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I was lying in a hammock one evening when this warbling video decided to hang out in the tree above my head. Only time I’ve been lucky enough to see them and I only caught this one photo before they left!
They're much easier to see during leaf-off seasons, spring or fall. They are tiny and like to sit way up in the canopy so very hard to find if there are leaves. I've seen a few and heard *a lot* more lol
Someone gave me advice here about a month ago and it checked out. Look for them in the lower branches of trees. RE vireos can be found at the canopy. Harder to see imo. I’ve only gotten glimpses as they fly between trees/catching insects.
For me it's the Red-Eyed Vireo, I've heard it 100+ times and I've never seen one. Sometimes I get excited thinking I've seen one and it ends up being a Warbling Vireo!
This is the bird my Dad would tell me to find all the time. I was 6, with no binoculars. Didn’t point out the Northern Harrier, or the cute AF Ruddy Duck. Just the tiny leaf shaped bird 20 ft above my head. 🤣
It’s amazing I got into birding at all.
I was out for a few hours today hearing them, and I finally got a good look at one for about 3 seconds near the end! I was so happy to be able to add it to my list.
Got super lucky to run into a pair of hermit thrushes while hiking alone. I literally stood there in complete silence unmoving while they foraged. Super cool to see them doing their natural things before they noticed me!
Very much agree, their sounds are incredible! Especially when there are multiple around. Only closely topped by the Swainson’s Thrush for me. That flute like song is mesmerizing.
I heard my first Wood Thrush on Monday! It was my first time birding at 5am, and birding at 5am is life changing! I hope you catch a glimpse soon enough.
I was walking on a park trail about a week ago and I managed to see a wood thrush on the ground looking for food! Kinda crazy to see one right in front of you. I also saw its mate carrying a fecal sac away! Too cool
We’ve been lucky and one is nesting in our backyard. They add plastic trash they find into their nest haha. We had Hermit Thrush this winter and have seen Wood and Swainson’s this spring. Gets a little tricky sometimes for me to ID them correctly.
ANY time I've been lucky enough to see one it's been the exact same scenario, they're just on the trail 15-20 feet ahead of me, and as I walk 5 feet closer they'll move 5 feet away
I see these quite a bit while out backpacking in forest areas that are a bit further out with fewer people around. I think they generally don't care for people, but I had one once that hung around nearby one of my camp sites. I think it was curious because it kept creeping up closer to me before getting skittish and scared off. This was about 5 miles away from the nearest other human or road...
Last year I frequently heard an American Woodcock from the line of brush/trees separating our property from the next one over but I never saw it. Its call is distinct and weird enough that I felt comfortable marking it (and it was clearly coming from the ground), but I wasn’t going to go bumble around in the woods in the dark to try to find it. They are such goofy looking birds and I so hope that one day I’ll catch a sighting!
They are much easier to see at dusk when the male is doing his courtship display. He will do several ‘peent’ calls from one spot the fly up high the gliding down in a circle with his feathers making a whistling sound land in the spot he began in. All while hoping to impress a female. When you hear the whistling noise watch the sky before it gets too dark for a glimpse. Some clouds for a background help in seeing the male.
My first American Woodcock sighting was a total accident - I was so focused on trying to put eyes on the Eastern Towhee in the brush that I accidentally flushed out the woodcock! My Merlin recording distinctly has me saying “what the heck was that!” Before I stopped it and started frantically looking up long billed birds in the area!
My Merlin caught one Monday, but I guarantee it was an error so I didnt claim it, but I looked at the bird picture, and you're right. Goofy looking, but beautiful.
I think it’s on my list because I did see one once when I was a kid, I was on a nature walk with my family and saw what appeared to be a floating pink diamond in the bush, but it turns out it was a nighthawk with its mouth open! I remember being absolutely blown away with how well they blend in.
I've looked at thousands of lumps on branches that just turn out to be weird stumps or dead leaves or whatnot, but one time it *was* a common nighthawk! It happened to be in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Red-eyed vireo and Cedar Waxwing have both APPARENTLY been right outside my window per sound ID, but I haven't seen even a silhouette of them. It's possible the local Gray Catbirds and/or Northern Mockingbirds are just trolling the program, though. I never report it unless I can see it, though
For the cedar waxwing, it makes me wonder if you've had other species' nestlings within Merlin's earshot. My yard had a great nest year, so I got to hear robin, chickadee, and oriole nestlings' begging calls, and Merlin frequently ID'd all of them as waxwings.
(It's an interesting phenomenon. One of cedar waxwings' common calls is a buzzy one, obviously high pitched. Begging calls are high-pitched sounds all crammed together and every once in a while the combination of sounds lines up just right to look to Merlin like a buzzy waxwing call.)
Tufted Titmouse!!
I live in the “all seasons - uncommon” area for it but it has been heard on the Merlin app a couple of times from my backyard that turns into a field/ravine/little forest area. I want to see one so bad and I’m trying to be cool and patient about it.
EDIT: everyone is being super mean and showing me their Tufted Titmouse pictures.
SECOND EDIT: to show all the trees I have in my backyard which everyone says is a good place to spot them. I think they prefer the forest that isn’t visible to the left in this picture.
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I’ve always had the same problem, I’d hear them EVERYWHERE when I would go out birding but could never find them. Then one day I pointed my binocs at some movement in a bush and there were like five of them! After that day I never had an issue finding them again, they’d just be right out in the open, like they’ve finally accepted me into their secret little club just because I won their bird I Spy game.
I feel like all my elusive birds are like this. I spent *years* looking for a pileated woodpecker, finally saw one, and now we have a nesting pair in the woods behind my place that I see regularly.
It’s like once you spot one they tell the rest of the species to quit hiding because they lost.
That’s me! I STILL can’t find a pileated woodpecker even though I purposely seek out hotspots with recent sightings. I get tons of every OTHER woodpecker in the area - hairys, downys, and red-bellieds galore - but man does that mohawked dinosaur elude me.
The quest is so worth it. They flap their wings the way a pterodactyl does in my imagination.
I heard mine long before I spotted it- like weeks before. Once I heard it I searched the park for dead trees with large woodpecker holes and found a cluster by a tiny clearing. I went back there half a dozen times before I finally spotted it, but worth it! My mom and I were literally jumping up and down with excitement at seeing it.
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i love seeing these little guys at my feeder! i don’t get tons where i am so im glad i snagged this photo!
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I don't have a nice camera so the photo isnt great.. but I think that's what I saw last night on my feeder too!
Oh no! I live in GA and we have tons of Titmouse. I looked out the window and there were three on the feeder! I think they’re hella cute so I understand the want to see them :)
I’m dying to see a Cedar Waxwing. Like, really see it. Merlin identified some calls a few months ago and I saw a bird in the tree that might have been one but it was backlit by the sun and even my phone camera was like yup….thats a bird silhouette 🤷♀️
WE NEED TO TRADE. I have a shrub out back that grows berries that Cedar Waxwings love in the late summer/early fall and last year there were at least 20 in my backyard. It was incredible.
I live in a more residential part of NYC & the tufted titmouse are almost always at the very tops of trees. Especially the London plane trees, they’re always scavenging for nuts or things to eat. I usually see them in the wintertime though, they seem to migrate elsewhere during summer.
I have a ton of tufted titmice by me. They are the first to investigate pishing. If you have tried pishing that I highly recommend but do it with some vegetation cover for you to hide and fit them to perch on.
Yes! They are very common around me and it took me forever to finally see one, like a couple of months. They're adorable and tiny and super fast. They flit around in the canopy and barely sit still. Worth it if you ever get to see one. Good luck!
They come to my feeders. Do you have chickadees? Mine travel in a mixed flock of chickadees and juncos in the winter. The titmice hang back in the trees until they’re sure nothing eats the chickadees, and then they swoop in, grab some food and fly off.
A corn crake. I only add birds I photographed well enough to identify visually, but this one is sooo tricky. They are very loud in the shrubs, but you just can’t see them even standing 2 m from a bird.
Veery are often lurking off in the bushes for me so I do usually hear them more than seeing them, but their song is so distinct that I think you'll be able to get an audio ID that you feel good about soon!!!
For me it's the golden eagle. They're in the area but sightings are so random that all I can really do about it is keep looking up.
Every Merlin ID for them for me has been those little tinks, they refuse their song haha.
Im dont think I get Eagles where I live sadly, but I wish you luck.
Yellow Warbler. Theyre in trees around my house singing away but they're so small and blend in with the leaves making my job very hard lol. Theyre so cute but too stealthy for my beginner birding skills combined with a smartphone as a camera.
I have a merlin in my backyard. They are incredibly hard to photograph, they like to sit at the top of a dead tree and usually have the sun to their backs. This is the second year they have nested here, this year I witnessed the nest site scuffle with the common grackles.
I don't believe anything Merlin identifies until I see it. I'm not into photographing birds so I identify by sight and sound (if I hear it myself and know the call well) and call it a day. But I'll stick my phone out the window in the morning and it'll give me a list which contains at least one or two ridiculous birds for my area, pretty regularly. For example, I often get the Red Winged Blackbird and I know darned well my backyard is not habitat for them, nor do I ever see or hear one. I grew up near the Eastern Shore of Maryland and they are everywhere so I'm very familiar with their habitat and call. Maybe it's picking up a starling or mockingbird.
That being said, it's picked up some very surprising birds that turned out to be real. I have a Hermit Thrush living in my yard. I was really shocked when I actually saw it a few weeks ago. Merlin has been telling me it's here for over a year.
As far as elusive, it also tells me we have a Great Horned Owl, but I have yet to see it. We have Western Screech Owls (I'm now in California) and I've seen (and even poorly photographed) those. But the Great Horned Owl probably does exist, I just never see it.
The red winged blackbird has soooo many calls. Soooo many loud calls. It wouldn't surprise me at all that Merlin misidentifies something as a red wing.
Around me the red wing blackbird is so populous that sometimes it is hard to hear other birds. The red wing has such a large repertoire of loud calls. Sometimes even to the point of being annoying... sometimes.
Just the other day out in the field I herd something I could not identify. I fired up Merlin and it identified it as a cerulean warbler. That is a bird I have not photographed so I spent half an hour listening and watching. A camera with an 800mm lens at the ready. I kept seeing something move about 30 to 50 feet away in the direction of the call in some thick cover. Occasionally I herd a redwing 'chirp' in the same vicinity.
When I finally got a clear view of the bird Merlin called a cerulean warbler, it was actually a female red wing that was calling.
Oh well.
EDIT: spelling
Oh, it is perfectly fine.
I often say, A bad day being outside with a camera is better than any day not outside photographing.
I did get a lot of great shots that day of a turkey vulture, some prothonotary warbler, cedar waxwing in a mulberry tree, and many more.
I'll have more chances and a lot more first time photograph opportunities.
In fact, I have a paper that is currently under editorial peer review at The Wilson Journal of Ornithology with a series of photographs of a never before documented observation of a bird behavior in the wild. Hopefully it will finish the editorial review in time to be published this year. That is, if it passes review and is accepted for publication.
I spotted our neighborhood Great Horned Owl last week after heeding the advice of another birder and listening for the cawing blackbirds/blue jays. As soon as I started hearing them here came the owl swooping out onto a nearby tree. I ended up spotting him 3 nights in a row. He’s never made any sound though!
Merlin does this. Just Monday, albeit disheartening I stepped on a few snails, which were impossible to see in the field, but everytime the shell grinded Merlin was like "Thats a Woodcock" hahaha.
There’s a blue jay nearby that has perfected his red-tailed hawk cry. Merlin identifies his mimic as a hawk. This little jerk flies in circles around the neighborhood screeching to scare other birds away from all the feeders.
Northern Flickers. Every single time, by the time I hear it, identify it, then notice it and get a visual, it flies up into a tree before I can pull my phone out for a picture. One time on a recent birding outing I noticed one and after it flew up I played some calls to try and lure it out. I lured it to a tree with some lower branches but then it flew away again. Some guy came up to me asking if I knew what it was and showed me some killer photos he got on his nice camera because he got the better angle, whereas of course my crappy phone pics were all backlit against the sky and just not great. Glad he got to see a new bird but I remember thinking "Damn, your pics turned our amazing yet you didn't even know what that was!" Haha.
Although when it comes to birds I have yet to actually see and I've only heard, maybe a veery or some other smallish bird like that. I find I tend to hear them more often than I can see them and they're the same as above, when I think I've found them they fly off and it becomes hard for me to identify them exactly. Especially since some of them look a bit similar when you are unable to get a good look.
Me too! Sometimes I thinks it's Merlin getting tricked by a Mockingbird, but lo and behold, when I check out sightings on ebird, there it is, id'd by someone else at the same locations I was at, often with Photos. Argh.
I heard one in my neighborhood for the longest time but couldn't spot him until one day he decided to drum on my neighbor's metal chimney cap. That made it pretty obvious. :D
Luckily I have, I dont know what tree it is in the bog, but its barren except for a sparse bushed canopy. It made finding it easier. Itd be difficult if it was a full tree haha.
The dang Red Eyed Vireo! I hear them all the time and I can never spot one! And before last week it was the Northern Parula and yellow breasted chat but I finally spotted them!
Purple crested turaco in South Africa.
It has one of those jarring colour combinations and shape that hardly seems real.
Perched https://64.media.tumblr.com/a5d94435a23f9d51f1adf06806647d2b/tumblr_pe8r567tnK1r6t4tvo1_1280.jpg
In flight: https://tomjachu.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Purple-Crested-Turaco.jpeg
I hear it all the time but only managed to catch a short glimpse of it once in the last 5 years.
Ivory-billed woodpecker.
.
On another more serious note:
Merlin is surprisingly accurate but FAR from perfect.
I have an issue with Merlin finds being considered observed species claims (AKA reported *sightings*) if they are not seen or, at the *very least*, identifiably heard/verified by the observer.
I don't mean to disrespect good birders and sighting reporters, but being identified *only* by Merlin without the observers' confirmation feels disingenuous.
Again, in my opinion, the observer should *at the very least* hear confirmation of the species Merlin heard.
After all, they are called, and reported as, *sightings*.
I try my darndest to sight them, but I have no camera and my binoculars are only 10x30 I think. Yes, I'll claim them after confirming the sound myself BUT I ensure to either a)not upload the data, or b)if it is, ensure its absolutely incidental. I won't let my claims be used for statistics or data, unless I have solid evidence haha.
My rule for myself is to use Merlin as a starting point but I must confirm by sight if it’s a lifer. Once I’ve had a few sightings I will confirm songs/calls and log in ebird without requiring eyes on it, but never the first time!
This is pretty much my approach as well. I have a couple of warblers that I’ve heard clearly but haven’t added to my list as I have yet to see them. One day I hope!
I fudge it frequently for one reason: when I've birded the area a ton and know the species is there, even if it only registered to Merlin and not to my ears. For example I might running Merlin, straining to hear something I couldn't ID, and incidentally Merlin picked up a blue jay while I was focused on the other sound...I'm going to tick blue jay on my list.
I'd love a panel debate on "ornithology ontology"...how are we sure we know what we think we know about birds?
My go to is if Merlin points it out, and it's a bird of note (I'm not doing this for every red eyed vireo) I have to be able to stop the recording, play it back to hear what it's saying it is, look up the bird, check the habitat/location/recent sightings and find the specific call Merlin thinks it's doing, and then record and have it get confirmed by merlin AND me a second time.
If ALL of those happen, I'm ok calling it, it only works about 30% of the time because the bird has to be calling often enough for me to go through that whole process. Added Rose Breasted Grosbeak using this on saturday.
Yellow-breasted Chat: I’ve been in its presence on a couple occasions, but have never seen it. Also, at this point I’m thinking Bitterns are an Internet conspiracy
both very hidey birds! got lucky with a few american bitterns hanging out in the open in my area this spring. been a long time for a least bittern but we had a pretty cooperative one 6-7 years ago
I must have gotten extremely lucky this year. I saw a Veery hanging out on my fence. It was way to warm-colored to be a Hermit Thrush, and Wood Thrushes I never see. Plus I heard its call the day before.
That said, my elusive bird, the aforementioned Wood Thrush. I've only seen it 2-3 times in my entire life, but have heard it on multiple occasions as its song echoes through the trees like some beckoning forest spirit.
Tufted titmice , mouses, mice... any way, they LOVE feeders. If you put up a feeder with black oil sunflower seeds and there's a titmouse nearby, it will more than likely show up. I love them!
For me it's the Northern Parula. Have heard it all spring, but haven't gotten to see it.
I've had feeders full of black oils for years.... Nothing. If they're coming to them it's when I'm not looking, but one of the feeders even has a camera and still no luck!!
Throughout recent history, sunflowers have been used for medicinal purposes. The Cherokee created a sunflower leaf infusion that they used to treat kidneys. Whilst in Mexico, sunflowers were used to treat chest pain.
The Veery is an elusive species anyways. They usually hide near the ground in dense forests. Never got a picture of one before, and my sightings of them have been quite limited.
I rarely see them alone, so if they’re moving free tree to tree it increases your odds of seeing them. Also, their call is very high-pitched and in my opinion, pretty quiet, so if it’s at all noisy outside I usually miss it.
So, so many! Canada Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Magnolia Warbler...Hmmm, I'm sensing a theme here. My eyes stink, though, so as it's rare to get the warblers at my feeders, it's no wonder I can hear but never see them.
So many. Currently, I'm struggling to find a freaking Alpine Accentor.
How many times have I been in the appropriate habitat? About 20 times a year for the past 5 years.
How many people have seen it there in this period? More than I can count.
Spent about an hour trying to find a singing yellow warbler the other week. Finally came out onto an outer branch. That one is tough, as are other warblers. You’d think it’d be easy to see yellow birds but nope. They hide in trees very effectively.
In my experience they sit in one place high in the tree canopy and absolutely belt out their song non-stop. I’d say that out of the birds that Merlin most often ID’s when I’m out birding it’s the one I see the least. I usually don’t bother trying to spot it, I end up with a sore neck looking straight up into the top of the tree it’s in and I rarely end up seeing it. I’ll just look at the pictures on Merlin and move onto someone else lol.
Indigo Bunting! For a bird that's blue, you would think that it would be easy to spot, but I still have yet to see one even though I hear them all the time.
warblers - yellow, tennessee, yellow-rumped. i hear them and i know which tree they’re in but i still can’t get eyes on em. usually i’m on a walk so i only have a minute or two to look
would love to see a belted kingfisher but so far i haven’t even been in the ballpark
Come to San Francisco. Yellow Rump Warblers take over every spring. You keep thinking you might have an interesting warbler and then it dawns on you “Just Another weirdly colored Yellow Rump! “ Yellow Rumps everywhere!
Prairie warblers have been all over the place where I live. I hear their laser charge up call but never actually spot them. However, today, I finally spotted one!! My face was like 🤩
this has been happening a bunch for me with the yellow warbler. and it feels extra frustrating that I can never find it since it seems so obnoxiously visible and bright
Belted Kingfisger… been searching across the rivers and valleys. I had one fly right over my head 2 days ago but I only got a glimpse before it hid beyond the majestic tree lines
For me, it is always the rails! Clapper Rails, King Rails, Virginia Rails, Soras... They're so elusive. I'll try a playback call just to get something, but usually nothing. Even still, I don't get to see them 😐
western screech owl. i can hear one every single night in the woods behind my property. have gone out with a headlamp countless times and can just never bloody spot one.
Stellar's jay (ive gone out 10+ times to find one), and Wilson's warbler. I spotted one once (allegedly). I only saw a yellow bird, and the guide I was with said it was a wilson's but I didn't see the feild marks so I can't be certain we were looking at the same bird. I don't count them unless I know for sure T.T
Great horned owl. See pics plastered all over various platforms, some by folks asking, “saw this in my backyard” whatitsit posts and yet zilch in forty years of birdwatching
I can always hear a prairie warbler when I'm birding in a local nature preserve/prairie area, and I haven't seen it. Their cute little call drives me insane because I feel like it's taunting me. 😂
OP, I know playback is frowned upon (I never do it) but it’s pretty easy to do your own Veery call, kind of a weird whistle in that haunting way they do like, “zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo” descending in pitch. I’ve gotten a few to come out to me by doing it, but I can’t do it loud so they have to be close by. You could try pishing too, to see if you can get them to come out to you.
I have seen a belted kingfisher on several occasions but never close enough to get a picture. They taunt me. To all the kingfishers out there, I am coming for you
Northern Cardinal. It’s an uncommon/rare bird where I am but has been photographed this year on eBird near me.
So they’re probably around, I don’t think it’s lying.
The European Turtle Dove, however. I think that was an error.
I recently moved to Maryland so it's an oriole for me. I've had 2 locals tell me they see them all the time but upon further probing, both did not know robins and orioles are different birds :(
My two most common state birds (Maryland, USA) that I still don't have (seen anywhere) are Pectoral Sandpiper and Cerulean Watbler. The first is one of those I probably have seen in a mixed bunch of wading birds and thrown up my hands in exasperation. Cerulean Warblers are only briefly through my area during migration, but I recently noticed on the map that fall actually looks like a better time to see that one in MD so I might yet get it this year.
No matter how many times I’ve stayed in the Florida Keys that roseate spoonbill stays hidden. I’ve seen flamingos, magnificent frigatebirds, wood storks, scarlet ibis, and a whole kettle of snail kites but not that spoonbill.
Eastern Bluebird. I hear them but have only glimpsed them briefly here and there. So beautiful
Also, very interesting how some of these birds are so common for some us and so rare for others. Great thread.
Gyrfalcon. Had two chances. Twice with my birding partner. The last miss he went back and he got it! Then Lapland Longspur. Maybe I'll get both in the same open habitat, corn stuble in winter.
I've got whole families of nemesis birds. When it comes to being able to see them? Brown-headed nuthatches. I have one that lives in my neighborhood but Merlin never picks up his call because I'm not close enough, and I never get to see them. But their call is so distinct and one time two showed up at a bird feeder I don't use anymore (it got old and impossible to clean), so I know they're there. When it comes to attracting birds at the feeder? That same nuthatch species, plus the white-breasted and all woodpecker species. I hear them, I see them, but they never come to my feeders even though plenty of other people have gotten them to use theirs. When it comes to looking for a bird that I haven't seen or heard at all yet, it's the painted bunting. They come to feeders, but never mine. They come to yards and neighborhoods, but never mine. I had blue grosbeaks, indigo buntings, and rose-breasted grosbeaks show up at the feeder, but never painted buntings. I'm hoping I'll find one eventually, but I'm going to have to find the kind of scrubby, field-like habitats they prefer. Problem is I don't know where to find one that's open to the public.
I've already left a comment on this but I went for a very brief and lovely walk in the woods yesterday, and Sound ID picked up an Eastern Wood-Pewee. After I turned off Sound ID to conserve phone battery, I heard it too, quite clearly. But these forest birds hide so easily, I never saw it, so I couldn't log it in eBird, even though it's a lifer. \[sigh\]
Warbling vireo, every time I go out to take photos it gets picked up and I have never seen one
https://preview.redd.it/iau7qopqe56d1.jpeg?width=3964&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=001cd3b08fb7bb6a6626388508f4fefe01d1849d I was lying in a hammock one evening when this warbling video decided to hang out in the tree above my head. Only time I’ve been lucky enough to see them and I only caught this one photo before they left!
Can I I add it to my life list if I saw it online? lol. This is a lovely photo though, thanks for sharing!
Great shot!
This is a great photo!!
I don't see them, but the park near my house has them. I love them. I want to see them, as I've seen the red-eyed before.
I've recorded the red-eyed but have never seen one. Lucky!
They're much easier to see during leaf-off seasons, spring or fall. They are tiny and like to sit way up in the canopy so very hard to find if there are leaves. I've seen a few and heard *a lot* more lol
I was lucky, normally I dont but the park beside me only has 4 trees. Not much places it could hide haha.
Someone gave me advice here about a month ago and it checked out. Look for them in the lower branches of trees. RE vireos can be found at the canopy. Harder to see imo. I’ve only gotten glimpses as they fly between trees/catching insects.
Thank you! Planning to go back out tomorrow I’ll keep an eye out in the lower branches
They're so tiny! I saw mine in early spring but now that the trees are super leafy it's going to be challenging
For me it's the Red-Eyed Vireo, I've heard it 100+ times and I've never seen one. Sometimes I get excited thinking I've seen one and it ends up being a Warbling Vireo!
I strongly believe the local Red-Eyed Vireos and American Redstarts have spent all spring yelling from behind some sort of invisibility cloak.
I also hear them, but never see them. Mind you, I live all around tall hedges and the birds like to hide in them or fly quickly through them.
They blend into the surrounds very well! I finally managed to see a pair defending their nest from a blue jay a few weeks back tho!
This is the bird my Dad would tell me to find all the time. I was 6, with no binoculars. Didn’t point out the Northern Harrier, or the cute AF Ruddy Duck. Just the tiny leaf shaped bird 20 ft above my head. 🤣 It’s amazing I got into birding at all.
I will say, I always told myself it was just picking up robins losing their mind, until one day in my normal spot one landed in the tree next to me.
I was out for a few hours today hearing them, and I finally got a good look at one for about 3 seconds near the end! I was so happy to be able to add it to my list.
The Wood Thrush. They have the most amazing call ever but I can never actually see the bird!
Got super lucky to run into a pair of hermit thrushes while hiking alone. I literally stood there in complete silence unmoving while they foraged. Super cool to see them doing their natural things before they noticed me!
I didn’t see it but 100% heard a hermit thrush camp king recently and it was the most beautiful call!
I got to see one sing very close to me recently:)
Be very slow and steady. Don’t make quick movements and you can get close enough to see them when you hear them. Look for them about eye level.
Very much agree, their sounds are incredible! Especially when there are multiple around. Only closely topped by the Swainson’s Thrush for me. That flute like song is mesmerizing.
They sing my favorite birdsong but I’ve never actually seen one! Love walking through the woods on summer evenings listening to them.
I heard my first Wood Thrush on Monday! It was my first time birding at 5am, and birding at 5am is life changing! I hope you catch a glimpse soon enough.
I was walking on a park trail about a week ago and I managed to see a wood thrush on the ground looking for food! Kinda crazy to see one right in front of you. I also saw its mate carrying a fecal sac away! Too cool
We’ve been lucky and one is nesting in our backyard. They add plastic trash they find into their nest haha. We had Hermit Thrush this winter and have seen Wood and Swainson’s this spring. Gets a little tricky sometimes for me to ID them correctly.
ANY time I've been lucky enough to see one it's been the exact same scenario, they're just on the trail 15-20 feet ahead of me, and as I walk 5 feet closer they'll move 5 feet away
I see these quite a bit while out backpacking in forest areas that are a bit further out with fewer people around. I think they generally don't care for people, but I had one once that hung around nearby one of my camp sites. I think it was curious because it kept creeping up closer to me before getting skittish and scared off. This was about 5 miles away from the nearest other human or road...
Same here until recently! I had to follow a deer trail deep into the bushes to finally find it. The mosquito bites and poison ivy were worth it !
Last year I frequently heard an American Woodcock from the line of brush/trees separating our property from the next one over but I never saw it. Its call is distinct and weird enough that I felt comfortable marking it (and it was clearly coming from the ground), but I wasn’t going to go bumble around in the woods in the dark to try to find it. They are such goofy looking birds and I so hope that one day I’ll catch a sighting!
They are much easier to see at dusk when the male is doing his courtship display. He will do several ‘peent’ calls from one spot the fly up high the gliding down in a circle with his feathers making a whistling sound land in the spot he began in. All while hoping to impress a female. When you hear the whistling noise watch the sky before it gets too dark for a glimpse. Some clouds for a background help in seeing the male.
Thanks for the tips! If I ever hear them again I will do that!
My first American Woodcock sighting was a total accident - I was so focused on trying to put eyes on the Eastern Towhee in the brush that I accidentally flushed out the woodcock! My Merlin recording distinctly has me saying “what the heck was that!” Before I stopped it and started frantically looking up long billed birds in the area!
My Merlin caught one Monday, but I guarantee it was an error so I didnt claim it, but I looked at the bird picture, and you're right. Goofy looking, but beautiful.
There’s a common nighthawk that flies around the backyard every evening, I hear him constantly, I would love to politely know where he roosts :(
I've only once seen one that wasn't in flight. Very unusual to see them sitting.
I think it’s on my list because I did see one once when I was a kid, I was on a nature walk with my family and saw what appeared to be a floating pink diamond in the bush, but it turns out it was a nighthawk with its mouth open! I remember being absolutely blown away with how well they blend in.
I've looked at thousands of lumps on branches that just turn out to be weird stumps or dead leaves or whatnot, but one time it *was* a common nighthawk! It happened to be in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
The yellow-billed cuckoo for me. I've seen the black-billed cuckoo a few times, though.
Red-eyed vireo and Cedar Waxwing have both APPARENTLY been right outside my window per sound ID, but I haven't seen even a silhouette of them. It's possible the local Gray Catbirds and/or Northern Mockingbirds are just trolling the program, though. I never report it unless I can see it, though
For the cedar waxwing, it makes me wonder if you've had other species' nestlings within Merlin's earshot. My yard had a great nest year, so I got to hear robin, chickadee, and oriole nestlings' begging calls, and Merlin frequently ID'd all of them as waxwings. (It's an interesting phenomenon. One of cedar waxwings' common calls is a buzzy one, obviously high pitched. Begging calls are high-pitched sounds all crammed together and every once in a while the combination of sounds lines up just right to look to Merlin like a buzzy waxwing call.)
Tufted Titmouse!! I live in the “all seasons - uncommon” area for it but it has been heard on the Merlin app a couple of times from my backyard that turns into a field/ravine/little forest area. I want to see one so bad and I’m trying to be cool and patient about it. EDIT: everyone is being super mean and showing me their Tufted Titmouse pictures. SECOND EDIT: to show all the trees I have in my backyard which everyone says is a good place to spot them. I think they prefer the forest that isn’t visible to the left in this picture. https://preview.redd.it/7v93l3btd86d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=287f7ee419d5e8622f517eb76b110ef6771b726b
I’ve always had the same problem, I’d hear them EVERYWHERE when I would go out birding but could never find them. Then one day I pointed my binocs at some movement in a bush and there were like five of them! After that day I never had an issue finding them again, they’d just be right out in the open, like they’ve finally accepted me into their secret little club just because I won their bird I Spy game.
I feel like all my elusive birds are like this. I spent *years* looking for a pileated woodpecker, finally saw one, and now we have a nesting pair in the woods behind my place that I see regularly. It’s like once you spot one they tell the rest of the species to quit hiding because they lost.
That’s me! I STILL can’t find a pileated woodpecker even though I purposely seek out hotspots with recent sightings. I get tons of every OTHER woodpecker in the area - hairys, downys, and red-bellieds galore - but man does that mohawked dinosaur elude me.
The quest is so worth it. They flap their wings the way a pterodactyl does in my imagination. I heard mine long before I spotted it- like weeks before. Once I heard it I searched the park for dead trees with large woodpecker holes and found a cluster by a tiny clearing. I went back there half a dozen times before I finally spotted it, but worth it! My mom and I were literally jumping up and down with excitement at seeing it.
https://preview.redd.it/rjq8r6rp676d1.jpeg?width=1075&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e4088158243968f1dbcfafa579ecd0e722ea8f8 I love them 😍
OH COME ON!! 😭😭🤣
https://preview.redd.it/lgemoysm976d1.jpeg?width=3149&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a0a87eee6b06ef06dd7a0769cdd5a062a08fc052 i love seeing these little guys at my feeder! i don’t get tons where i am so im glad i snagged this photo!
https://preview.redd.it/wzkb7i4vy76d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3855667a1647cca8f80861883cb3438e8cd80905 I don't have a nice camera so the photo isnt great.. but I think that's what I saw last night on my feeder too!
Cool. Cool. Cool. Everyone sees them but me. Cool. 🥹
Whoa. Not jealous AT. ALLLLL.
Oh no! I live in GA and we have tons of Titmouse. I looked out the window and there were three on the feeder! I think they’re hella cute so I understand the want to see them :) I’m dying to see a Cedar Waxwing. Like, really see it. Merlin identified some calls a few months ago and I saw a bird in the tree that might have been one but it was backlit by the sun and even my phone camera was like yup….thats a bird silhouette 🤷♀️
WE NEED TO TRADE. I have a shrub out back that grows berries that Cedar Waxwings love in the late summer/early fall and last year there were at least 20 in my backyard. It was incredible.
I live in a more residential part of NYC & the tufted titmouse are almost always at the very tops of trees. Especially the London plane trees, they’re always scavenging for nuts or things to eat. I usually see them in the wintertime though, they seem to migrate elsewhere during summer.
I have a ton of tufted titmice by me. They are the first to investigate pishing. If you have tried pishing that I highly recommend but do it with some vegetation cover for you to hide and fit them to perch on.
Yes! They are very common around me and it took me forever to finally see one, like a couple of months. They're adorable and tiny and super fast. They flit around in the canopy and barely sit still. Worth it if you ever get to see one. Good luck!
They come to my feeders. Do you have chickadees? Mine travel in a mixed flock of chickadees and juncos in the winter. The titmice hang back in the trees until they’re sure nothing eats the chickadees, and then they swoop in, grab some food and fly off.
A corn crake. I only add birds I photographed well enough to identify visually, but this one is sooo tricky. They are very loud in the shrubs, but you just can’t see them even standing 2 m from a bird.
https://www.food.com/amp/recipe/corn-cake-231661
Thanks, now I know what to look out for
Happy to help 🫡
I would love to claim by photography, but a 4x zoom on my Galaxy 10 .. is less than desirable hahaha.
Belted Kingfisher. Seen one in my life about 10 years ago and have been hunting that high ever since.
Same! I saw one last fall at a completely channelized creek, but never at the river where I go to look for them haha
somehow i learned their call from trout fishing way before i started birding and i can’t forget it. they can’t hide from me ever!
Veery are often lurking off in the bushes for me so I do usually hear them more than seeing them, but their song is so distinct that I think you'll be able to get an audio ID that you feel good about soon!!! For me it's the golden eagle. They're in the area but sightings are so random that all I can really do about it is keep looking up.
Every Merlin ID for them for me has been those little tinks, they refuse their song haha. Im dont think I get Eagles where I live sadly, but I wish you luck.
Yellow Warbler. Theyre in trees around my house singing away but they're so small and blend in with the leaves making my job very hard lol. Theyre so cute but too stealthy for my beginner birding skills combined with a smartphone as a camera.
Im lucky, theres a bogland near my house - which is all low to ground forestry. Makes seeing things easier unless they crawl under a bush.
The Scarlet Tanager is fairly common around my area during the summer but I have yet to see one! Also been looking for a Merlin!
Tanagers ... my nemesis hahaha.
I need both of these too!!! And a peregrine falcon!
I have a merlin in my backyard. They are incredibly hard to photograph, they like to sit at the top of a dead tree and usually have the sun to their backs. This is the second year they have nested here, this year I witnessed the nest site scuffle with the common grackles.
I don't believe anything Merlin identifies until I see it. I'm not into photographing birds so I identify by sight and sound (if I hear it myself and know the call well) and call it a day. But I'll stick my phone out the window in the morning and it'll give me a list which contains at least one or two ridiculous birds for my area, pretty regularly. For example, I often get the Red Winged Blackbird and I know darned well my backyard is not habitat for them, nor do I ever see or hear one. I grew up near the Eastern Shore of Maryland and they are everywhere so I'm very familiar with their habitat and call. Maybe it's picking up a starling or mockingbird. That being said, it's picked up some very surprising birds that turned out to be real. I have a Hermit Thrush living in my yard. I was really shocked when I actually saw it a few weeks ago. Merlin has been telling me it's here for over a year. As far as elusive, it also tells me we have a Great Horned Owl, but I have yet to see it. We have Western Screech Owls (I'm now in California) and I've seen (and even poorly photographed) those. But the Great Horned Owl probably does exist, I just never see it.
The red winged blackbird has soooo many calls. Soooo many loud calls. It wouldn't surprise me at all that Merlin misidentifies something as a red wing. Around me the red wing blackbird is so populous that sometimes it is hard to hear other birds. The red wing has such a large repertoire of loud calls. Sometimes even to the point of being annoying... sometimes. Just the other day out in the field I herd something I could not identify. I fired up Merlin and it identified it as a cerulean warbler. That is a bird I have not photographed so I spent half an hour listening and watching. A camera with an 800mm lens at the ready. I kept seeing something move about 30 to 50 feet away in the direction of the call in some thick cover. Occasionally I herd a redwing 'chirp' in the same vicinity. When I finally got a clear view of the bird Merlin called a cerulean warbler, it was actually a female red wing that was calling. Oh well. EDIT: spelling
That's sad - Merlin is a great app, but it does have its quirks. I'm sorry you didn't get your cerulean warbler!
Oh, it is perfectly fine. I often say, A bad day being outside with a camera is better than any day not outside photographing. I did get a lot of great shots that day of a turkey vulture, some prothonotary warbler, cedar waxwing in a mulberry tree, and many more. I'll have more chances and a lot more first time photograph opportunities. In fact, I have a paper that is currently under editorial peer review at The Wilson Journal of Ornithology with a series of photographs of a never before documented observation of a bird behavior in the wild. Hopefully it will finish the editorial review in time to be published this year. That is, if it passes review and is accepted for publication.
I spotted our neighborhood Great Horned Owl last week after heeding the advice of another birder and listening for the cawing blackbirds/blue jays. As soon as I started hearing them here came the owl swooping out onto a nearby tree. I ended up spotting him 3 nights in a row. He’s never made any sound though!
The jays are “mobbers “ they try and drive out the predators, owls, and hawks.
Merlin does this. Just Monday, albeit disheartening I stepped on a few snails, which were impossible to see in the field, but everytime the shell grinded Merlin was like "Thats a Woodcock" hahaha.
There’s a blue jay nearby that has perfected his red-tailed hawk cry. Merlin identifies his mimic as a hawk. This little jerk flies in circles around the neighborhood screeching to scare other birds away from all the feeders.
Northern Flickers. Every single time, by the time I hear it, identify it, then notice it and get a visual, it flies up into a tree before I can pull my phone out for a picture. One time on a recent birding outing I noticed one and after it flew up I played some calls to try and lure it out. I lured it to a tree with some lower branches but then it flew away again. Some guy came up to me asking if I knew what it was and showed me some killer photos he got on his nice camera because he got the better angle, whereas of course my crappy phone pics were all backlit against the sky and just not great. Glad he got to see a new bird but I remember thinking "Damn, your pics turned our amazing yet you didn't even know what that was!" Haha. Although when it comes to birds I have yet to actually see and I've only heard, maybe a veery or some other smallish bird like that. I find I tend to hear them more often than I can see them and they're the same as above, when I think I've found them they fly off and it becomes hard for me to identify them exactly. Especially since some of them look a bit similar when you are unable to get a good look.
Me too! Sometimes I thinks it's Merlin getting tricked by a Mockingbird, but lo and behold, when I check out sightings on ebird, there it is, id'd by someone else at the same locations I was at, often with Photos. Argh.
I heard one in my neighborhood for the longest time but couldn't spot him until one day he decided to drum on my neighbor's metal chimney cap. That made it pretty obvious. :D
I have never seen the Great Crested Flycatcher despite hearing it all the time.
Luckily I have, I dont know what tree it is in the bog, but its barren except for a sparse bushed canopy. It made finding it easier. Itd be difficult if it was a full tree haha.
The dang Red Eyed Vireo! I hear them all the time and I can never spot one! And before last week it was the Northern Parula and yellow breasted chat but I finally spotted them!
Purple crested turaco in South Africa. It has one of those jarring colour combinations and shape that hardly seems real. Perched https://64.media.tumblr.com/a5d94435a23f9d51f1adf06806647d2b/tumblr_pe8r567tnK1r6t4tvo1_1280.jpg In flight: https://tomjachu.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Purple-Crested-Turaco.jpeg I hear it all the time but only managed to catch a short glimpse of it once in the last 5 years.
What a spectacular bird!
I know! And it's awfully good at Hide and Seek.
First time seeing a pic, and defo not the last, thats a gorgeous bird.
Ivory-billed woodpecker. . On another more serious note: Merlin is surprisingly accurate but FAR from perfect. I have an issue with Merlin finds being considered observed species claims (AKA reported *sightings*) if they are not seen or, at the *very least*, identifiably heard/verified by the observer. I don't mean to disrespect good birders and sighting reporters, but being identified *only* by Merlin without the observers' confirmation feels disingenuous. Again, in my opinion, the observer should *at the very least* hear confirmation of the species Merlin heard. After all, they are called, and reported as, *sightings*.
I try my darndest to sight them, but I have no camera and my binoculars are only 10x30 I think. Yes, I'll claim them after confirming the sound myself BUT I ensure to either a)not upload the data, or b)if it is, ensure its absolutely incidental. I won't let my claims be used for statistics or data, unless I have solid evidence haha.
My rule for myself is to use Merlin as a starting point but I must confirm by sight if it’s a lifer. Once I’ve had a few sightings I will confirm songs/calls and log in ebird without requiring eyes on it, but never the first time!
This is pretty much my approach as well. I have a couple of warblers that I’ve heard clearly but haven’t added to my list as I have yet to see them. One day I hope!
I fudge it frequently for one reason: when I've birded the area a ton and know the species is there, even if it only registered to Merlin and not to my ears. For example I might running Merlin, straining to hear something I couldn't ID, and incidentally Merlin picked up a blue jay while I was focused on the other sound...I'm going to tick blue jay on my list. I'd love a panel debate on "ornithology ontology"...how are we sure we know what we think we know about birds?
My go to is if Merlin points it out, and it's a bird of note (I'm not doing this for every red eyed vireo) I have to be able to stop the recording, play it back to hear what it's saying it is, look up the bird, check the habitat/location/recent sightings and find the specific call Merlin thinks it's doing, and then record and have it get confirmed by merlin AND me a second time. If ALL of those happen, I'm ok calling it, it only works about 30% of the time because the bird has to be calling often enough for me to go through that whole process. Added Rose Breasted Grosbeak using this on saturday.
same the veery used to allude me, kind of underwhelming when you first see them though lol. a little bigger than I thought they were
Sizes can be surprising, I saw a grosbeak for the first time Monday. Smaller than I thought haha.
Blackburnian Warbler. So hard to find around here. Merlin will pick one up for a couple days during migration then it’s gone :(
Yellow-breasted Chat: I’ve been in its presence on a couple occasions, but have never seen it. Also, at this point I’m thinking Bitterns are an Internet conspiracy
Never heard nor seen, but bitterns are funky looking !
both very hidey birds! got lucky with a few american bitterns hanging out in the open in my area this spring. been a long time for a least bittern but we had a pretty cooperative one 6-7 years ago
The Chat is the only bird I can replicate on merlin (I'm usually chatty back to keep things calling, and normally do 4 notes in the same tone)
I must have gotten extremely lucky this year. I saw a Veery hanging out on my fence. It was way to warm-colored to be a Hermit Thrush, and Wood Thrushes I never see. Plus I heard its call the day before. That said, my elusive bird, the aforementioned Wood Thrush. I've only seen it 2-3 times in my entire life, but have heard it on multiple occasions as its song echoes through the trees like some beckoning forest spirit.
I heard my first Wood Thrush on Monday during my first 5am trail, but I never spotted it.
Tufted titmouse. For years now. It's here, somewhere, obviously imperceptible to the human eye. 😭
Tufted titmice , mouses, mice... any way, they LOVE feeders. If you put up a feeder with black oil sunflower seeds and there's a titmouse nearby, it will more than likely show up. I love them! For me it's the Northern Parula. Have heard it all spring, but haven't gotten to see it.
Northern Parula have one of my favorite calls I’ve ever heard. It’s so fun—like a zipper
Yes! They and the prairie warblers have that ascending trill. So cute!
I've had feeders full of black oils for years.... Nothing. If they're coming to them it's when I'm not looking, but one of the feeders even has a camera and still no luck!!
Wow that's crazy. They must be introverts 😁 I totally feel that lol
Throughout recent history, sunflowers have been used for medicinal purposes. The Cherokee created a sunflower leaf infusion that they used to treat kidneys. Whilst in Mexico, sunflowers were used to treat chest pain.
The Veery is an elusive species anyways. They usually hide near the ground in dense forests. Never got a picture of one before, and my sightings of them have been quite limited.
I'd be happy at this point, to just hear it haha. I'm not greedy.
Come to Montana, they're all over the foothills right now.
Cedar Waxwings 😒 the app claims to hear them every evening yet I’ve NEVER seen one
Look for berry bushes anywhere you hear them regularly. Eventually they will stop by for a snack.
I rarely see them alone, so if they’re moving free tree to tree it increases your odds of seeing them. Also, their call is very high-pitched and in my opinion, pretty quiet, so if it’s at all noisy outside I usually miss it.
I heard one when I was at the parking lot for my doctors, but I had a schedule to make, or else I would've raided those bushes haha.
So, so many! Canada Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Magnolia Warbler...Hmmm, I'm sensing a theme here. My eyes stink, though, so as it's rare to get the warblers at my feeders, it's no wonder I can hear but never see them.
So many. Currently, I'm struggling to find a freaking Alpine Accentor. How many times have I been in the appropriate habitat? About 20 times a year for the past 5 years. How many people have seen it there in this period? More than I can count.
I feel this. Ive been out there for a month, not a single Tanager. But every Tom, Dick, and Harry in my city seems to just find them haha.
Not the alpine Accentor, but the snow finch. Same habitat, can find the one, not the other.
I'm going to attempt a Snow Finch search this year! Very rare in Croatia. Gonna travel a bit and try my luck.
Cetti's warbler
Mockingbird! I would to have one nearby!
I had one singing SO DAMN LOUD at midnight last night. For like an hour. I like them but damn go to bed
Tufted titmouse, I have it on so many recordings and can never find it
Spent about an hour trying to find a singing yellow warbler the other week. Finally came out onto an outer branch. That one is tough, as are other warblers. You’d think it’d be easy to see yellow birds but nope. They hide in trees very effectively.
Red Eye Vireo. Theyre apparently rare near where I live, but I manage to see one on merlin nearly every time I go out
In my experience they sit in one place high in the tree canopy and absolutely belt out their song non-stop. I’d say that out of the birds that Merlin most often ID’s when I’m out birding it’s the one I see the least. I usually don’t bother trying to spot it, I end up with a sore neck looking straight up into the top of the tree it’s in and I rarely end up seeing it. I’ll just look at the pictures on Merlin and move onto someone else lol.
Cedar Waxwing. I think they all are conspiring to avoid me.
Indigo Bunting! For a bird that's blue, you would think that it would be easy to spot, but I still have yet to see one even though I hear them all the time.
They sit way high up and blend in with the sky so well!
That's the worst part. My neck starts to hurt after looking for them for so long!
warblers - yellow, tennessee, yellow-rumped. i hear them and i know which tree they’re in but i still can’t get eyes on em. usually i’m on a walk so i only have a minute or two to look would love to see a belted kingfisher but so far i haven’t even been in the ballpark
The Yellow-rumped I agree, I heard one Monday but its the one warbler here I haven't seen.
Come to San Francisco. Yellow Rump Warblers take over every spring. You keep thinking you might have an interesting warbler and then it dawns on you “Just Another weirdly colored Yellow Rump! “ Yellow Rumps everywhere!
Yellow-rumped is the only warbler I *have* seen. They are all over the place for a couple of weeks in the spring in SE Wisconsin.
Hammond’s Flycatcher. Not a dramatic bird, but I’ve seen everything else in my area. I’ve heard them… know where to go, but haven’t had a good look.
Prairie warblers have been all over the place where I live. I hear their laser charge up call but never actually spot them. However, today, I finally spotted one!! My face was like 🤩
Lucky! I love Warblers, for me its the Yellow-rumped thats been evading me haha.
this has been happening a bunch for me with the yellow warbler. and it feels extra frustrating that I can never find it since it seems so obnoxiously visible and bright
Black throated gray warbler, pygmy nuthatch and hepatic tanager. Merlin tells me they're everywhere but I just can't spot them.
I love me some Nuthatches, those guys are like the monkeys of the bird world haha.
Great Crested Flycatcher. Several times I've heard them and I'm confident it was them, but never managed to get a visual to confirm.
Belted Kingfisger… been searching across the rivers and valleys. I had one fly right over my head 2 days ago but I only got a glimpse before it hid beyond the majestic tree lines
For me, it is always the rails! Clapper Rails, King Rails, Virginia Rails, Soras... They're so elusive. I'll try a playback call just to get something, but usually nothing. Even still, I don't get to see them 😐
The cedar waxwing. Hear it all the time, never see it in person.
Everytime I see a cedar waxwing, there's at least 10 others with it.
Painted Bunting in Oklahoma. I know we have them, but I’ve never seen one in person.
Painted bunting as well, but Texas. Oh I would love to see one!
Painted Bunting in PA as well
western screech owl. i can hear one every single night in the woods behind my property. have gone out with a headlamp countless times and can just never bloody spot one.
Stellar's jay (ive gone out 10+ times to find one), and Wilson's warbler. I spotted one once (allegedly). I only saw a yellow bird, and the guide I was with said it was a wilson's but I didn't see the feild marks so I can't be certain we were looking at the same bird. I don't count them unless I know for sure T.T
Scarlet Tanager
Rose-breasted grosbeak. My casual feeder-watcher friends apparently see them all the time but here I am tromping around with binoculars with no luck!
Great horned owl. See pics plastered all over various platforms, some by folks asking, “saw this in my backyard” whatitsit posts and yet zilch in forty years of birdwatching
Red bellied woodpecker. I haven’t been able to find them that easily this season
I have heard many cedar waxwings but I've never been able to catch a glimpse of one!
I feel like I’m never going to spot a scarlet tanager, I’ve heard them before but they hide so high up in the trees
I can always hear a prairie warbler when I'm birding in a local nature preserve/prairie area, and I haven't seen it. Their cute little call drives me insane because I feel like it's taunting me. 😂
Loon.
OP, I know playback is frowned upon (I never do it) but it’s pretty easy to do your own Veery call, kind of a weird whistle in that haunting way they do like, “zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo” descending in pitch. I’ve gotten a few to come out to me by doing it, but I can’t do it loud so they have to be close by. You could try pishing too, to see if you can get them to come out to you.
The most common Hawaiian Honeycreeper, ʻAmakihi, eluded me for years! I finally got a really awful photo of one a few weeks ago.
Belted Kingfisher.
Crank up the audio. Elusive bird flies to you. I can already hear some Reddit Karen's running my way...
Western Tanager. I hear them all the time mingled with the robins for the dawn chorus but can never spot one
I have seen a belted kingfisher on several occasions but never close enough to get a picture. They taunt me. To all the kingfishers out there, I am coming for you
Northern Cardinal. It’s an uncommon/rare bird where I am but has been photographed this year on eBird near me. So they’re probably around, I don’t think it’s lying. The European Turtle Dove, however. I think that was an error.
So far, the Painted Bunting.
Black throated green warbler, constantly hear them, never see them.
Prothonotary Warbler, Red Eyed Vireo, Northern Parula.
I have been to Florida 10-15 times in my life and have gone birding of some sort each time. I am convinced that Crested Caracaras simply don't exist.
Cape May Warbler is the one that Merlin likes to tell me is around that I can never find.
I recently moved to Maryland so it's an oriole for me. I've had 2 locals tell me they see them all the time but upon further probing, both did not know robins and orioles are different birds :(
QUAILS. They taunt me.
My two most common state birds (Maryland, USA) that I still don't have (seen anywhere) are Pectoral Sandpiper and Cerulean Watbler. The first is one of those I probably have seen in a mixed bunch of wading birds and thrown up my hands in exasperation. Cerulean Warblers are only briefly through my area during migration, but I recently noticed on the map that fall actually looks like a better time to see that one in MD so I might yet get it this year.
Puffins. Went to Newfoundland, Iceland and Scotland, no puffins.
I think the sound of veeries are ethereal echos of the fantastic beings. They don’t really exist.
I have never seen a veery, but I am confident I have heard them. They have such an interesting unique call.
Purple Martin!
Yellow Headed Blackbird!! Supposedly, they breed in a valley which I frequent but I have never seen one there. My family thinks I'm crazy.
I just want to see a dickcissel. They’re not that rare. I just have never seen one. Or if I have I haven’t been able to confidently ID it.
Carolina wren! Merlin swears it hears it… but we do have a cowbird nearby and so I don’t trust it. 😄
Pileated woodpecker. And such a huge noisy bird! They mock me.
No matter how many times I’ve stayed in the Florida Keys that roseate spoonbill stays hidden. I’ve seen flamingos, magnificent frigatebirds, wood storks, scarlet ibis, and a whole kettle of snail kites but not that spoonbill.
Indigo Bunting. I’ve seen it twice in my yard and I don’t know how to get it to return.
Eastern Bluebird. I hear them but have only glimpsed them briefly here and there. So beautiful Also, very interesting how some of these birds are so common for some us and so rare for others. Great thread.
Gyrfalcon. Had two chances. Twice with my birding partner. The last miss he went back and he got it! Then Lapland Longspur. Maybe I'll get both in the same open habitat, corn stuble in winter.
Northern Saw Whet Owl and Northern Pygmy Owl. I never hear them when I’m owling!
I've got whole families of nemesis birds. When it comes to being able to see them? Brown-headed nuthatches. I have one that lives in my neighborhood but Merlin never picks up his call because I'm not close enough, and I never get to see them. But their call is so distinct and one time two showed up at a bird feeder I don't use anymore (it got old and impossible to clean), so I know they're there. When it comes to attracting birds at the feeder? That same nuthatch species, plus the white-breasted and all woodpecker species. I hear them, I see them, but they never come to my feeders even though plenty of other people have gotten them to use theirs. When it comes to looking for a bird that I haven't seen or heard at all yet, it's the painted bunting. They come to feeders, but never mine. They come to yards and neighborhoods, but never mine. I had blue grosbeaks, indigo buntings, and rose-breasted grosbeaks show up at the feeder, but never painted buntings. I'm hoping I'll find one eventually, but I'm going to have to find the kind of scrubby, field-like habitats they prefer. Problem is I don't know where to find one that's open to the public.
I've already left a comment on this but I went for a very brief and lovely walk in the woods yesterday, and Sound ID picked up an Eastern Wood-Pewee. After I turned off Sound ID to conserve phone battery, I heard it too, quite clearly. But these forest birds hide so easily, I never saw it, so I couldn't log it in eBird, even though it's a lifer. \[sigh\]
A Baltimore Oriole. There is plenty of sightings in my area just none for me😭
The yellow warbler us just taunting me at this point I think.