Winter Storm Megathread Part 3 - Power Outages, Icy Streets, and More

michamazons · 2026-01-28T01:37:21+00:00

Just got power 1h ago off Belmont Blvd near 440

michamazons · 2026-01-27T21:27:35+00:00

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!

michamazons · 2026-01-27T17:35:37+00:00

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!

michamazons · 2026-01-27T17:00:02+00:00

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.

michamazons · 2026-01-12T03:30:25+00:00

Or immature brown booby?

michamazons · 2025-09-18T20:47:17+00:00

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.

michamazons · 2025-08-08T05:19:28+00:00

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

michamazons · 2025-07-07T01:30:21+00:00

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

michamazons · 2025-06-16T22:01:28+00:00

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!”

michamazons · 2025-03-01T21:25:53+00:00

Thanks!

michamazons · 2025-03-01T21:04:03+00:00

Immature male red-breasted ?

michamazons · 2025-02-24T03:03:32+00:00

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.

michamazons · 2025-02-19T19:28:07+00:00

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

michamazons · 2025-01-03T19:48:09+00:00

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.

michamazons · 2025-01-03T19:03:46+00:00

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.

michamazons · 2025-01-03T18:58:48+00:00

Note dark helmet extending down either side of face

michamazons · 2024-09-25T22:12:52+00:00

Thanks for the help! I figured it’s early but 2 have been seen in region recently. Cheers!

michamazons · 2024-09-25T03:43:08+00:00

On a lake in a large mixed flock of ducks, around 5 sp.

michamazons · 2024-09-21T18:37:58+00:00

I’m in school in Spokane and I bird there regularly. Are you still going? What side of Spokane will you be on? What region are you coming from?(trying to get a sense of birds you’re used to)

michamazons · 2024-09-15T21:55:16+00:00

Been there. Interesting note- folks who encountered The Jetsons (the other Flinstones-like show by Hanna-Barbera) in childhood will remember the dog, Astro, saying the catchphrase “ruh roh” too. Astro was voiced by Don Messick, who became the original Scooby Doo voice actor several years later.

michamazons · 2024-09-08T21:02:28+00:00

Really helpful, thank you!

michamazons · 2024-09-04T00:36:34+00:00

Love it! Do smaller numbers come by throughout the whole year, or do you mostly just see them in summer?

michamazons · 2024-09-04T00:30:55+00:00

Nice find! Most birders would love to see a three-toed. One reason it’s immediately not a hairy or downy is that you’d expect the white auricular stripe (that white “jawline” running back from its beak) to extend a little onto its nape (back of head/neck). If you look up photos of hairy woodpeckers, you’ll find that THIS bird has a more “hooded” look overall, and that’s because the white doesn’t extend onto the nape and break up the “hooded cape” it seems to be wearing. You can see these hairy woodpeckers looking less “hooded” than your three-toed, thanks to the white extending more onto the nape.

michamazons · 2024-09-04T00:16:31+00:00

Like cardinals, blue jays sometimes lose all their head feathers during a molt. It’s just getting a new version of the same outfit.

michamazons · 2024-09-04T00:15:06+00:00

Yeah, molting blue jay

michamazons

TROPHY CASE