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I got a half of a magpie! The top and bottom!

White-throated Sparrow by Mark Goodwin, on Flickr

Hermit Thrush (Me and my shadow) Surprised he was still around northern IL, although he was hanging around a fire set by forest preserve maintenance.

I agree with Charlie on this one - I find many of the warblers are much, much more difficult. Kinglets are one of my favourite birds and will usually come really close. This is a shot that I like, just for @birdgurl. A Kinglet with major attitude.

Definitely not Cooper's or Sharp-shinned. But why aren't these (faded?) young Red-shouldereds? The breast patterns seem rather dense and isn't that the translucent part of the primaries I see in the third photo? Are Broad-wings already back in the U.S.?

Hi all, Today I saw an unusual bird I have never seen in the area. I would appreciate your thoughts on what it could be. Here is my description: Location and conditions -Suburban area outside Vancouver, BC, Canada -Bird spotted in a Holly tree around 11am -Temperatures well below freezing (-11C) Shape -Like a robin, but fatter, almost like a pregnant robin. -Not as large as a crow, but much bigger than finches and starlings Colour -Brown head and wings -Yellow-orange stripe on head (like the Siberian Accentor) -Yellow-orange throat and belly (like the Black-headed Grosbeak) -Distinctive horizontal stripe of brown across the chest -Possible orange speckles on the wings Behaviour -Hopping from branch to branch in a Holly tree -Eating some berries from the Holly tree I have lived here for almost 30 years and never seen a bird like this. I was unable to find candidates from photos online, but I would recognize it if I saw a photo of one. I will update this post with a photo if I can spot it again and snap a picture. Thanks!

Why not ask odd dark juv Snow Goose?

As they say, coming down is easy; it's the sudden stop that's the problem.

A new year and a nice sunset on the frozen marsh...

Ah, moving to Paraguay could help in that regard.

Yes, Harris's is ruled out by the long wings (extending to tail tip), as that species, being essentially non-migratory, has relatively short wings. Additionally, the tail's color pattern is reversed fro that of Harris's. However, this could be a dark morph of either Red-tailed or Ferruginous hawks, and that's as precise as I can be, given the photos.

That's actually a leucistic Black-capped Chickadee. Leucism is a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation in a bird or animal. In this example, it's on the head. Nice find!

thanks everyone, this makes it my life list sharp-shinned. i've never got good enough pictures to confirm one before.

Trumpeter Swans calling due to the nearby fireworks just after midnight.

Eastern Bluebird

1. Common Gallinule 2. Orange-crowned Warbler

An adult Loggerhead Shrike is correct. Note the big-headed appearance, thick, hooked bill, broad black mask, and prominent white flashes in the wings in flight. Like you were saying, Northern Shrikes live further north and have narrower masks.

The second bird looks reasonably good for a Myrtle, though it's a dull one, with little in the way of supercilium and, apparently, not much of an ear surround. I suggest that the first bird is an intergrade, as it sports a short, but fairly pale supercilium and a strong suggestion of an ear surround. See here. A different angle on the head would make determination more certain.

You’re not being rude at all, @Winter! Your question is actually very good. The original bird is an American Robin for the following reasons: It has a thrush-like shape: Pipits are more slender than thrushes, with much broader primary feathers (creating a triangle-like point on the folded-wing, not a many-feathered “trapezoid” as on a thrush). Also, pipits have more slender beaks. It has a Robin-like facial pattern: Note the broad broken eye-arcs on the robin, not a thin complete eyering as on a pipit. The American Robin also lacks the pale throat wrapping around the auriculars. It has a robin-like overall color: Pipits have a brown wash overall, while robins a more gray. Hope that helped you differentiate the two!

Very nice photo of a Wood Duck.

I don't think you can do much better than this for a first post without a photo (other than -11C in Vancouver??). The links for colour characteristics are interesting.

Small head, small bill that juts out sharply, ridiculously long middle toe, tail feathers seem to be all the same length--I'm going for Sharp-shinned. Great shots!

I agree with Trevor -- this individual is too rich brown to be a Great-tailed. Also, in most of the Gulf Coast/Florida, note the dark eyes of Boat-tails of both sexes (Great-tails would have pale eyes). Great-tails do not occur in Florida, so this information is only useful in overlap areas like Louisiana and Texas.

Photo taken yesterday.

Jack -- I validated that report in 2017, primarily on the strength of the bird depicted in the 2nd photo. That bird is classic Tav, with its almost roman-nose look and rounded crown shape. Unfortunately, not all Tavs present that appearance. I am suspicious of reported Tavs that show too concave of a bill profile, as it has been suggested that Tavs and Richies are mixing in Alaska (?). The bird in the last photo (with the Lesser Canada) is, in my mind, questionable as to parentage. The crown shape seems intermediate between Tav and Richy, and the bill shape is a bit better for Richy. Otherwise, I'm fairly comfortable with the rest being Tavs, with the caveat that subspecies ID is fraught with peril, particularly in Cackling Goose, and even more particularly in the interstices in the Tav-Richy duo.

I'm not climbing any tree. I'm 70 years old. I might make it up but coming down would be a problem. I'm pretty much going with Coopers. Thanks for the help.

one of 2 Bronzed Cowbirds today in Winter Garden, FL

I’ll start with my newest sighting

The gull is certainly not an adult and also certainly not a first-cycle bird. After that, though, things get a wee bit tricky. There is extreme individual variation in the rate at which large gulls' plumage and soft-part coloration progress, and plumage progression does not necessarily match soft-part coloration progression. While the bird might be in its second plumage cycle, it might also be in its third. Given the relatively extensive amount of gray mantle plumage (see cropped and darkened photo), it's either an advanced 2nd-cycle in plumage or a retarded 3rd-cycle in bill pattern. Without more and better photos, I wouldn't want to be too sure about the bird's age.

The odd bird out is, indeed, an immature Glaucous-winged. I'd go with a Cook Inlet Gull (Herring x Glaucous-winged) for the star of the show. 1) The underside of the wingtip is too pale for a pure Herring 2)The bird is too big with a too-big bill that is not all or virtually all black for Thayer's ["Iceland Gull (Thayer's)" in eBird parlance] 3) The tail is too dark and too patterned for a pure Glaucous-winged. See here, somewhere, for a similar bird or two.

It is a Red-winged Blackbird, a female or juvenile. Note the large, pointed bill, the dense dark streaking, and the small head in proportion to the body.

I’ve got 346 so far still got a few days to go😉

I agree with leucistic American Goldfinch. I took these photos of one a couple of years on my feeder. They might have been twins separated at birth....er...hatch?? IMG_0633-001 by Wayne J Smith, on Flickr IMG_0429-001 by Wayne J Smith, on Flickr

Snowy Plover (from a few months ago). Temperature outside right now is 60 degrees.

1) Looks like a Gadwall 2) Redheads 3) Gadwall

That is an American Goldfinch.

Sharp-shinned Hawk. (Dark nape, "bug-eyed" appearance)

House Sparrow. Note the large, rounded beak with yellow on it, the overall beige color, and the minimal head/face pattern.

Looks fine for Lincoln's. Many sparrows can show a dark spot on the breast in certain circumstances.

AAB's page for Hooded Merganser suggests Bufflehead, and Bufflehead suggests the larger goldeneyes, although more so in breeding plumage. The range is good for all. I can't address the wing sounds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hooded_Merganser/id

I find it hard to contact anybody through eBird. I would search through checklists and find someone's profile who includes contact information. Otherwise, I would probably look for tire tracks where people have pulled off a lot. Sometimes birders are crazy and simply park on the side of the road . If there is a local Audubon group in your area, they will probably know as well.

First, https://cobirds.org/CFO/ColoradoBirds/InTheScope/87.pdf Second, omitting hybrids from consideration (not a safe bet, as sapsucker hybrids are relatively frequent), simply the state of the preformative molt on this bird is sufficent to ID the bird as a Yellow-bellied in Dec/Jan. Immatures of both Red-naped and Red-breasted are much farther along in the molt by this point, being nearly adult-like in appearance. Then, if it's a Yellow-bellied, any red on the throat, barring a very odd individual, proves the sex as male.

Agreed.

Agreed.