This is something I expect a lot of birders experience, and certainly an aspect of my passion for birding that I enjoy. People around you - friends, family, co-workers, etc - begin to recognize that you are really into birds, and they start to tell you about something they saw or maybe want your help in identifying a bird. I like to think that there are quite a few people out there that are paying attention (or maybe more attention) to birds because of me.
My co-workers will tell me that"this morning I saw this huge bird - it must have been an eagle - swoop down across the highway and grab a rat or something" or "last night I saw a crane flying over - it looked like a dinosaur!" And I try to make sure that I keep the same excitement level when I tease a little more info out of them and explain that the Red-tailed Hawk is really a 'highway specialist' and a careful eye will often spot them almost daily perched in the trees on their commute, and that a crane although possible is really rare to see where, but that the Great Blue Herons have a rookery right in that area, and if they want to see them nesting I'd be happy to bring them near there with a spotting scope so they could get some really good looks at them.
Two people that I know are looking a little more closely at birds are my parents, and I love it! Over the years, I've received a few calls here and there while they are on vacation somewhere, with a description of something that they are looking at, and wondering what it is. From egrets to woodpecker to vultures, I've always been very confident in my id's. And last year, my dad, (who has always had an interest in photography also) picked up a digital SLR and they've sent me photos of stuff they've seen also when on vacation, that I've helped to id those too. Today they sent me a pic that I have to admit has me stumped. (And frankly, it's a tough pill to swallow.) At some level, I feel like I should know what I am looking at, but I just can't seem to piece it together. (Although I don't feel too bad that iBird on my iPhone wasn't able to get it either)
The photograph was taken along the California coast south of Big Sur this past July.
Please be patient as I've not re-sized this one to try to keep as much detail as possible (even though it's a bit blurry), so it takes a bit longer to load. If you click on it to open in a new page, you can stop it loading on this one, and you can enlarge it even further there.
Any help on this one would really be appreciated...
