sbruenjes

These always give me trouble. All were seen today at a local park in Essex County, NJ I believe the first 2 are song sparrows, the next two are house finch, and the last two are house sparrows? I am least confident about the last one... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I saw this bird today at the Hatfield Swamp in Essex County, New Jersey. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Wow, that is an impressive explanation. Thank you! 🙂

Let me see if I have an understanding of differentiating the two. Here is a pic that was previously identified as Forster's. It looks like this bird has more of a reddish beak than the Forsters, and it looks like the wingtips are darker than the Forster's. Are these the best ways to differentiate?

I saw these birds at Liberty State Park in Jersey City today. Any help would be greatly appreciated Are these: a boat tailed grackle Forster's tern Yellow warbler?

I saw these walking through Liberty State park in Jersey City today. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I saw this bird today while at a nature preserve in Montclair, New Jersey. Is it a broad-winged?

I saw these birds today walking through a nature preserve in Essex County, New Jersey. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I saw these birds at a Nature Preserve in Essex County, NJ today. I think the first is a wood thrush.. the last 3 are of the same bird which I think must be a juvenile of some type.. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I adjusted the lighting for the pics.. does this help with the ID's?

I saw this bird over the past weekend at a local nature preserve in Essex county, NJ. I believe its an Eastern wood peewee, but any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

I am so impressed that you could ID the first bird, and if it really is the Olive-sided Flycatcher, then that would be a first for me! I definitely see the American Redstart now... and if the third one can't be identified... well that's what I expected.

I saw these birds in a nature preserve in Essex County, NJ a few days ago. I got some great pics, but these were not so good...Is it still possible to ID these birds despite that? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you! I'm still trying to see if I can find a way to differentiate the greater from the lesser. In my judgement, on pic 5, the bills seem longer and the flecking seems to extend farther down the breast. They also seem a little stockier to me which seems most likely to be greater. I thought the most likely to be lesser was number 1 for the opposite reasons. I know angles and distance make this difficult though...

That is exciting, thank you all! How come I don't see a Ruff on the Cornell All About Birds site? Is this a bird not common in North America?