geek@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Chris Schmandt) (01/30/91)
In article <50258@olivea.atc.olivetti.com> mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) writes (in another nice posting about chasing after birds): > I wondered: considering the ease with which I found these >birds and their cooperative behavior; why were they so difficult to >find in this same area on all those other occasions? Then I realized >that this is just the way of nemesis birds. Now, Mike's seen a whole lot more birds than I have, but it's funny how easy these ones were for me. Northern Saw Whet Owl (this is Aegolius acadicus?) on a trail in the White Mtns. (New Hampshire), late afternoon, on a branch about 5 feet from the trail and head height. My 3 companions had walked right by it. Me too, but something made me stop and look again. Pileated Woodpecker. One came to a white pine outside my kitchen window in the winter, 3 days running, at 9:30 AM (I have the fortune of not needing to commute rush hours). Invited a birder friend over for breakfast and a view on the 4th day, but it never showed again. He's still never seen the bird (5 years later). I've still got the hole in my tree as a souvenir. Next time I saw one was also very close, with my then 3 year old. She was very impressed and told mommy we'd seen "Woody". chris
sid@jato.jpl.nasa.gov (Sid Johnson WB6VWH) (01/31/91)
Keywords: ARRGGHH! In article <5053@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> geek@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Chris Schmandt) writes: >In article <50258@olivea.atc.olivetti.com> mjm@oliven.olivetti.com > (Michael Mammoser) writes (in another nice posting about chasing > after birds): > >> I wondered: considering the ease with which I found these >>birds and their cooperative behavior; why were they so difficult to >>find in this same area on all those other occasions? Then I realized >>that this is just the way of nemesis birds. > >Now, Mike's seen a whole lot more birds than I have, but it's funny >how easy these ones were for me. > You guys are really making me jealous with all of this talk about Pileated Woodpeckers. I have been chasing that bird for over 5 years. Mike told me about Portola Park about a year ago and I have been there twice since, no luck. My folks live in Louisiana and tell me there is ALWAYS a Pileated in the back yard. When I go there to visit the flamming birds all leave the country. There was even one spotted here in LA last year, about 1/4 mile from where I work. As soon as I started looking for it, it left the country. One of these days though.......... I have noticed another characteristic of nemesis birds. Once you finally see ONE, they are eveywhere. Why is that? Well, there is always the museum, sigh....... -Sid
bob@delphi.uchicago.edu (Robert S. Lewis, Jr.) (02/01/91)
In article <1991Jan31.012506.24606@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> sid@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Sid Johnson WB6VWH) writes: >Keywords: ARRGGHH! >I have noticed another characteristic of nemesis birds. Once you finally >see ONE, they are eveywhere. Why is that? Not only that, before you see one, all your nonbirdwatching friends seem to see them everywhere too: "You're a birdwatcher, huh? Well last weekend when I was at XXX State Park, I saw all these really huge woodpeckers. They were really neat..."
svihla@evax0.eng.fsu.edu (02/01/91)
In article <1991Jan31.210820.14420@midway.uchicago.edu>, bob@delphi.uchicago.edu (Robert S. Lewis, Jr.) writes... >In article <1991Jan31.012506.24606@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> sid@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Sid Johnson WB6VWH) writes: > >>Keywords: ARRGGHH! > >>I have noticed another characteristic of nemesis birds. Once you finally >>see ONE, they are eveywhere. Why is that? > > > >Not only that, before you see one, all your nonbirdwatching friends >seem to see them everywhere too: > >"You're a birdwatcher, huh? Well last weekend when I was at XXX State >Park, I saw all these really huge woodpeckers. They were really >neat..." Hey, this is pretty funny. I do like birds and will occasionally take pains to look for them, but, all in all, I'm pretty much of a neophyte. Within the last year, I've twice seen what I believe were pileated woodpeckers without even trying hard. I was coming down from the hike up Yosemite Falls last November, when I heard a loud knocking, looked up, and there was a P.W. in the tree right above me. This winter I had gone hiking in the snow at Turkey Run State Park in Indiana, and while walking across a suspension bridge on my way out, I heard a loud knocking, and sure enough, there was another one.
dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu (David Mark) (02/04/91)
In article <50258@olivea.atc.olivetti.com> mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) writes: > > I have heard people talk about something they call "their >nemesis bird"; that is, a species that they have tried to see time >after time that keeps eluding them. I don't know if I truly have a >nemesis bird, but there is one species that is probably the front- >runner; Northern Saw Whet Owl. I have tried for this bird on a number >of occasions and, although it has been calling in the trees around me, >I have failed to get a light on it. > In the 1970s, my nemesis bird was Northern Pygmy Owl. I was living in the Vancouver (B.C.) area at the time, and I must have made dozens and dozens of cross-town rushes to places of sightings. In 1980 I was doing a Canada "Big Year", and must have tried more than a dozen times, within 24 hours of sightings. Finally, on about December 27, I saw one near Penticton British Columbia. Talk about a thrill!! I had been so obsessed with Pyg-Owl, for so long, that I never have zeroed in on a nemesis bird since, although I have invested so much time in trying for Wallcreeper in Europe, without success, that it is begining to feel like a the new candidate! David Mark dmark@acsu.buffalo.edu
gss@edsdrd.eds.com (Gary Schiltz) (02/07/91)
In article <50258@olivea.atc.olivetti.com>, mjm@oliven.olivetti.com (Michael Mammoser) writes: > > I have heard people talk about something they call "their > nemesis bird"; that is, a species that they have tried to see time > after time that keeps eluding them. I don't know if I truly have a > nemesis bird, but there is one species that is probably the front- > runner; Northern Saw Whet Owl. I have tried for this bird on a number > of occasions and, although it has been calling in the trees around me, > I have failed to get a light on it. Northern Saw Whet Owl has also been somewhat of a nemesis bird for me. I've looked for them for years, though I haven't tried as hard as I could to find them. I plan to make 1991 the year, though! This weekend, my wife Karen and I finally got what has been for us a "nemesis bird" - Northern Hawk Owl. We have searched in vain for the bird for the last three years in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This past weekend, we took a combination bird-chasing / cross country skiing trip to the UP, with very good luck in the bird-chasing department (it was too warm for good skiing, with temperatures in the 30's and 40's F - last year at the same time of year, it was -20 - -30 F). First off, in Sault Ste. Marie (MI and Ontario), we saw two Gyrfalcons - an immature bird (grey wings, brown on the back) and an adult (grey wings and back). While we were still patting each other on the back over our good fortune with the Gyrfalcons, we found the Norther Hawk Owl. Amazingly, it was sitting on top of a small spruce next to the parking lot of a high school right in town. The bird was smaller than I had expected; it didn't seem much bigger than an American Kestrel. It sort of reminded me of a cross between a kestrel (long tail that it bobbed after landing) and a screech owl (chunkier body and more typical owl-shaped head). What was truly remarkable about the bird were its piercing yellow eyes that seemed to look right through you. Pretty awesome for such a small bird; I suppose you have to be tough to live in the arctic. Later in the trip, we saw a beautiful adult male Varied Thrush. This bird was also hard to miss, as it was coming to a bird feeder and was listed on the Detroit RBA. We also found a Snowy Owl sitting on top of a tall silo next to the road. A very cooperative bird, it let us watch it through a scope until we left. Winter finch populations seem to be very low this year. Whereas Common Redpolls, Pine and Evening Grosbeaks were practically trash birds there last year, we saw only a small flock each of Pine Grosbeaks and Pine Siskins, and no Evening Grosbeaks or Common Redpolls. Has anyone else noticed low winter finch populations this year? > Within a mile or so the leader started playing tapes of > Western Screech Owls and, in a short time, we got a response. Soon > a second owl started calling. Before we knew it, the pair were > dueting; one calling in a deeper tone than the other (supposedly, the > male has a deeper voice than the female). ... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I wonder if you might have this reversed. I've always been under the impression that since in birds of prey, the female is normally larger than the male, that the female's voice is deeper (lower). Of course, I suppose that larger body size doesn't necessarily result in a lower voice - I know larger people with high voices and smaller people with low voices. > > Mike ---- /\ What cheer, /\ | Gary Schiltz, EDS R&D, 3551 Hamlin Road | / o< cheer, <o \ | Auburn Hills, MI 48057, (313) 370-1737 | \\/ ) / cheer, \ ( \// | gss@edsdrd.eds.com | \ / cheer!!! \ / | "Have bird will watch ..." |