Category Archives: Search Terms

Below are a few notable search terms that brought visitors to this site during December 2013. You can see previous editions of this monthly post here. With this entry, the third year-long installment (prior years being 2009 and 2011) of this blog series concludes. The following search terms are listed without comment.

pictures of baby barred owls

can squirrels have oranges

SNAKES IN VOLUSIA COUNTY FL

snowy owl sightings 2013 illinois

types of wild birds found in Volusia county

funny google auto vomplete

Happy 2014 and GOOD BIRDING to all!

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November was cloudy and drab here in Florida. Even my blog stats weren’t all that interesting. Sigh. Here are some statcounter finds from the month that was.

I love it when searches like gemini springs birding debary and bird watching gemini springs debary bring people here. I just hope they bring birders to the park itself! Gemini Springs is an eBird hotspot so a good place to look for information on birdlife in the park would be the eBird Hotspot Details.

Speaking of Gemini Springs, the search gemni springs alligator attack got my heart racing just a little bit. However, my own search revealed nothing of note.

The search my dog catches birds translate in mandarin is somewhat distubring, and it seems strange they’d end up on my blog rather than here.

I hope the person searching for songbird that act like bird of prey found their quarry, likely the “butcherbird” or species of shrike.

Finally, here’s one silly spelling “variation” that made me giggle this month: when do balled eagles migrate to Starved Rock, IL.

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This blog had lots of visitors in October (yay!), but not too many notable searches came up in my Statcounter (boo!). Here’s what’s what:

Someone was looking for snakes in volusia county. My blog is by no means definitive but I am certainly on the lookout for snakes all. the. time. I just love them. 🙂 See my herp life list including snakes here. To the person looking for information on gemini springs snakes, you should really like the following page: Fans of Gemini Springs Park. You will love the album “Snakes of Gemini Springs”!

Someone wondered, will cardinal feed cowbird babies? The answer is yes, Northern Cardinals care for Brown-headed Cowbird “offspring”. Cowbirds are apparently found in central Florida throughout the year, but I have only seen them during the winter months since we moved here (and I’m still waiting to see my FOF BHCO). Someone else wondered what to feed a baby cowbird. To which I say NO.

Someone was looking for what an e-bird kyosk cost. If they had known how to spell kiosk I think they would have found better intel: eBird Trail Tracker.

Finally, someone searched for beatiful barred owl. They are all beautiful, truly, but an individual bird very dear to me, sweet sweet Meepy, recently left this earth. My first owl love will always have a very special place in my heart. Fly free, Meeps.

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Not too many highs or lows from last month’s stat logs. Here we go…

Someone was searching for birding cataract surgery. I don’t think they found what they were looking for here. Hopefully they found good news. Did you know that approximately 90% of (human) patients can achieve a corrected vision of 20/40 or better after cataract surgery?

Someone wondered: saw a buzzard in barrington il. normal or not? Yes and no. By buzzard, the searcher probably meant vulture. Turkey Vultures range into Chicagoland and much further north during the summer. But vultures are not buzzards. Vultures are vultures. Buzzards are Old World buteo hawks. Please stop calling North American birds “buzzards”. Thank you.

Puzzling search of the month: what state are looney birds from? Huh? Do you mean loons?

Goofy spelling searches of the month: eagel watching in autica (eagle-watching in Utica, right?) and lake cook audbahn (Audubon is not that hard, come ON!). Someone was also searching for birding pneumonics. I assumed this was a misspell of mnemonics, but the searcher could well have been interested in avian lungs. *shrug*

Happy October!!

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Notes from August’s stat logs…

Captain Obvious question of the month: are there any owls in gemini springs? Answer: There are many Barred Owls. Great Horned is very likely and Eastern Screech is possible, too.

Oddly specific question of the month: Many birds start planning their winter migration in August, but what exactly is migration?. Answer: Cornell’s All About Birds is a good place to start

Birding lingo question of the month: rcwo is the acronym for red cockaded woodpecker? Answer: for bird banders, yes, RCWO is the code used for Red-cockaded Woodpecker.

My least favorite searches of the month: kestrel trap (don’t do that) and how to feed a baby florida scrub jay (if you’re not a licensed rehabber REALLY DON’T DO THAT).

Backyard inquiry of the month: cooper’s hawk landed in our yard what to do ? Answer: sit back and watch! You may be about to have a Wild Kingdom moment in your back yard!

Finally, the spelling oopsies of the month: audibon park; western tanninger; baby pelacan bird; and opposite of palegic (littoral? terrestrial?).

Happy September! Here come the migrants!

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Here are some highs and lows I found in my statcounter logs for July.

For some reason I found a lot of loon activity last month. Common Loons pass through Illinois in spring and fall migration, with numbers peaking around the first week of April and mid-November. They winter off of Florida, with birds recorded in most months from November through April. Since those two states feature almost exclusively on this blog, I’m pretty sure the person searching for where is the best place to hear loon during july and august didn’t find their answer here. This eBird map shows Common Loon sightings globally during those months. Again, eBird has the answer. 🙂 Though I’m not sure how much calling the birds do outside of courting. Someone else wondered are there loons in chain o lakes illinois? To which I answer YES, get out there in April and your chances will be very good. You could even join a group specifically out looking for loons! Finally, someone was looking for a loon like birds in illinois. Since there are loons in Illinois, that loon-like bird may have been a LOON. However, if the bird was seen in July, my suggestion would be to look at the Double-crested Cormorant.

Owls dominated once again, with lots of searches for owls in Illinois ending up on my post (My) Owls of Illinois. Folks were also looking for information on the lake county illinois audobon owl boxes (voilà) and other specific searches for barn owl endangered illinois and related. I like that someone wondered how many babies does a barred owl have at once. My guess would be two. I checked BNA, which indicates that clutch size ranges from 1 to 5 with the average being 2-3. Someone wanted to know Is there an owl in Illinois that has yellow claws. Some have yellow feet, but a very quick check leads me to believe they all have black talons. Finally, someone needed some more personal advice when searching for what kind of owl in my backyard? I’m not a psychic, yo.

I love that someone searched for green caterpillar with horn missouri because that’s pretty much what I do when I want to ID a caterpillar or moth or butterfly or snake or bug I don’t know – start with a Google search of the unknown creature’s physical characteristics and where it was found. I usually have pretty good luck. I hope this seeker did as well.

The person looking for bird- themed movies landed on this old post. I hope they found two upcoming titles: A Birder’s Guide to Everything and The Birder.

Someone wanted to know names & photos of the birds that preen. Um, all of them?

And last, here’s my favorite typo of the month: paragon falcon eating pigeon.

Happy August!

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Here are the highlights and lowlights from my little corner of the interwebs during the last month.

Statcounter, GO!

I hope the person who searched for a list of birds at flights of wonder found what s/he was looking for… but if not, another search in a week or so might be helpful. 🙂

eBird bait came in the form of the search what kinds of birds are native to volusia county? The answer can be found by using eBird’s great Bar Charts feature.

Sometimes I wish there was an eSnake, as may the persons who searched for florida snakes volusia county and florida snakes identification. The Florida Museum of Natural History has a handy List of Florida Snakes which is a good place to start. I get visitors looking for snakes and other herps coming in on my Herpetology Life List.

I was interested to see someone searching for the birds of prey maitland fl live web cam. Last month a site sharing feeds from the large flight chamber at ACBOP went live. It can be found here: Eagle Eyes on the Environment Disney Flight Barn Cams. If you tune in Thursday mornings, you just might catch a glimpse of ME! 🙂

The search man made great horned owl nest made me giggle because it reminded me of this photo. And the cute typo oreo bird nest was good for a chuckle, too.

Happy July!!

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