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WOW. I am deeply saddened and disappointed to find myself locking a thread for the second time ever on WhatBird. And both within 24 hours! Spirited debate about bird ID is wonderful. Friendly birding-related chat is great. Some griping about anonymous parties like e-Bird reviewers can be tolerated if it remains general and respectful. HOWEVER: It is none of anyone else's business what posts or forums WhatBird users read or don't read, nor what they respond to or don't respond to. If you have decided that what threads people participe in somehow convey their personality or suitability for posting here I can't stop you from believing that mistaken idea, but keep those ideas to yourself. In fact, I am going on record to highly recommend the NOT posting option. Personal gripes do not belong here. If you are annoyed by someone's posts stop reading them and move on. You are welcome to unfollow threads and users that you prefer not to respond to, or, more importantly, know you should not respond to. Moderating here has been a mostly fun and rewarding experience and the frustration has mainly come from the spammers. I do not enjoy dealing with inappropriate behavior from users on the forums. EVERYONE please re-read the forum rules and FOLLOW them. Making your mod angry is not recommended if you don't like having your posts hidden, receiving warnings, or having your posting restricted. Also please remember that the people here are human beings just like you. In most cases you have no idea of who they are, their age, social situation, any disabilities they may have, or what life stress they are going through (beyond COVID of course). A little charity and positivity go a long way. We are all here because we love birds and birding. There is room here for everyone as long as you are able to behave yourself. There is also room for mistakes and most of us will only admire you if you can admit to them. However, I am also a human being, and while I try very hard to always be fair and objective these situations don't help me with that! So, just to be clear. Do NOT tell people how they should ID their birds. Do NOT make snarky remarks about how they should be consulting a field guide and not asking for help here. Do NOT call out individual members by name to say why you don't like them or the way they post in the forums. Do NOT couch disguise these comments so you can pretend that you are not in fact openly criticizing someone else. In other words: be polite, respectful, and friendly. Hopefully be helpful as well! If you find a post that you believe to be inappropriate or against the rules either report it or send me a private message. Arguing in the threads is rarely if ever productive and is a good way to invite moderation, and risk the original poster not getting the ID help they need or otherwise having the conversation they wanted when they started the thread. I'm going to post this separately as well so hopefully it will get more eyes, and hopefully we will see the end of this.

OK lets try this one...

Heres a snappy head shot of a male... one of the few times I nailed the exposure on them

Pied Billed Grebe struggling with a fish I didn't think was going to make it down it's throat. Took about 10 minutes, but it proved me wrong! https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/317620821#_ga=2.45463335.2072369983.1615354620-583021186.1612469882

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/301293041

Hows that?

Long-billed Curlew in flight https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/354236581

Probably my best non-mallard duck photo.

I wanted to pass along a thank you to all who helped ID backyard birds for me these past few months. Since April, my 9-year-old son has been writing a nature guide to our backyard. He finally finished it this past weekend. It is hands down the most entertaining nature guide I've ever read, and it includes all 75 species of birds we have seen here, many of which were identified by the good people of this forum. Here is his sources/thank you list from the end of the book and an excerpt from his chapter on songbirds.

I haven't seen a Baltimore in 6 years.. Here's a Bullock's though

Bullock's Oriole with a caterpillar in it's mouth https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/353723391

House Wren

My photo is on the eBird top photos of the day for the first time

Belted Kingfisher I was at the right place at just the right time!

Adult and a juvenile.

Been real busy,great pics everyone

And a non-breeding adult.

Oh, my!! I have about 1000 Bluebird pictures. It's so hard to choose!! These are 4 of many faves 💙

Y'all are making me feel better...

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/222077581

Like someone else mentioned, they are only here in Winter, and aren't common even then. Add on that, if you see one, they are one of the hardest birds to get a decent picture of, because they move so fast and constantly, so I am very pleased when I do get a picture!!! I have only gotten a few 🤣

That's 3 weeks in a row I've never seen the selected species. But then, there are a lot of species I've never seen before. So how about this to satisfy last week and this week together... A wood bird in the oven.

Another short eared owl, Just crazy right now here in south jersey, the Owls dont seem to want to leave,This one landed twenty feet from me.

Sorry, I think this one's also in the "dinner time" thread. Video at https://flic.kr/p/YuRPUj

One of my favorite birds, but very hard to get good shots of! Here are my fav shots...

I think I prefer the colours of the young birds, so I added a photo of one.

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/345534991 https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/345534861

Least Grebe

Really tough choice, but I love this one, plus it’s a twofer

Great Grey Owl that allowed me to photograph him in the Ochoco National Forest in Oregon.

Magnolia warbler on goldenrod