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@SteveS, Charlie's All-Purpose Field Guide Rant and Soapbox: A good field guide can do more than ID birds after you've seen them. Sibley, Peterson, National Geographic, Audubon; go to a brick-and-mortar book store or birding store so you can lay hands on a few and find the one that appeals to you. Just browsing through it will familiarize you with the various families of birds. Spend some time with it over lunch or a rainy afternoon. (I once killed a 4-hour flight with Sibley's East.) You'll see there are lots of different types of ducks, but only saw one species of dipper. Look at the different sizes of wading birds - Least Bitterns to Great Blue Herons. Who knew that chickadees and titmice were related, or cuckoos and roadrunners? Vireos, pipits, sage grouse; you may not have known they even existed. Just being aware of them may keep you from wasting time trying to ID what you thought was a duck because you were unfamiliar with coots. It will also make you more efficient when you use an app. Say, why are the birds in this book arranged this way? The good ones all organized the same way, with the families in roughly evolutionary order. Getting comfortable with the sequence of one guide will enable you to use others. I'd stick with a guide less than five years old. One reason is that the range maps for many species have changed greatly due to climate change. Another is that some species have had their names changed by the ornithology agencies that manage these things. (Farewell, "Rufous-Sided Towhee" and "Western Scrub-Jay"!) If you're going to use it in the field, resign yourself to some wear and tear. If that's an issue, you can carry it in a ZipLoc to minimize dirt and moisture, and maybe wipe your hands before you open it. I'll admit I don't worry much about the longevity of field guides. They're usually outdated in a decade or so and they're not that expensive to replace. But I rarely pack one in the field; my Sibley stays in the car or the suitcase. I usually concentrate on the bird try to get photos if I can, then ID any unknowns when I get home or back to the car. Don't worry about what it is while you're looking at it; concentrate on what you're seeing. Develop your observation skills and identification becomes much easier. The details to focus on with gulls aren't the same as for warblers, and both differ from waterfowl. A field guide will show you what to concentrate on before you hit the field, Outside of field guides, I love National Geographic's hardcover 'Complete Guide to Birds of N.A.' A field guide is great in the field, but by it's very nature it has to sacrifice some information to remain portable. If you're looking for a resource around the house, something you can tag, dog-ear, and flip back and forth between when you're off-line, I'd spend the extra $20 and get a more detailed reference. (But I'm a book nut.) Be sure to get the second edition, not the first one from 2005 or so. https://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Complete-Birds-America/dp/1426213735/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=national+geographic+birds&qid=1578416004&sr=8-6 And they never need batteries or an Internet connection.

Eastern Bluebird.

There were Redheads there so you're probably right. I'm not good with female redheads which, oddly enough, tend toward brunette.

Agree with Greater for the male. Also looks like there could be a female Redhead second farthest to the right.

Male on the left looks like a Greater. I doubt the rest are identifiable. I assume you know there's a Coot and Ruddy there too.

The bad news - unfortunately did not have time to switch focus distance setting from "limited" to "full" so all my shots were slightly OOF. The good news - Winter Wrens are quite rare this far north in January (two are even better).

I'm not seeing anything to suggest vireo here. I see a Myrtle Yellow-rumped.

The female is probably a Greater as well. But there's nothing wrong with Greater/Lesser Scaup.

I'm pretty sure the fluffing is for insulation only. Many species voluntarily alter their feather arrangement to attract a mate (peacocks, etc.). I don't think sapsuckers are among them and I don't think January is when they're lonely on BirdsOnly.com.

I noticed this Wigeon had no black line around the base of the bill and was wondering if it could be Eurasian?

Agreed.

Adult Glaucous Gull confirmed. With those pure white wingtips, it's either a Glaucous or an Iceland Gull, but it's far too large/bulky for an Iceland.

That's the only one I got. But that's ok. Don't worry about it. I try not to care too much about gulls. ?

Back off boys, I saw her first!! One from this morning (not sure about the tails, I looked up courtship display and it wasn't mentioned).

Agreed

Thanks, I'll get the National Geographic; I'm surprised it's on sale for $25. I already have National Audubon North America and Stokes West for travel, they just don't help as much with all the color variations I see. I've been surprised at all the species I see just in my Las Vegas 30' by 50' back yard. Yesterday we had a sharp-shinned chasing sparrows around the yard. I spent a lot of time trying to decide if it was a Coopers or a Sharp, but decided Sharp based on size; the cinder block he's sitting on is 8" high

Snow Goose.

Cool bird! Yes, your bird is a first winter male, just for the reason you stated (there’s a mix of brown juvenal feathers and red adult feathers on the throat/crown). These feathers usually become fully adult by Dec-May.

Yellow-rumped.

You just beat me to it.

It strikes me as a Yellow-rumped Warbler

Just to clarify, females generally have fully olive crowns, but some AHY females can have 1-2 reddish feathers in the center of the crown. So if one sees a Ruby-crowned Kinglet with a fairly large red crown (like the OP's first bird), it can safely be called a male.

Females have a colored crest as well, although much less apparent and more orange than red. Learned this while watching birds being banded ? .

I agree with akandula for the reasons well stated. On another note, I would caution against assuming that a duck is a male and another is female based on the fact that they were together. ? Colusa Wetlands 01-10-36 by Wayne J Smith, on Flickr

...and I can confirm the bird is indeed a Pine Warbler.

A dark-morph harlani would typically appear quite black, and usually variably streaked with white. I see nothing in these photos that decidedly moves to Harlan's. Perhaps then just a dark or intermediate morph calurus.

Interesting question. My feeders (northern VT) have been fairly normally occupied (suet, peanuts, a mix with mainly sunflower seed, and some finch feed), but I have heard from others around that they have gone through stretches with very little feeder activity. I suspect weather rather than lack of birds. There have been very few cold temperatures and very little snow (compared to normal) so far this winter, so I expect the birds are finding plenty to eat elsewhere. Yesterday I kept track for two hours and saw a total of 6 birds in 5 species. I went away for a half hour and came back to over 20 birds in 9 species out there at the same time. It all evens out, I guess.

Pileated Woodpecker on a snowy day

Young Western Kingbirds

A lovely little Barn Swallow.

Does it count if the wire is thicker than the bird? ?