Like Dale, I'm struggling a lot with time commitments now, so I'd rather not take responsibility for a main task, but I've got several years worth of falcon watch photos, with perhaps some stories to go with them, if anyone puts out a call for those.  

I've also got some falcon haiku, falcon limericks, and falcon poetry (which include some of DJ's creations) that I collected over a year or two ending in May 2007.  I'm sure I didn't get all of them, but I grabbed my favorites to a document that I still have, if that's useful, either as entertainment or history.  

I could also do something in the wee morning hours like help proof-read or edit (English major, ya' know...), if there is any need for that.

Of the latest ones submitted, I like numbers 95, 99, and 113-114

Carol, do you have any idea what sort of help you'll be wanting? 

both Oxpecker and Oystercatcher need to be cut off by the caffeine bartender.
Check out those eyes. They are wired and overserved.

Owls, Patti?

the spectacled owl is EXCELLENT

I've got owls...barn owl in tucson

dale

Hey Dale...I think it's just the way that shadow cuts across the middle of your eye, but in this photo you also look like perhaps you need to have your caffeine cut off!    In what fun place in Tucson did you get to play with owls?

Patti

[O]

O is for Owl...I already posted a Barred Owl under the B's, a Great Gray Owl and a Great Horned Owl under the G's, but I'll destroy my own precedent and post some Owls under the generic O.

The first is a Spectacled Owl, taken in Peru at the Tambopata research center.  I had an excellent birding guide who knew this owl's favorite daytime roosts, and managed to find one!

The second is a Western Screech Owl, taken in Southeast Arizona (a park in Tuscon).  My birding guide on that trip played the Owl's call, and he came flying out to defend his territory.

[O]

And here is one more Oystercatcher contribution:  this is a pair of Variable Oystercatchers, which are endemic to New Zealand. 

The "variable" in their name refers to their frontal plumage, according to Wikipedia, which can be pied or mottled or solid black, as in these birds.

[O]

I know there are folks on this forum who have much better pictures than this, so please, post away! 

O is for Osprey.

The in-flight photo was taken at the Hawkwatch platform in Cape May...there were many Osprey hunting there.  We saw one episode where a Bald Eagle chased after an Osprey who had just caught a fish, and forced the Osprey to drop the fish, where it was plucked up by the eagle.

The second photo we took in Florida last winter; the Merritt Island NWR and the national seashore was full of Osprey!

[O]

O is for Ovenbird

Ovenbird: Medium, ground walking warbler...
Anne in Toronto

I love Ovenbirds!  They're really hard to see, generally, since they're always on the ground and often well camouflaged.  We usually only find them when they're singing to advertise their territory, usually in the Smoky Mountains.  We saw one there who flew in front of us and did a dramatic broken-wing display, so we assumed we must be near a nest.

Patti

[O]

I wanted to add to Gayle's photos of the American Oystercatcher, 'cause I have an interesting shot of one about to devour some prey.

We took this photo on the Island of James (Santiago) in the Galapagos.  We watched the Oystercatcher hammer the heck out of this unfortunate sea urchin until the bird could get to the animal inside.

Anne, first, thanks for posting your thoughts.  I wanted to respond to a few of your comments.

I understand how you might have been hurt by the suggestions on the Logo thread to avoid disparaging remarks, but as MAK said, I don't think they were directed at your comments.  MAK's reply was a followup to Lou's, who specifically encouraged us not to post "sarcastic" comments.  And though sarcastic comments are why we love some of our members, Lou's suggestion was well taken, and I didn't think it was in response to your post or any of the posts giving constructive feedback. That's not to say that your feelings aren't valid; obviously they are, and we've seen many times in this forum and in life in general, that we all bring our personal and cultural assumptions, biases, and mental models to any dialogue, and two people can read or participate in the same exchange and come away with two entirely different understandings.

I also think that asking forum members for feedback on the logo choices was a way to give members a say in the group.  In any group of nearly 600 members (and a vast army of camera/video watchers who aren't members), there have to be leaders and committees and people who keep us organized and steer the direction.  I have felt that when there is an opportunity to solicit group involvement and feedback, they try and do that, but perhaps my feeling is different from yours because I don't have much time to be heavily involved, and looking at forum logos and providing minimal feedback is about all I'm really able to do (in that specific example).  To Carol's point, they do occasionally ask for volunteers for specific tasks (EI's maps, for example, or help with family tree software).  I know I volunteered one year (long time ago) to take a shift gathering data for one of the charts (incubating or feeding).  There's a call for a volunteer now over in the "2010 Holiday Cards" thread.  It's hard to make a democracy out of a large and always evolving group; members' ability to give of themselves changes over time.  But the process (polling) that resulting in keeping Beauty's original unofficial name was certainly an example of the "leadership" letting consensus win.

I think there are lots of things that might contribute to lost members and a sense of dislocation...losing the nest on the Kodak Tower was certainly the start of a bad time; Mariah's loss of her territory and a year without a successful nest probably made it hard to hold the interest of a lot of members who primarily came to watch the leetle falcons grow up.  The change in forums probably left folks feeling like they'd lost one home and didn't feel quite comfortable in the new one.  I do think people's lives change: their priorities change, the amount of free time they have changes, and perhaps their interests change.  I think there may be people who have "moved on" for these reasons, and even when we add new members, the absence of our old friends makes us feel that the community is dimished.

The change in forum structure was probably another factor...though once I learned to use the "Show unread posts" link liberally as my navigation method, I actually learned to prefer this forum style.   It lets me, like Donna, read ALL the posts, but read them in context.  I'm also much more likely to respond to a thread now, because I tend to catch up on posts late at night (or in the wee hours of the morning).  On the old forum I would start from where I left off the night before, and might see a post I wanted to respond to...but by the time I got to the end of the day's postings, the conversation might have moved on to several other topics, and I wouldn't necessarily feel comfortable interrupting a current topic to address an old one.  With the "threaded" style, I feel like it doesn't matter if I respond to a message that is hours or days old, because I'm not interrupting any other topic, and my message will make sense within the context of that thread.  Of course, the threads themselves have a tendency to wander away from the original topic...so that's another issue...but since I read all the posts I just go with the flow!


But, all that said, the most important thing is that you continue to stick around and make your usual intelligent, insightful, interesting contributions to these discussions!

Patti

Thanks!  I had seen the original video, but this one was a vast improvement!

[N]

One more "N" entry:  Nuthatch!  Despite having plenty of White-breasted Nuthatches in Kentucky, I've never managed to take a picture of one.  I do have this photo, which is of a Pygmy Nuthatch, taken in Bryce Canyon National Park.

And my last "Northern" bird:  The Northern Mockingbird...which already appeared under the "M" list, but I just dug these photos up!

The first is a photo of a fledgling I took while my sisters and I were birding a local wildlife park; the second is a photo I took in the backyard during the last severe ice storm.

N is also for Northern Harrier (there are a lot of "Northern" birds that could appear under the letter N, as well as by their common "last names").

I took this photo in Cape May; it's a juvenile Northern Harrier soaring over the marshes there.

[P]

N stands for Northern Parula, a lovely warbler I was blessed to see, among other places, in the warbler migration haven that is Ottawa NWR on Lake Erie.