Oh, Donna!!!!  That just about covers my bird watching experiences!!!!  What I am waiting for is for the bird to have a speaker and say "I am an eagle."  It just might be the only way I can easily identify them!

Me too jeanne...I told MAK a few weeks ago, I saw a tiny little brown bird. I've never seen one before, (what else is new)? So I googled "tiny little brown bird"... and I got hundreds of entries and still none of them were what I saw.    Yeah, so...uh huh.

Donna, you googled it all wrong.  Don't you remember the REAL name of that bird?  Siobhan Ruck told us the official name on the Yahoo board YEARS ago.  It's an LBJ bird...Little brown job... 

It's amazing that Orville hasn't been buried yet. 

They have been doing some SERIOUS digging in that gravel!  Look at the pile behind her!

You sure you didn't put some sort of floats on Orville?  He always seems to rise back up to the top 

Can't hide from us Beauty.

They have been doing some SERIOUS digging in that gravel!  Look at the pile behind her!

This is one of Lloyd's prothonotary pics...

Maybe a Blue-winged warbler...but what do I know?

The yellow coloring is right, but the blue winged has a dark stripe from beak to eye...the mystery bird doesn't.

I'm still not convinced I'm right, though.  Something about the shape of the face...

It's the little details I fail to look at. Your a better birder Ei. 

People pointing out the little details I missed is how I learned...keep pacticing!

[whole section just on warblers]

what about a yellow warbler

This one's a possibility too, but I was checking the gallery of Lloyd Spitalnik for possibilities-he takes a lot of great photos in Central Park & has a whole section just on warblers-and all the front views he has of the yellow warbler show reddish brown streaks on the breast...

 

Looks like a peregrine at the Sheraton

Pretty sure it's Rhea Mae this time...

Did they switch?  Hard to tell.  Someone's been there all afternoon...

Looks like a peregrine at the Sheraton

Pretty sure it's Rhea Mae this time...

I found them!  Driving in to work this morning there were so many starlings they were spilling off the wires and out into the road!

Maybe a Blue-winged warbler...but what do I know?

The yellow coloring is right, but the blue winged has a dark stripe from beak to eye...the mystery bird doesn't.

I'm still not convinced I'm right, though.  Something about the shape of the face...

My first guess is prothonotary warbler, though the wings don't seem as gray as the picture-the female's wings are lighter.

From Cornell's All About Birds

male female


Adult Description

    * Large warbler, small songbird.
    * Head and chest deep yellow, almost orange.
    * Eyes black. Back greenish.
    * Wings gray and without wingbars.
    * Belly and undertail white.
    * White spots in tail.

Immature Description
Immature like adult, but duller and more greenish on back and head.

Any other thoughts?

 

Scarborough is where Linn was sighted a few years ago, isn't it?  There's a hack box on a building there if I recall correctly...

I've been keeping a list of bird-related myths for quite a while now.

For instance, less than 20 years ago it would be routine for me to hear someone state that hummingbirds didn't perch. I'm not sure where that one came from, maybe it's because you can't see their feet all that well when they fly. Or maybe it's because they belong to the order Apodiformes: 'A' meaning without, "pod" meaning feet. Of course hummingbirds do have feet, but they weren't made for walking. The best they can do is shimmy along a perch if they land too far away from the feeder hole. However they can use their stubby little legs to reach over a wing to scratch their heads.

Yup...hummers sure do perch.  I've been stalking the backyard birds today with my camera.  Not much luck until I decided to literally hang out the window.  All of a sudden I heard the unmistakable whir of hummer wings by my head.  Turned to see it perched on the clothesline and it actually stayed long enough for a picture...

Zeus is still alive with a mate and babies (at least this breeding year's babies)

I KNOW!  That's why I'm so    I've watched them for years and didn't make the connection!

[this]

Doing some research for a project...went into my research files & found this website.  I KNOW I've read the whole thing before.  Why did this fact never stick in my head?

Dennis Money: The project was initiated in 1994 when the Rochester Peregrine Falcon Project team bought ten falcons from Bob Anderson, who at that time lived in Minnesota. Later that summer Bob was so excited about the success of the program that he actually gave us two more falcons for free. Since that time, the Rochester falcons have spread their wings and have traveled all over the United States. We currently have falcons from 1994 still producing young in Omaha, Nebraska; Hartford, Connecticut; Cleveland, Ohio; and, of course, now, for the last four years, on top of Eastman Kodak headquarters. The project will continue as long as the birds grace the skies of North America.

Dennis Money: The other benefit of banding the birds is that we can identify who the birds are and where they originated from, even when they are still alive, and that's why we know where Cabot-Sirocco came from, where Amelia came from (Hartford, Connecticut), and also that Zeus is one of our males from 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Woodmen Falcon Family Tree

Nesting Pairs (with gender and band number):

The Zeus Years 1996-present
MALE    
Zeus
b. 1994
Rochester, NY