lonestranger

It's possible that this particular bird lost it's tail to a predator and the new tail feathers haven't grown in yet. If a cat, for example, grabbed the bird by just the tail, the bird may lose it's feathers but still escape with it's life. Not sure of the likelihood of that happening but it sounds quite plausible in my head.

Ovenbird 0C3A2349 by lonestranger102, on Flickr

This might help, it's a poor job of editing but it brightens things up a bit. I hope @JackieL doesn't mind my quick edit. 30756401468_78586eb5cd_o by lonestranger102, on Flickr

Share your disheveled looking birds here. Northern Cardinal preening it's new feathers. 0C3A2477 by lonestranger102, on Flickr The same Northern Cardinal reaching for those hard to get spots. 0C3A2480 by lonestranger102, on Flickr

Great blue heron taking off after being pestered by some terns. 0C3A8717-4 by lonestranger102, on Flickr

Osprey being cooperative and hunting my side of the shoreline. 0C3A0863 by lonestranger102, on Flickr 0C3A0847 by lonestranger102, on Flickr

Don't be judging me...It's not like you've never looked to see what's between your legs before. IMG_5298 by lonestranger102, on Flickr

Just to be clear, I am not suggesting more ID forums. I am suggesting more off topic categories where people can share photos and discuss the other wildlife they might encounter while birding. I can't speak for all birders, but I am fairly sure that a large majority of birders enjoy more than just the birds when they're out birding. Having somewhere to share that added enjoyment with like minded people is all I'm suggesting.

I think they were very popular, but I wasn't monitoring how many posts were being posted or how often. @Administrator might be able to check the numbers, or maybe @psweet would know since he was one of the members that was often sharing his knowledge in those forums. I know that I regularly checked the other wildlife forums because there was always new content to read and new things to learn about, all from familiar people whose knowledge I have come to trust through the many, many years of being part of the Whatbird community.

I respectfully disagree with Aveschapines. I think the off topic sections, including the sub-forums for mammals, reptiles, butterflies, etc., is a large part of what made the old website so popular. Instead of members leaving the website and coming back hours or days later to check the ID forum, I believe the old off topic forums often kept the members(experts) here on the website where they would continue to monitor the ID forums for new activity while entertaining themselves with the off topic sections in between bird IDs. Some of the site's best birders would often offer their knowledge in the other wildlife forums, that's what made some of those sub-forums so popular, like the butterfly and dragonfly sub-forums. I think it's better to attract/keep people's attention with a few extra forums than to have them get bored and surf away to another website. Again, just sharing thoughts here.

That is the point I was trying to make. I suspect the photo sleuth users will be doing the exact same thing, getting frustrated waiting for replies in their exclusive forum and reposting to the main ID forum where the experts are more likely to see their inquiry and provide a prompt reply. Just sharing thoughts here, not trying to be difficult.

Is it really necessary to have two ID forums for North American birds? Good chance of duplicate posts that way with neither one getting the attention they deserve. Just more stray thoughts. See the other thread for more stray thoughts.

I have to agree and don't see any advantage to having the photo sleuth app link to any forum other than the forum where the experts are actively offering their expertise. Just another stray thought.

I think you did pretty good with your flight shot, except for the noise(grain). As you pointed out, 1/200 is pretty slow for an action shot so capturing more than just a blur is something to be proud of. When you have to push your ISO up as high as 6400 you're going to get a lot of noise, unless you have exceptionally good equipment. More light will allow you to lower the ISO with the added advantage of being able to go with a faster shutter speed, so yes, the best solution is to get out there when there's more light. Then again, if you have bottomless pockets, you could buy a full frame camera and an f/2.8 lens and see if that would worked for you.

The fact of the matter is, occasionally people will want to post non-bird photos and discuss non-birding topics. Having a non-birding forum(s) will give people somewhere specific to do that. A General Off Topic discussion forum would be a simple way to accommodate everything not related directly to birds and birding. Specific sub-forums for Plants, Mammals, Invertebrates, Reptiles and Amphibians, and Fish, could be added to the Off Topic forum for those people looking to share, or seeking, information related to other wildlife besides birds. Without an off topic forum, people will just use the existing birding forums for all their off topic subjects.

What did your iBird app suggest? It looks fine for a Grey Catbird to me.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the Leaderboard is a count of reactions(likes, etc.) to your posts. The only reason I could see your count going down is if someone unliked something they had previously liked. I'm not sure what the limit on likes are set to or how unliking a post affects your limit, but maybe someone unliked some of your posts trying to recover likes to use on other posts. I'm just speculating on something I know very little about, so take it with a grain of salt.

I've seen Great Blue Herons posing like this, sometimes looking like they are flashing the spectators. 😲 It is most likely that the bird is using it's wings to help absorb the warmth of the early morning sun.

Just a thought here, but perhaps the info in this pinned thread should be added to the app so people know how to get the best results from the experts when they post their photos here.

I wasn't aware of that method, lonesome55dove, thanks for sharing it. Just to be clear, my method shows the photo without having to click a link, too. It might not always show up as a photo in the message box, but it shows up when the message is posted.

The simplest thing to do is to upload your photo to Flickr.com(it's free and has virtually unlimited storage space, 1TB stores a LOT of photos) and then copy the BBCode and paste it into your message box. To access the BBCode you'll need to open the image and click the share button(curved arrow) to the bottom right of the image. The box that opens has many ways to share the photo so be sure to click the BBCode link in the top right and then copy the highlighted code and paste it into your message. It's recommended to choose one of the medium sized options before copying the code so that the image isn't bigger than we can view it here on Whatbird.

Am I the only one that sees a photo like this and thinks, what happens if just one of them takes off going the wrong way? 😲

I don't see an edit option for my previous posts. I'll see if there's an edit option after this post and try to time it's existence if there is one. Edit option is there. Let's see how long it lasts.

Thank you very much, The Bird Nuts. That is exactly what I need. I won't go into details, but that first page contains some very important information that will help ensure that the truth isn't twisted against us. Thanks again, to you, the Whatbird team, and all the unofficial helpers that make this website such a great community.

@Administrator Like everyone else, I too am grateful that the forums are back up and saddened by the loss of the old content. There was a lot of history in some of those old threads, some of which I was hoping to reference once the forums came back online. I am particularly saddened about the loss of one particular thread from the photo sharing forum, the "Our new backyard" thread specifically. Our landlord has decided to try and fabricate reasons to evict us and some of the posts in "our new backyard" thread would go a long way in helping us present the truth if/when legal action is needed. I know it's a selfish thing to ask and I am sure it's not something easily done, but if that thread isn't totally corrupted is there any way I could get a copy of that particular thread? I totally understand if that's not possible but due to our situation, I have to ask and hope that it is possible. Thanks for ALL you have done in getting the forums back online, and thanks for your future efforts as well.