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Zoroark

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    Birdie

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted · Edited by Zoroark

    birdie 🦉 #223: 🟥🟨🟨🟩⬛⬛

    I've photographed this bird before.

     

    8 hours ago, IKLland said:

    birdie 🦢 #223: 🟩⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

    I'm rather impressed by this one in particular, mostly because »I'm surprised you didn't pick the Great-tailed first.«

    • Like 1

    2022 Year Lists!

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted · Edited by Zoroark

    I gained the Tundra Swan yesterday, but I also lost one. I reviewed my rarities for the year and noticed I still had the Stilt Sandpiper marked. I had corrected my photo but forgot to remove the entry from the checklist, and no other birders positively identified it on the day I was there. Oh well, that means I can get excited about it the next time I (actually) see it. That leaves me at 368 for the year.

    A few of those are escapees and thus not countable, however. Off-hand, I can think of these:

    Swan Goose
    Muscovy Duck
    Indian Peafowl
    African Collared-Dove

    I'm going to keep the provisional ones like the Pin-tailed Whydah.

    • Like 4

    What bird name would like to change?

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted · Edited by Zoroark

    58 minutes ago, DLecy said:

    I’m curious as to the reasons people on this thread want to keep honorific names? 

    My guess, at least for the general population, would be tradition and familiarity.

    The simpler answer is the magnitude of the changes. Species splits usually aren't a big deal, and the old name can still be used to refer to an individual that is difficult to identify further (e.g. Western Flycatcher in Southern Nevada). Occasional name changes aren't that much effort to make a note of if you're using an outdated paper field guide. However, if a hundred birds in the field guide suddenly changed names, there are going to be many uninformed birders out there ignorant of the sweeping changes who still comment on the Allen's Hummingbirds, Nuttall's Woodpeckers, and Cooper's Hawks in their yards because that's what their field guide they bought last year says they are. More conservative birders may prefer using the honorific names because they've used them for 40 years, and learning new names can be seen as a lot of effort.

    The less friendly answer may be fairly politically charged, with some of the opposed sharing the same beliefs as those opposed to the removal of Confederate monuments. I digress, however, because I don't want this thread to turn into a feud, and I doubt this reason applies to many people here. 🙂

    • Like 7

    Does Ebird accept checklists with 0 species observed?

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted · Edited by Zoroark

    This brings up an interesting, if someone vain, question: does a zero-species checklist maintain your streak? For instance, there are people who may take an early morning flight east in the winter and spend all of the daylight hours in the air or in airports. They may spend 10 minutes at the crack of dawn by an airport window and observe zero birds. What about people who are inside a windowless office from before dawn until after dusk, and their break outside may yield no birds?

    • Like 1

    Which is your favorite backyard bird

    in Backyard Birds, Feeders and Food

    Posted

    14 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said:

    Documentation, please.

    This is the best I could find. These are how many unique eBirders saw at least one bird in each state/territory/province in the ABA area. It's not perfect because it counts the same person multiple times, and states like California and Florida are popular travel destinations anyway. It'd be great if eBird offered a tool where each person counted only for the territory where they submitted the most checklists.

    California 80,846
    Florida 63,131
    New York 57,602
    Texas 55,273
    Pennsylvania 42,528
    Ontario 42,136
    North Carolina 37,824
    Arizona 37,240
    Virginia 36,799
    Ohio 36,678
    Washington 36,571
    Massachusetts 34,851
    Colorado 34,538
    Michigan 34,053
    Illinois 31,692
    New Jersey 30,264
    Wisconsin 28,745
    Oregon 28,640
    Georgia 27,832
    Maryland 26,420
    Maine 23,861
    South Carolina 23,304
    Minnesota 23,272
    British Columbia 21,900
    Tennessee 21,376
    Utah 20,617
    New Mexico 20,422
    Indiana 19,746
    Quebec 19,174
    Missouri 18,247
    Connecticut 16,842
    Wyoming 15,030
    Montana 14,873
    New Hampshire 14,785
    Hawaii 14,524
    Nevada 13,793
    Vermont 13,555
    Alaska 13,522
    Louisiana 13,281
    Alabama 13,063
    Idaho 12,815
    Alberta 12,788
    Delaware 12,073
    Kentucky 11,919
    Kansas 11,791
    Oklahoma 11,366
    Iowa 11,240
    Arkansas 10,021
    West Virginia 9,795
    Nebraska 9,688
    Rhode Island 8,196
    South Dakota 8,149
    Mississippi 8,022
    District of Columbia 7,960
    Nova Scotia 6,855
    North Dakota 5,926
    New Brunswick 5,714
    Manitoba 4,618
    Saskatchewan 3,897
    Newfoundland and Labrador 2,921
    Prince Edward Island 1,963
    Yukon Territory 1,503
    Northwest Territories 805
    Nunavut 650
    Saint Pierre and Miquelon 105
    • Like 2

    2022 Year Lists!

    in General Birding Topics

    Posted · Edited by Zoroark

     (Quoted from the Birdie topic)

    On 12/22/2022 at 8:24 AM, Snake Fingers said:

    Yesterday was Bohemian Waxwing.

     

    On 12/22/2022 at 9:24 AM, Zoroark said:

    ...Very appropriate.

    https://ebird.org/alert/summary?sid=SN37165&sortBy=obsDt&o=desc

    I'm considering going out tomorrow morning if they're sighted today.

    Got it! That brings me to 368 and very likely my last new bird of the year.

    https://ebird.org/checklist/S124488156

    • Like 3
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