AlexHenry

Looks fine for a recently hatched Anna’s. Don’t claim as Costa’s unless you have audio which supports that ID.

I guess it could be Taverner’s Cackling. The bill and head shape seems more Canada-like to me though but I have very limited experience with Taverner’s. I’d leave that unidentified... even if I was told to call it a Cackling

Duly noted, I will try to avoid Atlanta. We’ll have two drivers, so we may not stop for a night on the drive, we might drive through the night (something I never do on solo road trips, driving at night and tired is so much more dangerous, but with two people it is much better).

The head is in shadows in the photo.

We’ll drive down I-75 most of the way to Florida, but once we’re actually in Florida, we’ll probably go down the Orlando/Miami side one way, then go back up the west side past Tampa on the way back would be my guess

Location? (State?)

Anna’s Hummingbirds and Great Horned Owls are the earliest breeders here in central California, (both year round residents), both of them can be on eggs by late December. Allen’s Hummingbirds are one of our earliest migrants, some arriving in late January, but mostly arriving in February, breeding throughout late winter and early spring, and mostly leaving in June through August. The main push of migrant songbirds - Black-throated Gray Warblers, MacGillivray’s Warblers, Hermit Warblers, Hammond’s Flycatchers, Cassin’s Vireos, etc, is primarily from mid-April through early May. But so

Agreed! Many of the photos I post are mediocre- or low-quality documentation photos for rare/uncommon birds. I don’t care about ratings on those photos, as my purpose in those cases is just to provide documentation. I don’t usually post low-quality photos of common birds. If I get a decently good picture of a common bird, I’ll post it. I don’t do much of the “artistic” stuff. My focus is usually just to get as clearly identifiable a photo as possible, or sometimes to capture interesting behaviors or unusual counts.

Definitely at least partly Mexican Duck. I don’t have enough experience with the identification of Mexican, Mottled, and Mallard to say whether it’s pure. The white borders on the speculum are pretty broad and the tail looks pretty pale, which are both Mallard features, but may be within range for a pure Mexican, I’m not sure. Otherwise, the lack of curled tail feathers, and the overall plumage, seem good for Mexican Duck. Lets see what others say. Looks like a Mexican to me, but the broad borders on the speculum and the color of the tail are making me hesitant.

Cool! Makes sense that they are more regular in fall, that’s the same here too. Yeah that’s a really good find especially in spring!

Absolutely! Nice bird there? (They’re rare, but fairly regular migrants throughout most of California, I’m assuming Nevada is similar?)

In mid-May (May 13), I am flying to Detroit, Michigan, where I’m going to meet a friend, and then we’re going to drive down to Florida for a week or so. I figure during the drive down, we can make some stops looking for songbird migrants, especially warblers. Living out here in California, I am totally starved for breeding-plumaged Eastern warblers! We might bird at Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor Michigan, or maybe some of the spots in Ohio on the Lake Erie shoreline, like Magee Marsh, if it’s open. Then, we will get down to Florida. I have never been to Florida before - the farthest

This is my best ever Rock Wren photo! Rated 1 star in eBird. Not sure what’s going on with that rating. IMO that’s easily a 3 or a 4.

Haven’t been able to get out birding as much as I like lately, so I don’t have many recent photos, but here’s a decent one of an Allen’s Hummingbird: and an Allen’s Hummingbird nest to boot, on March 19: and again on March 27: And as of April 8, the nestling has fledged and the nest is empty!

All the birds I’m comfortable identifying are Northern Rough-winged, (but I cannot identify the two perched birds)