Good bird photo websites?

trebor28

so i was out for a walk this morning with my dog.
saw a wide range of birds, took my bins because there is lots to see and missed them yesterday when i was out.
saw lots but couldnt be sure on some of them.

had a great start, walked out my door turned down my small country road, then about 50 yards in front of me a buzzard flew off a branch of a tree. watched him fly off being chased by about 10 crows and land on a pole a couple of hundred yards away which was only about 30 yards from a bigger busier road with a house just opposite.(i wonder how many people spotted him there)

after that i saw the usual goldfinches, chaffinches, wrens, robins, bluetits, coal tits, various corvids, blackbirds, etc.

i usually walk this area so these are nothing new.
i was walking in across a small wooded area when a bird flew up from in front of me.
at first i thought it was a hen pheasant because of the loud flush it made, but it had little or no tail, was a deeper chocolatey brown and had a long straight beak of about 2/3 inches. it was also a bit smaller than a pheasant.
i checked the various websites and im thinking it was a woodcock.

would this be right?
i got a second viewing of this bird a little while later.

i also saw another bird which i immediately thought was some sort of bunting. but looking at the rspb website it might also have been a tree sparrow.i only saw the one so that is putting me off the tree sparrow as i presume they go around in biggish numbers.

after reaching home i walked around my house, there is lots of trees so lots of birds, i saw a redpoll.
is there a difference between male and female red polls?

along the same hedge i saw another bird, bigger than a robin but smaller than a blackbird, it looked very similar to a thrush in colouration bit smaller.
from using the bird identifier i am thinking meadow pippit or skylark.
this bird was only slightly larger than a robin so i dont think its a thrush.
what size would the 2 birds i mentioned be?

must get me a half decent camera to take photos of these birds.

anybody able to shed some light on these? or at least point me in the direction of a website with decent photos to make id'ing easier?

thanks.

p.s.
i forgot to mention that i think i saw a female greenfinch.
it had its back to me but looked quite plain, except for the yellow wing feathers.

Feargal as Luimneach

1. was probably a woodcock you saw.

2. I doubt it was a tree sparrow. They are uncommon and usually found in coastal areas and not found on their own but rather in flocks ( as you pointed out). Best place to see tree sparrow is the wexford wildfowl reserve in Wexford. There are plenty at the entrance to the main building.

3. female redpoll as less rufous (red) than males).

4. last bird was probably a skylark (size a bit smaller than thrush). A meadow pipit not much larger than a robin. Skylarks much easier to see during the summer when the male is singing. He sings in flight (beautiful song). He hovers around 100m in sky singing. He gradually falls slowly towards the ground while singing. When he's just about 5m from ground he stops singing and then he lands on ground. Grassland meadows (the less intensive the better) are the places you will see them.

I think a good field guide would be helpfull for you. You can check the birds as you see them. The field guide will give multiple views ie flight, perching, male, female, juvenile. Often on the internet you will get just one perching view, which might be near useless for birds such as raptors. Raptors are mostly seen in flight so flight views more important. The best book is: Collins Bird Guide: The Most Complete Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe. This is the best book for european birds by far and the main one which I use.

trebor28

thanks feargal,
yeah keep forgetting to buy that every time im near a decent book store.

the skylark was perched in the hedge and i didnt want to disturb him. also if i did disturb him it would have not led to id'ing him better.

the rspb website has the woodcock as somewhat endangered.
is this true for ireland?

bibio

Woodcock are very difficult birds to spot in the normal course of birdwatching. They are nocturnal and keep to cover during the day. If you have a dog that like cover, you get a good indication of numbers present. Woodcock is one of my favorite birds, and they were the bird on the old fifty pence piece.
The best ways to spot woodcock, are to stand at the edge of conifir plantations at dusk, and you can see them fly out to feed. You can also see a lot of them by lamping at night in the fields, I have counted up to twenty in a couple of hours lamping. Laslty, during the summer you can often see a woodcock doing his roding flight, if you see him once, you will often see him agian in same location on following evenings.
In terms of numbers, I have been watching them for over twenty years, and numbers seem to be constant, albeit very dependant on weather in mainland europe for migrants. I also know the NARGC are doing a study on the ratio between old Vs young birds, by collecting wing samples from hunters and these samples also support that numbers are holding up very well. There is also a national association of woodcock in Ireland. www.woodcockireland.com/ .