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Young Birder (4 Viewers)

I don't know that in Central Park live such a lot spiecies of birds. They are in CP all summer or they can see during migration only?
 
Hi all,
Wow, didn't know there are this many younger members on the forum. I am 13 (almost, (end of June!)) and have 184 birds on my list (all British) I have never been abroad. I am hoping to go to the Scillies or a seabird colony this August or October to give it a boost it hasn't had yet. Because I can't really read through this whole thread to see, are there any young birders in Surrey, Sussex or Kent here?
 
Welcome to Birdforum!! :)

Welcome to our thread... not BF though, with 500 odd posts!

Had a long-overdue lifer today: Blue-winged Warbler.

Wiktoria: Central Park is very good in spring migration since warblers flying over the metro area don't see much green until CP. Although 30 species of warbler are seen every spring and fall, no warblers nest in the park. Some species do though, like Baltimore Oriole, and maybe Great Crested Flycatcher.
 
Hi all,
Wow, didn't know there are this many younger members on the forum. I am 13 (almost, (end of June!)) and have 184 birds on my list (all British) I have never been abroad. I am hoping to go to the Scillies or a seabird colony this August or October to give it a boost it hasn't had yet. Because I can't really read through this whole thread to see, are there any young birders in Surrey, Sussex or Kent here?

Hi Crazy Birder! |;|

Wiktoria: Central Park is very good in spring migration since warblers flying over the metro area don't see much green until CP. Although 30 species of warbler are seen every spring and fall, no warblers nest in the park. Some species do though, like Baltimore Oriole, and maybe Great Crested Flycatcher.
Any warbler nest in the park? How many sorts can meet on the summer in the CP?

btw, Congratulation 100th post! |;|
 
Last edited:
Hi Crazy Birder! |;|


Any warbler nest in the park? How many sorts can meet on the summer in the CP?

btw, Congratulation 100th post! |;|

In summer Central Park is not very good. After mid-June it is not usually worth a trip to Central Park, as all of the warblers have left, as have all the other migrants, just leaving the few breeding species.

And thanks for the heads-up on the 100th post, I wouldn't have noticed it without you!

PS Congrats on the big 700 Owltalon!
 
I spent the weekend birding on New Mexico's eastern plains. Despite poor conditions on Saturday I still managed to get about 121 species for the weekend, including 2 life birds and 5 state birds.

We started early on Saturday at one of the best traps in NM for eastern warblers. Unfortunately, there was a very strong west wind, so no good vagrants were turned up there. Still got some good birds, including a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, which was a state bird for me. The best birds found there were a female Northern Parula and a male Hepatic Tanager (pretty good bird for the plains.

After that we headed about two ours south to Bitter Lake NWR. Extremely high winds kept most birds down, including a Dunlin and American Golden Plover that were present (reported that morning; then that evening), but we could not find them after a few hours. I did get a state bird - Least Tern. The only colony in the state breeds there, it's about 200 pairs. On the way out we stopped at the Military Academy in Roswell and managed to see several Chimney Swifts, which were life birds for me.

We continued towards Rattlesnake Springs (a riparian area that is part of Carlsbad Caverns Nat'l. Park), making several stops that were fairly unproductive. We arrived at the Springs around 06:30 in the evening. Our first cool bird was a perched Harris' Hawk on the way in. Once there we had a good look at a pair of Gray Hawks, very good birds for the area, in New Mexico they only occur regularly in one canyon near the Arizona border. There were several Orchard Orioles in the area, which were lifers for me. It quickly became dark, so we headed back to Carlsbad for the night.

We birded the Springs the next morning, it was very slow. The best birds were two Broad-winged Hawks (uncommon spring migrants in New Mexico), one adult and one juvenile. Along with the Broad-winged Hawks, Indigo Bunting and Painted Bunting were state birds for me. After a couple of hours, we headed back up Bitter Lake NWR, things were slow there as well, the highlights were American Bittern, Forester’s Tern, and over 20 Mississippi Kites.

It was a pretty good weekend for non-birds as well. I caught a decent-sized Coachwhip near Bitter Lake NWR on Saturday. That night we drove some roads around Carlsbad Caverns National Park; we did not find any snakes, but we had awesome looks at 5 Ringtail Cats. The next morning at Rattlesnake Springs I had my first life herp for the year: a pair of Corn Snakes that were actually mating.

It was a great weekend overall, so far this May has been awesome. Next weekend I’m doing my first official Big Day, so it should be interesting to see how it goes.
 
today at school i heard red shouldered hawks. i looked around a big live oak tree and saw there silhouettes in the sky. they were both flying close to eachother and calling out. They were doing a mating ritual or something, and it was really neat. and it mad my day better cuz all my teachers are soooooo mad at me
 
Extra extra! IBWO spotted by New York birder! Read all about it!

Well actually you can't, but one of the friendly guys who you might meet in the field in NY state got lucky on his first half year down south helping out on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker search team. No photos, though, he was torn between not scaring the bird as it flew and shock I'd guess.

If you get some chance to go down and help look for that woodpecker, if you find one it's pretty simple to get a photo. Follow my steps:

1. Have SLR camera, or a camera that has a removable lens. You don't need a super telephoto, just about anything will do. The detachable lens will have a focus ring, so you can set it into manual focus.

2. Have about 5+ rechargable batteries, and a charger for each.

3. Charge all batteries overnight.

4. Load one into camera, turn camera on, set on manual focus. Practice stance of one hand on focus ring and the other supporting the camera. Keep it around shoulder-height. Your arm will hurt badly soon, but it's worth the first good pic of an IBWO.

5. Set out in canoe. With a personal paddler.

6. Keep camera on, make sure settings aren't on auto-shutoff after a few minutes.

7. Keep stance all day while your paddler floats you 'round the swamp.

8. Check batteries. When low, change to charged battery, Do this quickly so the IBWO won't whizz past you while the camera's on, but not too fast or else you're liable to drop one of the batteries into the mire.

8. Repeat every day until you find an IBWO.

Good luck all!
 
I had a amazing trip to the west coast of B.C.! I got 27 lifers! 8-P

Here they are:

Golden-Crowned Sparrow
Spotted Towee
House Finch
Western Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Mute Swan (It was in the wild, so I thought I should count it?)
Dunlin
Greater Yellowlegs
American Bittern
Northwestern Crow (the easiest out of all of them to find;))
Black Oystercatcher
Surf Scoter
Double-Crested Cormorant
Brant
Semipalmated Plover
Short-Billed Dowitcher
Black-Bellied Plover
Mew Gull
Whimbrel
Greater White-Fronted Goose
Black Turnstone
Sanderling
Bewick's Wren
Bonoparte's Gull
Chesnut-Backed Chickadee
Virginia Rail
Harlequin Duck

Now I have 180 birds on my life list!:loveme:

Out of those I actually only got five from Reifle Bird Sanctuary. But I did see a Sandhill Crane only five meters away from me!

BC
 
In summer Central Park is not very good. After mid-June it is not usually worth a trip to Central Park, as all of the warblers have left, as have all the other migrants, just leaving the few breeding species.

Thank you for answer!

B.C. Birder, cjwolf, I'm glad you have good birding |=)|

Storm-Petrel, so sometimes worth go to school |;|
 
I had a amazing trip to the west coast of B.C.! I got 27 lifers! 8-P

Here they are:

Golden-Crowned Sparrow
Spotted Towee
House Finch
Western Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Mute Swan (It was in the wild, so I thought I should count it?)
Dunlin
Greater Yellowlegs
American Bittern
Northwestern Crow (the easiest out of all of them to find;))
Black Oystercatcher
Surf Scoter
Double-Crested Cormorant
Brant
Semipalmated Plover
Short-Billed Dowitcher
Black-Bellied Plover
Mew Gull
Whimbrel
Greater White-Fronted Goose
Black Turnstone
Sanderling
Bewick's Wren
Bonoparte's Gull
Chesnut-Backed Chickadee
Virginia Rail
Harlequin Duck

Now I have 180 birds on my life list!:loveme:

Out of those I actually only got five from Reifle Bird Sanctuary. But I did see a Sandhill Crane only five meters away from me!

BC

Great list! Reminds me of my BC adventures!

I know that Mute Swans have been breeding in the NE United States for a while, as illustrated in many field guides, nut as you discovered, there are some around SW British Columbia too. Besides the one or two that frequent Stanley Park's Lost Lagoon in Vancouver, I saw one or two from a bridge near Reifel Bird Sanctuary. DId you see the rail at Reifel? You'd be the third person I know who got their lifer Virginia Rail recently (the other two, unfortunately not me, had been looking for it for forever!). Great find!
 
Great list! Reminds me of my BC adventures!

I know that Mute Swans have been breeding in the NE United States for a while, as illustrated in many field guides, nut as you discovered, there are some around SW British Columbia too. Besides the one or two that frequent Stanley Park's Lost Lagoon in Vancouver, I saw one or two from a bridge near Reifel Bird Sanctuary. DId you see the rail at Reifel? You'd be the third person I know who got their lifer Virginia Rail recently (the other two, unfortunately not me, had been looking for it for forever!). Great find!

I saw them at that birdge too.

Nope, I saw the Rail at Campbell River. I never saw it, but its noise was so distinctive so I counted it. It made almost 'hick-up' noises.

BC
 
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