lonestranger

Hey Mom, did you know that you don't move as fast when you paddle with your feet in the air?

Oh, that explains it. I was wondering if it was a real bird or one made of wood. I know it's a Wood Stork, but it sure looks like a wood stork.

Welcome to Whatbird, @Ara Tinga. Feel free to disagree with a suggested ID, but it's requested that you provide a reason when you disagree. ?

Reasons?

Martha Zuffoletti has already posted in the ID forum.

Tossing out my 2 cents worth here. #1 People will take photos of bird nests. #2 People will share those photos online. #3 Rules on a facebook page won't change #1 or #2. #4 Policing nest photos involves detective type work. #5 When a tough call needs be made, always favour on the side of the bird. It sounds to me like you have a few options... A: Allow all nest photos. B: Don't allow any nest photos. C : Allow some nest photos and spend your time policing and arguing about which ones are appropriate and which ones aren't. Regardless of your decision, the right thing to do is to discourage anyone from disturbing the wildlife they photograph. Perhaps I am over simplifying things, but what do you expect for 2 cents .?

Caption this.

Following the bottom line of the bill makes me think that it is a long bill, with the top line of the bill giving the illusion of a shorter or broken bill.

I see that I'm not the only one that misses their mouth once in a while. Nice shot.

Ever play spot the difference games? How would you do with these three American Robin photos? Now let me explain how I noticed the differences. First off, I was just sitting out on the front deck with the camera on the tripod, and bored enough to point the camera at almost anything that moved without expecting anything more than relieving some boredom. Well, if you've ever taken bursts of 4 or 5 photos, you know how boring viewing multiple images that are ALMOST identical can be. So I am going through my boring repeat photos of the same boring birds in ALMOST the same positions and I noticed a subtle difference between two photos so I went back and forth between them and chuckled to myself when I went one photo further. I went back and forth between the three images a few times changing the pace slightly and chuckled enough that I had to put them together in an animated GIF. If you couldn't spot the differences between the three photos above, you'll get an idea of how I spotted the differences by watching this gif, which is just three images in a varied sequence. Disclaimer: This is intended to show how boring photos don't have to be boring. I probably would have made a similar gif if the Robin had turned it's head back and forth, but that wouldn't haven't been anywhere near as funny. Did you Spot the differences?

Ever since the measurements were estimated by someone without measuring tools or experience?

Well then, if there's roughly 40 species of birds, I don't need to look any farther than my own backyard to see them all. And here I thought that you had to travel the world to see many of the birds in the world. I'm glad I found that out before I wasted money on any birding trips. ?

The fruit trees are blossoming and the bees are busy.

Don't feel bad, I posted a photo of a decoy about a decade ago and then argued that it couldn't be a decoy because the bird was moving. Bitter pill to swallow and it didn't go down well, but I was eventually convinced it was a decoy, and yes, I had to concede that decoys will move around the pond due to wind and water current depending on the length of the tether they're anchored with, if any. It's still embarrassing when I think about it. So don't feel bad, @Seanbirds, your embarrassment will last longer than you think it will. With the good people here at Whatbird to remind you about it now and then, the embarrassment could last a long, long, long time, but we'll all get a good chuckle out of it, even you'll be laughing at it, eventually. It'll still be embarrassing though.

Where many decoys are deployed, which was my original thought as well.

Nope, googling John Grimes books that I didn't read doesn't help either. I get the sentiment but have never heard the expression.

I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that @Ryan Tee wants it to be....wait for it....here it comes.... I'd guess that he wants it to be....Identified...

If he lifts that tail, I am out of here.

I would advise against promoting this kind of activity. While photographing birds gathering nesting material may be harmless, birds that are actively nesting should not be bothered by photographers getting close enough to photograph the eggs. While a human observes an active nest, there's a good chance there are predators around that are observing us, and the object of our attention, the nest. That doesn't even address the stress added to the nesting bird when a huge predator is stalking it and it's young. I know that there are situations where photographing a nest with eggs or babies would be acceptable, like the American Robin that builds it's nest right next to the deck in plain sight, but those are exceptions. Actively seeking out nests for photos of eggs is a potential threat to the birds, in my opinion.

I'm going to pass the honour of picking the next photo over to @Seanbirds for this round.

Ready...Aim...

Typo? Bird code? Other?

Welcome to Whatbird, @A-man. It sounds like they may have already got you hooked. If you see your bird again, try to get a photo but if you can't, try to notice things like bill shape and colour(s), leg colour, wing bars, any eye rings or eye lines, etc., etc. Sometimes, more often than you might think, little clues like these can help narrow down the possibilities. As an example, if your bird doesn't have blueish legs, we can rule out Vireos because all Vireos have blueish legs.` *sets the hook a little deeper*

I'm more inclined to think a weasel might be the culprit since weasels are known to cache and hoard their food after killing it.