Any birders? Share your photos!

[MissySki]

Yes, they are! I had actually driven there (Lake Tekapo) that weekend specifically because I knew the lupines were in flower and I wanted to see them.

View attachment 15350
View attachment 15351
View attachment 15352


And, to bring it back to birds

View attachment 15353

The picture with the water is so gorgeous, what a beautiful place!

 

[altagirl]

Yes! Good identifying, we call them black back gulls We have two common types of gull here, the big black backs and the smaller red billed gulls. They don't like each other much so you don't tend to see them together!

A bunch of red billed gulls:
View attachment 15344

Evening red billed gull:
View attachment 15345

A black backed gull diving for and eating some dinner!
View attachment 15346

And I spotted some of these guys while on a weekend holiday in a small inland town. They were slightly smaller and shyer than the usual red bill gulls, which caught my attention. This is a black billed gull (yes, we're very imaginative with our gull names!!), apparently the most endangered gull in the world
View attachment 15347

That's so cool! And how exciting on the Black-billed Gull - what a great find! (And I do love the lupines too - that's a gorgeous view!) Regarding the common names - maybe not the most imaginative names for your gulls, but at least they are logical and obvious features. Half the time we get crazy names of descriptors you can barely see. We have a "Ring-necked Duck" that is lovely, but it's head, neck and breast are all BLACK. Rumor has it that if you are holding one in your hand and ruffling through the feathers, you can see a subtle ring of maroon/brown feathers around the neck. This is the best photo I've ever gotten of the "ring". I remain unconvinced...



VERY practical for field ID. It has those lovely white stripes on it's bill.... It has a lovely patch of bright white that sticks up along it's side and is an excellent field mark... No, no... let's name it for something no one can see. Keeps everyone on their toes.

This is what you usually see: (the one in the front middle)

 

[MissySki]

That's so cool! And how exciting on the Black-billed Gull - what a great find! (And I do love the lupines too - that's a gorgeous view!) Regarding the common names - maybe not the most imaginative names for your gulls, but at least they are logical and obvious features. Half the time we get crazy names of descriptors you can barely see. We have a "Ring-necked Duck" that is lovely, but it's head, neck and breast are all BLACK. Rumor has it that if you are holding one in your hand and ruffling through the feathers, you can see a subtle ring of maroon/brown feathers around the neck. This is the best photo I've ever gotten of the "ring". I remain unconvinced...

View attachment 15354

VERY practical for field ID. It has those lovely white stripes on it's bill.... It has a lovely patch of bright white that sticks up along it's side and is an excellent field mark... No, no... let's name it for something no one can see. Keeps everyone on their toes.

This is what you usually see: (the one in the front middle)
View attachment 15356
View attachment 15355

Wow that is indeed a headscratcher for naming!!

 

[fgor]

Here is a very cute and charming tomtit.

 

[newboots]

Here is a very cute and charming tomtit.

Sweet!

 

[altagirl]

Here is a very cute and charming tomtit.

So adorable!! - they look kind of like a variation our Black-capped Chickadees.

 

[altagirl]

I couldn't resist trying to get some photos of the Tree Swallows that just recently migrated back to Utah. They change directions dizzyingly fast, so I'm sure it would have been hilarious watching me spin around trying to get them in focus.

Plus a Cormorant taking off (I love their turquoise eyes), and a Long-billed Curlew coming in for a landing. Plus a lovely American White Pelican.

OH - and this first one kind of looks like a composite shot, but it was 3 swallows all wanting to land on the same post.

 

[Amie H]

I couldn't resist trying to get some photos of the Tree Swallows that just recently migrated back to Utah. They change directions dizzyingly fast, so I'm sure it would have been hilarious watching me spin around trying to get them in focus.

Plus a Cormorant taking off (I love their turquoise eyes), and a Long-billed Curlew coming in for a landing. Plus a lovely American White Pelican.

OH - and this first one kind of looks like a composite shot, but it was 3 swallows all wanting to land on the same post.

Wow, amazing action photos!!!

 

[MissySki]

Just saw my first 2 male hummingbirds of the season! I saw the first and hurried out to freshen up the nectar that's been sitting out and add the perch I have that had a songbird feeder in its spot for the winter. Then also added my second feeder to the backyard. Came back inside and a second male made his way over too. One is longer and skinny with a splotchy gray and white belly. The second is shorter and rounder with a fully white belly. I'm so excited that they are back! Can't wait for the females to join in and to see if I end up with more than the 4 I had last summer as regular visitors. This is around a week earlier than I normally spot them, and I was starting to worry because there have even been news articles this week about how early they are in New England this season.. yet I hadn't seen any.

I have a couple of spaced out songbird feeders in my backyard, but now I'm a bit sad I don't have the one in front anymore. Don't want to scare away the hummers with so much activity on the same Shepard's hook though.. Now I need to see if I can find a way to get a songbird feeder in front that I can see from my office but that's a bit further away.

 

[altagirl]

So exciting! I've heard hummingbirds in my yard but haven't seen them yet.

 

[Eera]

Andean Condor (Vulture gryphus) that Ifound in Argentina.

Holy moly, this thing was the size of a cow! We were in a bus when I saw it out of the side of my eye on a hill, and I said to the photo tour leader "You get black and white cows here?"

Slam on brakes, quick reverse and this was sat eating a dead guanaco. Managed to get a heap of shots as it lumbered down the hill and took off. Feel privileged to see it bearing in mind how close to extinction it came.

 

[Jenny]

Very cool!

 

[altagirl]

Wow! We have one at our Aviary in Utah - and they are indeed HUGE! How amazing to see a wild one!

 

[Eera]

Wow! We have one at our Aviary in Utah - and they are indeed HUGE! How amazing to see a wild one!

It was absolutely awesome. We saw a few more circling at altitude but this was close up and personal. Especially as it pretty much had to run right past us to get airborne. I remember seeing all those TV reports in the 80's about having to get breeding programs underway and artificially feed chicks, so to see one out there and free is a real testament to the hard work of those people undertaking those programs, and those who supported them too.

 

[Scribble]

This evening, a cooper's hawk tried to pick a fight with an owl in my backyard. I've seen the hawk hanging around for about a month and have heard (her?) yapping and whistling on occasion, but this is the first time I've actually seen what the fuss was about. The owl won the battle in a brooding, impassive sort of way, with lots of ominous staring...after yapping and hopping around for 20 minutes the hawk gave up trying to get a reaction and flew away.

 

[Tvan]

I love owls. Here's a photo of my barred owl encounter on a morning run last summer:

 

[Jenny]

The owl won the battle in a brooding, impassive sort of way, with lots of ominous staring...

Owl doesn't have time for that yapping and hopping around nonsense!

 

[newboots]

The staring could intimidate ME! No wonder they are thought to be wise. Saves so much energy this way!

 

[Tvan]

My Hogwarts pet would DEFINITELY be an owl.

 

[MissySki]

Ugh, this is the time of year I hate.. the last days of hummingbird season in MA. I still had a female yesterday at my feeder, but I haven't seen any today. Thinking that might have been it, it makes me so sad.. Hoping I might still get some stragglers coming down so I'll definitely leave my feeders up for a couple more weeks just in case.

If anyone is interested, I watched this really great webinar on hummingbirds and how they use torpor to conserve energy, earlier this summer. Fascinating.

How High-Energy Hummingbirds Survive—a Q&A with the Experts | Bird Academy • The Cornell Lab

Hummingbirds delight with their brilliant colors and dizzying flight. But all that nonstop activity comes at a high energy cost, so how do hummers meet their calorie needs? Join researchers Anusha Shankar from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Erich Eberts from the University of Toronto Scarbor ...

academy.allaboutbirds.org