Last winter Jaye got me a bird feeder cam which we mounted on the front porch (rural Geary County, near Milford - both the town and the lake) with most of our other feeders. It's been quite enjoyable and allows us to monitor things even if we are gone for a few days! This morning, for the first time, when I opened the app on my phone it gave me a gallery of 24 photos of birds and an identification of them. (list will follow below) It got 4 of 24 correct. The remaining 21 were incorrect and in fact 5 of the identifications were of species that haven't been seen in Kansas and have quite restricted ranges. Some are downright hilariously wrong. If you have one of these feeder cams, by all means enjoy it. But follow up any identification it makes with a visit to your field guide(s) paying very close attention to geographic ranges of the alleged species. If you don't have a field guide, put it in your Christmas wish list - please!
In the following list the alleged identification is first followed by what the bird actually was:
American Goldfinch - American Goldfinch (male) House Finch - House Finch (male) Northern Cardinal - Northern Cardinal (male) Red Fox Sparrow - House Finch (male) Field Sparrow - House Finch (female) White-winged Dove - American Goldfinch (male) Tufted Titmouse - Tufted Titmouse Cedar Waxwing - American Goldfinch (male) Purple Finch - House Finch (male) Mourning Dove - House Finch (female) Brown Thrasher - House Finch (female) Verdin - American Goldfinch (male) Brown-headed Cowbird - House Finch (female) Chestnut-backed Chickadee - Black-capped Chickadee Carolina Chickadee - Black-capped Chickadee Black-crested Titmouse - Tufted Titmouse Common Grackle - House Finch (female) Red-headed Woodpecker - House Finch (male) Orange-crowned Warbler - American Goldfinch (male) Gila Woodpecker - American Goldfinch (male) Pine Warbler - American Goldfinch (male) American Crow - Northern Cardinal (male) Oak Titmouse - American Goldfinch (female) Merlin - House Finch (female)
