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Common Gallinule Chicks

Common merganser with some common merganslings

American Coots, mommy we love you.

Nothing great, but my best SOSP shot yet. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/430933371

That’s a Red Knot. Dunlin would be much smaller, have a longer decurved bill and would not appear as small headed and pot-bellied.

Cooper's Hawk

Canvasback

My goals for this year are much the same as last year, which was my first serious year of birding. (Prior to 2021, it was shoot first, ask questions later. I'd take photos and ID the species when I got home.) Fill in more of the common ABA species. As of April 1, eBird says my top 5 targets in the USA are the Baltimore Oriole, California Scrub-Jay, Field Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, and Purple Finch. On January 1, I set a goal of 40 new ABA species this year; I've seen 26 so far. At least 1 new ABA Code 4 or 5 species would be really nice. Fill in more of the common species in Clark County, Nevada. As of April 1, my top 5 targets are the Cactus Wren, MacGillivray's Warbler, Canyon Wren, Scott's Oriole, and Bell's Vireo. On January 1, I set a goal of 25 new county species this year; I've seen 12 so far. Take a few trips to new areas around the USA. I was already able to visit Tucson and parts of South Carolina this year, with trips planned for San Diego and Long Island. I really need to travel along the Pacific coast up to the PNW someday. A pelagic would be really nice. (I'd love to bird outside the country someday, too.) Get better photographs of everything. ? I picked up an new lens last year, and it feels like I've invalidated a lot of my past photos outside of a few dozen keepers. Complete an eBird 365 challenge without missing a day. Yard checklists are sufficient, but I want to go out weekly if I can. I flaked a lot during the summer last year.

California Thrasher

Heermann's Gull in Baltimore, MARYLAND. First state record. It's billed as a "juvenile" in the state-wide email list message I saw. So I wonder if it is the all-dark bird that had been at Hopewell, Virginia, during the past few months, which was last seen on March 16. I may go look for it tomorrow; it's maybe an hour's drive away.

Zone-tailed Hawk in Brooklyn, NEW YORK

I wouldn't normally post pictures of the same bird twice, but last night we went out to look at the baby owl. It was sitting higher in the nest so we could see it slightly better. As we were watching, mom flew in and landed on the roof of the house next to the tree to monitor our behavior. We left so she would be comfortable returning to the nest.

Chipping sparrow

Well, maybe I can help narrow it down… - 12 eastern warblers with yellow from chest to vent - the eye ring leaves Nashville, Connecticut, Yellowthroat, and potentially Orange-crowned - wing bars, chin color and thin bill leaves Nashville, which I believe migrates earlier too. - non warbler possibilities, maybe RC Kinglet?

Group of American Golden Plovers took flight and headed north barely even a few minutes after setting up the scope this evening. Managed to snap a couple of shots before they went over the trees. Pretty slow photo day otherwise, but a ton of shorbs in the area, so I can't complain! https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/430951151

No white rump rules out Black-bellied Plover. American Golden-Plovers. Pacific would be rare, but I couldn’t tell the difference.

California Gull

Cassin's Finch. Rare this side of the Cascades but one showed up in a local birder's back yard and has hung around for a few days.

Welcome to Whatbird! This looks like an immature male Red-winged Blackbird.

By range it almost certainly has to be a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Cedar Waxwing

Common Grackles

It's also a $12k lens. That 600mm f/4 prime is doing a lot of work.

Yes, absolutely an Osprey

Lifer Prothonotary Warbler

Caspian Tern

Canada Warbler

A nice Bushtit

Louisiana Waterthrush

Okay, hopefully this all works... 1 Adult Female Red-winged Blackbird. Note the heavy streaking and the thin bill, helping differentiate it from sparrows, also the similar Tricolored Blackbird can be eliminated by how lightly colored this bird is, it is not near as dark as a Tricolored would be -also range completely rules it out. This photo was taken in Palo Pinto County(North central Texas) December 2021. 2 Adult Black-crested x Tufted Titmouse(hybrid) , this bird may seem pretty confusing to some, but this is a typical hybrid, it shows some traits that both Tufted and Black-crested have, the orange flanks, mostly gray body, and the crest, but this bird has two major differing points: A dark gray crest, and a rusty, or sometimes chestnut forehead. This photo was taken in Palo Pinto County(North central Texas) Mar. 26. 3 Juvenile Painted Bunting. This bird is much greener than the similar Indigo and Lazuli Buntings also it does not have the two white wing bars. Note the messed up, and patchy feathers, as well as the distinct gape this bird has, all indicating it was a juvenile. Those who guessed the the correct species will get 3 points, 2 points if you got in the right genus, and 1 point if you got the family. Also 1 additional point for sex, age, and subspecies, when it can be determined. Here is the scoreboard, please let me know if I made any mistakes. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O-lJlp8rr2VAK3CFkMpCkMB-ayTbV7Us/edit#gid=1696946999

Got it in 5 earlier, but I can no longer view my guesses to copy over. Only one I remember is ???? as #4. I will say that this game is definitely a lot harder than Wordle: only four letters per guess, less reliance on vowels, and an entirely new vocabulary. On the plus side, it's a fantastic way to practice banding codes, which are useful when you don't want to spell out longer bird names repeatedly.

I'm new here, so I'd like to share a list from March 30. A yellow-footed gull (second record sighting in the state) had been seen at Lake Mead near Las Vegas, NV, and I had to go there several times before I finally saw it. https://ebird.org/checklist/S105923609

Left among the King penguins, I took these. The first one is for the shapes and colors, so, artsy. That is a Gentoo penguin porpoising. Almost looks fake and I know I took it.

Last night aurora in WA I sure there are much better pics out there, but we just don't see them very often here.

Lucky second guess BRDL 69 ???? ????

You can always upload your videos to YouTube (or some other video site) and add links as comments

I've discovered that I knew more of them than I thought I did. Most are pretty logical.

Exactly the reason I started doing this game, I had no clue of any of the banding codes, but I now know a few of them.

The facial and tail markings are making me say Red-shouldered.

As @dragon49 mentioned above, videos are huge. That Macaulay Library link states that you could submit a few sample videos to one of their staff for review, and that they prefer content from videographers with a professional flair. They don't want people flooding their storage space with low-quality videos of unidentifiable specks darting around their yard recorded on their phones.

They're back!!

FOTY Ruby-throated Hummingbird today while I was convalescing in my yard. They've probably been here for a week or two, but I haven't been birding.