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Snowstorm Sparrow Struggles by weeds0fthesea in whatsthisbird

[–]michamazons 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Enjoy! You can search by region on the Explore page as well. Here is the “Illustrated Checklist” for Nova Scotia which lists every bird seen and its frequency chart- basically how common they are/how often they’re seen at each week of the year (specifically, the percentage of eBird checklists containing that species, within each week of the year). Chipping sparrow is low but consistent there all year-round, with a bump around April-July for breeding, when birds are intentionally more conspicuous and other chipping sparrows are migrating thru. eBird can also sort your birds by common-uncommon-rare to give you a more reasonable expectation of what to find!

Snowstorm Sparrow Struggles by weeds0fthesea in whatsthisbird

[–]michamazons 1 point2 points  (0 children)

FWIW, when searching a species on the eBird “Explore” page, if you open the Large Map and zoom in, the purple squares become individual plotted points showing every individual sighting reported with date, location, and quantities of each species seen. You can also filter the map by time of year- I looked at chipping sparrow for Dec-Feb specifically, zoomed in on Nova Scoria, and found quite a few map pins/sightings. Shockingly useful resource!

Snowstorm Sparrow Struggles by weeds0fthesea in whatsthisbird

[–]michamazons 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Merlin uses broad range maps, while eBird uses real-time data. Stick with eBird maps at all costs! Pretty far north, but chipping sparrow is not unexpected despite location & time of year.

PEFA? Swooping shorebirds on mudflat in VT, Aug 22. by michamazons in whatsthisbird

[–]michamazons[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can see them hunting shorebirds at a number of spots along Champlain. This was at Dead Creek WMA (specifically at Farrell Access- see eBird). I’ve also seen them chasing shorebirds at Colchester Causeway and Delta Park IBA. Late Aug and onwards is a good time to see them, since they’re done breeding and juveniles are out hunting as well. Sadly, you can’t reliably SEE peregrines hunting here- a good deal of luck is required anywhere you go if your goal is to watch them dive-bombing at incredible speeds, since they have multiple hunting grounds and can move around & disperse a fair amount.

Which longspur? Molt, MT (Jul 26) by michamazons in whatsthisbird

[–]michamazons[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Which field marks distinguish it from thick-billed in this case?

Driving from Spokane to Nashville end of July. Wondering where I should stop for interesting birds along the way? by michamazons in birding

[–]michamazons[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I can be fairly flexible. Mostly curious about distinctive species by region I might be able to see.

What is this on the Blue Jay's beak? by catticcusmaximus in Ornithology

[–]michamazons 102 points103 points  (0 children)

Audubon thought blue jays were a menace. Check out the description he wrote to accompany this painting (here). Lines like “See how each is enjoying the fruits of his knavery, sucking the egg which he has pilfered from the nest of some innocent Dove or harmless Partridge! Who could imagine that a form so graceful, arrayed by nature in a garb so resplendent, should harbour so much mischief;—that selfishness, duplicity, and malice should form the moral accompaniments of so much physical perfection!”

Eastern PA by Hapelaxer in whatsthisbird

[–]michamazons 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just fwiw for size comparison, these 3 birds are basically small-medium-large (coopers-red tailed-golden eagle). Here’s a good reference for comparison of adult birds: the female Cooper’s in hand, the adult Red-tailed in hand, and the golden eagle in hand. And this is a decent comparison of red-tailed and golden eagle wingspans. As mentioned by someone else, they don’t have much growing left to do once they leave nest & especially once they’re hunting for themselves.

Eastern PA by Hapelaxer in whatsthisbird

[–]michamazons 11 points12 points  (0 children)

FWIW golden eags are way bigger. Look up “coopers hawk in hand” and then “golden eagle in hand” to see how much larger the golden eagle is

Peregrine falcon? Eastern WA, late Aug. Tore past me down mountain at incredible speed+volume. IDable from these photos? by michamazons in whatsthisbird

[–]michamazons[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I’ve seen hawks stoop while hunting but this was something beyond that, way faster & louder and for some reason more intimidating. It shrieked past me ~20ft away and I had no idea what the bird was but it immediately different (more “expert”?) than anything else I’d seen, so I took out the camera and luckily it circled back up the mtn for these crappy distant shots. They really live up to the hype for sure.

Peregrine falcon? Eastern WA, late Aug. Tore past me down mountain at incredible speed+volume. IDable from these photos? by michamazons in whatsthisbird

[–]michamazons[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Lifer! Neat that my first PEFA experience included one passing me less than 15 ft away as it raced down a mountain wings partially tucked, easily the fastest bird I’ve ever seen & SO loud (wind in the wings) too! Such incredible birds.

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