smittyone@cox.net

Big Bird with a stick

Northern Shoveler as the orchestra conductor

Immature male Hooded Merganser

Better?

Seen yesterday at Loess Bluffs NWR in NW Missouri. I was going to call this a Semipalmated Sandpiper, however, the leg and bill color are wrong. Help?

Seen yesterday at Loess Bluffs NWR in NW Missouri. Is these female Lesser Scaup? I only saw a pair of them, and no adult male Scaup anywhere. I did note a diifference in eye color between the two.

Thanks guys

This a close crop of the same bunch of birds. Assuming these are all Long-billed Dowitchers, is there any significance to the one lighter colored bird? I have several shots of it at different angles, so I don't think it's a trick of the light.

Seen today at Loess Bluffs NWR in NW Missouri. Are these Dowitchers?

The Yellowlegs' bill seems thinner and shorter, and (from other pics of this bird) the flanks don't seem to be very heavily marked.

If they are Baird's Sandpipers, this makes only the 2nd time I've seen/photographed them. This other pic is that first time, taken at the same location, but waaay back in April 2018. Can you please verify that this bird is also a Baird's Sandpiper?

Also photographed yesterday afternoon at DeSoto NWR, IA. Assuming the two larger birds are Semipalmated Sandpipers, what's the smaller bird between them?

Speaking of Peeps, Happy Chocolate Bunny Day!

Seen yesterday afternoon at DeSoto NWR near Missouri Valley, IA. Assuming the bird on the left is a Lesser Yellowlegs, what's the bird on the right?

There were both Common and Great-tailed male Grackles at Loess Bluffs NWR, MO, yesterday. Didn't get any decent pics of the males, but got a few of these ones. I presume female? To me, the body color says female Great-tailed, but the tail length says Common. Do female Great-tailed Grackles have shorter tails than the males? I have a bunch more pics, but most are similar to this angle. I have no broadside shots showing the actual tail to body length ratio.

Thank you. I chose that pic because I figured the side by side comparison would be good regardless of the ID.

Local pond in Bellevue, NE, this afternoon. The pond had both Common and Red-breasted Mergansers. Are these both Common Mergansers, with an adult female in the lead, and an immature next to her? I think what's throwing me off is the bills. One is noticeably thicker than the other. BTW, this only the 2nd time I've seen Red-breasted Mergansers, and I rarely get close enough for decent pics of Common Mergansers.

Thanks Kevin. That seemed to work. Now my Website is visible. BTW, my SmugMug site doesn't allow you to comment without first signing in with either a SmugMug or Facebook account. Everyone complains, but they won't fix it.

I don't see a site specific forum where I can post this question. Where some folks have their life list, favorite quote, weblink, etc. below each posting--how do I do that? I looked under profile and account settings. I must've missed it.

I didn't think it was within the rules to self promote

Avery, my fascination with sub-species is partly out of curiosity, and partly my need to be as accurate as possible. That probably stems from my years in military intelligence, where even the tiniest of details mattered greatly. When I started out birding and posting my finds to social media, particularly FB, many times my inaccurate IDs were met with less than tactful responses. It's just one of the reasons I'm no longer on FB. I do still post to social media, as well as populate my own website. Every image I post has an accompanying photo caption. I try to keep those captions as accurate as possible. Once an ID is arrived at here, I then caption my own photos accordingly. I often refer back to those correctly identified bird photos, and use them to help identify subsequent shots of similar birds. Having learned so much here, I now identify nearly every bird I photograph. I post here only those birds I'm uncertain of. Usually those in non-breeding colors, or subspecies, or color morph, beyond just the basic bird. Using the word report was probably a poor choice of words. Likely also going back to my intelligence days, when you stated something based on evidence, you recorded (or reported) it. end of rant/confession

I'm aware borealis only have one morph. I'm calling it a rufous only as a descriptive term, to differentiate it from say, the lighter "Plains" version. Perhaps the FB Red-tailed Hawk gods could provide some input? Besides, I'm curious how they report the various "tones" of borealis. I know they're darker in boreal areas vs. down here in the lowlands. With such a variable plumage, why aren't there more color morphs we could call them? I rarely report to eBird unless I discover something unusual or out of it's "normal" range. Nor am I confident enough (usually) in my IDs to post there either. This particular sighting is over 2 years old.

A boreal borealis? Or northern borealis, as opposed to the "plains" version more common in my area? I'm aware there are darker versions of borealis that tend to hang out in the northern and northwestern parts of their stomping grounds. I think that's what you're saying this is, and I tend to agree. I just don't know how to "report" it. I'm thinking of calling it a rufous adult Eastern Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis borealis)

Do we agree on it being a light-morph?

A boreal borealis? Or northern borealis, as opposed to the "plains" version more common in my area? I'm aware there are darker versions of borealis that tend to hang out in the northern and northwestern parts of their stomping grounds. I think that's what you're saying this is, and I tend to agree. I just don't know how to "report" it.