Birding/Birdwatching Discussion Topic

[ken_ohio]

Here in Northeast Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie, we enjoy the ducks, gulls, owls and other birds that come down from the Arctic and Canada to visit our area in winter. I see that a lot of your observations are near the south coast. Do you get some seabirds from the south that come to southern Australia during your winter?

[hartla4]

We get a lot of cool birds! In January I went down to the Murray Mouth and we drove along the beach. I saw Pied and Black Oystercatchers, terns and gulls! That was fun, but I don’t live close enough to the coast to see what birds we get in winter, but last summer when I went to the beach I saw a black shouldered kite hunting!

[nikthecowboy]

Wow!!! Those are all amazing! Great work!

[kierabriscoe]

Had an immature Cooper’s Hawk in my garage last summer. We opened the garage and he managed to get out safely.

Cooper’s Hawk (Astur cooperii) from Layton, UT, USA on July 10, 2025 at 01:37 PM by kierabriscoe. This little guy was in my garage. · iNaturalist

[hartla4]

How did he get in in the first place?

[kierabriscoe]

The garage door was left open and he flew in because it was shady when it was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

[jarvo]

You said he little, perhaps he thought he was a Mini Cooper .

[GothHobbit]

Well played, my friend. Well played.

[cooldood]

ring-necked duck (Aythya collaris)

[redeft23]

Yellow-bellied sapsucker - first one this year for me.

Golden-crowned kinglet

Mallards

Brown creeper

[nikthecowboy]

Saw a nesting black chinned hummingbird today! (I was using a 400mm lens, to give her lots of space)

[lauranaturaleza]

I have the same experience.

1. They dont allow me to make my place a hotspot. When other places with less observations than mine are public and open. Mine is hidden. Even when requesting.
2. They don’t accept my “odd observations” even tho I don’t report anything on ebird I havent reported on Inat first. I even put links. And they even then dont approve. Personally I find it frustrating.

This is why i prefer Inat. If i see a bird, take a pic. Upload. There is evidence. No one can not say me the bird wasnt there.

[terrybb]

Prothonotary Warbler

Blue Jay

Pileated Woodpecker

American Goldfinch

[redeft23]

Great find, hummingbird nests are tiny.

[nikthecowboy]

The nest is right next to a pretty popular walking trail in my area, I’m hoping not too many other people have noticed it as I don’t want her to get stressed.

[GothHobbit]

A couple of days ago, I had to run some errands and—on a whim—took my camera with me. I hadn’t gotten all the way down the driveway when I spotted a little Downy Woodpecker in one of our trees; the first one that I’ve seen in the yard! Had Flickers a time or two, but not any of the Piebalds. Got some photos of him, which are in the (stupid huge) editing queue.

[donna165]

A (Western) Brown Honeyeater in my garden. Probably the most common bird. Darwin, Australia.

[cooldood]

Bufflehead

[whistlingduck]

It’s started

Have any of y’all had any good spring migrants?

I’ve been heavily birding Laurel Creek Conservation Area, a great birding spot by my house this month, and have found two first records for the spot, being Lapland Longspur (https://ebird.org/checklist/S312539676) and Forster’s Tern (https://ebird.org/checklist/S319369770). To put this into perspective, Laurel Creek is the top hotspot in my country, so a first record isn’t easy! I got good shots of neither, but I did get this photo of my first Warbler of the season, a Butterbutt.

[terrybb]

So far, I’ve seen and photographed a Yellow-rumped and a Prothonotary Warbler, and I’ve seen but not photographed an Indigo Bunting. The Merlin app has heard a Yellow-throated Warbler several times, but I’ve not seen it. I’m in NE Oklahoma.