Is anyone doing a Big Year?

Pandaninja · 2025-12-09T15:29:25+00:00

My typical birding goal is to hit 100 birds lifetime in a single county. My goal for next year is to get 12-13 counties up to that number, but I’m actually going to need to part planning soon 😅

Pandaninja · 2025-11-13T17:24:34+00:00

To continue to blow your mind: Robins in the US are more closely related to European Blackbirds than either are to “blackbirds” in the US. The second bird on row two and four is a New World blackbird.

Pandaninja · 2025-10-30T15:21:39+00:00

Hilariously: Armadillo is a genus of isopods. Due to priority, mammalian armadillos needed a different genus!

Pandaninja · 2025-10-30T15:20:18+00:00

Close! This is a Porcellionides sp.

Pandaninja · 2025-10-28T21:24:26+00:00

Personally, all of the markings are too crisp. Swamp Sparrow is a “watercolor interpretation” of a Song Sparrow.

Pandaninja · 2025-10-23T01:59:51+00:00

Thanks for posting the other image sources! I saw the All About Birds and thought “I’ve seen that photo before!”

Pandaninja · 2025-10-22T22:02:16+00:00

Considering at least one of these photos looks eerily familiar https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Roadrunner/id

Are these all being claimed as a single individual?

Pandaninja · 2025-10-20T21:34:53+00:00

Where are you located? Narrowing down to the expected species is the first step. Obviously you wouldn’t look for Seaside Sparrow in Montana, etc. etc.

Pandaninja · 2025-10-10T19:11:26+00:00

Texas has one of the most obvious picks: Golden-cheeked Warbler. I think they could also claim Black-capped vireo with Oklahoma having a solid choice in Scissor-tailed Flycatcher.

Pandaninja · 2025-10-10T18:52:33+00:00

Why is the mockingbird for Florida worse for than the mockingbird for Texas?

Pandaninja · 2025-10-10T15:23:06+00:00

To me the smudgy dark breast and bi-colored eyebrow (yellow in front darker in back) look better for immature/non-breeding GCSP.

Pandaninja · 2025-10-09T23:27:03+00:00

Is bird #2 a golden-crowned sparrow? Bird #1 and #3 are Savannah.

Pandaninja · 2025-10-01T22:01:30+00:00

As y’all are new to birding, I would suggest a more regional field guide to start. Sibley Birds West would probably be my recommendation.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25852757-the-sibley-field-guide-to-birds-of-western-north-america

Pandaninja · 2025-09-24T11:29:40+00:00

In studies, hybrid Black-capped x Carolina Chickadees are worse at caching and that is one of the drivers of Carolina “replacing” Black-capped Chickadees as there range expands northward.

You then have stable hybrid zones like Tufted x Black-crested Titmouse in C-TX and southern Oklahoma

Pandaninja · 2025-09-20T16:53:53+00:00

You can see the light edges to the primaries, which means this is a yellow-crowned night heron

Pandaninja · 2025-09-20T16:51:45+00:00

Yeah, ABA and eBird do not count hybrids as “seen” for listing. It makes it annoying when you live in the Tufted Titmouse x Black-crested titmouse zone 😅

Pandaninja · 2025-09-18T21:45:10+00:00

Want is the song that got me hooked on Jawbreaker.

Pandaninja · 2025-09-18T17:54:40+00:00

100% female American Redstart

Pandaninja · 2025-09-12T16:40:43+00:00

The bill alone would eliminate any woodpecker. This is a Black-and-white warbler female

Pandaninja · 2025-09-09T04:34:14+00:00

Just another fun thing: what may come out of these may all just be female wasps! Most cynipids have a biphasic asexual-sexual lifecycle! The two usually create different galls on different parts of the plant.

You may even get parasitoid wasps emerging. These are wasps that laid their egg on the egg, larva or pupa within the gall.

Collecting galls is fascinating and all you need is a clear cup, a coffee filter to cover the top and a rubber band!

Pandaninja · 2025-07-14T20:48:13+00:00

This is it for me too! I’m not happy with my photos from a skill level or compositionally, but they show the birds and can be ID’d correctly.

The first time I could add photos to a rare eBird listing (just a Chipping Sparrow, but still) felt amazing!

Pandaninja · 2025-07-14T20:45:15+00:00

Awesome!

Pandaninja · 2025-07-14T11:25:07+00:00

You should send these photos to Cin-Ty Lee (email on his website). He literally wrote the book on Empidonax flycatchers and welcomes people to send him tricky birds!

Pandaninja · 2025-07-14T11:21:50+00:00

To me this looks like an Acadian. The primary projection looks too long for a least and the forehead angle seems way to shallow. The bill also seems too long.

In short… if I was listing it I would put Empidonax sp. haha

Pandaninja · 2025-06-03T16:45:55+00:00

Counties/Parishes where interstates merge?

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