Bird Id Part Ii

[Mike T]

The area I was in was pretty built up but I saw on a map a state park on the gulf so I took a short ride there. It was called Honeymoon Island State Park and in the park was a nature trail named The Osprey Trail and this was a very accurate name. There were several nests not far from the trail and many Osprey flying around. Here's one of the ones I was pretty close to.
Mike

ps. since I named the bird how about IDing its meal

[paulnj]

Eastern Pheobe is my educated guess

[paulnj]

PALM WARBLER 8 out of 10 wintering warblers are palms in florida.... so I have seen ;)

[paulnj]

I was going thru some old pics looking for eagles and came across this guy.

It's a Downy woodpecker

[paulnj]

I go away for a few days and come home to a new forum, here's a shot I took saturday down on the Gulf coast of Florida.
Mike

Little blue heron and a snowy egret

[paulnj]

The area I was in was pretty built up but I saw on a map a state park on the gulf so I took a short ride there. It was called Honeymoon Island State Park and in the park was a nature trail named The Osprey Trail and this was a very accurate name. There were several nests not far from the trail and many Osprey flying around. Here's one of the ones I was pretty close to.
Mike

ps. since I named the bird how about IDing its meal

LOOKS like a Mullet to me.

[Lava Lamp]

These littel ones are confusing. Found him at the edge of woods leading to a salt marsh...

[paulnj]

That's a mockingbird.... not that little ;)

[mjs1973]

Eastern Pheobe is my educated guess

Baby robins. The only reason I know is because mom and dad made sure we kept some distance from them. Made grilling out on the back deck very interesting.

[paulnj]

Well..... I was close

[mjs1973]

Well..... I was close

Yes you were, and your skills just amaze me!

[Mike T]

Another bird from down in Florida
Mike

[paulnj]

Do you know what it is.... I do

Prairie warbler

[paulnj]

Yes you were, and your skills just amaze me!

Why thank you, but I must admit my skills are getting foggy from lack of birding this year.

[JSPhoto]

This should be easy for you Paul...... I hear there are several in the woods below, so I'm going to spend some time there next week and see if I can get some GOOD sshots... unlike this one.

JS

[paulnj]

Well..... only a redtailed hawk "kites" like that ;)

Hawks in general are secretive in nature(as are most wild animals), so getting close will take patience and a bit of luck ;)

My suggestion is the approach B moose Peterson used in the beginning in his camaro..... drive around and watch ahead. KILL the engine and coast up to your subject while still being innn you mobile blind It does work sometimes on perched hawks.

Another way(my favorite) is to find a hillside clearing and wait for the area hawks to come by. KNOWING your subject( it's habits, flight pattern, favorite perches, hunting grounds...) is just as important in wildlife as it is in sports

[JSPhoto]

I knew you'd get it... lol, even with that bad shot. It was a 100% crop of a raw file from the 28-300mm lens, so it was about 390mm (1.3 on the MKII N sensor). The woods where they live are very small, maybe 8 acres at most. No hills as such, Indiana is flat, and this area is all corn/soybean fields.
I guess I'll just have to spend some time waiting on them to see where they go and when. The guy says there may be as many as 5 of them.

JS

[paulnj]

Well..... they are migrating right now, but very well may stay in your area(some stay here year round)

Since you have corn/soy field, you WILL get harriers and roughlegged hawks wintering if the conditions are right. Also if the fields are VAST enough, many hundreds of acres , you may get short eared owls this winter hunting as the sun drops low ;)


Chinook Mines in Clay County Indiana in december/ january will give you a good chance at all 3 species ;) I love google !

[paulnj]

Back by popular demand !!!

OK, Since I want people to learn....

Let's see who can ID this

It's 1/3RD the frame BTW to make EVERY field mark visible

[paulnj]

I want a PERFECT ID too ;)

I will give it a few days or 2 CORRECT perfect ID's ;)

[JSPhoto]

Hmmm, Interesting... I have been looking for somewhere to go. I never heard of Chinhook Mines before...I'll look that up! I had heard that Patoka Lake in Southern Indiana has Bald Eagles, and in February they have a big deal there and a day for spotting them where a lot of people show up. It's on the Indiana DNR site for Patoka Lake and C52 website which is a site for a captive Bald Eagle. This Bald Eagle was born with a defect in its wing (s) and cannot fly.
C52's Website: http://www.in.gov/dnr/c52/HowToSpot.html

In the years I have lived in Indiana I saw one owl, twice, two days apart. This past summer I had one in my back yard but could not find it. I also have woodpeckers that I cannot find no matter what I do. I see their holes though! I have pine trees in front and in back of my property, and behind that is a 17 acre field (corn this year), across the street is a 324 acre farm field as well. I'm out in farm country, for maybe 5 more years, then the developements will be here too .

Thanks for the info Paul, I'll check it out!

JS

[mjs1973]

Thanks for the homework Paul. This will give me a chance to test out my new bird book. I did get the Smithsonian book I was asking about in my other thread from earlier this week. Only bad thing with this assignment is that now I'm afraid to read the rest of the posts in this thread because I don't want any help IDing this bird.

[srobb]

I want a PERFECT ID too ;)

I will give it a few days or 2 CORRECT perfect ID's ;)

Without going through the whole thread and ruining my chances, I would say on first guess that it is a Coopers Hawk.

[mjs1973]

OK, Since I want people to learn....

Let's see who can ID this

It's 1/3RD the frame BTW to make EVERY field mark visible

My uneducated guess is Accipiter striatus aka Sharp-shinned Hawk.

[paulnj]

Well february is the beginning of nesting season for raptors ;), which is why they do it then. Great horned owls fledge from the nest in may, while some eaglecmay fledge as late as early july(unless in FL where they double clutch at times). If you have open water in your area in winter(lakes, big rivers... DAM OVERFLOWS!!) You should be able to find an eagle there if fishing is good) I go to the hudson river NYC parks, Rio res. near port jervis NY and the Conawingo dam in maryland to see eagles in winter(if time permits) I usually can find 30 + in a day in NY and 30-150 in maryland if conditions are right)