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In twenty years I have never seen a hawk in my neighbourhood (urban with small lots) but came home today to find this on my deck. About eight feet away - managed to open the patio door but still shooting through a screen so not the best.

Nelsons Sparrow

These are both slightly cropped but other than that they are strait from the camera.

Well, I tried....It's super dark, cloudy, and windy. Not the best photography weather. Female Eastern Bluebird from today.

That's why I suspected hybrids. According to my sibley field guide, this is just a plumage variation.

Yep, people have bred them to be bigger.

Shouldn't your icon be a big stick?

Wired to see a one and a half legged turkey! From google: "The average lifespan of a wild turkey is 3-5 years, and the oldest known wild turkey lived to be at least 13 years old."

Here are some from today: I'm trying to get together some more photos for my annual bird calendar. Are any of these interesting enough to put in a calendar?

Common Yellowthroat

I have absolutely no idea how this turkey has survived this long. We seem to have a year round resident flock of turkeys, that roam the nearby woods and fields, and roost in the winter behind my house. This is at least the fourth year in a row that I have seen this turkey, identified by the fact that he is a tom with his bad leg on the right side. He has one bad leg, so he balls up his foot and walks/hobbles around really using only one leg. This year, it seems that he has had offspring, as he has been traveling with some young ones and a few females. We get to watch the males display in our neighbors driveway every year, and this guy has always been in the background. He is a survivor though, as we had a den of foxes in the neighborhood this year, (with adorable kits), as well as a bear, and undoubtedly coyotes. I do realize that it is possible that there may have been several turkeys with the same bad leg every year, but I like to think that it is the same one. And some of his curious youngsters...

For those that aren't aware of it, House Finches can also come in yellow or orange.

Sharp-shinned Hawk (thru a window that needs to be cleaned)😏

White Crowned Sparrow

Yes, a small portion of Cackling Geese sport white foreheads. Some are more important pronounced then others.

House Sparrow

It looks like the new forum doesn't allow BBCode anymore. ☹️ Here is one way you can embed a photo from Flickr: 1. Get the BBCode from Flickr and copy it into the comment box. This is the BBCode for my Swainson's Thrush photo: [url=https://flic.kr/p/2jFBviF][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50331385213_67a00a30d2_k.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2jFBviF]Swainson's Thrush[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdnuts/]The Bird Nuts[/url], on Flickr 2. Copy the portion in between the img tags (in bold letters above). 3. Click the Other Media button at the bottom right of the comment box, select Insert Image From URL, then paste the URL in there. From there you can double click on the photo to resize it and add a link, etc. Like so:

DC Cormorant

Variant Purple Finch. Could not be anything else with that head pattern. Very unusual bird!

Got cut off by these 2 on my walk this morning...

I mean, not @The Bird Nuts, I meant @Connor Cochrane!!

Looks good for Marbled Godwit

In my experience if you want to take pictures of birds that you are happy with (the pictures, not necessarily the birds), you're not going to want to go too cheap. However, you don't really have to spend $3500 on a camera body to be relatively happy with what you accomplish. A friend has one ot these - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1435399-REG/canon_3071c001_powershot_sx70_hs_digital.html I have its older brother, the SX60. His pictures are a little better than mine, for two reasons. One, his camera shoots at 20.3 megapixels, and mine at 16 mp. Two, he's a more experienced and better photographer than I am. I have also seen excellent pictures posted here taken by the even older brother, the SX50. I say all this because you might be able to find something more in your price range by looking for a used SX60 or SX50, perhaps on Ebay or other online source.

agreed

Chipping Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Chipping Sparrow, House Finch, House Finch, floating House Finch

Helluva good lawn-furniture bird!

I’m in Indianapolis, IN and this owl was hanging around on my patio furniture last night. He stuck around for about 30 minutes eating a songbird. Is this a great horned or a long-eared? I’m leaning toward long-eared based on the tall face disks.

Yes, I'm on Android at the moment. I haven't tried the PC yet.

Absolutely Long-eared Owl. Great looks at an elusive and difficult to find bird

👍

Agreed, and that bill is too massive for Pacific.

This is one that is at Samish Flats north of Seattle

And Your Highness is worth every penny you get paid. 😭

Testing both!

Looks like an upgrade. There are some subtle changes to the interface. Somebody test and see if there's still a limit on 'Likes' and if the timeout on editing has changed.

That's " who cooks for y'all ". Northeastern birds sound like " who cooks for youse guys "; Canadian ones " who cooks for you, eh? "; Midwestern ones " who cooks, you betcha "

Spotted this Turtle hatchling this morning (just over an inch long). They tend to stall halfway across paths (especially if they are asphalt) and need a helping hand. Quite late as the ones at our local site had all finished heading for the water three weeks ago.

Vermilion Flycatchers.

There is more to come. Hope you enjoy.🙂 1 Lesser Spatted Eagle. No photo. 2 European Be-eater. No photo. 3 Hooded Crow. 4 Eurasian Jackdaw. 5 Eurasian Magpie. 6 Rock Pigeon. 7 European Starling. 8 House Sparrow. 9 European Greenfinch. 10 European Goldfinch. 11 Black Redstart.

May 7th. Wilson’s Phalarope. Female in foreground. Around Morse, SK.

Keeping with MerMaeve's Crossbill theme, here are some White-winged Crossbills. Photographed in Yoho National Park, AB on 8/25/18. Male: Female: And a picture with both: