Jerry Friedman

The first one looks like some kind of meadowhawk to me, almost like a Variegated Meadowhawk, but I could be wrong. The second one is certainly in the darner family, Aeshnidae, probably genus Aeshna. I don't have a reference for eastern dragonflies. It's too bad we don't have the odonate ID forum any more, but most of the people who helped out there aren't around either. Maybe @psweet will take a look at this.

These are common here in northern New Mexico: Common Raven and fall Rio Grande Cottonwoods again by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr Mourning Dove by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr Mountain Chickadee by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr Great-tailed Grackles by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr I think the old thread was called "Beauty in the Banal", which might especially fit these: Canyon Towhee by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr This one has the "banal" part, anyway. Starlings by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr

The pale dots near the tips of the primaries are also good for American Kestrel, right?

Okay, thanks!

I agree on the sparrow. In the second picture you can see its white outer tail feathers and even the elusive rufous at the bend of the wing, I think. I'm hoping for more discussion of the hawk. I think it has a rather round head, big eye, small bill that juts out sharply from the forehead, and especially the outer tail feathers (on the bottom) of the same length as the others.

Nice shot!

Española, N. M. this morning, in a marshy area surrounded by trees, bushes, etc. 1. What are the loud croaks? It sounds like a pheasant to me, and I often hear or even see them at this spot, but I'm used to pheasants making two croaks, onk onk. https://clyp.it/031idjfz 2. What are all the metallic tink sounds, Virginia Rails? I heard one grunting earlier. https://clyp.it/jgl254iu 3. Is the descending buzz at 3, 13, and 18 seconds a Red-winged Blackbird? I think I should know that, but I don't. https://clyp.it/s5hpkolp And if you hear anything that's not, say, a Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Song Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Marsh Wren, Yellow-rumped Warbler, dog, or car, I'd be interested.

Always, by which I mean since I got my first Peterson's in the early '70s. It was known for the Red-necked Phalarope in 1848, as you can see here.

Slate-colored is by far the most likely where you are, and female or immature (or both?) Slate-colored can be pretty brownish, so I'm not seeing anything that would lead me to call it anything else. Pink-sided has much pinker sides and normally a paler head with more solidly dark lores.

Looks like a rusty tail and no strong spectacles, so I'm going for Hermit—subject to correction.

I thought there was white on the underwing. I can't argue about the wing shape, though.

Technically it's called leucism.

There's only one way to follow that. 304. Great-tailed Grackle Grackles by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr

I'm wondering whether Bird 2 is a Sooty Shearwater. Sibley says Short-tailed Shearwater is very similar but much less common south of Alaska.

I never see them at mine. I wonder what makes the difference. I got my life Northern Flickers when I was a kid, since they showed up in our dogwood tree to eat the berries. Planting trees or bushes with berries may be a good way to attract them from fall into early spring. On the other hand, you may not want to encourage them, since they can bang annoyingly on things like metal chimney pipes and even damage the wood on houses.

I'm not solitary. I'm with my best friend.

Welcome to Whatbird! Or welcome back, as the case may be. Palm Warbler?

301. American Robin American Robin in snow by Jerry Friedman, on Flickr

Have ornithologists generally accepted that Pink-sided isn't part of the Oregon group and that it belongs next to White-winged?

Things to look for when you see them are teetering forward and back and flying in a strange way where their wings seem never to go above the horizontal and most of the motion seems to be at the tips.

8 according to Birds of North America online (subscription required). That includes Pink-sided (mearnsi), which not everyone thinks belongs in this group (or so I read in about 2002), and townsendi, which breeds only in the Sierra San Pedro Mártir, Baja California.

By the way, there was a photo of a leucistic Steller's Jay here last week. It didn't look much like this bird, though.

Welcome to Whatbird! You've got a Double-crested Cormorant.

The white tail with dark bars and a dark subterminal band is also right for Swainson's. And let's hear it for color-blind birders!

Thanks for the additional information and for going to the trouble of making the arrows.