lonestranger

Just don't spoil that pristine record of yours by giving me a sad face if I step on your toes a few times. ?

Here's a prime example of how much I pay attention to my use of reactions, and maybe an indication of my attention span in general. I just realized that I reacted with a smiley face on @Aveschapines post just before I posted this. How can I wait to react to something I just reacted to??? I'd give myself a confused reaction if I could.

*holds out hand* I'd be delighted to dance with you, as long as you don't mind me leading. If you haven't noticed, I like to spin my own way so you probably won't know any of my dance steps, so you'll just have to follow my lead. After all, if you're going to dance with the popular guy, you have to copy his moves, right? ?

LMAO....I can't argue there...it could be argued that being almost as funny my checklists is more sad than funny though. ?

Now you've gone and turned the tables and given me the dilemma of deciding if I should break your pristine record with a sad face because I feel bad about causing you such a dilemma. I know what I'll do, I'll decide how to react based on how you react first. ?

There is another difference that I didn't even take into consideration. I constantly referred to the Reputation and made it a popularity comparison. I don't think I could have proven that I am funnier than you if I had been comparing my birding skills instead of my overall popularity with everyone else.

Brown-headed Cowbirds

Cut and pasted after writing a bit here and there thoughout the week. I have been thinking about the question about what goes through my mind when using reactions and it’s taken me on a downward spiral that I need to bring to an end. Unfortunately I have to spin my way back up in order to have it all make sense. So with that said, let me share my after thoughts on my use of reactions. I might like a post for a variety of reasons but as I said earlier, it usually boils down to my mood at the time. I might like a newbies post to make them feel welcome, but that doesn’t mean I am going to like every newbie's post. I might like a post because I can relate to it, but that doesn’t mean I like every post that I relate to. I might like a post because the attached photo is spectacular or because a less than spectacular photo moved me in one way or another, that doesn’t mean I like every spectacular photo that's posted. I might like a post because it informs me of something I didn’t know but again, I don’t do it for every post that I learn from. I also might like a post more for the way something is said as opposed what was being said, I could go on and on. There’s no real rhyme or reason to why I do or don’t like a post, it’s just a mood at the time that can’t be described until I put way too much thought into it, which I have obviously done, as you will see if you keep reading. After looking at reputation stats and way too much reflection, I realize that while I hold no weight in reputation numbers (which are what reactions reflect), there are other members that do pay attention to the reactions and possibly more than one member takes notice of the subtle things that I ignore, like who does or doesn’t react to their posts. While I had never given it much thought before this thread, I decided I'd try to analyze my use of reactions. My first thought when I looked at my reputation stats was that I wasn’t as stingy with reactions as I originally thought I was. I have given less than I’ve received but to answer the other question being asked, I don’t think I have been stingy with my reactions but we’ll look deeper into that possibility later. I guess if am going to analyze my reputation I need to look at each part of my reputation status. I’ll start with the numbers up top. I’ve made 1279 posts, which means I am not as active as some members but I am more active than other members. I don’t even have to check other member’s profiles to reach that conclusion. I have been a member since the June of 2009 but my Joined date reflects the sites restore date of June 22, 2018, I’m not sure if I should be proud of being a regular fixture on Whatbird for that long or not but I consider it a point of interest. Next we have Days Won which is more than I thought at 5 days won. I don’t visit the leader board very often, so I have no idea which days I actually won or why I won them. I know it’s possible to win the day with a single post getting lots of likes but it’s also possible to win the day by getting a few likes from a lot of posts. I’m not going to worry about how I won the day 5 times, it’s just kind of cool to see that it happened more than I realized. Next I have my Reputation score/points/rating??? I find this number, 3422 in my case, to be very confusing because it adds all the reactions together. Since not all reactions are used in a complimentary fashion, adding them together to come up with a Reputation means that the Reputation number is kind of flawed in my view so I've never paid it any attention. Now we get into the reactions that I have given. I have given out 1736 Likes which is more often than I have posted in the forums but that doesn’t mean much once I ask myself how those reactions were distributed. Did I share them equally amongst all members? Not likely. In fact, it may be entirely possible that some members have never received a like from me while other members may have received more likes than I realize. I honestly don’t know who has or hasn’t been on the receiving end of my likes, keeping track of the likes I’ve given isn’t memory worthy for what’s left of my grey matter. Out of the 1736 likes I have given, I can only think of a handful of members that I am 100% sure I have given likes to, and those are the most recent ones. That leaves the possibility that a large majority of members may have never received a like from me and the majority of my likes may very well be focused entirely on a limited number of members, making it possible that I might look stingy to a majority of members. I honestly don’t know how fair or unfair I have been distributing my likes, I have never looked at them as something that needed to be shared equally in order to avoid making others feel left out. I have used the Haha reaction 351 times and I am pretty sure one individual has received a large percentage of those chuckles. I am positive that I have given out Haha reactions to more than that one member, but I’ll be damned if I can think of who else I have given a Haha to, it’s that grey matter issue again. I know that lots of members make me chuckle but some may never know it because I don’t add a Haha every time I chuckle at a post. I have used the sad reaction 4 times even though my stats only say 3, and out of those four I only remember the one that I later removed. I may have used the other three sad faces to express disappointment in what/how something was said or to react to sad stories and/or photos. I am pretty sure I have done both but once again, I have no idea who was on the receiving end of those other three sad faces. I don’t think they all went to one person, but since I don’t keep track of who I have or haven't previously reacted to, I have to admit that the possibility is there that someone might have gotten more than one sad face from me without me realizing it. I have used the Thanks reaction 54 times. Once again I have no idea of who has or hasn’t received a Thanks from me with the exception of my most recent reactions. It’s been a long time since I’ve used the Confused reaction so I can’t even recall why I used any of them or who might have received one of the 6 confused reactions I’ve used. So that’s it for my given reactions. I’m not sure what to conclude from all that other than the fact that I don’t pay much attention to how I use my reactions and forget all about them after I use them. Is your head spinning yet? Mine is, but we haven't gotten to the fun stuff yet so keep reading if you haven’t already stopped. Now it’s time to look at my Reactions Received. I have received 2397 Likes. I know that some of them come from photos I’ve posted and some from comments I have made. So what does that number of likes mean? Does it mean I have been liked a lot by a few members or have I been liked by a lot of members on a lesser scale? Has everyone liked at least some of my posts or are there some members that have never given me a like? These are questions I never would have asked myself until I jumped down the rabbit hole of analyzing my reputation. In order to answer those questions I would need to pay closer attention to the likes when I receive them and try to keep a log that I could compare to the membership list. When I get notifications of a reaction I will look at the name(s) in the notification to see who it came from and quite often I will click on the notification to see if it’s a current post or an older one that's being liked, but I don’t retain the information to keep track of who has or hasn’t liked my posts for future reference. The likes are nice to receive but just like giving them, they are quickly forgotten. You got it, it’s that grey matter struggle of what to store in what little storage space I have left. Now for the 913 Haha Reactions. Its always nice to think I have made someone laugh and always nicer when someone laughs at something that was intended to be funny instead of laughing at me when I am trying to be serious. I don’t think the latter has happened but I can’t be sure that the former has happened either. It’s entirely possible that I am not as funny as I think I am, and the Haha’s I have received were sympathy chuckles at my failed attempts to humour the audience. I don’t know what goes through other member’s minds when they use their reactions so I don’t really know if I’m getting little smirks or if I’m getting full belly laughs. It doesn’t really matter why or from who I get a Haha from, it’s just nice to know that I’m not always viewed as a stick in the mud. Now for the Sad Reactions of which I have received 20. I don’t know how to look at that number. I know I have voiced unpopular opinions and received sad faces for some of them, but I have also received sad faces from some sad posts. Just like the other reactions, I don’t remember the who’s or why’s of those sad faces so they are what they are, a part of the past. If you’ve been following along you probably won’t be surprised when I say that I don’t remember receiving the 5 Confused reactions and have no idea if I cleared up anyone’s confusion at the time I got them. So now what? I see the numbers but I need a reference for them to make more sense, I need to compare them to someone else’s numbers. So I did just that, and checked the profiles and Reputation stats of everyone that’s participated in this thread and compared them to mine. This is the fun part where I get to interpret all those numbers and see what conclusions I can come up with. Let me rephrase that, this is the FUN part where I get to put MY spin on the numbers. My conclusions contain no malice, and although some members may take what I say personally, I am just having fun. If ANYONE views ANY of this as something negative being directed at them, they’d be drawing the wrong conclusion. Sarcasm can be expect but it is intended to be FUN and not to be taken personally, even when addressed personally or not addressed personally. Simply put, putting MY spin on the numbers is my way out of that downward spiral I mentioned way, way, waaaay back at the beginning of all this, and if you’ve been reading to this point, you’ll probably agree that this spiral has gone on long enough and it’s time for some fun. Conclusions and observations I have made. Okay, I have to admit that I was feeling okay about my Reputation Status at first, but I guess I'm not as popular as I thought I was. A lot of members on this thread have a higher reputation status than I do so I am obviously not the most popular member. Oh well, I don’t need to be the most popular member, I’m comfortable knowing that I am more popular than @Aveschapines. That REALLY surprised me though, a well respected Moderator that has NEVER given or received a sad face has a lower reputation number than I do. I have to let that sink in for a minute...(pauses for effect)… Wait, she’s a Moderator which means people are too afraid to give her a sad face and she doesn’t actually have to use the sad face reaction herself, she can just use her moderator powers and remove posts she doesn’t like. So I guess I can ignore the fact that @Aveschapines has NEVER received or given a sad face because as envious as I am of that fact, it doesn’t change the fact that I have a higher Reputation number and therefore I’m more popular. I would like to be more popular though, who wouldn’t. One of the easiest ways to get likes is to give them so if I like every post I am bound to get some reciprocating likes. Maybe I can up my Reputation stats by posting more often too, after all, those members with the highest Reputation typically have the higher post totals. I don’t actually need to put much thought into my posts either, I just need more of them. I could go for quantity over quality, maybe post one liners praising every photo posted, after all, complimentary posts usually get a like or two so if I post ’Nice capture’ often enough I am bound to drive my numbers up. I suppose I could start posting more photos too, I don’t post near as many photos as I used to so if I post a lot more photos I can get even more likes and drive my reputation even higher. Hey, I just thought of another one, if I like a lot of photos right before posting my own photos I might get a few extra reciprocating likes for a photo that might otherwise be ignored. If I start doing all that in tandem, who knows, maybe I can win a few more days which is always nice. I’ll have to think about that for a while. Okay, that’s enough thinking about that, let’s move on. Now that I know that I can drive my reputation higher without putting too much effort into it, I have to accept that ANYONE can do the same thing and maybe that’s how some members have won the day as often as they have. Yep, that’s probably it, those with the highest number of days won have probably just posted an excessive number of junk posts and won more days on pure quantity of posts, where as I have always won the day on the quality of my posts. Yep, I’ll take quality over quantity for the win on that one. Hey, putting MY spin on things is more fun than I thought, I’m finding out that I am a better member than others think I am. Another thing that surprised me when viewing everyone’s Reputation stats was the number of Haha reactions @Charlie Spencer has received. I know he is a funny guy but come on, everyone can’t really think he is funnier than I am. Just looking at the number of confused reactions he has received tells me that a lot of members don’t even get the joking comments he makes. I guess it’s like posting a lot of photos fishing for likes, if you flood the forum with enough jokes, even bad ones, you’re bound to get a few sympathy chuckles now and then. I guess I am just going to have to start letting my humorous side shine through a little more often because I know I am funnier than Charlie Spencer, regardless of what the numbers say. Now that I am trying to bring this post about reactions/reputations to an end, I can’t help but wonder what kind of reactions I might get from posting it. Maybe I’ll get a mixed batch of reactions. Some members might be Sad that my Reputation numbers are higher than Aveschapine’s. Some members might be Thankful that this post has finally come to an end and others might be Confused as to why I even started it or dragged it out this long. I suppose I might even get a chuckle out of some members who find it amusing that I think I am funnier than Charlie Spencer. I’d be happy if I get a Like from members that understand my motives for typing this all out but I’ll never know if it’s one line that’s being liked, the whole thing, or just sympathy like. It won’t bother me if I don’t get any reactions though so don’t feel obligated to react or worry about how you react. Yeah, I might be disappointed if I got a lot of reactions and all of them we’re sad faces, but they’d still drive my reputation up so I’d get over it, especially with my selective memory not wanting to use up any of the remaining grey matter on things that don’t spin MY way. The lessons I’ve learned from all this… It’s easy for me to interpret almost anything the way I want to interpret it. I can look at the Reputation of any member and compare their numbers to mine. It can be both good and bad for my ego depending on how, and who I compare myself to. I can increase my reputation even if I make other members sad, and with a little effort I can increase my reputation significantly. It’s possible that some members don’t like me, highly unlikely but yeah, it’s possible. It’s possible that some members think that I don’t like them, possibly because of my distribution of reactions, that’s not MY spin on things though. Comparing myself to other members on the forums is kind of like writing/reading this post of mine. It can be fun, it can make me feel good, it can make me feel sad, it can cause headaches if I think about it too much, but it’s mostly a big waste of time. The biggest and most important thing I want to make clear is the fact that I really am funnier than Charlie Spencer. Thanks for taking the time to read my crazy thoughts.

BRDL 61 ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? No list today.

BRDL 60 ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ????

Unfortunately not. He flew out of the frame so I didn't see it and wouldn't have caught the moment if it did happened, but the peanut was there on the ground when I took my eye from the viewfinder.

Topaz Denoise, which I occasionally use on JPGs, claims to work best with raw files before any other processing is done. I can't speak on how it compares to LR though. I am no longer a fan of processing my own photos so I have been shooting in both raw and JPG and mostly ignoring the raw files so I'm probably not too helpful here.

BRDL 59 ???? ???? ???? ???? I had to pull out the iBird list as soon as I got the second letter and then it was just a matter of getting alphabetically lucky with the remaining letters I had to choose from.

I hadn't given any thought to expanding the mirrorless setup but I think I'd probably go with a 1.4 extender on the L series glass of the 100-500 for 700mm of reach before buying a longer but obviously cheaper lens. Yeah, the image quality might take a ding with the extender but I suspect it would still be better than the 800mm f/11, or at least just as good. I suspect the 500mm of reach will satisfy my wants/needs for most situations and since I have only had a 300mm lens to play with for the past few years, 500mm is going to feel like a huge jump in reach for me. So no, I'm not really tempted to add the 800 f/11.....at least not today. ?

I asked myself the same question, after I had finished talking to customer services. ?‍♂️

You have no idea, talk about a roller coaster of emotions. On Thursday I was excited because I got the official word that my order was shipped and due for delivery on Monday/yesterday. I checked the tracking info on Friday and was disappointed to see that the expected delivery date had been pushed back to Tuesday. I got excited again early Monday morning when I got an email saying that my order was on it's way and it'd be delivered before the day's end. A few hours later my excitement plummeted back to disappointment again when the parcel showed up at the door and I found out that it was only the camera without a lens. Due to limited supply there's a few day delay while they pull a lens from one of the stores and return it to the distribution centre before shipping it out to me. Hopefully I'll have it before the weekend. ?

I thought this might be of interest.https://www.pictureline.com/blogs/products/canon-lp-e6n-vs-lp-e6 Since you have already been doing your own research @chipperatl, you may already know this, but for those that don't, the LP-E6 batteries from older Canon DSLRs are compatible with the new mirrorless R5 and R6 models. While they don't have the same capacity as the new LP-E6NH that comes with the R5/R6 and they won't last as long, they will probably hopefully make suitable backup batteries. BTW, the R6 showed up yesterday,? now I'm waiting for the lens to mount to it. ?

BRDL 58 ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? It looks like BRDL has changed the banding code list that they use. When I went to refer to the list this morning, the link took me to the ABA Checklist page. Unfortunately you need to download a PDF file of the list in order to look at it. I didn't download it because I doubt the PDF will allow me to choose how the list is sorted like the previous web page allowed. I liked being able to choose between the common name or banding code in alphabetical order instead of looking through a list of birds sorted by grouping. Does anyone know of an online ABA checklist that allows you sort the list to your preference, or even a simple alphabetized list?

American Redstart

American Tree Sparrow

I used 'bird(s)' in case your 1 photo included multiple birds, I did not mean multiple photos. Sorry for the confusion.

I think/hope that @Clip was joking lonesome55dove. There's no need to delete your photo. I deliberately allowed for flexibility so that everyone could participate. The creativity was intended to be part of the fun so don't worry about how you used your A.

BRDL 57 ???? ???? ????

American Kestral