• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Young Birder (4 Viewers)

Oh, the video didn't open for me. I' surprised it's the first in nearly 200 years. Who even noticed it back then?

I had two interesting sightings today: one was a Turkey Vulture flying over my area, which is very uncommon, and the second was the news that the Song Sparrows at my school bred... kind of. Not their own offspring though. Yup, one of the parents SOSPs had a cowbird in tow. Oh dear.

Hey is anyone doing anything over the summer? So far it seems that my family and I are going to go on our summer vacation to Nova Scotia in August. Some very nice birds up there!
 
Oh, the video didn't open for me. I' surprised it's the first in nearly 200 years. Who even noticed it back then?

I had two interesting sightings today: one was a Turkey Vulture flying over my area, which is very uncommon, and the second was the news that the Song Sparrows at my school bred... kind of. Not their own offspring though. Yup, one of the parents SOSPs had a cowbird in tow. Oh dear.

Hey is anyone doing anything over the summer? So far it seems that my family and I are going to go on our summer vacation to Nova Scotia in August. Some very nice birds up there!

TUVUs are uncommon for you??? I didn't know that they were in NY, hmmm. Believe me, we have enough here, which equals good clean-up. 8-P I just saw an Eastern Kingbird mobbing one on Sunday. :)

I don't have any major plans for the summer, but lots of plans for the Fall, and hopefully next spring (WSB).
 
I spent the weekend chasing a Green Kingfisher in SW NM. It's the first confirmed record for NM. Only half an hour after we arrived we had great looks at the bird, which is an immature male. We spent the rest of the day birding our way back. Not a spectacular day but we had good looks at all the usual suspects, and I got a lifer, Red-necked Phalarope.

Highlights:
Black-Hawk
Whip-poor-will
Green Kingfisher
Gila Woodpecker
Cordilleran Flycatcher (on nest)
Purple Martin
Hutton's Vireo
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Red-faced Warbler
Grace's Warbler
Painted Redstart

We also had a Night Snake, TX Horned Lizard, and a very aggressive D-Back.

This summer I'm going to Idaho for a few days, hopefully get Vaux's Swift, Great Gray Owl, Boreal Owl, and a bunch of Galliforms. I'm also in the process of talking my dad into going to Yecora, Sonora in July. (Military Macaws, Mountain Trogon, Lesser Roadrunner, Black-throated Magpie-Jay)
 
TUVUs are uncommon for you??? I didn't know that they were in NY, hmmm. Believe me, we have enough here, which equals good clean-up. 8-P I just saw an Eastern Kingbird mobbing one on Sunday. :)

I don't have any major plans for the summer, but lots of plans for the Fall, and hopefully next spring (WSB).

TV's are only rare in my county (on Long Island). They're even common farther east, but mostly they live north and west of LI. On the mainland, they are still quite abundant even up here. And now we even have Black Vultures nesting west and north of NYC.

Good luck getting to the WSB next year - that's quite a haul (but didn't they have someone from Australia this year? Seriously, who takes a trip from Aussie to NJ????). Hopefully I'll be there too - although I think I'd like a Cape May County only day. A little too much driving for the whole county. And everything turns up in Cape May county anyway!
 
Hi,

I'm up to 70 in the bird finding contest (in just less then a week) (maybe 71).

I got soaked while walking to a lake. The trail was bad, there was about 10 places that there was water all over the trail, and then a beaver made a damn right on the trail! When I finally got there, no birds on the whole entire lake! On the way back I went by another, more well known lake, and there I saw four Common Loons displaying and fighting. Very cool. Then when I decided to do a little birding at a camp site near by I got swarmed by literally hundreds of misquitos. The only bird I got there for the bird contest was the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet:C But thats birding for ya.

Then I found, four other birds for the bird contest (at other places lol), a American Wigeon, Barn Swallow, Spotted Sandpiper, and a Clay-Coloured Sparrow (a lifer, woohooo!:loveme: ).

There is this one bird that I'm having trouble IDing. I saw this Flycatcher thing and have narrowed it down to a Hammond's Flycatcher or a Western Wood Pewee. I know those two look very different, but I never got a good look at it. All I'm going on is the call. Its was a sneezey 'steeeeeeeeerz'. The bird was in a mixed forest (but mostly conifer). Any ideas?

BC
 
Don't expect to see me much these days guys! Major testing from here to the 20th, and I head westward on the 24th. I'll update on the trip when I get connection though!! Wish me luck! Soaring onward!
 

Attachments

  • eagle 2 (2)[1].jpg
    eagle 2 (2)[1].jpg
    180.6 KB · Views: 83
Last edited:
Don't expect to see me much these days guys! Major testing from here to the 20th, and I head westward on the 24th. I'll update on the trip when I get connection though!! Wish me luck! Soaring onward!

Nice pic! I'm almost out of school too.

On my last Friday of this grade, I accompanied a local bird club to the reknown MNSA, the Marine Nature Study Area. This tiny place could be the best place on Long Island to see saltmarsh species, like the Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Seaside Sparrow, and Clapper Rail. I had all three today! Plus, the latter two were lifers!
 
To all the young birders of this Forum!

My name is Marcelo and I have been birding for just a few years, but my interest in birds was so big that I decided to drop out of Law School one year and a half before graduation to become a tour guide. ( I am not trying to set an example here).
There are a few things that I think all of you should know, and I would like to list them bellow:

1- I understand the thrill of competing with your friends about the birds you have seen and about who has the bigger list. But don't ever let this become your primary interest. Birds always have to be the thing that matters the most.
The most common birds can often amaze you more than the rare ones if you just stop and pay attention.

2- It is a common mistake to think that you need a lot of money to see a lot of birds. I am not rich, but I make a decent living as a birdwatching guide, this means I get payd to whatch birds and not the other way around, and I often get to travel to new places during my tours.
There are plenty of lodges and research stations that take volunteers.

3- It is important that as young birders you engage in conservationist efforts worldwide, so that when you are old enough and have enough money. The birds you wish to see will still exist. Our nature is desapearing.
I support the birder's Exchange project (www.americanbirding.org/bex/) and Birdlife International (www.birdlife.net).

4- A good way to make travelling cheaper is by getting a group together. Birdforum is a great tool for meeting people who have the same interest as you. Another secret, Kids often have discounts from lodges. If you all get together you can probably start international travel before adulthood (make sure you have a responsible adult traveling with the group)

I could go on forever but I think I have given you enough to think about.

Best Wishes,

Marcelo Pena Padua

PS: you can check out some pictures that I take during my tours on www.marcpadua.multiply.com
 
Last edited:
Helloooooooo everyone! ive been having a great time in germany birding and just found a computer with internet connection so i thought id email yall to tell yall how im doing. im not getting as many new birds as i expected, but its still alot. so far (not my complete european list, but just my new lifers), i have 26 birds. i need to go get my notebook out of my hotel room so i can email the complete list, cuz its not at the top of my head. today my dad is taking me up a cable car to the alpine in one of the mountains (we're in the bavarian alps) and theres hiking trails and birding spots. i really would like to see the wallcreeper, like a cross between a nuthatch and a hoopoe that lives on high altitude cliffs. the only alpine birds i have so far are alpine chough and dunnock. the common birds around the hotel im staying at are black redstart, common blackbird, carrion crow, white wagtail, and great tit (funny name). ill post later, seeya round!


-David
 
Helloooooooo everyone! ive been having a great time in germany birding and just found a computer with internet connection so i thought id email yall to tell yall how im doing. im not getting as many new birds as i expected, but its still alot. so far (not my complete european list, but just my new lifers), i have 26 birds. i need to go get my notebook out of my hotel room so i can email the complete list, cuz its not at the top of my head. today my dad is taking me up a cable car to the alpine in one of the mountains (we're in the bavarian alps) and theres hiking trails and birding spots. i really would like to see the wallcreeper, like a cross between a nuthatch and a hoopoe that lives on high altitude cliffs. the only alpine birds i have so far are alpine chough and dunnock. the common birds around the hotel im staying at are black redstart, common blackbird, carrion crow, white wagtail, and great tit (funny name). ill post later, seeya round!


-David

Cool list! Don't get your hoopoes up for Wallcreeper though - many people go mad trying to find them, even on bird tours.
 
well, i did go to the alpine yesterday, and took a cable car up to it. the ride lasted about 7 minutes. my dad and i hiked up about 1000 feet and we had to turn back because we were running out of time. at the base of the cable car station i saw a bird that i thought was a spotted flycatcher. it had a barn swallow like nest and wen it was resting on its perch it would fan its wings and tail in and out momentarily every so often. is this behavior of a spotted flycatcher? anyways, i also saw a pipit like bird i didnt id (yet) but i got good notes oon it. i also got white winged snowfinch and gues what!!!!!!!!!!!! i did get wallcreeper. there was also another older birder there who had seen two of them that day so both of us were lucky. my dad even saw it! then on our way down the mountain we realized the cable car was closed already! we had to walk down the mountain all the way back to town. the first hour on the way down i saw two lifers, eurasian creeper and ring ouzel. i also heard a cuckoo but didnt see it :( by then it was about 4:30 afternoon and as it does almost everyday in bavaria, it started raining. not very hard, just sprinkling. then in about 30 minutes it was absoloutly pouring. i had to put up my papers, guide, and binocs in my pack. in an hour my dad and i were completely soaked through and we had to walk slowly because it was so steep and muddy and slippery. at nine o clock at night we finally got down from the mountain, but in a completely different city with some german name. all the people had ponchos and umbrellas, and were looking at us like we were street living hobos becase we were covered in mud, dirt, tree sap, and water. luckily, my dad got directions to garmisch-partenkirchen (the town we were staying at) and it took us only about 45 minutes to get there. today my back and legs are completely sore, my field guide is soaked, my dads digital camera isnt working, but luckily my notes are fine and my binocs were waterproof. at least i got 6 lifers. it was defenitely worth it!
 
Ha! Fantastic! Well, atleast about the lifers. Sorry about your field guide and your dad's digital camera. I guess its like you said though: atleast you got your lifers! Sounds like your having a great time running around Germany. Gosh, poor Germans..........just joking!
 
Great story and adventure. :)

About spotted flycatcher, i don't associate this behaviour with spotted flycatcher, but there's no birds similar to this species within this region, so it was probably this :). Characteristc of spotted f. is to find one point, look for flies from there, fly for it and then return to the same place.

About cuckoo, it is typical of it, hearing not seeing :), but there is more shy species, for example nightingale.

Marcelo, you are of course right, but I know people who would say that leaving school was big misteak. Sometimes it is better to have nice hobby and good job (to earn maney for hobby ;-) ) than interesting for you job.
 
well, i did go to the alpine yesterday, and took a cable car up to it. the ride lasted about 7 minutes. my dad and i hiked up about 1000 feet and we had to turn back because we were running out of time. at the base of the cable car station i saw a bird that i thought was a spotted flycatcher. it had a barn swallow like nest and wen it was resting on its perch it would fan its wings and tail in and out momentarily every so often. is this behavior of a spotted flycatcher? anyways, i also saw a pipit like bird i didnt id (yet) but i got good notes oon it. i also got white winged snowfinch and gues what!!!!!!!!!!!! i did get wallcreeper. there was also another older birder there who had seen two of them that day so both of us were lucky. my dad even saw it! then on our way down the mountain we realized the cable car was closed already! we had to walk down the mountain all the way back to town. the first hour on the way down i saw two lifers, eurasian creeper and ring ouzel. i also heard a cuckoo but didnt see it :( by then it was about 4:30 afternoon and as it does almost everyday in bavaria, it started raining. not very hard, just sprinkling. then in about 30 minutes it was absoloutly pouring. i had to put up my papers, guide, and binocs in my pack. in an hour my dad and i were completely soaked through and we had to walk slowly because it was so steep and muddy and slippery. at nine o clock at night we finally got down from the mountain, but in a completely different city with some german name. all the people had ponchos and umbrellas, and were looking at us like we were street living hobos becase we were covered in mud, dirt, tree sap, and water. luckily, my dad got directions to garmisch-partenkirchen (the town we were staying at) and it took us only about 45 minutes to get there. today my back and legs are completely sore, my field guide is soaked, my dads digital camera isnt working, but luckily my notes are fine and my binocs were waterproof. at least i got 6 lifers. it was defenitely worth it!

Well, congrats on the Wallcreeper! Did you get to see the red in the wings? That sounds like the best European bird you've gotten.

I'm leaving tomorrow for Yuma, AZ to do some banding. Hopefully I'll be able to find a Le Conte's Thrasher.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 9 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top