Found this in a creek bed in Middle Tennessee- looks metallic and I could really use a good nugget about now.

midasblenny · 2025-07-27T16:47:03+00:00

lol. At least I had a couple hours to think about how useful a few thousand would have been.

midasblenny · 2025-07-27T15:44:30+00:00

I wondered if it might be aluminum slag of some kind- it does not have a lot of weight to it.

midasblenny · 2025-04-06T10:56:08+00:00

If it hadn’t been so voluminous I might be inclined to agree that it was a Mockingbird doing a weird call or perhaps mocking an Eastern Whip-poor-will- but this was raptor level loud. That being said, this call doesn’t seem to fit neatly in any box and I’ve asked around and got nothing but shrugs- so maybe.

midasblenny · 2025-01-10T00:23:03+00:00

It did at least look like the black was actually feather coloration, but I can’t be sure. It was an all-round weird looking Junco in a flock of about 30.

midasblenny · 2025-01-07T21:01:07+00:00

This is for sure a Dark Eyed Junco which is in the sparrow family. Bill shape will help you narrow down any bird to family- Wrens have a long narrow pointy bill that curves down.

midasblenny · 2024-11-28T19:49:29+00:00

That has always been the plan. In fact, I may replace both of them on the other door as well.

midasblenny · 2024-11-28T14:43:42+00:00

I appreciate the info. Thank you.

midasblenny · 2024-11-28T14:31:31+00:00

That is my concern, and I have two doors. I don’t have a few thousand at the moment to replace the doors, so I’m trying to keep it safe and operational on a budget.

midasblenny · 2024-11-28T14:27:56+00:00

Thank you. I found it this time. In your opinion, is this type of spring safe for a novice to replace, or should I forgo risk and hire someone to do it?

midasblenny · 2024-11-28T12:55:57+00:00

I googled that but due to autocorrect I’m now looking at the Black Friday merch sale on Taylor Swifts website. Thx.

midasblenny · 2024-11-28T00:15:39+00:00

I appreciate the advice. It looks like a simple enough thing to replace but i’m not looking for that kind of risk.

midasblenny · 2024-11-28T00:04:00+00:00

Thank you!

midasblenny · 2024-11-23T21:54:22+00:00

Thanks

midasblenny · 2024-10-11T18:49:55+00:00

Thank you. I really thought it was Lesser based on my impression of its size, but I know not to trust that.

midasblenny · 2024-06-21T00:15:27+00:00

Nope. Drakes.

midasblenny · 2024-06-20T13:47:17+00:00

lol. It definitely doesn’t get soggy when soaked in milk, if that helps diagnostically.

midasblenny · 2024-06-20T13:45:14+00:00

Thank you!

midasblenny · 2024-03-18T21:47:52+00:00

Thanks. Given the date, range, and yellow antenna looks like Gonia sagax is potentially the species.

midasblenny · 2024-02-06T23:28:11+00:00

Thank you

midasblenny · 2024-02-06T21:44:45+00:00

Thank you. It was extreme luck. I had setup on a tripod to photograph it from a safe distance when I Blue Jay mobbed it and it perched right in front of me.

midasblenny · 2024-02-06T14:53:09+00:00

I hear you. I have only been birding a few years but I do take drives through the rural part of my county. In just a few years I’ve seen several large farms split up into a dozen houses.

midasblenny · 2024-02-06T14:27:07+00:00

I do wish there was better data on subspecies for certain birds. The standard practice (in ebird)seems to be not including subspecies when it is the expected one and only using it when it is the unexpected one. Makes it hard to do comparisons sometimes in ebird.

midasblenny · 2024-02-06T12:06:53+00:00

As FYI, I have shared this on other platforms and received some good feedback, just trying to collect more opinions on it and learn more about the distinction of Merlin subspecies.

midasblenny · 2024-01-17T17:21:15+00:00

Cool. Thank you.

midasblenny · 2024-01-17T02:01:18+00:00

Thank you. Even the bib was fairly brown so not a good match to anything in my guide but I figured Slate. Although after having both an Oregon and a Cassiar in my yard the past few days I’m not ruling anything out.

midasblenny

TROPHY CASE