lonestranger

One small step for man, one giant leap for duckling.

Moderators whacking knuckles for fun might be more entertaining.

It looks like the bird has a broken ankle. If I'm not mistaken, you can see a couple of upturned toes if the first photo, and the injury seems obvious in the in-flight photos. Did you notice the bird appearing handicapped because of the injury, @cccougar?

Welcome to Whatbird @Dennis. I love watching the birds of prey when they're hunting the yard. They usually leave empty handed but the commotion they cause is quite entertaining.

If I had known I was going to be posing for photos, I never would have passed up that free manicure.

If you're not ready to pick a winner yet, the bump might get a few more captions until you are ready. Hope everyone gets well soon.

Bump

Looks like a camera in the living room to me.

Did you get an external flash unit with your new DSLR purchase or have you been using the camera's built-in flash? Either way, I agree with @The Bird Nuts, your use of flash makes things look unnatural. When used properly, fill flash can turn an average shot into an eye popping photo, using flash as the primary light source seldom produces pleasing images though and usually just ruins the picture, in my opinion. As far as rating your photos go, if you start off giving yourself 5 star ratings on all your photos, you're bound to be disappointed when the rating has nowhere else to go but down.

*sigh* No one ever notices that I can fart in technicolor.

Okay, what aisle are the House Sparrows in?

If you click on the link above the photo, it will take you to the photo with the exif data right below the image.

My take on the ABA rules was that birds caught in the nets wouldn't be countable, but after they were released and shaken off the effects of being captured, they would once again become countable. You can't count the birds immediately after release, but once they're back to normal behaviour you can count them. It may not be that simple, but that was my take on it. I don't count birds so my spin on this doesn't really matter, but if I saw bird X at a banding station and was pretty sure that I would never get the chance to see/count that species ever again, if it was possible I think I'd make the effort to get that bird on my list, even if it meant trying to track it for a few minutes after being released until I was comfortable that the bird was no longer under the influence of being confined. Admittedly, MY comfort level in making a call in that situation might not measure up to someone else's comfort level in the same situation. That same comfort level might also be influenced by the value of the bird wanted for the list, too. Having said all that, I wonder if the best approach might be to focus on the birds before they get caught in the nets.

Male and female Mallard, heavily cropped from the same shot taken back in 2012.

Great footage, @James Chagares. I am envious, both of your experience with the Mallards, and the gear you used to record it.

I told you we needed to stay in PERFECT step if we were going to trick them into thinking there's only one of us.

I thought I had stashed a few sunflower seeds under the bark right here, but I don't remember them being buried this deep.

I'm not sure if I'm interpreting it the way it was intended but I took it to mean, Shape of the primaries is diagnostic. I'm not sure if that's the elaboration you were looking for, but thought it might help by putting a different spin on the wording. I could be wrong though.

This may not be the Whatplant forum but the plants that birds frequent for food is very much a topic worthy of the Whatbird forums. ?

I used the word "only" because my 2TB external hard drive cost me $120 when I bought it. If price is an issue, USB flash drives are considerably cheaper and even come in 2TB sizes for under $40. Not sure about the quality but they're definitely a cheaper alternative.

Perhaps Black-faced Canary, or Black-throated Canary? I can't find anything on Black-fronted Canary so I am guessing it's a typo/brainfart for one of the other Canaries, maybe?