A person in Van Buren County posted a photo of a black chinned hummingbird found usually in the southwest. probably got turned around in a storm.
Bird Migration and Misc Birding Thread
- Thread starter Kinch
- Start date
SIAP
Anyone that enjoys birds, I highly recommend getting the Merlin App on your phone....it's free and It's the real deal and is supported by Cornell University aka Cornell Lab. It's awesome.
They have options on identifying birds and 1 option is by sound. Select it and it identifies birds in range. In just over 2 minutes of recording, mine picked up 12 types of birds.
You you'll be an ornithologist before you know it...lol. it's great to take camping too. New areas, New birds.
Anyone that enjoys birds, I highly recommend getting the Merlin App on your phone....it's free and It's the real deal and is supported by Cornell University aka Cornell Lab. It's awesome.
They have options on identifying birds and 1 option is by sound. Select it and it identifies birds in range. In just over 2 minutes of recording, mine picked up 12 types of birds.
You you'll be an ornithologist before you know it...lol. it's great to take camping too. New areas, New birds.
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ID'ing Empids (Flycatchers) is near impossible. I was lucky enough today to get a good look at one that ended up being a lifer for me...Olive-sided flycatcher. Yard bird #79.
Saw a great horned owl fledgling when I was out walking the dog early morning. Dog barked at it, I swear it was rolling it’s eyes, like dogs are not climbing up here.
I had some cattle egrets hanging out at the feed lot one morning last month. While not unheard of in the midwest, they are a bird native to sub-saharan Africa. They were lost! I had never seen even one before and had a group of three.
I'm getting a bit envious of all these reports. Maybe I should retire, just so I can sit in my backyard and find more than I have to date.
The main issue is alder vs willow. Basically only id is by call. Acadian and yellow bellied are very similar but distinguishable. Olive sided are large with a black beak and a well defined vest. Phoebe can also show a vest, but not obvious like an olive. Olives also usually like the top of dead trees where they perch out in the open.
Yes, this one was easier with the big bill. Lighting made it tougher to see the vest at first. And, you're right...it perched high in a dead tree and repeatedly circled out and back getting bugs out of the air.
Red tailed hawk kept circling around me when I was working on the onion garden. I must seem close to dead.
Otherwise an abundance of yellow birds today. American goldfinch, Wilson’s warbler, and yellow warbler.
Otherwise an abundance of yellow birds today. American goldfinch, Wilson’s warbler, and yellow warbler.
I feel like the bald eagles are getting kind of bossy. One was fine dining on dead raccoon in the middle of my lane on the highway, so when it didn’t move when I slowed way down, I had to take the passing lane. I looked in the rear view and it was still chomping away.
When they have young to feed they aren't looking for sugar highs. Caught this mom oriole taking caterpillars to her nest in early June 2022. Most of the time they nest WAY too high for me to photograph but this nest was closer to the ground.
Great photo! Inchworm chow.
Absolutely. When birds come to their final migration destination they look for fat and sugars. But adults in migration and young birds need protein. That is why the decline of insects is very concerning especially protein packets called beetles (though the Emerald Ash Borer is increasing).
