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Fox at 6400 ft in Mt Rainier National Park

Don't remember the exact title but we had a similar thread on the old forum. Got pictures of common birds that you're proud of then post them here. White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) by Greg Miller, on Flickr American Robin, Celery Farm, Oct. 2012 by Greg Miller, on Flickr Northern Mockingbird by Greg Miller, on Flickr

California Bighorns in north central Oregon

Dull Blackburnians have two thinner wingbars, gray cheek/auricular patches, sparser streaking on the flanks, and less yellow underneath and they lack the dark eyeline and the yellow rump.

Silver spotted skipper

Saw this bird at Lake Hodges in Southern California. Seems to be a gull but nothing I can find in iBird Ultimate matches. Black beak, red legs. What is it?

Agreed. Also note the dark eyes, thicker bill, and the lack of any rufous or green colors.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. Note the bold head pattern.

Beautiful! The bumps on the pumpkins are a reminder that no one is perfect.

I like Swainson's for the thrush as well.

I'm still in shock that the site went down so hard that it could not be recovered. Backups should have been maintained... I've been busy and just haven't gotten back to making a new account... I miss a lot of the old categories. I miss the ID categories for other critters but, not being birds, they aren't a "need." I can say that, as long as there are guidelines for how people treat each other, I think most forums "need" a general/off topic section. I know they weren't used all the time and people got carried away creating new ones but, the little contests and quizzes people had were fun. I think if there are enough active moderators they could limit the number of people allowed to create new quizzes so we're not overrun by them? And a real NEED is a section for site news and help. If you look at all the topics that are pinned at the top of this "help me identify......" section, most of those pinned posts don't belong in this section but should be in a section dedicated to site news and/or help. I don't know who's monitoring the responses here but, another suggestion might be to find a way to make a nice big poll(even surveymonkey or something) and list ALL of the old sections we had before and get yays and nays or, on a scale from 1 to 10, how important is _____ section... Those are my thoughts at the moment anyway. :)

1. Looks like a warbler of some sort. Young Chestnut-sided? I'm not sure. 2. It has brown spots instead of black streaks, so it's not an Ovenbird. It looks like a Swainson's Thrush to me, but I don't know if we can rule out other thrushes. 3. Yes, looks like a Palm 4. Pine Warbler

Sometimes we lose topics when they fall off the first page- these are indeed Blue-winged Teal.

Hudson Valley NY today.. were a few fall cape Mays around, this one seems pretty yellow underneath though and some pretty heavy streaking, I dont think Magnolia but leave it to experts I cat seem to find and exact match Cape May Warbler by Jim, on Flickr

I agree with Scarlet Tanager.

#3 looks like an oriole. The rest are American Redstarts.

It's a Cape May.

Looks Like Fall male Scarlet Tanager

That appears to be a young Fulvous Whistling Duck.

Seen today in city park New Orleans . 1. 2. 3.

I should have added these other pics of 3. I'm thinking northern parula

Yes, Cape May.

Thanks for the reply... specifically, this was at a place called Pleasure House Point where we get the both species each migration and some stay through the winter--of the two, the Nelson's is the more commonly found species.

We do not get White-crowned Sparrows too often out this east, but even less adults. So it was nice to see this beautiful adult perched right out in the open for me. White-crowned Sparrow by Patrick Felker, on Flickr

This mornings sunrise produced some awesome ray-like clouds at Mt Hood and White River.

Greed is good! -- Gordon Gekko

Loving this Red-breasted Nuthatch eruption. Red-breasted Nuthatch by Patrick Felker, on Flickr

dragonfly4 by Denise Herpai, on Flickr

Painted Lady

Prairie Warbler by Mark Goodwin, on Flickr

Pine Warblers are really pretty. Then again, I think all birds are cool-looking , so...

Monarch Caterpillar by Greg Miller, on Flickr Variegated Fritillary by Greg Miller, on Flickr Variegated Fritillary by Greg Miller, on Flickr Calico Pennant by Greg Miller, on Flickr

I'm reminded of an old Doonesbury comic. Mega-rich rock star Jimmy Thudpucker decides to take up stamp collecting. He calls the local coin and stamp shop and says something like, "Hi, it's me again. Would you send over a full set for Bolivia? Yeah, thanks!" His wife approaches and asks how its going. "That was fun. I'll do Brazil tomorrow!" If the app gets people introduced to birding, great, but I have a concern. To me, birding is about more than adding names to a life list. If people become dependent on visual images as identification tools, they'll be missing out on many of the other aspects of bird identification, and missing much of what I think makes birding an enjoyable lifelong hobby. They may not pay attention to a bird's environment, behaviors, seasonal movements, field marks, or the other factors that would help them identify a bird when they don't have a camera or an app. They may not even learn to look for these factors. That's harmless, I guess, but they'll also likely not develop an appreciation for the birds themselves or an understanding of the role they play in the environment. It's one thing to 'collect' stamps, it's another to understand the stamps you're collecting.

Some from this summer. Male Red Saddlebags by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr Wheel Bug by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr Male Sooty Dancer by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr I'm pleased to have gotten a Flame Skimmer with a background that wasn't green or brown. Male Flame Skimmer by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr Back to green and up to to date. Blue-eyed Darner by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr