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Caley Thomas 2.0

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Posts posted by Caley Thomas 2.0

    High Flying Birds ..

    in Help Me Identify a North American Bird

    Posted

    Agree with unidentifiable, but from what I could see (at 25% speed), is that the birds seemed like they may be loosely 'kettling' (a vertically oriented cone of circling birds at varying heights, generally drifting in the direction of migration), a term roughly defining the flying pattern which you described, which is typically used to describe the group flight pattern of certain hawk species while migrating....I've never seen Sandhill Cranes fly in this pattern, and normally you can hear Sandhill Crane's distinctive call even before you see them (look up their sound and you'll know if you heard them or not, if you don't already know it).  Gun to my head, hawk sp, but best left unidentifiable I'm afraid.

    Sparrow

    in Help Me Identify a North American Bird

    Posted

    14 minutes ago, Avery said:

    Very thick facial markings, especially the post-ocular eyeline and malar. The colors are very muted, but the green head is visible. This could also explain the muted bill color

    I'm not seeing the green, but I'm not saying this is not a Henslow's either.  This bird is very confusing to me.  The post-ocular eyeline is so strong on this one which seems to point to Henslow's, but the apparent lack of lighter colored fringes of the back feathers and for me the lack of green makes me second guess this idea, which is why I was wondering about immature/juvenile...

    • Like 2

    Sparrow

    in Help Me Identify a North American Bird

    Posted

    Were you at a known stomping ground for this bird (like the park / nature area place with Bush in the name in West Houston, for example)?  Also, are we suggesting that this is a juvenile Henslow's (because it looks a bit off to me for an adult based on this photo alone)?

    • Like 1

    Juvenile Heron?

    in Help Me Identify a North American Bird

    Posted · Edited by Caley Thomas 2.0

    6 hours ago, HamRHead said:

    My parents called them Little Green Herons. I thought maybe the "little" was part of an older name that has since been changed. But if that's the case, I couldn't find anything online. 

    It seems like a perfectly reasonable name error given that it's a relative to the Little Blue Heron which has the "little" as part of its name, and this one is about the same size if not smaller to its aforementioned relative.  I suppose one could argue, however, that the only reason the Little Blue Heron name includes "little", is because it is needed to differentiate it from the "Great" Blue Heron...

    • Like 2

    Hawk?

    in Help Me Identify a North American Bird

    Posted

    44 minutes ago, Kevin said:

    Two things, just before the shot @SSally posted a Red-tailed Hawk lands on a limb just out of sight to the left. (when it comes in you can see it's wing.) While that bird is still siting there, the bird in question comes by, flying right by the nest. A few moments after the questionable bird disappears, the Red-tailed takes off, flying right in front of the camera.

    I would say they are both Red-tailed Hawks, but the one certainly is.

     

     

    I finally watched the video itself, and it sure sounds like Red-shouldered hawks to me being mobbed by crows.  Visually, I'll pass on either of the birds for ID, other than to say that neither are eagles for sure.  Given the visual correlation to the calls being heard by the raptor(s) in question, however, I ultimately agree with Red-shouldered for at least one of them.

    • Like 3

    Immature accipiter

    in Help Me Identify a North American Bird

    Posted

    19 hours ago, Jerry Friedman said:

    GISS is "general impression, size, and shape" or "general impression of shape and size" or something.  It was probably invented to explain the older term "jizz", the qualities of a bird that you can't put into words but help you identify it.  Or to replace "jizz", a term some people aren't comfortable with.

    I thought it was derived from the word "gestalt", but can't say where I recall getting that impression either...

    • Like 2
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