The Old Whatbird.

[Clip]

6 minutes ago, meghann said:

Yep, they grow up so fast. He was one of those young birders and is now a grown person. Your memory is correct, he is colorblind. We make a decent birding pair. He birds a lot by ear (which I am TERRIBLE at), and I notice stuff more visually, which is great until I get tired later in the day and start seeing things that aren't right, lol. On New Year's Day we got over 100 species together. It was fun being numbers 1 and 2 on the state list for a few days.

I have improved a lot from the old Whatbird time in iding birds visually though I still get it wrong some times. Birding by ear I have not improved at much at all. Sure I know a few of the really common species but otherwise I just don't seem to have a memory for the sounds. 100 birds in one day is awesome. I bet you both make a great pair. Whereabouts are you two?

[meghann]

Just now, Clip said:

I have improved a lot from the old Whatbird time in iding birds visually though I still get it wrong some times. Birding by ear I have not improved at much at all. Sure I know a few of the really common species but otherwise I just don't seem to have a memory for the sounds. 100 birds in one day is awesome. I bet you both make a great pair. Whereabouts are you two?

I'm in Georgia full time. Liam used to be, but is in Texas for graduate school, because he ditched us. I catch him when I can on his trips home.

[Clip]

6 minutes ago, meghann said:

I'm in Georgia full time. Liam used to be, but is in Texas for graduate school, because he ditched us. I catch him when I can on his trips home.

I was in Colorado but moved to NE Florida about 3 years ago. So howdy neighbor. We are not far from the Georgia border.

[meghann]

Just now, Clip said:

I was in Colorado but moved to NE Florida about 3 years ago. So howdy neighbor. We are not far from the Georgia border.

Cool! I always hit up far southwest Georgia at some point in the winter, usually in January, so might be able to catch me then. I go down there and get the fun stuff that always shows up around Miller County. This past winter was wild.

[The Bird Nuts]

2 hours ago, Kevin said:

@JimB? 

https://web.archive.org/web/20150315030945/http://www.whatbird.com/forum/index.php?/user/17278-jimbob/

Quite sure this is JimBob: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/147487  I remember JimBob being one of the most trustworthy identifiers.

I have found a lot of the old Whatbirders on iNaturalist.

[Clip]

49 minutes ago, meghann said:

Cool! I always hit up far southwest Georgia at some point in the winter, usually in January, so might be able to catch me then. I go down there and get the fun stuff that always shows up around Miller County. This past winter was wild.

Putting Miller County on my ebird alerts list.

[Quiscalus quiscula]

Wow, is it possible to implant nostalgia into a younger brain???

[meghann]

1 hour ago, Clip said:

Putting Miller County on my ebird alerts list.

Oh I'd also put Seminole, Decatur, and Lowndes, too, at the minimum. Basically that entire bottom stripe of the state. I think the craziest bird from the past winter was the Rough-legged Hawk. Hopefully he comes back, so I can get a better look than what I did.

[MacMe]

5 hours ago, Kevin said:

Oh! @MacMe Was one the old forum.

Yeah, but I was brand new at birding.  I had just taken an ornithology class and one of the assignments was to photograph and identify 30 different species of bird.  I enjoyed it enough that I continued after the class.  All I had was the snapshot function of a dinky video camera.  The crash happened around a time when I was unable to bird and when I came back the new forum was going and I just assumed it had updated.

[Liam]

3 hours ago, The Bird Nuts said:

Quite sure this is JimBob: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/147487  I remember JimBob being one of the most trustworthy identifiers.

I have found a lot of the old Whatbirders on iNaturalist.

That's the man! He's in Kansas now for school.

1 hour ago, meghann said:

Oh I'd also put Seminole, Decatur, and Lowndes, too, at the minimum. Basically that entire bottom stripe of the state. I think the craziest bird from the past winter was the Rough-legged Hawk. Hopefully he comes back, so I can get a better look than what I did.

I'm very sad I missed that one, plus other state goodies like Western Meadowlark, since I moved to Texas. I'm now in my third year away from Georgia.

[Clip]

1 hour ago, meghann said:

Oh I'd also put Seminole, Decatur, and Lowndes, too, at the minimum. Basically that entire bottom stripe of the state. I think the craziest bird from the past winter was the Rough-legged Hawk. Hopefully he comes back, so I can get a better look than what I did.

That is my favorite hawk! Saw them often in Colorado in the winter. I miss them. I did not realize one showed up in Georgia or I might have chased it. I have Georgia on my rare bird alerts but have it paid much attention to it.  Too busy with Florida so far.

[Clip]

37 minutes ago, Liam said:

That's the man! He's in Kansas now for school.

I'm very sad I missed that one, plus other state goodies like Western Meadowlark, since I moved to Texas. I'm now in my third year away from Georgia.

Isn't that the way it goes sometimes. I left Colorado and all sorts of firsts showed up. Pink-footed Goose, Fork-tailed Flycatcher...to name just a few.

[meghann]

11 minutes ago, Clip said:

That is my favorite hawk! Saw them often in Colorado in the winter. I miss them. I did not realize one showed up in Georgia or I might have chased it. I have Georgia on my rare bird alerts but have it paid much attention to it.  Too busy with Florida so far.

 

Oh I can imagine! I did the opposite recently and went to visit NM/lower CO and was overwhelmed by all the birds. (as Liam can attest.) Might be back in that area for Thanksgiving, so maybe I can get some more stuff then.

Georgia is also good with hummers in the winter. Last winter had Black-chinned (same property as the Rough-legged), Calliope (which I missed), multiple Rufous, and a Buff-bellied. (which was a repeat. If it returns again this winter I might finally try to go see it.)

[Clip]

6 minutes ago, meghann said:

Oh I can imagine! I did the opposite recently and went to visit NM/lower CO and was overwhelmed by all the birds. (as Liam can attest.) Might be back in that area for Thanksgiving, so maybe I can get some more stuff then.

Georgia is also good with hummers in the winter. Last winter had Black-chinned (same property as the Rough-legged), Calliope (which I missed), multiple Rufous, and a Buff-bellied. (which was a repeat. If it returns again this winter I might finally try to go see it.)

Buff-bellied would be a lifer.

 

[lonesome55dove]

19 hours ago, Kevin said:

Also @The Bird Nuts @Aveschapines, @Bird Brain, @lonestranger, and @lonesome55dove were on before it crashed, and I am sure there are some I am forgeting.

Yep, I was here back in the day...I think I joined in 2009. Thanks @Kevinfor this trip down memory lane. I remember a few others that were active on here a lot back then...  @jhauser42 , @PaintedBunting, @Royal Tern , @Raptorgurl ,they are all or were from Washington State when the crash happened. 🙂

[Johnd]

Iv been here since 2009 I think.

 

I still miss having the chat room.

 

 

[lonestranger]

I originally joined Whatbird on April 24, 2009. I know that @Bird Brain joined before me, sometime in 2008, I think. Are there any existing members that have been around longer than @Bird Brain?

[Quiscalus quiscula]

I joined Whatbird on June 28, 2021!😁

[Kevin]

22 hours ago, Kevin said:

(sadly not very many of y'all left)

Ok, I was wrong, there are more of you left than I knew... @Jerry Friedman, @Totah Sam, @Pigeon, @Evie12, @lonesome55dove, @MarkG and @Mark F.

Also two more that we lost, @Sean C @redcoot 

[Kevin]

Also it seems @JimBob did join after the crash, but was not really planning on staying. 

On 6/23/2018 at 5:55 PM, JimBob said:

I haven't been on whatbird in ages, but I was definitely sad when I saw the forums seemed to be permanently down. Really sucks that so much of the data was corrupted and not recoverable... reading through old trip reports was always fun. 

Almost didn't make an account since I doubt I'll use it much, but didn't feel right not doing it. This forum is one of the main reasons I got into birding!

 

[Quiscalus quiscula]

I'm glad @Kevin posted this topic, I've seen some old posts referring to 'before the crash' or saying things like 'we used to have this thread before the crash' and never knew exactly what happened. Now I have a more comprehensive knowledge of what exactly happened. My opinion is that though it's good to reminisce about old times, in some ways it was a good thing. From what I've seen of the old website and this one, the new website is definitely an improvement. Besides, for all of the users who stopped posting from the old forum, there are excellent new users who came to take their place. People grew up, people changed from the old website. It seems that the old forum was outgrown. Let's focus on the bright new future.

Then again, I don't even know what I'm talking about!

[Bird Brain]

1 hour ago, lonestranger said:

I originally joined Whatbird on April 24, 2009. I know that @Bird Brain joined before me, sometime in 2008, I think. Are there any existing members that have been around longer than @Bird Brain?

I joined on Jan 1, 2008. Hopefully there's someone still around that's been on here longer than me. I feel old enough already!!! 

[stitch58]

On 8/31/2021 at 7:26 PM, Kevin said:

I joined this forum about 6 moths after the crash, so I saw several links to the Wayback Machine, but none have been post in a few years, and I know we have a lot of members that probably don't even know that there was a crash. 

Anyway I though I the us that were not here before the crash would enjoy looking at it, and those of you(sadly not very many of y'all left) can just remember what it was like.

I really wish we the old member that came on for a while after the crash were still here, like @akiley, @psweet, @IvoryBillHope, @birdbrain22, @guy_incognito, @Creeker, @meghann....

Oh well, I'm just starting to ramble now, here's the link, I know you can't see everything but it is still fun.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150916103506/http://www.whatbird.com/forum/

Thanks for posting this Kevin! It does bring back a lot of memories! I joined originally in 2008 (my original profile; http://www.whatbird.com/forum/index.php?/user/4669-stitch58/ ). I was brand new to birding then & was more of a lurker but definitely learned a lot here. Don't know if anyone else remembers Vin The Grine but he was a fellow NJ birder & kind of took me "under his wing" at the time. Learned a lot from him but lost touch when he moved out of state. I was also the person that originally suggested starting the Flickr Whatbird group but Rogue Birder was the person that actually ran it. Used to really love participating in the Whatbird Big Year Forum too. It was a lot of fun competing against the other states. Not sure if this is the way he spelled it but anyone else remember SnowyOwl? Thanks again Kevin!

[stitch58]

Sorry, link to my old profile not working.

[Quiscalus quiscula]

2 minutes ago, stitch58 said:

Sorry, link to my old profile not working.

Yeah, realized...