MacMe

I thought mallards had more orange and black bills. Corpus Christi is out of range for Mexican, but not for Mottled. Cornell says Female Mottled have dull Olive bills. One more: Cornell says Mallards are only here during non-breeding season. I am inclined now to think this is a Mottled.

5/24 Corpus Christi TX. I think this is a blue-winged teal but I just wanted to make suree

lol, I thought for sure that they weren't Wood-Pewees

I live in South Texas and the birds are currently migrating through. This morning I went out into an abandoned golf course and found a small grove with ~20 small birds flitting around. As I manuevered to a spot to take pictures they hopped into trees beyond. I waited for them to come back for about 30 minutes in case it was me that spooked them. They never did. Other birds came into the area for a bit then moved on. This started me wondering about the migration behavior of these small birds. Do they migrate north by mostly hopping from tree to tree. A steady movement northward. They did leave the grove to the north. Or do these birds stop at a place for a few days then take a big move northward. Another way of putting it is if I go out tomorrow morning and see the same species will they be the same individuals (stopping to rest and refuel for a couple days) or are they new individuals. Do they approach the southside of a tree, then leave on the north? To risk over explaining, but I'm unsure if I'm wording my question clearly. Do these small birds migrate like Geese, who travel long distances in one go but stop and hang out few days. Or are they more like wildebeast, who constantly move at a steady pace, resting only for short periods.

Thanks for the help. The legs of these birds in my book are in a shadow, making them look darker. Although the text says the legs are olive green. My bad.

I saw several of these birds this morning, 5/9/2020 Corpus Christi TX. I having trouble narrowing it down further than Least, Alder, and Willow. I think the first picture is of a Least due to the brown/olive back (could be just the lighting). The 2nd and 3rd pictures are of the same bird. These look more like a Willow due to the gray back. The last one maybe an Alder due to the greenish back. Non of them were singing, at least I didn't hear the Willow's "rritz-bew". It's also very likely I got them all very wrong and these are all female red-winged blackbirds.

I can't nail down this shorebird. 5/9/2020 CC, TX

I don't think they are either. I just wasn't sure if the young birds I photographed were Northern Mockingbirds or a nest parasite. Other than Brown-headed Cowbirds, I don't yet know what other nest parasites there are in my area

It would be more appropriate for me to say "about as long as the head". Luckily there are other features to compare with the Yellowlegs

Another ID help is the bill is longer than the head for Greaters. For Lessers, the bill and head are the same

at least its not silhouetted by the sun!😀

I know I posted a few already today, but I found this older photo from 11/16/2019 in CC, TX. I labeled it as a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, but I don't recall having that confirmed.

Man, I tried photographing some swallows this morning and gave up. Well done getting these, 😄

What tips you off for Baltimore and not Orchard?

4/30/2020 CC, TX. I'm pretty sure this is a young Northern Mockingbird, the adults were feeding them. But they were being so demanding I wanted see if they could be a parasitic bird. There were about three of them clumsily hopping around the tree. One even flew for a brief bit