okaugust

Yesterday caught some female mergies in the Tillamook Bay areas, along east of Garibaldi, OR and Bayocean Spit. Just about the time I think I'm 100% sure of Common or Red-breasted some marking causes me to doubt that. I'm inclined to think they are all Red-breasted, but would appreciate any confirms or notes on markings. I didn't get lucky enough to have a male about to help move the needle. A. B These I'm more confident are Red-breasted...mostly due to the less defined collar between the red head and the white throat. C D Heading out into the rain to look for more birbs! Thank you for looking, T

Thank you!

11/6/21 Westport, WA, Westport Marina - king tide had a lot of the shore birds in the marina on the pilings. There were about 120, what I thought at the time were Black Turnstone and Surfbirds. Mostly they were, but an eBird reviewer friend of mine corrected me on my first Rock Sandpiper. So I went back to the shot I had taken of the whole group to use as a way to do a more accurate head count, and blew it up. I went along checking off the three aforementioned birds, and got all the way to the back of the row where I found this Waldo with the big schnozz. Really chunky for a Dunlin, but that's my best estimate. Also, I'm chunky and have a big nose, so don't take the slights personally. Dunlin?

Thanks all!

West!

November 6, 2021 at Westport WA along the jetty. watching the King Tides yesterday, I saw this guy fly across my range of vision, can't believe I managed to even snap a photo as it went by as quick as could be. It landed and immediately dove, and even though I watched the area it went in for a good five minutes, I never did see it pop up again. I know it's a long shot, but wondering if anyone with a little more pelagic experience might be able to discern any traits that would help make an ID call. I'm leaning toward Common Murre, but would love any other opinions. May just not be able to make a final call. I promise all of my photos aren't this bad! LOL Thank you,

Thanks so much!

August 1st, 2020, James Kipp Rec Area in MT, along the Missouri River. We'd camped overnight, and I got up at about 5:15 am and was birding around the campground and picnic areas, over to the river banks. I snapped this bird in the brush between the picnic area and the river. It was early enough for not great light, and it was very skittish. I just got one shot. Originally I went with Orange-crowned Warbler. The dark under tail and sort of eye ring you get on adults sometimes, along with the last of a lot of streaking on front. It didn't vocalize, and kept to the dry brushy area. It got unconfirmed, and the eBird reviewer would prefer it go to warbler sp. It may have to do just that, but I thought I'd take it for one last walk around the block to get other opinions. Another eBird reviewer friend was leaning toward Yellow Warbler. I'll also link to the eBird list of what else I saw and heard. Mostly poor shots of everything that morning. https://ebird.org/checklist/S72006157 Thank you!

And slugs and snails, bears and fox, flowers and....one of the best parts of birding is it teaches you to "see" so much, that you get to get out and find so much else too.

Woo, thank you! I'll give the songs some listens to get more familiar with them. It is funny, there are a lot of birds singing here, particularly Song Sparrows, and yes, fall! Also have some Anna's Hummingbirds at my feeders, one in full breeding plumage. This environmental shift is huge for me, but I'm loving it.

Thank you ? Back when I first started birding a friend of mine who is a consummate naturalist got me a three CD Peterson's Guide to Western Birdsong. I've recommended it many times over the years though I don't think it's in production any more. My husband and I listened to that CD as if we were learning another language. Usually while we driving, sometimes by osmosis, until my poor husband is so sick of it he groans when I still play it. I've worn out the CD player in the RAV (too many dusty roads in WY) and finally had to move them over to my iTunes and phone. I remember the first time we were standing at Colorado's State Forest State Park and heard a Hermit Thrush, looking at each other "oh, that's on the CD!" and racing back to the car to figure it out. LOL Later, when I was doing bird guiding as a board member for our local Audubon, I would bird almost exclusively by ear if we weren't getting good lucks, like in high summer when the foliage was thick. It's saved me many a trip down into chigger infested canyons to rule out the chase by being able to ID by ear. More so, in the case of a bird song I don't know, off I go down into that cactus filled snake infested dry river bed after it, because if I don't know the song or call, it's probably new to me. There are also a couple of birds, like a Sprague's Pipit, that we only IDd by audio, never spotted it, but it was important to know because it was an IBA we had just set up. Great grassland breeding range, 40,000 acres! Being up in the Pac NW the flora is so very dense, if I don't learn the songs sooner rather than later I'll lose my marbles. LOL

Thank you for confirming for me, I appreciate it!

Hi all, this is going to be my first attempt to link to a sound file, ever in any forum, so hopefully this works. ? As mentioned, I moved this summer from WY to OR, so I'm having to learn a lot of bird song and call all over again, and then the regional dialects as well. Like a lot of folks I'm sure, I've been playing with the Merlin sound tool with varying degrees of success. I don't trust it enough to ID without a visual on the bird unless I get a very clear recording that I can listen to another example of and say definitively yes, that is the bird. The first one is from 10/9/2021 at Bottle Beach State Park in Washington. The park takes you to a bay beach area that is great for shorebirds and gulls, but also has a path through some fir and deciduous trees on one side and brush with intermittent wet land on the other. This was in the shrubby area. There is a fair amount of road noise from the highway about 1/4 mile away, so you have to turn it up. Merlin doesn't hear the song, but did pick up and ID the Spotted Towhee call at the end. The song was coming from a different brush area than the call, and doesn't strike me as a Towhee song. But again I don't know if it might be a dialect issue. This one I'd really like to ID as it was for the Big Day. You might have to turn the sound way up. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zk8pyE2Q5QLDJktnrLi6x4qz34vZm0Jt/view?usp=sharing The second is from yesterday, 10/16/21, Bayocean Spit just west of Tillamook, OR. This is on the bay side as you walk through some old forest area, and in this spot in particular had a lot of nice, medium to tall shrub. Just prior to this Merlin was telling me a lighter chick call was Lincoln's Sparrow, and this one, louder and more of a...solid" chick call as a Fox Sparrow. The habitat is good for Fox, but I never got a visual on either. As my husband says, "can you trust that, almost every bird in the world has that call...." ? But I thought it was worth another listen if anyone feels like it. I've seen Fox Sparrows twice, but never really heard them vocalize with a call. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MWFb3U0oczzxbR2fKj3WkvHM_8kk_yC8/view?usp=sharing Thanks!!

First, I feel like after 8 years of birding that I must've missed a lesson if I can't tell a Red-tailed Hawk from...anything else...but yesterday I spotted this bird and heard it, and diagnosed it as a Red-tailed. The light was poor, and when I got home and looked at my photos I saw more red on the shoulders than I usually see with a Red-tailed Hawk, so I thought I should get second opinions. I just moved from WY to OR, and while I've seen Red-shouldered in OK and a couple of times here, including at this location, I'm not confident enough to rule them out. Seeing it in person the V on the back was one of my original reasons to go with the Red-tailed. 10/16/2021 Goodspeed Rd, Tillamook, OR We continued down the road about a mile, came back, and spotted a Peregrine in the same vicinity of the original hawk. This bird came along and the Peregrine took off. I'm not sure if it is the same bird or not. Neither are great shots, the light was terrible all day.

From your avatar, I understand why!

Thanks all on the Godwit, and for playing along with the probably never to be fully IDd mystery creamsicle bird. ?

The odd thing was the coloring almost reminded me of a female Western Tanager, but it was way, way too small for that. Thanks for the confirm on the Godwit! Very much appreciated the help in finding and sharing a lifer! Ya'll are awesome!

Godwit - today at Tokeland WA Marina. There has been a Bar-tailed in non-breeding plumage there over the last week until yesterday. The below bird is the only bird there that I could see that looked different from the other couple of dozen Marbled Godwits. I'm reviewing my photos against the previous sightings though, and the other bird seems well into less markings and more flat gray non-breeding plumage. Example here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S94536538 Now I'm wondering if I just had a young Marbled instead. It's a lifer for me, and the self doubt is strong with this one. The other bird is, I think, a Song Sparrow with a pigmentation problem. We were walking the road at Julia Butler Hansen NWR in south-west WA, from the HQ to the end of the road, and it flushed in the brush from the ditch into the shrubbery. Both my husband we intrigued, because it was almost a creamsicle colored bird. Light orange almost with creamy coloring along the edges of the wings. I almost got it pshished out, but never got a clean look out in the open. It had a single, low pitched short call note. It's a lousy shot, but I thought I would throw it out there for the heck of it. Thanks in advance for the help!

Well, that makes sense that it doesn't ring any ID bells when I have never seen a loon in flight, only on the water. Thank you all!

I was at Ft Stevens in NW Oregon today, walking between Parking Area B to the jetty (Parking Area C), that is closed while they are working on it for the next few years. Pacific beach line. Not a lot of birds out there. A hand full of gulls and peeps, a Whimbrel did a low flight by. Not a lot of people, but several dogs off leash were keeping the shore line hopping with doggy activity. I caught a shadow as it flew over the sun and as it flew right out of the light I got one very far off shot, it was quite high I don't think it looks like a gull, but I could be wrong, but it just didn't strike me as anything I am remotely familiar with. Of course, I just moved here a couple of months ago, so that includes a lot of new to me birds. This is as close as I can crop it without losing any realistic definition, but if anyone wants the original posted, I can. If it's a Canada Goose I'm going to give up birding. Thank you!

Thank you very much! I went out and got my birthday present yesterday, my first Wandering Tattler! ?

Thanks both of you. Someone did finally reconfirm the photos, so that helps me feel a little better about my ID skills I suppose. Of course, then the other finch I had as a House got unconfirmed then also as a Purple. If it's not a Cassin's, I'm out of birds....

That makes me feel better that my ID is correct, except someone unconfirmed them on eBird. ?

Great, so I've concluded I've moved to a place where I get to ID the two categories of birds that I'm the worst at, gulls and peeps. All I need is a large influx of flycatchers to make it a trifecta. I obviously punted on these and put them all down as Sanderling. At least one isn't correct, so here goes, and confirms and corrections are appreciated. July 31st, Willapa NWR/Leadbetter Point/Pacific Ocean side. I think the first one may be a Western 2 & 3 Sanderling? 4 & 5 I'm inclined to go with Least, which were out there, but I can't tell the leg color, and the primaries aren't long enough for Baird's. Or Sanderling? Now I've got to go look at the 38 or so photos I took last night hoping to find a Red-necked Stint, that I don't think I have. I asked for a book on shore birds for my birthday... Thanks!

And that's the truth!