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23 hours ago, dragon49 said:

I got four lifers today!

Crested Caracara:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/524547721

1200

Gull-billed Tern:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/524576821
 

1200

Lesser Yellowlegs:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/524545981

1200

This Swainson's Hawk gets my checklist sent out with county rare bird alerts:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/524547161

1200

Wow

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My dad went out birding today while I was in school. He used merlin sound for a little bit. It picked up brown creeper and barn owl! It turns out the barn owl was him pishing some birds. I believed him that it was a Barn Owl, since he said he saw it, and I actually cried since it would be a county first, and a lifer!:classic_laugh:

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All I had was a 400km^2 purple eBird rectangle and a dream

900

Still not over that I actually managed to see him as I just guessed where he was and there was so many roads I could have driven on instead. Took about 2 hours of driving around, and was actually heading back home defeated when he just happened to be perched along the road I was driving back on! 
Though had some weird camera troubles as for whatever reason my camera could not focus properly on him so I probably took over 100 photos in a 5 minute period just hoping some would be in focus (also tried manual). Still not sure what was/is going on, but there was definitely a slight panic that this was gonna be another photo fumble like my GGOW observation last year. Luckily he stayed in place, so I managed a few that were in focus, but still not as sharp as I’d expect them to be. But doesn’t matter I guess, as I was lucky enough just to see him. 

Gonna be hard to top this as my best bird of the year 

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Just now, Aaron said:

All I had was a 400km^2 purple eBird rectangle and a dream

900

Still not over that I actually managed to see him as I just guessed where he was and there was so many roads I could have driven on instead. Took about 2 hours of driving around, and was actually heading back home defeated when he just happened to be perched along the road I was driving back on! 
Though had some weird camera troubles as for whatever reason my camera could not focus properly on him so I probably took over 100 photos in a 5 minute period just hoping some would be in focus (also tried manual). Still not sure what was/is going on, but there was definitely a slight panic that this was gonna be another photo fumble like my GGOW observation last year. Luckily he stayed in place, so I managed a few that were in focus, but still not as sharp as I’d expect them to be. But doesn’t matter I guess, as I was lucky enough just to see him. 

Gonna be hard to top this as my best bird of the year 

Nice! That happened to me once with a rare bird, and I only got a blurry photo.

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15 hours ago, Aaron said:

All I had was a 400km^2 purple eBird rectangle and a dream

900

Still not over that I actually managed to see him as I just guessed where he was and there was so many roads I could have driven on instead. Took about 2 hours of driving around, and was actually heading back home defeated when he just happened to be perched along the road I was driving back on! 
Though had some weird camera troubles as for whatever reason my camera could not focus properly on him so I probably took over 100 photos in a 5 minute period just hoping some would be in focus (also tried manual). Still not sure what was/is going on, but there was definitely a slight panic that this was gonna be another photo fumble like my GGOW observation last year. Luckily he stayed in place, so I managed a few that were in focus, but still not as sharp as I’d expect them to be. But doesn’t matter I guess, as I was lucky enough just to see him. 

Gonna be hard to top this as my best bird of the year 

Crazy awesome!!

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I chased these Lesser Nighthawks yesterday and missed them.  From other birder's intel who did spot them, I moved my observation point today and was EXACTLY where I needed to be.  The only reason for the lack of good photos is that the birds showed up sixteen minutes after sundown, and my camera is not too good in low-light conditions.

My checklist also made one of the county Rare Bird Alerts from the observation:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/528208521

1200

 

Edited by dragon49
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8 minutes ago, dragon49 said:

I chased these Lesser Nighthawks yesterday and missed them.  From other birder's intel who did spot them, I moved my observation point today and was EXACTLY where I needed to be.  The only reason for the lack of good photos is that the birds showed up sixteen minutes after sundown, and my camera is not too good in low-light conditions.

My checklist also made one of the county Rare Bird Alerts from the observation:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/528208521

1200

 

Nice!

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3 hours ago, dragon49 said:

I chased these Lesser Nighthawks yesterday and missed them.  From other birder's intel who did spot them, I moved my observation point today and was EXACTLY where I needed to be.  The only reason for the lack of good photos is that the birds showed up sixteen minutes after sundown, and my camera is not too good in low-light conditions.

My checklist also made one of the county Rare Bird Alerts from the observation:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/528208521

1200

 

Awesome! You have seen one before me, and I live in their range and you don’t! 

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I got a bunch of lifers recently! 
 

Red Phalarope 

1800
 

Scripps’s Murrelet

1800

 

Cassin’s Auklet

1800

 

Defeated my biggest nemesis, Bonaparte’s Gull

1800
 

Rhinoceros Auklet

1800
 

Brown Booby

1800

Black-legged Kittiwake

1800

Red-billed Tropicbird(!)

1800

Nazca Booby

1800
 

Buller’s Shearwater

1800
 

And an Orchard Oriole from this morning—photos coming tomorrow.

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27 minutes ago, IKLland said:

I got a bunch of lifers recently! 
 

Red Phalarope 

1800
 

Scripps’s Murrelet

1800

 

Cassin’s Auklet

1800

 

Defeated my biggest nemesis, Bonaparte’s Gull

1800
 

Rhinoceros Auklet

1800
 

Brown Booby

1800

Black-legged Kittiwake

1800

Red-billed Tropicbird(!)

1800

Nazca Booby

1800
 

Buller’s Shearwater

1800
 

And an Orchard Oriole from this morning—photos coming tomorrow.

Awesome photos and awesome birds!!

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1 hour ago, IKLland said:

I got a bunch of lifers recently! 
 

Red Phalarope 

1800
 

Scripps’s Murrelet

1800

 

Cassin’s Auklet

1800

 

Defeated my biggest nemesis, Bonaparte’s Gull

1800
 

Rhinoceros Auklet

1800
 

Brown Booby

1800

Black-legged Kittiwake

1800

Red-billed Tropicbird(!)

1800

Nazca Booby

1800
 

Buller’s Shearwater

1800
 

And an Orchard Oriole from this morning—photos coming tomorrow.

Man! It wasn't all that long ago that I was getting lifers on pelagics like that! Looks like it was a great trip! In particular, congrats on the Red-billed Tropicbird! That's a great bird! I really need to get on one of those SoCal pelagics! 

Edited by Aidan B
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11 minutes ago, Aidan B said:

I really need to get on one of those SoCal pelagics! 

If you do, I'd suggest the ones out of San Diego(Mission Bay). The Orange County ones are nowhere near as good as those(this was the best OC trip in years), and the ones out of LA won't give you as many good birds as the San diego ones. Heres a link for the san diego ones, btw. 

https://sandiegopelagics.com/

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8 minutes ago, IKLland said:

If you do, I'd suggest the ones out of San Diego(Mission Bay). The Orange County ones are nowhere near as good as those(this was the best OC trip in years), and the ones out of LA won't give you as many good birds as the San diego ones. Heres a link for the san diego ones, btw. 

https://sandiegopelagics.com/

Yeah, If I was to do a pelagic down in SoCal, it would definitely be one of these, given how long of a drive it is from my home to reach any of the pelagics down there. I've been eyeing that trip on August 26th for some time now, but I don't really think I can make it work this year. 

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Awesome day - I got five lifers!

American White Pelican:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/529185391

1200
 

Barn Owl:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/529189621

1200

Brown-headed Cowbird:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/529186591

1200

Forster's Tern:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/529185131

1200

Vermilion Flycatcher.  I also made the county rare bird alert with this find:

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/529186131

1200

 

 

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