotography (for solid astro shots, you generally set white balance to tungsten which is no good on a bright sunny day). I went birding a few days after an astro p shoot hoping to find a GCW. It was high summer when they are most likely to be observed. Lo and behold, not a few steps into Friedrich Wilderness Park, there is one almost right above me chirping away, clear line of sight, perfect. I aim, tried to focus and shoot as fast as possible without alarming the bird - no time for adjusting anything. Well, the WB was in the wrong setting (tungsten), and a 2 second shutter delay was preset. The GCW flitted off into oblivion and I was left a dejected, unprepared amateur. I did get a photo of a poorly lit yellowish blur.

Now have a dedicated camera for each birding and astro p.
Get your cameras set up proper before hitting the trees, folks.

 

Red shouldered hawk with (in his mind) a succulent corpse! I am trying to figure out which species the unfortunate meal-bird is...

 

I am jealous of the snow. I know that sounds weird. Not jealous of crapped up tires.

Too small to be a sparrow or a starling - the talons are near as big as the hawk's! We'll call it a dirty old pigeon. Hopefully it was the spy-pigeon that was hunting @jester156

Hitting Big Bend National Park next week - should have some new pics for this thread early next year.

 

Northern Crested Caracara, shot out at Choke Canyon State Park in South Texas, he is a regular there, I have spotted him several times, easy to identify because of the marking on his breast. Looks like a predator, but mainly a scavenger.

 

Actually that is a female merlin. It looks like a pigeon she is eating, but hard to tell for sure.

 

really you sure ? no cheek line and white bars on the tail

 

Spotted 2 of these pleated wood peckers this morning... sorry for the poor quality picture.

 

I am 100% positive.

 

It certainly is a merlin. I let the banded tail fool me!

 

Nice shot! Choke canyon is an excellent place for wildlife photography - including American alligators. I live just a hop away in San Antonio.

For those that don't know this interesting fact, the Caracara is the bird on the Mexican flag, which is why it's also called the Mexican Eagle.

 

@Cooldood - @Gyrkin is 100% correct and knows his raptors. Merlins often lack the mustache/malar stripe ("cheek line"), like other falcons have, they can have faint ones sometimes. You're probably use to identifying males. Female/juvenile types are less obvious.

@Gyrkin - you determine it was a female and not a female/juvenile (so including first year male) due to buffy supercilary line and buffy tail bands (versus being whitish to gray in first year male)? I'll be impressed if your going by size. Their size sexual dimporphism is not as pronounced as some other raptors. You use anything else to get to female versus female/juvenile? Thats all I can recall for a bird not in flight, and its not showing the underwings. I need to brush up, been in the office more and more, and doing bird surveys for work less and less. I thought that was only for the Taiga/Boreal subspecies and identifying females vs female/juveniles was not possible for the Prarie or Black subspecies. Right?

Per the three subspecies, I am guessing it is a Taiga/Boreal. Doesn't seem pale enough for a Prarie or dark enough, especially in the cheeks for a Black.
Whats your opinion?

I admit, I've got accustomed to saying female/juvenile for all non-adult males. Your ID definitely intrigued me and I'm looking to learn from your expertise.

 

Did you forget who I am? I just stir shit around here LOL. No offense to the red shoulder person but in about 5 seconds I knew it was not a RS. As far as female/juvenile I am not that good. I usually have to blow on their under parts to know for sure

 

Adult verses immature female merlins are tough to tell apart. For that I would have to seek advise from some of my friends that are more up on merlins. Most of my experience with falcons is with the larger species. The size difference between the sexes in merlins is actually fairly pronounced, but the reason I say female is they are proportioned differently than males, the other part of sexual dimorphism. This is consistent through all falcons. Females have a bigger body compared to the size of their head. Females look powerful, and males look cute. It's hard to explain but after you look at thousands of falcons you can just look at one and tell. It's kind of like if you tried to explain to an alien how to tell the difference between male and female humans without dropping their shorts.

 

Adult verses immature female merlins are tough to tell apart. For that I would have to seek advise from some of my friends that are more up on merlins. Most of my experience with falcons is with the larger species. The size difference between the sexes in merlins is actually fairly pronounced, but the reason I say female is they are proportioned differently than males, the other part of sexual dimorphism. This is consistent through all falcons. Females have a bigger body compared to the size of their head. Females look powerful, and males look cute. It's hard to explain but after you look at thousands of falcons you can just look at one and tell. It's kind of like if you tried to explain to an alien how to tell the difference between male and female humans without dropping their shorts.[/QUOTE]
Wow! I am amazed at the level of this conversation, especially on a truck forum!

 

Pretty clear I need to brush up on my raptors. Any book recommendations, other than the standard Stokes, Audubon, etc? Any raptor specific books? I've gone to watch raptor migration, and just listened to the experts IDing the birds. For the most part, I'm thinking, "well, OK"...lol

 

After consulting my trusty American Bird Conservanacy Field Guide, for me it was more the chest feather pattern that identified it as a merlin and not a red shouldered. I'm one of those lucky very color-blind people who has to rely more on pattern than color when dealing with reds/greens/browns/earthy tones.

The American Bird Concervancy's "All the Birds" is an excellent field guide. I have the 97 version and it's still very reliable. There is a newer version.

 

This shits gettin real around here!! Lifting bird feathers and legs to see their under parts!!