Jerry Friedman

100% of the one time a friend of mine got bitten by a cormorant, he got an annoying infection. I was partly going by that. I'm glad to know the odds aren't so bad, but the chance of a simple infection would still induce me to use antibiotic cream or something.

1. I think the short first primary is diagnostic for Mississippi Kite, and the tail is very dark.. 2. The tail looks too short for Mississippi Kite and the body looks too bulky. The tail doesn't have enough bars for a Red-tail, and I don't see patagial marks or a belly-band. I'm wondering about Broad-winged Hawk.

I'm going for Cooper's. The beak is big and the top continues the curve of the forehead, and the tail feathers are different lengths.

Welcome to Whatbird! The picture didn't come through. In my opinion the best method is to upload it to a hosting site such as Flickr or Imgur and post the link here. I'm not a doctor, but I'd always put disinfectant on any bite or scratch from a wild animal that causes bleeding, especially if the animal eats meat or fish. They're likely to have bacteria on their beaks, claws, etc.

Thanks!

Back again with recordings from Española, N. M., this morning. These were recorded near artificial ponds with trees, grass, weeds, etc. I feel I should know the first two. The first one has high-pass filtering. 1. https://clyp.it/aibhzgfo 2. https://clyp.it/sy4i05qr Can this vireo be identified? Plumbeous is expected and Cassin's is rare but possible. This has noise reduction with Audacity. 3. https://clyp.it/jcimdd0m

Thanks, folks.

Both from near water in parks in suburban Cleveland. Probably common, but I'm not used to eastern birds. 1. August 5: https://clyp.it/etm53sea 2. August 7: Is the main chirping here from the same species as in 1? I'm also interested in the call at 0:11--chipmunk or something?--and the trill near the end--Chipping Sparrow? https://clyp.it/4tmc3h20

Or upload it to a hosting site such as soundcloud.com or clyp.it and post the link here.

Dark morph?

Agree with Coop. Merlins' tails are black with narrow white bands, not gray and black with the gray wider than the black as this bird has. And their wingtips come pretty close to the tips of their tails. They're also streaked underneath, not barred, and they don't look capped.

A good way to share a recording is to upload it to a site such as clyp.it or soundcloud.com and link to it here.

I'm hoping for Bald. Big bill, head + bill bigger in comparison to tail than Golden would have, pale mottling on the wing linings (immature Golden has white on the bases of some or all flight feathers), more pale on the tail than immature Golden would have (I think), no gold nape on the perched bird, and the tarsi look bare.

I wonder whether the third one is molting out of the plumage seen in the first image in this search. (The site is subscription-only.)

Welcome to Whatbird! Lark Sparrow was my first thought too.