MacMe

I watched a robber fly carry off a huge grasshopper one time. The hopper must have been 3-4 times bigger than the robber. Robbers don't have that hunched thorax for nothin'!

Ichneumon wasps are cool. Some, like this one, will drill into wood with the ovipositor to sting an insect larva and lay an egg on it. How they can pinpoint larva like this is beyond me. All ichneumon wasps are parasitic

Good tactic for plants too

Have you spotted any of their larval burrows? The larva ambushes prey as the walk fast and use their heads to block the entrance. Burrows are about the width of a pencil.

Red touches black, you're okay Jake. Red touches yellow, you're a dead fellow

There aren't many out in the wild right now (2019 marked the 5th year in a row with >500 birds), and even fewer between the migratory route between their summer and winter roosts. check out their range, hopefully your near one of the spots

I'm not good with hawks. Is this a red-shouldered? 1/4 Aransas NWR

Got one! I did see a pair way far away and barely discernable in Aransas NWR. I also saw a pair that were much closer to the road near Goose Island State Park, Texas. Both sighting Jan 4, 2021. This photo is at the latter location.

Sure looks like it! Man, Merlin ID never brought this up as an option

but all the female/immature males I have looked at do not look anywhere near blue

Jan 4, Aransas NWR, Texas. It has red eyes, could it be albino? I suppose not, since it has black feathers

A couple days old, but this photograph looks like an impressionist painting

Is this a breeding male? It doesn't have the black unibrow. Last week in Aransas NWR, southern TX

thank you, It helps when they beg on fishing piers...nice and close. Also, it was my understanding that male BP had the white heads while females were all brown, but as I was researching the above question I think I have that wrong. Is it males and females are indistinguishable and the all brown ones are juveniles?

This is a non-breeding individual, right, with the all white neck? Breeding individuals will have dark necks. Is this right?

Fishing piers... This gal is tagged YZ1

how about for "hawks", "little brown birds" and "willow's flycatcher"

Taken back in 2/4/2017 in Melbourne Florida. I have it labeled as an Eastern Phoebe but I'm not so sure about it now. I don't think I used WhatBird to help ID it back then.

More interesting ID points that help me. Ravens tend to be solo when on the ground while crows tend to form groups. Also, ravens walk around like an old man

I listened to some recordings. Even though I wasn't paying attention to the calls, the trills of the Tropical do not sound familiar. Also, the relatively long and stout bills of Tropical and Couch's, respectively, both look the same to me. Combine this with the ranges of each species. Unless someone with better knowledge says otherwise I am going to go with Couch's Kingbird

Northern Harriers have an owl-like face, which helps when IDing

Thanks everyone. I don't have anything better on the Thrasher. I botched the first shot and it didn't hang around for a second shot. Also, I don't recall the kingbird making any sounds, though there were 3-4 hanging around each other

For some reason Merlin ID isn't helping with #2 and #3 of these. Just want to run them by you all to confirm. All taken Dec 28th in Corpus Christi, TX. 1.Lesser Scaup female 2. Eastern Bluebird Female 3. Vermillion Flycatcher 4. Long-billed Thrasher 5.Couch's Kingbird

Sarlie Kpencer Then you have the silent letters: gnome, mnemonic, psychic, like, knight, etc (possibly 'herb' and 'almond', just depends on who you talk to). It's also fun to use a letter's other sound in a word. For instance, what is this word: Kah nif EE