Leaderboard

I'm very happy to have gotten a few decent Pine Siskin Photos last week! Usually I don't see them at or below eye level. https://ebird.org/checklist/S104556887

Anyhow, since my parents work in the area, I got a second chance this morning 😁 First lifer of the year, I can’t tell ya how hyped I am.

From last week. Not sure which I like best, so I’m posting both. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/425915981 https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/425915921

County bird 253! Yellow-bellied Sapsucker!!! There hasn't been a chaseable YBSA (or at least one that cooperated once birders tried to refind it) since around 1994 in the county.

Looks like a Purple Finch to me. Pattern on face, no heavy brown streaking on chest/sides/flanks.

Another Curve-billed Thrasher shot I just got uploaded. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/425835681

Great Potoo

BRDL 53 🥚🥚🪶🐦 🐦🐦🐦🥚 🐦🐦🐦🐦 Imagine not thinking of South American seabirds...

Field Sparrows

Sapsuckers often have pretty regular feeding patterns. See what time the birds are being reported at that tree then go there at its time. Their wintering territories also aren't usually too large, so try to find all the trees with holes and it'll likely be at one of them.

Sometimes it can be a lot of fun and very rewarding, especially if its in a place were there's a bunch of birds already...but yeah I understand, it can feel like a chore, especially if you dip or its not likely that it will be around.

Nice shots! I see how hard sapsuckers can be to chase. The one here in Orange was found in December, for one day. Fifteen people or so saw it, then it wasn’t refound at the same location until January. A few people saw it that day, then it was refound three weeks ago. It has now been coming one day every week or so. I’ve tried fourteen times, and finally saw it last week.

Older shot but remember this one popped up right in front of me, almost daring me to take it's picture.

Thanks to the help of this forum, I've id'd this caramel crow. Never knew they came in different flavors! Thanks for those who helped me out with this.

This Cuban Parrot looks like he shaved a little too close!

I may have posted this before but I'm old and involved in other forums so forgive me. I was birding in Cuba and at the time working with my fantastic guide that was doing his best to hook me up with a Pygmy Owl we could hear but not see in the thick short trees and brush. He finally gave up and walked away. After a bit, I started to try to catch up to him when I hear a flutter right behind me. I turn and not 5 feet away is this Cuban Pygmy Owl posing like "oaky, here I am".

Thank you, both. Lifer! 👍

No list but spammed the last letter until something was accepted BRDL 53 🪶🥚🥚🥚 🥚🐦🥚🥚 🐦🐦🐦🥚 🐦🐦🐦🐦

Agreed, Royal Tern was my first thought.

I think the poor photo quality is emphasizing the shadows on the leading edge of the wings. This looks like a Royal Tern, to me.

Looks good for a Red-tailed Hawk

I have no idea what this is and only got it because it rejects guesses not on the list BRDL 53 🐦🥚🥚🥚 🐦🥚🥚🥚 🐦🥚🥚🥚 🐦🥚🥚🥚 🐦🐦🥚🐦 🐦🐦🐦🐦

I’ve like, never even heard of this bird 😂 Got it by purely by alphabetical elimination. BRDL 53 🥚🥚🥚🥚 🐦🥚🥚🥚 🐦🐦🪶🥚 🐦🐦🥚🐦 🐦🐦🥚🐦 🐦🐦🐦🐦

Yay!! Wohoo! Goody! FOY Eastern Meadowlark! I can’t believe how much I’ve missed those guys.

This is a normal Red-winged Blackbird, just a young male. The song you're referring to is a House Finch

I would say Greater Scaup and Greater Yellowlegs if I saw those birds.

https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/425835561

Tail and bill are fine for Orange-crowned Warbler. It's also from High Island Texas where there has only been one record of MacGillivray's Warbler since the mid 1980s. With regards to the broken eye ring... https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/118993131

Northern Shoveler and Pied-billed Grebe. Eastern Meadowlark. Flagged high count of American Woodcock. Had one fly less than 10 feet away from me and land about 25 feet away. Another calling around 20 feet away from me. My earliest record for them.

Was in the area, so I decided to check out this place I've never been to before. FOY Eastern Meadowlark, and an apparently pretty rare bird for the county, Barred Owl. https://ebird.org/checklist/S104973399

Looks good to me.

I spent half an hour at a marshy site a 45 minute drive away yesterday afternoon and saw my first Tree Swallows of the year, as well as my first of the year Peregrine Falcon. It was a nice, sunny, warm day ... in the low 70s, roughly 20 degrees above normal

There’s no bird as cooperative as a gull.

Why I don't chase. Too much like work.

I think both of these are unidentifiable

Red-breasted Merganser-#143, not bad I think for a tiny suburban yard! Also the most Rusties I've ever seen during migration here. https://ebird.org/checklist/S104991740

The bottom bird looks like a frigatebird. I'm going to assume Magnificent based on range. I'm guessing the top bird is a Bald Eagle harassing it. Both of these are _much_ larger than a Sooty Tern

While I recently went and chased this bird myself, each time it flushed from the grass (together with the copious amounts of LAGUs) on the entrance side edge of the graveled area that lies within the "no access" area (which is designated by a perimeter fenced with wooden bollards connected by steel cabling) , I failed to get any look at it while in flight (kept re-finding it once it had re-landed is all). This is a long-winded way of saying that I'm useless to you in regards to the pics, despite having recently ID'd this bird.

Am I looking at this bird right, head on the right, tail on the left? If so, I don’t see anything in Sibley app that would have a dark leading edge on the wing.

The title says your best photo of a bird SPECIES, but whatevs. 🤷‍♂️

Awesome, my sister spotted my first one of the season last night!

Now THAT is dedication.

Yeah, I’ve had one up there for a while, but usually chickadees just use it. So it was pretty awesome to have these guys land 10 feet away from me in decent lighting....

Awesome shot!

Nice. They usually show up in my yard between the 15-18th

Hard to choose but this is probably my favorite https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/425564361

Best in flight shot I've ever taken! https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/425537351