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One from yesterday - a Swan/Mallard hybrid perhaps!!

American Redstart. Note the yellow patches on the sides of the breast and the half black, half yellow tail. Looks like a young male.

I agree with this statement. Red-shoulders are not the easiest hawk to see in the the north, but they become abundant in the southern states, especially in areas with plenty of water.

Right on schedule! Welcome little ones...

A triplet of Snow Geese coming in for landing.

borealis is very unlikely in CA -- juv Red-tailed plumage is very variable and often does not permit assigning birds to subspecies

Male House Finch is correct. Male Purple Finches have more extensive raspberry color on their head, back, and wings and also have red (not brown) streaking on the flanks.

Gray Catbird-6994 by peter spencer, on Flickr

I think that is an American Redstart.

This is indeed a leucistic American Robin. Leucism is a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation in a bird or animal. It's not quite albinism, which is the the complete loss of pigmentation.

Welcome to Whatbird! I'd say the beak is too narrow for a bunting. But I'm no good at these abnormally plumaged birds. American Robin?

From "scaup-duck", possibly from Scottish "scalp", a strange name for an oyster or mussel bed.

They're uncommon, but their are a few around. I just haven't seen one yet... I just turned 14 (on March 7) so I got a long time to look for them yet!

^ he means to say lack of inner primaries with obvious white

Bill looks too substantial for Chipping and the presence of only one wing bar is a feature of House Sparrow

Pretty sure this is a Red-Tailed Hawk.

Razorbill from a month or so ago, goin to try to post more often....

American Robin by Mark Goodwin, on Flickr

Too bad these weeds got in the road of this picture of a Northern Shoveler, which otherwise would've been a super photo. Still not terrible...

Song Sparrow is correct.

Seems to fit the National Geographic illustration (with this one having a more pronounced "belly band" but of course they vary so much). I just checked the sightings for the two local harbour hotspots - the last sighting for the main harbour is 2013, the other one a year ago - probably less than five sightings ever. Drive for ten minutes and they are everywhere, I guess they don't like the shoreline (and this one was under attack by one of the local ravens). The quick response is much appreciated. PS. I struggled to see a red tail either "live" or in the photos so thought perhaps juvenile.

Looks good for Horned.

Well it was a good angle,good focus,shutter speed was good ........Not sure what went wrong !

Both Cassin's and Western have pale outer webs to the outermost rectrices. The difference is that Western's outer webs are usually bright white and extend the length of the feather, while those of Cassin's are off-white or creamy or buffy and usually do not reach the base of the feather. I think that the bird is not identifiable to species given the photos.

The nail of the lower-left bird's bill is small and parallel-sided = Lesser (and also strongly suggests that the bird is a male, as females tend to have the entire tip of the bill black)

The first bird has curved central upper-tail coverts -- a Mallard feature common in hybrids. The second bird may be leucistic or have some domestic antecedents.

First one looks like a pure Black Duck. The second I'm not sure of, but I think its probably just a mallard with some domestic ancestry.

That is a Red-tailed Hawk with that "belly band". Also notice how bulky it is. A Merlin (which is a falcon and not a hawk) would be much, much smaller and have larger eyes compared to its head, yellow skin around the eyes, pale eyebrows, dark "sideburns", streaking all the way up the breast, and wide dark tail bands.

Yep, Hermit Thrush!

Yes! Look at that rusty tail. This time of year Hermit Thrush are most common too.

1 I think so. 2 I don't think that is a Black-and-white Warbler to much grey. It looks more like a molting bird to me.

Red-tailed Hawk is correct. Note the very bulky build, faint belly band, and red tail.

All look like Lesser Scaup to me, with those tall, back-peaked heads.

Snow Geese!

House Finches!

Looks good for Brown Thrasher.

I think that the second picture is of a Ring-Billed Gull, but wait for more opinions.

I believe the last photo is of a Lesser Scaup. I am not certain about the rest though.

Lesser Goldfinch perched on thin air Goldfinches..B. Phoebe...02-21-2014 by Wayne J Smith, on Flickr

A levitating Chickadee.

Tern array by johnd1964, on Flickr from a while back

It's a Red-shouldered Hawk. Note the translucent crescents on the last picture.

Agreed!