Charlie Spencer

All day long, @Patrick in King George And speaking of days, don't forget to include the date and location if sightings, please!

@cccougar, Dude! INBU in Charlietown in Feb! Nice bird!

"Groveling"? Is there some God Emperor of Dabblers toward whom they kowtow?

Learn the names of the feathers on a bird's body, or at least refer to drawings. This will make it easier for you to describe what you saw when you ask for an ID, and easier to understand when others describe differences between the bird you saw and similar birds in your area.

@gstacks, the black and white feathers towards the top left of the circle are the primary feathers, the end of the folded wings. The white feathers to the right of the primaries are the tertials. The white feathers below the primaries are the bird's tail. "Rump' is indeed a technical term, visible on some standing birds depending on how they're holding their wings, and almost always covered by the wings on others. Here's a couple of aids (that I could also use some time studying myself). If you have field guide, check the front pages; most of them have a break down of the feathers.

The second photo shows the red facial patch. Where is SC did you see these? Those are good birds for SC!

Yeah, even I'm convinced now. It shouldn't look like that for multiple days.

Hi, and welcome to Whatbird! I like the Vipers, although I probsbly wouldn't buy a pair of binos in this price range again. Don't get me wrong, they're excellent, and I had come into enough money to indulge myself with a once-in-a-lifetime purchase. But I also have pair of Vortex Diamondbacks that I like almost as much, for around half the price. The D-backs are heavier and don't gather as much light at dawn or dusk, but I don't know that the difference would have been worth it if I hadn't had the extra money available.

Typo.

Gods, I haven't been there in 40 years. My college Marine Sci 101 class made a field trip down there. We were each assigned a square meter of salt marsh , and spent 2 hours counting life forms in our square. I recall most of us didn't finish our entire square.

That same site I linked to has a used section. My current Sony is a used unit. You can save money / get better equipment.

Watch that same power line. The ones here regularly return to the same perches, especially ones that overlook hunting areas like fields.

Isn't it Big Assed Gull, like Great Crested Flycatcher?

Respectfully, the OP didn't say the bird wasn't moving. In fact, it was eating. I think we may be jumping to a conclusion with insufficient evidence. @LanceM, other than being fluffy, did the bird show any other unusual behaviors? Was it sluggish? Did it spend long periods not moving (several minutes or more)? Did it let you approach unusually close? If something startled the other birds, did this one leave with them or remain behind? Thanks!

The behavior is classic Kestrel too.