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hookem2010

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by hookem2010

  1. Attwater prairie chicken refuge is a great spot, as Swayze mentioned. There are some spots in the Katy prairie, if it hasn't all been developed, like chain of lakes park. Brazos Bend SP is great, easy to see large birds. Cullinan park in sugar land is also good. Edith L Moore in late April-early May is the place to go for spring migration.
  2. I just got back from a Mexico trip and was able to escape for a morning to a guided tour near the Muyil ruins. It was my first ever guided tour and nobody else signed up, so I was 1-on-1 with the guide, which was great (minus the additional cost). We saw 80 species in about 5 hours, which is tough to do when you're birding in the the forest/forest edges the entire time and not around a large body of water. Unfortunately, I'm not a photographer, but we saw some incredible stuff including 2 species of motmot, 2 trogon species, aracari (mini-toucan), 3 parrot species, 4 oriole species, 3 hummingbird species and a crazy looking bird called a royal flycatcher. The guide, Miguel, was incredible. He finds things by ear that I would never even notice and spent 10 years in the states, so speaks great English. I'd recommend Amar Aves birding to anyone visiting the Yucatan with an interest in birds or other wildlife. Also, here's a ferruginous pygmy-owl from the resort.
  3. Seconded, would lean red-shouldered hawk. That's incredible!
  4. Pretty crazy that with just a couple hundred years of "progress", we're going to do more damage to the planet than an enormous fucking meteorite. I don't know if it's more depressing that we are dumb enough to get to this point, or that so few people seem to give a shit.
  5. The Nikon warranty is great. I was pretty sure my vision was turning to shit when I maxed out the diopter and still couldn't get a clear focus. I tested a new pair of the same model in a store and didn't have an issue, so I must have sat on them or dropped them and forgotten about it. Sent them to Nikon and got the eyepiece fixed in a week or two for just the cost of shipping. Celestron has also sent me scope replacement parts for free without any hassle.
  6. I've got Nikon Monarch 5 10×42 and think they're great. I don't think you're going to get much higher quality unless you jump up to the $1,000+ really fancy stuff. Kind of like Doug, I've got a cheap scope but don't love scope birding, unless I'm targeting a specific rarity. I think its the Celestron Ultima 20-60. A lot of superglue has gone into holding the base of the scope and the cheap ass tripod together over the last 5 years, although that may be partially due to leaving it in the trunk occasionally during the summer. Whoops. I think my next local adventure will be heading to Granger Lake for short-eared owl. Super cool bird, and apparently up to a dozen winter around there.
  7. Saw my 300th species in Travis county today. First county record of acorn woodpecker (the inspiration for woody woodpecker), way out in Pace Bend. Next weekend, I leave for Mexico. Hopefully I'll be seeing toucans, motmots and other cool tropical shit I've never seen before.
  8. If you live near a decent-sized body of water, look up during the winter. Had a bald eagle soaring over a neighborhood in Round Rock today. They aren't uncommon in Texas during the winter anymore, which may be news to some of you olds. They are one of the few species that was much more scarce a few decades ago.
  9. Just wanted to give you all the possible reps.
  10. Getting a close look at a kingfisher is very difficult. Finding and seeing them is not so hard, given how loud and distinctive their rattle is, but they don't hang around for extended binocular views or photos. I remember thinking it was so cool that we had kingfishers in Texas when I first started birding. They seemed more tropical or exotic to me for some reason.
  11. Why do teams in this position not burn more clock? 54 seconds with 2 timeouts is still a good amount of time to get in FG range
  12. I'm just thrilled to not have to watch another final with Georgia, Alabama or Clemson in it.
  13. Because we can't go more than 2 months without a health crisis, my 7 month-old has Covid. He was scheduled for his 2nd shot this coming week too. I've never seen him so miserable, even after his surgeries. Poor guy is just dripping snot with temp hovering around 101, even with alternating motrin and Tylenol. Looks like I'll be up to ring in the new year!
  14. Feeling better a few days on antibiotics, but shit hit the fan for my wife and 7 month-old last night. Turns out we all have Covid. I tested negative twice a couple weeks ago so not sure if thats the shit I've been dealing with the entire time or not.
  15. Came down with a cough, sore throat, body aches and chills after traveling to NOLA over Thanksgiving. A week into it, I got put on some cough medicine and a steroid, which mostly helped and by 2 weeks into it, all I had was a lingering cough at night. A couple times the cough got briefly worse without any other symptoms, until yesterday. The cough came back with a vengeance, along with chills, sweats and body aches. Started a Z-pack yesterday and I really hope that does the trick. This shit sucks. I don't think I've cumulatively been sick for this long in my adult life.
  16. A piece of shit woman abuser/trafficker and a teenager who wants a livable planet. Totally equivalent
  17. Merlin is great, better at confirming suspected birds than being solely reliant on it. Anybody developing a serious interest in birding should get on eBird. No better way to find out where you can expect to find things. That's how my interest really took off.
  18. My little guy is now almost 7 months old. He had to undergo 3 surgeries for the same thing, a minor problem, but one that required a good amount of post-op care and was obviously very stressful and scary for us. We're nearly 2 months out from the last procedure and seem to be in the clear. AND he's now sleeping through the night. He army crawled across the rug last night, so shit is about to get dialed up to 11. If his constant restlessness is any indication, he's not going to stop moving once he gets started.
  19. I'm obviously not a photographer, but here is a picture of the first ever US record of bat falcon from this January. I didn't find it, but made the 6-hour drive to the valley to see it, along with 2 other birds rarely seen in the States. Got to enjoy it for all of about 60 seconds before someone drove past and honked, scaring it off for the rest of the day. Good thing I left the house at 2:00 AM instead of 2:02. Such a reasonable, rational hobby...
  20. Barn owl x2 White-tailed hawk Red-shouldered hawk Wilson's warbler Cedar waxwing Scissor-tailed flycatcher Dickcissel Red-shouldered hawk Red-headed woodpecker Black-bellied whistling duck Barred owl Great horned owl Leucistic red-tailed hawk?? (Incredible!)
  21. If you're truly getting interested in birds, you should take a trip down to Anahuac NWR. Lots of large birds that are easy to see and ID in huge numbers during the winter. Thousands of snow geese, tons of ducks, and raptors (peregrines,bald eagles, kites, harriers, etc.)
  22. Red-tailed would have a mostly white chest with slight streaking across the belly and red-shouldered would not have the dark cap.
  23. Thats probably a coopers hawk, could be a sharp-shinned. Not a red-tailed or red-shouldered. Note the reddish barring on the chest/belly and dark cap. They are little bird hunters and like to stalk feeders.
  24. Since we're already off topic, I think some people might be confused about who is generally keeping them alive during their gastric bypass.
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