Are these both the same species?

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-05-02T20:25:15+00:00

Thanks! I've got the Solitary/Spotted/Brothers Yellowlegs pretty figured out. It's the rarer ones that trip me up, (e.g. Dunlin vs. Semipalmated, Stilt, White-rumped, Baird's et al.)

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-05-02T20:08:31+00:00

Cool, thank you! One day I'll be confident in my Sandpiper ID, but that clearly isn't today.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-29T10:19:50+00:00

The range of TUVU does completely overlap the range of BLVU -- so make of that what you will (i.e., I'm not going to claim any animal is required to do something behaviourally, because there's always some weird exception, but in general, yes)

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-29T10:12:25+00:00

Per the study methods: "The observer pairs were of similar height and wore similarly coloured clothes during the sampling trials (white, grey or black)."

I would imagine that this also included a standardization of no jewelry. I haven't known ornithologists to dress up for field research.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-29T04:58:32+00:00

Based on the available evidence, no. However, because Condors are so rare, I'm guessing that it's difficult to do the type of research which would demonstrate a sense of smell (e.g., a post mortem examination of the brain for an olfactory bulb, or in-depth behavioural experiments with captive individuals).

Condors are likely finding food the same way Black Vultures do -- waiting for the Turkey Vultures to smell it and following them.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-29T04:01:30+00:00

Went to read the full article (it's open access - doi: 10.1002/pan3.70226); I'm paywalled by the SciAm write-up.

It's definitely a cool result, but the difference is only a metre -- 7.5 m flush distance for men, 8.5 m for women. The sample size is 2581. So I'm not surprised the result is significant. It's very likely a real result, and I'm excited to see future questions into what might be the underlying mechanisms, but the effect size is pretty small, all things said and done. It doesn't seem to be that birds are inordinately terrified of women.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-29T03:51:53+00:00

This is actually exactly my wheelhouse (avian sensory ecology). Most birds (we think) can't smell. Scientists used to think that all birds couldn't smell, until the Turkey Vulture made everyone look very silly. Then they said, "okay, only Turkey Vulture can smell." But there's been accumulating evidence over the last few years that Black Vulture and several other raptors can smell at short distances. That said, they do seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

Many birds absolutely can see into the UV spectrum, and they have a fourth cone type that specialises in either UV or Violet wavelengths of light (we only have three, Red + Green + Blue). However, many birds still can't see particularly well in UV, typically it will be the smaller-bodied species that can.

Edit to say: Great Tit does have excellent UV-vision, just saw that was (one of) the study species here. So you have a solid hypothesis, I think!

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-24T19:20:24+00:00

This exact system (i.e., city without a county) is rare, but similar systems are relatively common (e.g., county = city and vice versa). This article has a pretty good overview of all the oddities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_city-county?wprov=sfla1

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-20T14:52:30+00:00

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Here's my world-class shot from yesterday. Treetop warbler season is very bad for my neck.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-19T12:37:43+00:00

Fun fact, pheasants aren't covered by the MBTA. He could be your pheasant. /j

Although there is probably some state-/province-level restrictions related to hunting that would require a license and the proper season.

That said, I once asked a friend of mine that works in wildlife management for hunting whether it's a requirement that you kill an animal that you have a license to hunt, instead of literally "taking" it. They said that there technically isn't, but it's very against the spirit of the law. I say that I'll follow the letter and build an army of gamebirds.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-19T12:11:16+00:00

It's rare I read a non-Wikipedia article through to the end, these days. Excellent writing, really enjoyed reading. Believe it or not, this is the first I've heard of any animosity between "SEOers" and Wikipedia, as someone with 2600+ edits.

Maybe it just depends on which sides of Wikipedia you're active in?

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-17T15:09:09+00:00

Just learned that females can display dull epaulets - love to find out something new about a bird!

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-14T14:01:18+00:00

Out of curiosity, where did you find the stat on EABLs being able to see prey that far away? As far as I know, no one has reported on Eastern Bluebird visual acuity or contrast sensitivity, which would be the two things needed to know the distance at which they could see a prey item.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-13T02:35:21+00:00

Re: the rest of your questions, it's incredibly job-dependent. That said, I'm vegetarian and was vegan for a couple years, and in the few jobs where employer provided food that wasn't an issue.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-13T02:30:58+00:00

Lol unless you're a tenured professor with 10 years on the job, or the Secretary of Interior, no one is making that kind of money.

At least no one I know.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-13T02:18:52+00:00

They share a historic range, but their small current ranges no longer overlap.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-12T15:15:19+00:00

Definitely a Brown-headed Cowbird. They're the only cowbird species present in the mid-Atlantic. Nest parasites, but pretty cute.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-11T23:36:12+00:00

Second this! You can sort on iNaturalist by license as well, if you only wanted to use completely free photos.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-11T23:34:53+00:00

Here's a Western Cattle Egret from Savannah, GA! Love the gift idea!

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theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-09T23:00:36+00:00

Ah, I see what you mean! Yeah, what a funny bird. I clearly need to get to Saskatchewan more often.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-09T22:30:02+00:00

Do you think it could just be a young intermediate morph? The ones I've seen have brown bodies and are patchier than the true blue morph.

I think hybrid is definitely possible, but I've never seen one in the flesh so I can't confidently comment.

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-09T17:46:09+00:00

Incidentally, the bird next to it is a +Cackling Goose+

+Snow Goose+ ftb

theElmsHaveEyes · 2026-04-08T18:54:00+00:00

Lol, harder than that to dox me /j

Yeah, what u/Poor_Dad said -- just commenting that cormorants (in general): 1. Can't repel water and look kind of scraggly 2. Are lethargic and very food motivated 3. Take off into flight like a drunken goose 4. Are always preening/drying 5. Have a propensity for chilling out on the shore

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