What Bird Is That Forum

We had a contest like this ages ago on the old site: photo contests with themes. With @Greyhawk's consent I'd like to ressurrect this feature.

This month's theme: Backyard birds. Submit your favorite photo of a bird or birds you photographed at your home. It must be your primary home, not a vacation rental or work site, unless you live onsite permanently. The bird can be on your property or near it, as long as you were on your property when you photographed it. You may submit a past photo taken from a previous home, as long as you were living there when you took the photo.

Contest closing date: August 23
Winner will be anounced shortly after the closing of the contest.

Rules:
-Registered members may participate (not guests).
-Enter the contest by posting your photo in this thread.
-Each member may post one photo per contest.
-Only photos you have taken yourself are eligible.
-Vote for a photo by thanking the author (click the thumbs-up icon on the post). You can vote for as many entries as you wish.
-The winner is the one with the most votes by the closing date.

Thanks to aveschapinas for doing this.

Below is a shot of a pair of crows literally taken through my back door glass. I was testing the photographic capability of a new phone several weeks ago. Much better than the previous one.

I am submitting just for fun, I am not eligible for the competition.

I will provide a t-shirt shown at bottom for the winner.

Female Cardinal
my backyard
August 3 2026

I'm also not eligible to participate of course; but sometimes in the apartment where I used to live the hummers couldn't find their way back outside when they flew in the windows, and needed some help to find the exit!

Northern Cardinal. Lexington County, SC. April 2022. https://ebird.org/checklist/S107121886

I'll toss this little lady in the mix. The link to the original is https://cdn.download.ams.birds.cornell. ... 47511/1800

Ruby-throated Hummingbird. This guy was a fairly early arrival in north Alabama in April of this year.

I am going to wait until closer to the end of the contest before I vote for my favourites. Voting before the majority of photos have been submitted just doesn't make sense to me. Instead of voting for just one photo, I think I will vote for the top three.

This Northern Harrier shot is one of the very first photos I took from my current address.

3S0A2371 by Glen Mercer, on Flickr

This photo was taken from inside my property - the only time I've seen a Sharpie in my small urban yard in 20 years.
Image quality is poor due to the not very clean window of my patio door and ISO of 14,400.

Not my best, but one of my favorites! A Little Blue Heron from the backyard in 2019.
Alright I'm changing, when you spend more time birding your yard than anywhere else it's hard.
A very rare Vermilion Flycatcher from 2023.

Two thoughts,
21 days seems a little long? Maybe at least cut it to two weeks? Or at least in the future?
Second I can't see any harm in Ave participating if she wants being the winner is done by vote.....

I suppose we need a tiebreaker but another person can be selected as the tiebreaker when your in the tie.

Kevin wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2026 1:51 am Two thoughts,
21 days seems a little long? Maybe at least cut it to two weeks? Or at least in the future?
Second I can't see any harm in Ave participating if she wants being the winner is done by vote.....

I can try two weeks next time! I'm hoping people are just out taking great photos and/or selecting their favorites. I'd rather not change the end date this time, doesn't quite seem fair.

Kevin wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2026 1:54 am I suppose we need a tiebreaker but another person can be selected as the tiebreaker when your in the tie.

I think if we end up with a tie we can do a run-off to determine the winner.

Dark-eyed Junco


https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdnuts/ ... ateposted/

Kevin wrote: Thu Aug 13, 2026 1:54 am I suppose we need a tiebreaker but another person can be selected as the tiebreaker when your in the tie.

I just thought of another possibility: change the time to submit photos to two weeks, but allow an additional time for voting, to reduce the possible favoritism of the earlier entries. I'm thinking two weeks to submit and an additional week to vote, ending on Sundays in each case to accomodate people's different schedules.

From 2022. Fox Sparrow in my Garden.



Fox Sparrow 2-22 by johnd1964, on Flickr

aveschapinas wrote: Sun Aug 16, 2026 4:15 pm
I just thought of another possibility: change the time to submit photos to two weeks, but allow an additional time for voting, to reduce the possible favoritism of the earlier entries. I'm thinking two weeks to submit and an additional week to vote, ending on Sundays in each case to accomodate people's different schedules.

I like this idea. Having time to vote after the closing date would eliminate any risk of a late submission being overlooked by early voters. It would also eliminate the question of, 'Has the last photo been submitted yet or will I have to change my vote in the last few days/hours/minutes of the contest?'

Marilynne wrote: Thu Aug 20, 2026 5:57 pm I'm an Admin/Moderator on another forum. We have a monthly photo contest every month. The contest starts on the first of the month and ends on the last day of the month. We allow 3 entries per person. Each photo must be taken during that month (honor system). We allow voting for four days after the month ends. We pick the top five photos for the month. No prizes, just fun.

Thank you! Some good ideas to think about.

KTH wrote: Tue Aug 04, 2026 12:11 am Ruby-throated Hummingbird. This guy was a fairly early arrival in north Alabama in April of this year.

And we have our winner of the first photo contest! Congratulations KTH. Great photo, and a well-deserved win!

KTH wrote: Tue Aug 04, 2026 12:11 am Ruby-throated Hummingbird. This guy was a fairly early arrival in north Alabama in April of this year.

KTH,

PM me your address and size (S, M, L, or XL) to receive your t-shirt.

Congrats to KTH. It's lucky there was a deciding vote to avoid an annoying tie (and potential shipping costs to Canada).

Thanks everyone!

I know it's not quite September yet, but to keep with the Sunday schedule I'm posting the next contest today.

This (next) month's theme: Education! Since it's back-to-school time in the US, post your photos related to education. Could be birds teaching other birds, birds that taught you something, or anything else related to education. An entertaining explanation is a big plus!

Post your photos from today until September 13; then voting will continue until September 20. Winner will be anounced on September 21.

Rules:
-Registered members may participate (not guests).
-Enter the contest by posting your photo in this thread.
-Each member may post one photo per contest.
-Only photos you have taken yourself are eligible.
-Vote for a photo by thanking the author (click the thumbs-up icon on the post). You can vote for as many entries as you wish.
-The winner is the one with the most votes by the closing date.

-The winner is the one with the most votes by the closing date.
[/quote]
And what is the closing date for this round? Thanks!

Charlie Spencer wrote: Sun Aug 30, 2026 7:46 pm -The winner is the one with the most votes by the closing date.

And what is the closing date for this round? Thanks!
[/quote]

September 20 (or when I wake up on the 21st).