What are your most cherished photographic Bucket List birds?

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My current bucket list is tame because it includes local birds I have not photographed. They aren't close to the rarest birds I have got to see, but my continuing failure in grabbing a shot makes each of these feel personal.
  • Northern goshawk: very first raptor on my first birding walk ever - I spooked it as it was trying to finish a meal. Just meters away from my foot and I was too in awe to grab my camera on time.
  • Golden eagle: literally just missed one a week ago - it was hunting waterfowl at a nearby lake and I saw the waterfowl all flying high up when I was still on the highway. Pulled over just to get confirmation from other birders that I missed it by a single minute.
  • Snowy owl: this erratic winter has somehow pushed the owls way further south from where I am.
 
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Doug Herr said:
too many to list.

First priority will be the 'holes' in my photo library that live in my home state, California. Townsend's Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Canyon Wren, Mountain Quail, California Thrasher, Band-tailed Pigeon, Spotted Owl, Allen's Hummingbird. Better photos of several others would be cool too: Townsend's Solitaire, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Ladder-backed Woodpecker, Gilded Flicker, Verdin.
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I've encountered California Thrashers just about every time I go past the area called Coyote Corner in the Irvine Regional Park in Orange Co. Ladderbacks at the Irvine Ranch Water District Marsh as well.
 
jim0379 said:
I've encountered California Thrashers just about every time I go past the area called Coyote Corner in the Irvine Regional Park in Orange Co. Ladderbacks at the Irvine Ranch Water District Marsh as well.
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Irvine is outside the Ladder-backed Woodpecker's normal range, do you think this could be Nuttall's Woodpecker instead? They're very similar.
 
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Northern goshawk would be awesome. Even as a "birder" I have only seen a few of these, ever. And Black and Yellow rails would also be terrific. I saw a Black rail at a little motel near Inverness, California (Pt. Reyes area) decades ago. It would come out of the reeds every morning and run around in the open a bit. If you stayed at the motel "Mr. Brady" would let you view the rail. Such a deal! If I had been a photographer then it woulda been an awesome photo op.

My Yellow rail sighting was from the Bad Old Days (in my case, the late 1960s) at Anahuac Refuge in Texas. They used to invite people into a kind of tractor vehicle that sported dragging chains to flush the rails so birders could see them fleeing in terror. They only did this a couple of times a week, but it still was not exactly ethical, and it was stopped a long time ago. They reduced the number of "rail excursions, downgraded them to "rail walks" only a few times a year, and finally put a stop to the whole thing in I believe, 2017. The right decision, in my view. So in today's world getting a photo of this bird is quite an accomplishment.
 
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GrandNagus50 said:
Northern goshawk would be awesome. Even as a "birder" I have only seen a few of these, ever. And Black and Yellow rails would also be terrific. I saw a Black rail at a little motel near Inverness, California (Pt. Reyes area) decades ago. It would come out of the reeds every morning and run around in the open a bit. If you stayed at the motel "Mr. Brady" would let you view the rail. Such a deal! If I had been a photographer then it woulda been an awesome photo op.

My Yellow rail sighting was from the Bad Old Days (in my case, the late 1960s) at Anahuac Refuge in Texas. They used to invite people into a kind of tractor vehicle that sported dragging chains to flush the rails so birders could see them fleeing in terror. They only did this a couple of times a week, but it still was not exactly ethical, and it was stopped a long time ago. They reduced the number of "rail excursions, downgraded them to "rail walks" only a few times a year, and finally put a stop to the whole thing in I believe, 2017. The right decision, in my view. So in today's world getting a photo of this bird is quite an accomplishment.
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The goshawks nest in El Dorado National Forest, not that far from you

https://flic.kr/p/2m5Prxb
 
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GrandNagus50 said:
Two out of your three are really easy at Laguna Seca Ranch. The Spotted owl is a tough one. Good luck!
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There is a birding festival in Arcata, California during April that you can join a session put on by a local timber company that will take you to see a spotted owl. Their biologist feeds live mice to their resident owl. You can even be the one that holds the mice.
 
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mrt said:
There is a birding festival in Arcata, California during April that you can join a session put on by a local timber company that will take you to see a spotted owl. Their biologist feeds live mice to their resident owl. You can even be the one that holds the mice.
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The spotted owl visit is already fully booked for this year.
 
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ricardo00 said:
The spotted owl visit is already fully booked for this year.
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It sounds like a quasi-tame bird or birds quite accustomed to humans. They are baited. If I got photos of a bird this way it would have an asterisk in my list of birds photographed (I have no actual list, but if I had one the * would be there).
 
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GrandNagus50 said:
It sounds like a quasi-tame bird or birds quite accustomed to humans. They are baited. If I got photos of a bird this way it would have an asterisk in my list of birds photographed (I have no actual list, but if I had one the * would be there).
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Yep, frankly not sure I would have gone. Was just curious to read about the festival and what they offered. I have been very lucky to have seen and photographed the spotted owl in the wild:
https://flic.kr/p/2kZSfGW
 
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raptor photo said:
I feel like this is only true for a select few types of shots. Owl flying directly at you, kingfisher dive are two off the top of my head. Wildlife behavior is largely undisturbed by humans. How is it possible to make two animals fight, or play, or mate?
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A Great Gray Owl from a couple weeks ago (I was there a couple days ago, but no joy) and one from last year. If anyone is in Southern Oregon around Ashland I can point you in the right direction. Nearby forests have a goodly number of nesting pairs. Males and juveniles stick around all winter. Females return in late winter/early spring.

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GrandNagus50 said:
It sounds like a quasi-tame bird or birds quite accustomed to humans. They are baited. If I got photos of a bird this way it would have an asterisk in my list of birds photographed (I have no actual list, but if I had one the * would be there).
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Not so much tame, but certainly accustomed to humans. The timber company has hired a biologist to keep track of the endangered spotted owls. The barred owls outcompetes the spotted and along with habitat loss makes them endangered. The timber company has extensive holdings in Humboldt County. Aside from pelagic trips where baiting takes place, this is my only experience with this practice. Except for this one day (at the birding festival) I don't think they provide tours. The idea of baiting bothers me, but do the ends justify the means? It's certainly an efficient way to keep track of a very elusive and secretive bird.
 
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mrt said:
A Great Gray Owl from a couple weeks ago (I was there a couple days ago, but no joy) and one from last year. If anyone is in Southern Oregon around Ashland I can point you in the right direction. Nearby forests have a goodly number of nesting pairs. Males and juveniles stick around all winter. Females return in late winter/early spring.

View attachment 82795

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Amazing shots! I might take you up on that offer.
 
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mrt said:
Not so much tame, but certainly accustomed to humans. The timber company has hired a biologist to keep track of the endangered spotted owls. The barred owls outcompetes the spotted and along with habitat loss makes them endangered. The timber company has extensive holdings in Humboldt County. Aside from pelagic trips where baiting takes place, this is my only experience with this practice. Except for this one day (at the birding festival) I don't think they provide tours. The idea of baiting bothers me, but do the ends justify the means? It's certainly an efficient way to keep track of a very elusive and secretive bird.
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I don't really object to what they do in this case. The Spotted owls need all the help they can get. I was just thinking that going to a kind of "festival" ("Godwit days") and being taken out to see the resident owls and then having them fed in front of you and then pose (?) is a bit too easy. Then again, I have photographed staked-out birds in other situations.
 
GrandNagus50 said:
I don't really object to what they do in this case. The Spotted owls need all the help they can get. I was just thinking that going to a kind of "festival" ("Godwit days") and being taken out to see the resident owls and then having them fed in front of you and then pose (?) is a bit too easy. Then again, I have photographed staked-out birds in other situations.
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US Forest Service uses mice in their Spotted Owl research.
 
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I'd say steller's Jay, burrowing owls and pygmy owls. Also great gray in the moss covered trees in the pnw, but that's more about the specific location as I've already got plenty of ggo shots.
 
Hobbzz said:
I'd say steller's Jay, burrowing owls and pygmy owls. Also great gray in the moss covered trees in the pnw, but that's more about the specific location as I've already got plenty of ggo shots.
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A Steller's Jay split is expected, the Pacific form and the interior form. I'll be looking for the interior form.
 
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GrandNagus50 said:
I am leaving for Panama on Friday night. It's a birding tour with Eagle Eye Tours of British Columbia, so I will be mostly in "run and gun" mode using my. OM1 plus Olympus 150-400mm zoom outfit. I have no particular expectations for what birds I will see and photograph, though I admit I would love to see a Blue Cotinga and/or a Harpy Eagle. I try to maintain a philosophy of "I am happy with whatever I see (and photograph)."

But as I start to prepare I am thinking about those Bucket List birds, the ones I would love so much to get photos of. A few of the New World birds I would love to photograph someday, somewhere, are the Lovely Cotinga, the Pompadour cotinga, and the Sharpbill. I could think of others, but those popped into my head.

Do you have a few birds that for you are "dream birds," possible but difficult and elusive?

Doug Greenberg
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I just got back from Panama. I added a bunch of 'lifers' to my list. I also improved on photos of several species. I was fortunate to see an adult Harpy Eagle and an eaglet on a nest. I finally got good photos of a Resplendent Quetzal. A Flame-throated Warbler came in too close for my 600mm to focus. We saw three army ant swarms and all the birds that followed them to pick off insects fleeing from the ants. There were too many highlights to list here. I highly recommend bringing electrolytes and using them every day. The one day I didn't I got bad leg cramps. It was HOT. Have a fun and productive trip.
 
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