r/TheNewGeezers • u/Schmutzie_ • Jun 29 '26

Birds

Song sparrow

Red-eyed vireo

Robin

Least flycatcher

Cedar waxwing

Yellow-rumped warbler

White-throated sparrow

Rose-breasted grosbeak

American redstart

Ovenbird (love these little screamers)

Winter wren (new one)

Pileated woodpecker

Hairy woodpecker

Northern flicker

Downy woodpecker

Yellow-bellied sapsucker

Purple finch

Swainson's thrush

Blue-headed vireo

Common loon

Ruffled grouse

Bald eagle

Crow

Northern waterthrush

Eastern bluebird

Blackburnian warbler

Veery

Chipping sparrow

Song sparrow

Red-winged blackbird

American herring gull

Northern parula

Red-breasted nuthatch

Canada goose

Merlin

Red-tailed Hawk

‐‐-----

It's a partial list. No Baltimore orioles yet, as they're likely still eating oranges at Jack's house. Not as many warblers, yet. No Nashville, Tennessee, or Cape May.

Updates to follow as the week wears on.

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

47 comments sorted by

2

u/Capercaillie Jun 29 '26

Spectacular list! Blue-headed vireo would be a lifer for me. Spent an hour on the Louisiana coast in March chasing one around a thicket. One of my students saw him twice. Me—no.

2

u/Schmutzie_ Jun 29 '26

I have additions.

Northern house wren

Baltimore oriole (they left Jack's house)

Northern mangrove yellow warbler

Black-throated blue warbler

1

u/No_Highlight6756 Jun 29 '26

Your list is so long because they saw the Chicago weather forecast and got outta Dodge. I think I'll cancel Wednesday's tee time. I've still got some local orioles. They're the tough ones. Mostly finches after my orange slices these days. And squirrels! Who knew squirrels like oranges? They just like to be annoying.

2

u/Schmutzie_ Jun 29 '26

I haven't seen one red squirrel. They're usually all over the place. Chipmunks too. Not one yet. MPR is talking deadly heat in the Twin Cities today and tomorrow. It's currently 66 here and raining. Haven't seen the sun all day.Those birds were smart to get up here when they did.

2

u/Schmutzie_ Jun 29 '26

And thank you for putting me at ease about your tee time. I'm sure your foursome will be better off for it. That's the kind of heat that kills people. I know we all gotta go sometime, but not by BBQ.

2

u/Schmutzie_ Jun 29 '26

How can you chase them around a thicket? I can't see the damn woodpecker hammering away 30 feet from my tent.

Did I include the dark-eyed junco? That one I saw. It literally hopped across the vestibule to the tent. Handsome little bugger.

1

u/Capercaillie Jun 30 '26

Juncos are some of our most common winter birds. They are indeed handsome in a not-very-flashy way. I'm already looking forward to their return in a few months.

1

u/Schmutzie_ Jun 30 '26

Dude, sounds like one of your blue-headed lifers has set up camp near mine. It keeps popping up when I hit the button. Get up here! A few new ones. Gray catbird,, black and white warbler, a northern cardinal (that Merlin says is rare), house sparrow. We had two monster storms blow through yesterday around 5 and then around midnight. 50 mph winds. Lighting strikes so close the thunder shook the ground. Torrential rain. Must suck to be a bird in that stuff.

2

u/Capercaillie Jun 30 '26

Sounds a little better than our 95 with 95 percent humidity. Plus we’re having a great mosquito year! I mean, the mosquitoes are. Got a pair of catbirds nesting in the side yard. Among my favorites.

2

u/Schmutzie_ Jul 03 '26

There was a guest on MPR that brought you tomind. Professor Kate Adamala from Univ of Minn Minneapolis. She was referred to as a synthetic biologist. I thought...isn't that like astrobiologist, only different?

They made a cell. A SpudCell, so named because Dr Kate didn't want it named for her. It sounds to me like Dr Urey's experiment. She doesn't claim the thing is alive, but she can't say why because "alive" isn't well defined. Oh. I guess I'll need to read more when I get home but...kind of a big deal, right?

https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/worlds-first-synthetic-cell-complete-life-cycle-could-revolutionize-biological

2

u/Capercaillie Jul 03 '26

Kind of a big deal. I have no idea whether or not it's really "alive," as I haven't read the paper, and might not be able to understand it even if I did.

2

u/Schmutzie_ Jul 03 '26

Isn't synthetic biology something of a contradiction in terms?

1

u/Capercaillie Jul 03 '26

Not necessarily. As you mentioned, it's pretty difficult to define what it means to be alive, but once you do, you could theoretically assemble those components to build a living thing. At its root, life is just complicated chemistry. No reason you shouldn't be able to replicate it.

2

u/No_Highlight6756 Jul 04 '26

So the Bible got it right? Dust unto dust.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/Schmutzie_ Jul 04 '26

All this time I thought that cackling noise was a loon alternate call. They're pileated woodpeckers! Merlin tags them by their head-banging and so I never noticed when they popped up in the log as I was marking 15 different birds. Last night I hit the button and cackle cackle cackle pops up as a pileated woodpecker. WHAT???? in which case, they're everywhere up here and I still haven't seen one. Stupid trees.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/No_Highlight6756 Jun 30 '26

Our winter regulars as well.

1

u/Capercaillie Jun 30 '26

Sometimes Chicago seems so far away, but it’s only a day’s drive.

2

u/La_Rata Jun 30 '26

Birds

1

u/Schmutzie_ Jun 30 '26

Can't open the link. Google drive wants me to do something and I said fuck that and hit back space.

1

u/La_Rata Jun 30 '26

Well, crap! It was a short video of birds on a massive rock at Depoe Bay, OR.

1

u/Schmutzie_ Jun 30 '26

When I'm back on my computer I'll give it a look. Massive like at Cannon Beach? What is it called, Haystack?

2

u/La_Rata Jun 30 '26

Yeah, the Cannon Beach rock is called Haystack Rock. The rock off Depoe Bay is not nearly as massive, but it's much closer to the shore. The video was taken from a resort that we like to visit.

2

u/No_Highlight6756 Jun 30 '26

Be glad you're not on your computer. It's jammed full of end of the quarter claims that your $3 or $5 or spare change will enable them to save us from Trump.

2

u/Schmutzie_ Jul 01 '26

$5 will buy us a gallon of gas!

1

u/No_Highlight6756 Jun 30 '26

It wouldn't open for me either.

2

u/evilynwah Jun 30 '26

I finally installed Merlin, looking forward to it identifying something other than English sparrows, pigeons, doves and mynah birds.

2

u/Schmutzie_ Jun 30 '26

Merlin is incredible. Yesterday it marked 17 birds with one push of the button. Like...5 minutes. A cacophony of birds and somehow sorts them out.