MRich8802

Lol. I didn't know this was a thing until I Googled it. Tons of pics just like the original poster's:

Tail length and lighter throat make me lean toward Rufous. Primarily the former.

Colors reminiscent of a Northern Parula but the 6" size and geographic location don't work at all.

Great Horned can appear rather light at times, depending on the individual, age and conditions.

Perhaps he is just sleeping

Thanks to both of you. I suspected as much and your reasoning will be helpful to me in the future!

Both of these guys were seen at Sunnyhill Restoration Area in Central FL (near Eustis). I think they are both Savannahs but a different plumage variant that what I'm used to seeing elsewhere. The first 2 photos show a bird that has the right streaking (breast and back) pattern, facial pattern, also yellow lore in front of eye and pink(ish) legs. However, and I wish it were more clear in the photos, it had a lot of white in the back and wings - often appearing to be much more black/white from a distance than most Savannahs I see around here (which just appear brown streaked on buff). Then this next one I'm a little more confused. Spot makes one thing immediately of Song Sparrow, but very white eyebrow and striking facial pattern looks like a Lark Sparrow. However, it has a lot of streaking on breast (not just sides) for one of those. (Sorry for soft/fuzzy appearance, this was outside reasonable range of my lens and then cropped as best as possible). I'm just starting to seriously tackle ID'ing sparrows and know it takes some time as they all at firs come across very similar. Throw in all the juvenal/immature/winter and regional variants in plumage and it really gets fun. Any insights are much appreciated - along with what field marks you keyed in on! Thanks, Matt

I know this pic is bad. The bird was quite a distance away (about 300 yds), but I thought I'd take a stab at it. Looked like a large sandpiper type bird. When I blew up the photo, 2 things stood out to me: orangey legs and what appears to be a distinct eye ring. Didn't vocalize - if it had it'd sure made this ID easier. Also, and this might just be my imagination, but the bill looks to have a slight uptilt toward the end. What do you think? Are there any other sandpiper-type birds of that size with orange legs in Central FL during the winter that I'm missing?