As always, the “Just for Fun Avian ID Quiz” is brought to you by Jory Langner, our esteemed Avian Quizmaster. This quiz will not have an answer post, because, well, it really doesn’t need one. And if you don’t know what bird Jory is describing here, well, go back through the last week of posts here on 10,000 Birds.
Last week, no electricity meant no quiz. I live outside of Albany NY where we had an ice storm. Tens of thousands of homes and businesses had no electricity for many days, hence last week’s quiz went missing. And we froze for a few days.
Now on to the quiz.
Rules are the same: ABA codes 1-3 only, the questions that need to be answered are at the end of the list of clues. The answer will be posted in a few days.
Clues:
- Both Corey and Rich, the people I called on Thursday while watching this bird, asked for pictures, knowing full well that I don’t have a camera.
- Corey is quite jealous that I’ve seen this bird. He has a great camera and takes great pictures.
- Rich has already seen this species in NY before and didn’t accompany me. He also has a great camera and takes great pictures.
- I understand that this species is fairly common on its home turf. However it rarely comes to NY, it comes by itself, and is not recorded each year here. So this bird is big news in our area, especially for those birders with cameras.
- Very bright yellow eyes. If I had a camera, the pictures I would have taken would have shown this feature quite well.
- Once it’s here, it usually stays for most of the winter. So if I actually do get a camera and I’m lucky enough, I might be able to return and take some of my own pictures.
- Originally spotted on Tuesday, people from hundreds of miles away have already seen this bird, taken pictures of it and posted them on the internet.
- It’s easily seen. Even through the viewfinder of a camera.
- My guess is that local residents have problems with small rodents. I’d bet those residents don’t take pictures of the rodents.
- The ever-pithy Pete Dunn says “(it) sits, like a Christmas tree ornament, at the very tip of stunted spruce trees.” Now who doesn’t take pictures at Christmas?
- My brother has not seen this bird and probably has never birded. He often pokes fun at me for birding. Yet even he is urging me to purchase a camera. Probably to take pictures of things which do not include birds.
QUESTION: What camera would you suggest that I buy? My inclination is towards something small enough to fit in my pocket and is great for taking pictures of birds (probably with a very powerful optical zoom and with sufficient megapixels).
Oh, I almost forgot…BONUS QUESTION: Without giving away the species, give a pertinent fact or story you have of this species.
And a CORRECTION:
After long discussions plus some additional research with others, a much more knowledgeable and scientifically adept friend has verified that the questions and answers given in the quiz from two weeks ago on bird respiration were basically correct. Although there are some additional details, which I won’t delve into here. If anyone is interested in further information, feel free to drop me an email at langnerj AT earthlink.net.
One additional thing I’ve learned is that it seems birds get oxygen into their lungs on both inhalation and exhalation.
Cheers, good birding, and good breathing.
Is it the [bird name redacted by the editor]?
Jory, have you looked into digibinning? If you can find the right point-and-shoot camera to take shots through one of the barrels of your binoculars, you can get tremendous shots with a little, pocket-size camera. This is something I’d like to try this year too – the Canon Rebel and lens get bulky at times!
Regarding the bird, I fairly certain I’ve never seen one of them but if I had, I’d definitely have taken pictures.
One of the Bloggerhead Kingbirds has a affinity for this bird, if I’m correct.
As for a camera, I have this Panasonic one and I’m happy with it. It’s got 10 megapix so even though you have to crop occasionally the pics come out nice. And the 10x zoom is the biggest available in a point and shoot. I’ve been able to take some nice pictures through my scope too.
Boo, I’m mistaken. It’s not 10 megapix, only 7.2. But that’s not bad.
I’m not a Panasonic salesman either, but I do like my camera.
I have a story that I think relates to this bird… I traveled to Duluth, MN in February 2005 to see an invasion of this species and one other prominent species. I saw 18 of them in a 2-day span. It was amazing. Also, this bird is very familiar to me in one specific way…
Patrick – 18 in one day! That’s a good day indeed. And what is that one specific way?
Nate – I like the idea of a 10X optical zoom on a small camera. I’ll look into it once the malls clear out.
Mike – The pictures others have taken, very nice. I’ve tried my small camera through the scope, but the quality isn’t what I’d hope for, surely not publishable on 10000birds. I’ll try digibinning later today, see what I come up with.
Tralac – the editor got to your post quickly!
@Jory: Take a look at Patrick’s blog and the one specific way will be amazingly obvious.
I know the answer to this quiz and I have seen one in New York as well (about 5 years ago). Hint: there is a picture of one on my blog as well. Another Hint: Its name calls it two different things, but only one of those names is accurate.
As for a camera, I fell in love with digital SLR’s. I have a Minolta, which does just fine at about half the cost of a Cannon or other major name. Best bet is to pick a price range and check out the after christmas sales. Circuit City is in financial trouble, so they have some awesome deals going right now. However I know you have a good scope, so I would do some research on what pocket cameras are best for digiscoping.
@Corey,Patrick – Well, it took me about 3 tries and 15 minutes on Patrick’s blog to finally find the OBVIOUS. I had even performed a few searches on Patrick’s blog to no avail.
The only place I have see this bird is Yosemite National Park, and I was very lucky.
I recently bought a Canon SX10 IS. It has 10 mp, a 20x optical zoom and image stabilization. The digital zoom, which is not always reliable, is something like 60x. I bought a generic belt case for it, and like all Canon products it takes fabulous photos. It gets those shots that are too close to digiscope but too far for the normal 3-4x optical zoom point and shoots. It’s no good for digiscoping, but I can always put my other Canon A630 on the other side of my belt. They retail for about $400 but you can get one for less.
Oops. I did NOT see this bird in Yosemite. It was in Alaska.
No further advice on the camera, but I’ve got a story about my trip to see a previous NY one (presumably the same one Will’s talking about). I got there, saw the bird, and returned safely, but let’s just say I found out the hard way to make sure side roads aren’t still iced over when the main road is fine. Luckily, I ended up doing an almost perfect 180, so I could very smoothly pull across, let the car that was now behind me pass, and then turn around and resume the trip. I found the crowd watching the bird and then got home without further major incident.
@Jack- searching the internet I keep seeing the Canon SX10 as an excellent ‘ultrazoom’. 20X optical is the low end of my scope, so I understand your comments well. Maybe something like this is a good start before starting digiscoping.
@Will, I’ll check your camera! Good tip about Circuit City.