Becky, I cross posted with you earlier. Beautiful pics! That many robins would be a beautiful sight.

Elaine, great shots of the red bellied!


Ann, I hope you get lucky and get a picture of the Great Crested Flycatcher. With the way the weather is this year, it seems reasonable that some birds might show up early.

Last night I dreamed several hummingbirds already showed up. They don't usually get here until April 1st.

Ann, your description sure fits the drawing in my book, says it is the only one with the long rusty tail, it also says that they will nest in tree cavities and posts, bird, mail and newspaper boxes. Have you hear it's call?

Yes Margaret I have heard it's call. It always shows up right at this time of year & stays through the summer. I often hear it calling in the morning when I'm out on the back porch. I do see it fairly often; it feeds out back often perching up on the pergola & flying down to snatch up insects or it perches in 1 of the oaks there & flies down to get insects. It comes to the birdbath; I have seen it bathe. I think the most frustrating part is I KNOW it's a Great Crested Flycatcher -- I've seen it in person with binoculars many, many, many times. I've heard it's call. I only got a photo of it once & with my old camera & a sorry photo it was. Plus the photo was not taken in FEB. so I could prove to him they ARE here at this time of year. Last year there were clearly 2 of them -- saw them at the same time. They are quick though; never stay anywhere more than 2 minutes or less.
I just don't want to have a big bru-ha-ha over it in the bird count this year cause I might loose my temper a bit. I thought if I could find any reference to support what I know then I could argue that.

No sense getting mad Ann, all you can do is try and get the photo proof, I believe you, you have seen it too often for it not to be that bird, not like you got a glimpse of it once or twice.

Thanks Margaret. I can't even tell you how many hours I have spent researching that darn bird comparing it with any other possible thing it could be & ALL the others just plain don't match. For THREE years!!!

Last year, summer started in April down here, remember? With it warming up early I can't see why the birds wouldn't start to migrate north earlier, too. Plus they don't have to migrate very far to get to Northern Florida - the map says they winter in Cuba.

Still, your only recourse is to camp out with the camera on the bird bath or somewhere else you've seen it and get a picture, Ann. Too bad the weather's so nice, if it was raining you'd have an excuse to sit with your feet up and your camera in your hand . . .

At least I have my new camera with much better zoom Elaine. I'm going to be trying like the devil to get a photo!

I couldn't find it in my bird book but the online page I read says they will use a nest box. Any way you can build a nest box quickly, and put it somewhere you'd be able to get a picture? It says to hang them 12 to 20ft. up in a tree . .

On the other hand if you keep seeing a pair, they've probably already got a nest site.

Good luck capturing that photo, Ann - go girl, time to make those bird counters eat their words!

dyzzypyxxy said:I couldn't find it in my bird book but the online page I read says they will use a nest box. Any way you can build a nest box quickly, and put it somewhere you'd be able to get a picture? It says to hang them 12 to 20ft. up in a tree . .

On the other hand if you keep seeing a pair, they've probably already got a nest site.

There is a nest box on the pergola Elaine. Last year one was checking it out but they didn't nest in there.

I'm still a newbie on birds, but I'm constantly telling the butterfly thread not to believe everything they read and to use their own observations as a guide, as well. I've read things in books that I've seen absolutely disproved. I did remember that I had seen a Great Crested Flycatcher last year so I went and checked but it was on April 19. And I was thinking the same thing as Elaine. We had such a mild winter and then summer started way early. Don't they know climate change is affecting species across the globe? I've posted articles about strange sightings of birds, butterflies, etc. over in the articles thread for a while now. Go get that picture and then give them a big fat, "I told you so!"

Thanks Melanie & Elaine, Margaret too. It isn't just this year with El Nino weather affecting us but every year we've been here in this house (3 years - Februarys) that I've seen this bird beginning in early to mid February.
You better believe I'm going to be doing everything I can to get a photo of it EVEN if that's AFTER the bird count. As long as I get the photo in February or early to mid March then I can stick it in their faces.

go fir it, Ann!

Someone here asked about the opening of the wire on my cage feeder. The openings are 2" tall x 1 -1/2" wide rectangular openings.

Ann - I hope you are able to get a photo of the elusive bird and post it to ebird! Post it here, too!

Elaine - I was admiring your beautiful Carolina Wren!

Much to my surprise ..... one showed up at my feeder briefly today and I managed to get a photo of it! I rarely see these birds at the feeder. The activity at the feeders today was very busy. Probably the busiest I've seen for some time. In fact, I had to make myself quit after 2 hours of observation as I have other things I need to get done. Post here, do some yard work which includes fertilizing and watering the garden beds, and finish up laundry. I need to do some house cleaning but ...... ugh. I'd rather be bird watching!

Here is the only photo I was able to get of the Caroline Wren:



The male Red-bellied Woodpecker showed up today. So of course I snapped a bunch of photos. Quite a few of the birds really like the High Energy Suet. I think that is part of the reason for more birds at my feeder. This is the no-melt suet that I get for less than $1.50 at Walmart.



Look at this group of Painted Buntings and an Indigo Bunting:



The female Indigo showed up today also:




And these 2 little American Goldfinches were flying around together. The one sat on top of the orange feeder while the other one ate at the hanging platform feeder. Too sweet! I always wonder if they are a mating pair or siblings or parent and child birds:





And I spotted both a male and female Ruby-throated Hummingbird at their respective feeders. The female uses the front yard feeder and blooms and the male has the backyard. Though I suspect that there are 2 males in the backyard and also one across the street at my neighbor's feeder. Got only a lousy photo of the male:

Ann - You can post sightings to ebird ANY time! I post whenever I can find the time. I am making a point of observing this weekend and posting my numbers (and photos!).

Check out the video on ebird of the Orchard Oriole (scroll down the list until you come to the video):

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/ch...

Steve Backes attracts an amazing number of hummingbirds to his yard as well.

Oh! I forgot to post my funny photograph of my bird watching today (at the window).

This squirrel was watching me watch the birds!



I think this squirrel wanted more peanuts!

Don't feel too bad about the eBirders questioning your sighting. They're just trying to have accurate data and are sometimes going of from older range maps. I know on iNaturalist, every time I put up a ruby-crowned kinglet it shows it is out of range. Many people see them in areas far from whatever range map they are using, but apparently it still has not been updated. When I put up the merlin the species page even showed it as "EX" or sort of extinct in Illinois and other states as well, yet there were sightings in those states with photos that were verified by others, and also plenty of unphotographed sightings on eBird from many different birders.

My mom uses eBird and when she first started putting up her historical sightings, someone questioned her evening grosbeak one because it was very unusual for the time of year and location. He asked if she was sure she was remembering correctly. She looked over her old notes again to verify and also recounted how we were visiting family at the time and we had even had discussed how unusual it was with her dad who had lived there for his whole life and seen their numbers decline drastically. My mom told all of this to the eBirder and he said he just wanted to make sure it wasn't a mistake and let it go. Mistakes do happen though, and they are just checking.

Even a novice like me can catch some very obvious ones, like when I saw someone posted a grey heron in Illinois on iNaturalist and even had a few other people verify it to make it research grade. I had never heard of a grey heron, so I looked it up to find it is primarily European and has never been on this side of the Atlantic. But, it looks a lot like a great blue heron. Simple mistake if you are not using a guide for your area, and the people verifying your id are European and don't notice this sighting was actually in the US.

So, don't take it too personally if someone is questioning your sighting. But, if it were me I'd want to get that picture to prove them wrong also!

Just popping in for a moment here before I run again.
Great pics Becky. Yes, I know I can enter sightings at any time. Just haven't had time! Huff, puff, huff, puff, huff, puff....

You're right Morgan.

Love the squirrel photo Beckie even though I'm not find of tree rats.

Happened to run across this in my research. I thought it was pretty cool. You go to this site:
http://www.birdzilla.com/birds...
And when you're reading about a particular bird, you see up there were the menu says Play Song / Introduction / description & so forth? Go to the one that says Bent Life History & click on it --- VERY COOL! This is what you get:
http://www.birdzilla.com/birds...
BTW, that one says:
"Spring migration: Early dates of spring arrival are: Northern Florida, March 8."

Ok, gotta run. Lots to do!

Wow lots of beautiful bird images,..fantastic!,..not forgetting Becky's hungry Squirrel great shot

I was on the wrong side of the river today,..the sunset was in my face and so capturing images from the shaded side of birds was a no no,..i did try

Swans with Cygnets which are 7 months Old now,..then as they were 7 Months ago.








Pigeons.


Mallard.
Duck and Drake.


Sunset.