lonestranger

Go to @Tony Leukering's profile page and click on his background photo, it will show the full sized version of his profile thumbnail.

Here's a link to his website where you can see that there's a lot more to Bill Majoros than just his photography guide. I didn't know him other than as a bird lover that knew how to use a camera and shared his photos here, and then he offered to share his knowledge of photographing birds with his digital book and I seldom saw him afterwards. If you click on the link you'll see that he is quite the accomplished individual in a variety of fields. If you really dive into the website you'll see new content in his blog including free e-books, one of which is about the birds of Magee Marsh which may be of interest to many of you planning to visit in the future. Worth a look in my opinion. ? http://www.billmajoros.com

I'm not sure about many of the acronyms used here but I pronounce this one, Birds Of the World. It could easily have a different meaning though. ?

Bill Majoros is the author I was referring to. I'm not sure if that was his screen name or if he had a different but similar name in the forums.

I'm curious if it was a typo for 'checking out' that got played upon, or if it's an expression I'm not familiar with.

I honestly don't know if they could or not, my experience is limited to iBird Pro. I will say that the app does allow me to easily reference all aspects of similar species while viewing a single bird, which is kind of what I do when flipping through the printed guide. I guess I visualize an e-guide as an e-book read on a tablet and although I have never used one, I would think they would have some form of page turning mechanism built into them. Maybe something as simple as swiping the screen in one direction to go forward a page and swiping another direction to go back a page. I don't think it really matters to either of us since it's not likely you or I will be at the front of the line when the next big digital guide comes out. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I will check to see how much my Monkees lunch box and Marsha Brady poster are worth on ebay today.

Touche.

I didn't get the connection until I saw @Charlie Spencer's comment. Now I want to know if it was a mockingbird singing a thrasher song, or a thrasher singing a mockingbird song that first got @insanityslave's attention

Okay, Boomer, here it comes. While I am not a fan of e-guides and prefer my Stokes for browsing through, couldn't someone use an e-guide to flip through the pages/screens and pre-emptively read the same information before they need it on their phone or tablet, just like you and I do with our printed field guides? You asked for it, you got it, @Charlie Spencer.

I'd like to apologize to Aveschapines, AGAIN, for making her duties as moderator more challenging, and to the Whatbird Members, for my part in having those two threads locked. I wasn't surprised that yesterdays thread was locked after my outburst, but I had no idea that my attempt to dampen a smouldering fire today would actually fan the flames and add more heat to the discussion. As Aveschapines pointed out, the option to NOT post was there, but instead of not posting, I became part of the flames I was trying to avoid. My desire for a calm and friendly forum is sincere and I am sorry for my part in producing the exact opposite. Aveschapines, thank you for your efforts in keeping the peace here. I don't think we, as a community of Members, could ask for a better Moderator. While that may look like A$$ kissing from someone being punished, I believe it be the honest truth. Thank you for ALL you do here.

What's this? I didn't want Canadian Nightcrawlers, I wanted Red Wrigglers. *jogs the memory of those old enough to remember WKRP in Cincinnati*

I didn't think they molted this early, but I haven't memorized all the molt cycles mentioned in my field guides, and don't plan to, so I thought I would ask here. Thanks for the feedback.

Welcome to Whatbird, @Jimmy321. I like the simple design of a dish type feeder, basically a shallow bowl with a lid that has holes in it. Something similar to the one below, which I found in your third link. I like this design for a few reasons. First and foremost, hummingbird feeders need CONSTANT and THOROUGH cleaning and this design is easiest to clean, in my opinion. There's no secondary tubes or flowers attached that need to be disassembled and cleaned with pipe cleaners, and there's no bottles with difficult angles that bottle brushes have a hard time getting to. Mold grows quickly on hummingbird feeders and is fatal to the birds so the feeders need to be cleaned frequently, at least every 3-4 days, possibly more often in warmer weather. Be prepared to spend more time cleaning the fancy decorated feeders than the plain dish type feeders. Secondly, this design has a built in ant moat, when the centre cup is filled with water it helps prevent ants from getting into the sugar water and contaminating it. I also find that these dish type feeders drip less than bottle type feeders, which always seem to drip no matter how hard I try to prevent it. Dish type feeders are my personal preference but I actually have more bottle feeders than dish feeders at the moment. *shrugs* Once you decide on which feeder to buy, I suggest that you avoid using store bought nectar which has unnecessary dyes in it. A mixture of 1 part white table sugar dissolved in 4 parts water is the recommended mixture for hummingbirds. A simple feeder and a simple nectar recipe is all you need to share in the enjoyment of feeding hummingbirds. Good luck Jimmy321. ?

While I see arrogance on the website regularly, and probably come across as arrogant myself on more occasions than I'd like to admit, I don't think it's fair to criticize people because of what section(s) they use, or don't use on the forums. That'd be an ironically arrogant, wouldn't it? While I understand your frustration, @Clip, public venting of those frustrations tends to make matters worse, as proven yesterday by my outburst resulting in a thread being locked.

Canadian Nightcrawlers would be Made in Canada, not China. ?

I know that young Brown-headed Cowbirds go through a weird looking period when they molt into adult plumage, but I'm not sure if that's what I am seeing here. The bird looks leucistic to me, but the possibility of that molt thing is nagging at me. Anyone care to comment on the cowbird on the left?

Perhaps @Tony Leukering could Field your Guide inquiries. ?

It was probably another joke. @Charlie Spencer Not only should everyone get a field guide, they should memorize every word on every page of that field guide, because a good field guide has ALL the answers.... and then they should carefully study birds in the field until they can pick out all the intricate differences in each and every feather of each and every molt a bird might go through so they can compare that information to the field guide they've memorized and come up with the right ID. From what I have read recently, Tony keeps implying that most birders don't know what they're doing so they should study until they become an ornithologist like he is and stop asking stupid questions. *listens to the rocks rattle as I shake my head* Yeah, I think I am crazy for letting comments like this bother me, but they do. Perhaps it's time I invested in another field guide, one to help me cope with difficult people. https://www.amazon.ca/Assholes-Field-Guide-Difficult-People-ebook/dp/B077BGJ7SX *not sure if a laughing face or serious face is more appropriate here...leaves it blank*

The male Cowbirds were trying to impress the female with a lot of displaying.

It looks like it's gathering nesting material. It was probably trying to maintain it's balance while trying to snap twigs off the branch.

I was looking in the waves for a washed over bird and thinking I must be missing it or there was something else going on. Your explanation works for me, thanks. ?

I don't get it, what is happening here?

Before After Just a reminder that software can't manipulate the photo as much as the photographer can.

I was too far away and the one bird was exiting the frame so I cropped in close and moved the bottom bird into a more appealing composition. It's still not an Almost Good shot, but the interaction was fun to point the camera at. Before After