lonestranger

I didn't need a list today, or the last few days. Today's was one of those puzzles where I had to figure out the bird AFTER I guessed the code though. BRDL 25 ???? ???? ???? ???? ????

Here's some more info/speculation on what happened with this flock of birds. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/14/why-did-birds-fall-from-sky-in-mexico-probably-a-predator-experts-say-aoe

BRDL 24 ???? ???? ???? ????

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2022/02/14/birds-fall-from-sky-mexico-orig-jc.cnn

Hey, quit pulling my tail back there.

BRDL 23 ???? ???? ???? ????

I wonder if maybe some third party flash units don't register with the camera's exif file. It sure looks like flash was used to this amateur.

leash /lēSH/ Learn to pronounce noun a strap or cord for restraining and guiding a dog or other animal. ?

Eastern Phoebe

I used the 400mm f/5.6 for many years before buying the 100-400 mark ii. If you're looking for a prime lens that isn't too heavy to carry around, I'd recommend the 400 F/5.6 if you can find a used one. I can honestly say that I was always pleased with the lens, except for the fact that it wasn't a zoom lens, it's not very practical when a deer is less than 10 meters away from the car window unless you want to decide between capturing the antlers or the face, or half and half. For birding it's a great lens, the fact that there's no IS built into the lens wasn't a big deal for me, it just means it's a lot lighter to carry. Now having said that, if it was me spending your children's inheritance, I'd definitely buy all three. Maybe put a clause in the will so the kids inherit the camera gear, it'd still be part of the inheritance for the kids and you'd get new camera gear, sounds like a win-win to me. ?

BRDL 22 ???? ???? ???? I dropped one of my feather letters from my first guess and reused one of my goose egg letters for my second guess and got the third letter. That gave me lots of possibilities to choose from without even referring to a list, so I guessed ???? and got lucky.

Don't tell me there's such a thing as a @PalmWarbler/ Dark-eyed Junco Hybrid. As if subspecies aren't hard enough. ?

I will also take a known letter at times and put it in the wrong position to find new letters, sometimes I find out there's a duplicate letter that way. I don't know why but duplicate letters trip me up regularly, on Wordle and BRDL.

Might as well give this a bump and see if anyone has anything to add before @Trevor L. passes on the caption baton.

BRDL 21 ???? ???? ???? Both BRDL and Wordle in three guesses this morning.

The photo only has two ratings so it makes me wonder how it got in the top 5. I just double checked and there's no criteria for accurate identification in the ratings guidelines. I guess the name of the photo has nothing to do with the quality of the photo, and it can always be flagged and corrected later without affecting the photo's rating. Definitely not a quality observation but a real nice photo. "Rate the quality of the image, not the quality of the bird or the observation."

Interesting article @RobinHood. It reinforces my belief that accipiters are tricky. Even when you know what markers to look for, there's enough variation in both species to make one look like the other.

BRDL 20 ???? ???? ???? ????

I'm willing to bet that you and I weren't the only ones who had to look that one up. ?

I could see it being a Vulture, but if someone had of suggested an Osprey, I could see that too.

I haven't used the banding code list yet, just the alphabetical list of birds in iBird. I'll have to think about trying the banding code list next time I need help(tomorrow). ?

Had to pull my last two guesses from my iBird list. BRDL 19 ???? ???? ???? ???? ???? ????

@Connor Cochrane, a new, or old post with a link to the current lists would be an ideal candidate for a "Recommended" post for this thread. The post with the list would always be at the top of every page making it easier for everyone to access. I suggest a new post for the simple fact that you could include extras like instructions on how the thread and lists work, etc. I'm sure @Kevin or @Aveschapines would tag the appropriate post as Recommended if you asked nicely. Just tossing out a thought I had. ?

I had to look this one up AFTER I solved it. BRDL 18 ???? ???? ????

After quickly scrolling through the list of birds and codes used by the game I came to a scary realization that I want to share. I don't think it will spoil anything, but it might cause the same frustration in the game as birds can cause in the field. That's right, there are HYBRID codes for some species AND there's also banding codes for UNIDENTIFIED species too. ?