"birding" fun

[Don Boose]

You may well be right about the sparrow, Ash. Although what looks like a white bib in the photo is really a shadow. White throats are common in the winter and these may have been a couple of juveniles who hadn't begun the migration yet. At the time I made the i.d., I was pretty sure, but the yellow tinge over the eye does seem to be strong evidence. Thanks for the feedback.

Lil and I have now had our bear and, while it was a great experience to be so close to one, we will be happy if it confines itself to the woods in the future.

Don

[birder]

Hey Don that bear looks like he's done that before..."don't mind if I do"

[Gharbad]

Awesome bear sighting, though too bad about your feeders!!
Consider it the price of an at-home safari I guess

I agree about the white-throated. I think the only other contender for that is the white-crowned, and it's quite a bit different.
White-crowned Sparrow, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Speaking of sparrows, I got a cool shot of a Savannah the other day.



A female Yellow Warbler...



And a flying Great Egret, where the sky was completely saturated white but the bird remains decently exposed! I've switched to shooting fully manual, works way more reliably, like here... really surprised it came out.



Warblers are definitely tricky to get Glen. I've seen about a dozen species in the past few weeks and I only managed decent photos of Yellow's on 2 occasions, plus that single photo of the Nashville. I hunt each one for like 10 minutes or more and barely get 3 shots...

[Don Boose]

Thanks much, Kuba. As you point out (since there is no such thing as a black-capped sparrow) what I meant to say was "white-crowned." I must have been bedazzled by the bear (which has come back and is staring at me through the window from about one foot away).

Bottom line: I agree that it was a juvenile white-throat that confused me because it had no white throat, and the yellow mark only became visible when I blew up the image.

Your yellow warblers and egret make me long for Cape May, where both reside in the fall.

Don

[Gharbad]

Originally Posted by Don Boose

Thanks much, Kuba. As you point out (since there is no such thing as a black-capped sparrow) what I meant to say was "white-crowned." I must have been bedazzled by the bear (which has come back and is staring at me through the window from about one foot away).

Your yellow warblers and egret make me long for Cape May, where both reside in the fall.

Don

I was excited when raccoons where sitting in the tree beside my window, I'd love to be observing this bear Though of course, I'd also be hoping I have nothing out there it can damage!

Do you see Cape May Warblers at Cape May? I've never been...

[ashevilleangler]

Great photos guys! My camera never seems to be handy at the right time for such things. As for bears, I've probably had more close encounters than average due to lots of time backcountry flyfishing in New Mexico. Most fortunately were very brief resulting in the fast exit of the bear. On one occasion though I came way to close to a mama and two cubs who did not see or hear me most likely because I was in the middle of the stream and they were on the trail next to it. I did not want her to suddenly discover me at close range so I took a big chance and heaved a rock at them while they were still about twenty yards away. Mama looked at me, hesitated for a moment and then reluctantly left the trail and headed up the ridge with cubs in tow. I took a couple of deep breaths and went back to fishing.

Curt

[Don Boose]

My apologies for using the birding thread for a butterfly, but I do not think we have a butterfly or an insect thread (correct me if we do).

I would like to ask the group if any of you can identify the butterfly in the image below, which I took yesterday on our front sidewalk. A couple of these beautiful black and irridescent blue butterlies have been fluttering by our house for the past few days. We can't identify it, although it looks a little bit like a female Diana Fritillary (Speyeria diana) and a little like a Red Spotted Purple (Limenitis a. astyanax). But it does not look exactly like either one, and while I have spotted Red Spotted Purples on the Antietam battlefield, our butterfly books tell us that the Diana does not appear in Carlisle (although the recent warming trend may have brought them here). Any ideas?

Don

[SCEtoAUX]

Looks like a Red-spotted Purple.

There have been reports lately that a lot of southern butterflies in the USA have been spotted in the northern states. Some butterfly watchers have stated that they have seen some butterflies for the first time since they began watching, and have seen a large increase in some that have been scarce before.

[Ashrunner]

Originally Posted by Don Boose

My apologies for using the birding thread for a butterfly, but I do not think we have a butterfly or an insect thread (correct me if we do).

I would like to ask the group if any of you can identify the butterfly in the image below, which I took yesterday on our front sidewalk. A couple of these beautiful black and irridescent blue butterlies have been fluttering by our house for the past few days. We can't identify it, although it looks a little bit like a female Diana Fritillary (Speyeria diana) and a little like a Red Spotted Purple (Limenitis a. astyanax). But it does not look exactly like either one, and while I have spotted Red Spotted Purples on the Antietam battlefield, our butterfly books tell us that the Diana does not appear in Carlisle (although the recent warming trend may have brought them here). Any ideas?

Don

Colonel

I believe your butterfly is the Red-spotted Purple. One of the give-aways are the arrowhead shaped blue spots at the bottom of the wings. The Diana does not have that shape, instead, it has basically lines of blue.

But what confuses me is the white areas. They match those of the White Admiral and if you look closely at the center part of the upper wing lines, you will see faded white along the edge in the same spot the admiral has its white spots. Is it possible your butterfly is a hybrid between the purple and admiral? I don't know.

But I would like your permission to send the image to a butterfly list I am a member for their opinion. There are numerous experts on butterflies on the list and I am sure someone can provide a definitive answer to what exactly it is.

If you agree, is it possible for you to send me the full resolution image (the bigger it is, the better for the experts). You can send it to me at ashrunner at gmail dot com.

Whatever it is, its a nice photo. 8v)

Ash

[Don Boose]

Thanks, Ash, my old friend. The email is on the way. It's the best image I have, considering that I took the snap on the fly with my Nikon Coolpix P4, which I usually use to copy documents and images.

Don