Jump to content
Whatbird Community
WhatBird Forum Rules
Welcome back!

lonestranger

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    227

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    4

Posts posted by lonestranger

  3. Posted

    Welcome to Whatbird, @Shirley Phares. I can't help with your ID but if you post it to the North America ID forum, you'll likely get a much quicker response.

    Personally, I have no idea why there is an iBird Only ID forum. All this forum does, in my opinion, is segregate the iBird ID requests from the other ID requests. The North American ID forum is more than capable of IDing birds for iBird users, and much quicker at doing so, too. There is nothing unique or helpful in using this iBird exclusive forum, it's nothing but a waste of space, in my opinion.

  5. Posted

    I'm not sure how much help you'll be able to find on this forum, DC064.  @Administrator usually suggests that people fill out a support request ticket on the iBird website when iBird problems are mentioned here. If you have already done that, twice, then you may have to hope that one of the members that uses iBird has had similar problems and found a solution. While the members here are great at helping with bird IDs, I'm not sure the same can be said about helping to identify programming problems though. Perhaps Admin will address your post now that he has been tagged, that is about the only help I can provide. It's not much, but it's all I can do.

    • Like 1

  8. Posted

    20 hours ago, akandula said:

    I just played this bird game today with AI. I don't know if any of you have tried this game before, but I have NO idea how the AI guesses the bird species I think of. Every. Single. Time.

    I recommend everybody to try this baffling game. Link: http://www.newyorkbirds.com/games/

    All you have to do is do some simple math, think about a bird species, and the AI guesses it. I didn't know where to post this, but I really want to know how this is possible. The explanation might make me look very unintelligent. I don't care. 😡

    I had to try it a few times before I realized where the trickery was, and yes, it is just a trick. I'll keep the answer to myself, unless asked for it, so as to not spoil anyone else's fun.

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1

  10. Posted · Edited by lonestranger

    Another option is to carry your camera with a shoulder strap instead of a neck strap so that it hangs at your side, like Melierax does. I used a deluxe padded neck strap as a shoulder strap for my camera. I just adjusted the strap a little off centre and a little longer so that it hung comfortably and could be brought to my eye without having to pull my arm out of the strap first. Just tossing ideas out there, not claiming any of them are good ideas though. 

  12. Posted

    I can't speak from personal experience, but I've wanted to get one of these because I've heard them spoken of highly, and recommended by other members. This model might not be the best option but there's other products you can access from the link. Black Rapids is just a brand name and I'm sure there are other manufacturers that have similar setups if you look around. It sounds like a good solution for juggling multiple cameras and/or binoculars, but like I said, I have no personal experience of how they perform in the field.

    http://www.blackrapid.com/Double-Breathe

     

    • Like 1

  13. Posted

    2 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said:

    We haven't talked about this lately, so I'm going to make one more pitch for 'General Birding' discussion.

    Who are you going to pitch to, Charlie Spencer?

     

    On 5/5/2019 at 12:29 PM, Administrator said:

    We have hired someone to handle this kind of thing in addition to adding and pruning the forum areas people have asked for (like non bird nature stuff).

    I don't even think there is a batter in the box at this point. :classic_laugh: 

     

    • Like 1
    • Haha 2

  14. Posted

    I'm not saying with certainty that it is a brown-headed cowbird, I'm far from an expert on birds, but I do know that the young males look like the females until they moult into adult plumage. When they do moult, the transition varies from bird to bird, I would think. If you saw the same moulting bird at different times during the moult, it might very well look like a totally different bird each time you saw it, and totally unique from the other birds that might be going through the same moult.. 

    • Like 2

  15. Posted · Edited by lonestranger

    Here is another shot of a molting Brown-headed Cowbird. I know that I was confused the first time I saw one looking like this, I thought I had discovered a new species of bird and was ready to call National Geographic to have them publish my super rare picture. :classic_laugh: Just kidding about the last part, I was really confused though and had to ask for help identifying it. Whatbird members quickly pointed out that I wasn't going to be able to name a new species with my discovery though. :classic_biggrin:

    20582347856_a28159a0e4_c.jpgUntitled by lonestranger102, on Flickr

    • Like 1
    • Haha 2

  17. Posted · Edited by lonestranger

    45 minutes ago, PascalNJ said:

    which explains why the bill look very large (?)

    I can't contribute to the discussion regarding the bird's ID, but I think you're right about the bill looking large because of the bird's age. Without the fully grown feathers at the base of the bill, which actually hides part of the bill, a bird's beak can look huge in comparison to it's parents.

  19. Posted · Edited by lonestranger

    24 minutes ago, Lookingforabird said:

    But the one I saw was very small, I wonder if I saw a younger bird. 

    Welcome to Whatbird, Lookingforabird.

    Size is notoriously hard to judge in the field. Most birds are full grown, the same size as adults, when they leave the nest. Calling a bird a juvenile just by it's size doesn't usually work. In fact, some juvenile birds can actually be bigger than their parents because the parents tend to feed their babies better than they feed themselves. It's easy to fall victim to the size issue, we've all done it, but size is really hard to gauge and not the best ID feature to use.

    • Like 2

  20. Posted

    They may very well have been ducks living in the wild, @Speedbird, but they have domestic genes in them which makes them look different than true wild ducks. One escaped domestic duck can mate with a wild duck and the offspring would be considered domestic ducks, and their offspring's offspring would still have domestic genes and still be referred to as domestic ducks. What I'm getting at is, it's totally possible to have domestic ducks that are wild. It's the genes that make them domestic, not their place of residence. At least that's how I understand it, someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

    • Like 2

  23. Posted

    2 hours ago, Aveschapines said:

    Yeah, I'm ten years younger than @Bird Brain but somehow his formula makes me only six months younger 😞 😭

    Even though @Bird Brain and I share the same birthday, we don't share the same view on math. His math formula makes me 24 years older than it makes him when I am actually ?? years younger. Something is definitely wrong with the math there.

    Sorry young birders for filling your space with us old birders. I'm also sorry for the ?? above, too. They were just put there to see who does, and doesn't, do their own math. I just have to check the visits to my profile to see who had to cheat to get the right answer. LOL :classic_laugh::classic_laugh::classic_laugh:

    I bet the Young birders weren't expecting this to turn into a math lesson...:classic_laugh:

    • Haha 4

  25. Posted

    We sat in the yard and watched the Robins coming and going to and from the nest yesterday, and were amazed at how much food they could gather in the short time they were gone. This one was waiting, and posing, while the other adult finished sharing it's haul with the nestlings. Now that's what I call a mouthful. 

     

    48172400587_139a1068dd_c.jpgAmerican Robin by Glen Mercer, on Flickr

    • Like 6
×
×
  • Create New...