catbird?
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gray_Catbird/id
Any idea on whether I've just somehow not noticed them ever before, or are they generally not common in NY?
I've been using this bird identifier app for idiots and it seems to work pretty well (though I'm not sure I would know if it didn't). I typed in the info you put in the OP and it came up with Gray Catbird (among other possibilities).
They're called catbirds, apparently, because they really do sound like cats.
We have a bird-identification lurker?
I do swear I tried the first couple of bird identification websites that popped up on google, but no luck.
5: "I'll be coked to the gills when I bump those old buzzards off."
Catbird! I knew that too. They also have a great rusty-coloured butt they flash at you as they fly away. One of my favourite birds and top of the list for 'birds to adapt into a costume using only fancy dress' (grey and black velvet? with a little hidden reddish patch)
They're pretty common but live in bushes so they are easy to miss.
We were able to figure out right away from whatsthatbug.com that we have giant resin bees.
Those aren't as scary as the gigantic 2" long black wasps one has been seeing around for the past few years.
Not that I have any credibility on New York birds after the hawk ID debacle, but NYC is in the heart of catbird country in the summer* (Jun-Jul past 10 years and current year) . But in the bushy parts, Have generally had a a few here for the past 5-6 years that hang out in the vegetable garden for the most part.
13: Well, if they're made of resin, I don't see what the concern is.
We get lots of catbirds on Cape Cod. They've got their annoying complaining cat meow, but they also have a charming burbling conversational song, and some mockingbird tendencies. And they're not too shy.
17. They are fucking HUGE and are nesting in our living room window frames.
19 was me. They really aren't the worst fucking huge bees to have infesting one's space, according to what we've read, but Jesus, they are immense and unsettling.
Those aren't as scary as the gigantic 2" long black wasps one has been seeing around for the past few years.
It's the Jews you hate, I thought, not the blacks or the wasps or some unholy combination of the two.
16: But in the bushy parts per hydrobatidae in 12. (I meant to add.)
If any archeologists are reading this 500 years from now, let them know that some people recognized that only gardening is more boring than birdwatching.
23: I regard my life and interests as an extended work of performance art piece irrefutably demonstrating the stark reality of existence. Underground Man and Antoine Roquentin seem like mere constructs of the imagination in comparison.
I appreciate--as will future archeologists--that some choose to revel in their illusions of relevance, purpose and contentment.
16: Interesting. Looking at the data from my neighborhood exactly, there does seem to be a trend -- the 'last ten years' has no hits before 2009, none in 2010, a few in 2011-2013, and then lots in 2014 and this year. But that could be an artifact of how long the site has been collecting data, or who uses it in my neighborhood.
Probably the real explanation is that I just never noticed one before, then I saw one, was puzzled by it, and now they pop out of the background for me. Distinctive little guys.
It may be that catbirds are becoming more common in the mid-Atlantic region. Something has to become more common. But they've always been common.
And I don't get out much, as you all know. So I'm paying attention to a very specific micro-environment -- in NYC, near a bunch of big parks -- which could have its own trends distinct from the mid-Atlantic region generally.
27: You should ask the Inwood birder.
Could be. Only in the last half-dozen years have I seen them routinely in my yard; before that I'd generally only see them in my neighborhood in the park down the street.
I feel like maybe they used to be similarly common to mockingbirds, which are close relatives. And now they're a lot more common.
You should come up with any pretense to ask the Inwood birder anything. He looks super cool.
only gardening is more boring than birdwatching
This is not immediately obvious to me, but it's fine. I'm glad that when I was sick and not sure if it was worth planting anything this year I decided to add some plants anyway. They're beautiful and I'll get to stick around to enjoy them. I still need to do more weeding, but that will happen or it won't.
some people recognized that only gardening is more boring than birdwatching.
A strange comment for someone whose native language's word for garden is "paradise".
Gardening is boring because raspberry bushes are stupid sharp. Gardening is tedious.
It's way more awesome if you think of it as dinosaur watching.
34: You joke, but seeing large birds like egrets (pretty common in the park near me) take flight really does suggest that.
Berries make thorns totally worth it. Sadly, with all the rain we've had lately, anytime you approach any bushes around here a thick cloud of mosquitos rise up in defense.
ACTUALLY thorns are pretty awesome and just underappreciated. (Berries are entirely awesome and appropriately appreciated.)
Herons. Herons are the most freakishly dinosaury birds I've ever been close to.
34: As common and ho-hum as they are, I find watching robins looking for food being evocative of what I can imagine Theropods would be like. In my imagination as it were...
And dinosaur thoughts aside, watching a big flock of robins tearing up the leaves on a forest floor in the winter is actually quite gratifying.
I used to live near a lake where a group of great blue herons would hang out for part of the year. They were always fun to watch.
only gardening is more boring than birdwatching
I can see this if you approach it like dieting where the result is the key thing. But gardening is great if you are looking for a long term project that is an excuse to spend hours outside >200 days a year, can be done either low cost or high cost, allows you to work alone and either think about things or just get lost in the gardening so that you think about nothing (like swimming laps for me), can be done either with intensive study or totally half-assed.
I'm guessing hunting and fishing can also be like this. Some hunters and fisherfolk really want to shoot things/catch fish, others just want an excuse for being outside that involves some type of defined activity.
only gardening is more boring than birdwatching
I've given up on birding until the baby is older. I replaced birding with gardening since it's a much easier hobby to do with a one-year old. Also, she tries to help.
She's adorable, but clearly too young to help kill birds.
There are lots of catbirds on Long Island where I grew up.
Working a carpentry job on Fire Island for two baymen brothers got me into bird watching and just generally wanting to know what lives and grows around me. After taking that job I always like to have field guides for anyplace I'm living. And that being said I went to a bookstore here the other day and bought a field guide to the birds of Arrakis.
OT Today I went to the IKEA here. It was totally surreal to hear the call to prayer over the PA system while strolling among the ÅFJÄRDENS and GRÄSLÖKS.
There are birds in Arrakis? Vultures to mop up the guest workers, a few buzzards for atmosphere, falcons strapped into 4x4s ...
THough there are some nice greeny bits further south, I believe.
43: That's a seriously adorable baby, and apparently well behaved. My nephew's that age and if you gave him that spade he'd bang on the stones with it. In his defense, he'd definitely give it to you after he was done so you could have a go.
I've seen a few birds here. According to the field guide there are an assortment of buntings, bee-eaters, shrikes, lapwings, larks, curlews, warblers, harriers, sand pipers etc. And yes, buzzards and falcons. I really want to see a hoopoe lark.
Thanks guys!
She's very well behaved and very good at trying to copy whatever we're doing. Last night we were eating zucchini pancakes for dinner by putting applesauce on top. I gave A a spoonful of applesauce and a piece of pancake and she placed the pancake on top of her spoon to coat it with applesauce. So clever!
38: especially in flight. It's the long dangly legs stretched out behind them, I think: makes them look like pterosaurs.
Ostriches and things are pretty dinosaurian as well. And I imagine so are cassowaries, but I've never seen one in the wild.