zbird

Thanks! Maybe someday I'll see one hovering a little closer to my camera ?

Sorry for the bad pics. This bird was sitting on a powerline over the road, then flew out over the field nearby before I could get a good picture. It would swoop around, then hover over a certain spot for a little bit. Taken in southern KY yesterday.

One of the lesser-known subspecies of Herring Gull.

Thank you!!

Please help! I'm a landlocked biologist - I don't know gull species! All these were taken today at a lake in Kentucky. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Seconded. Crows' tails are more rounded and blunt, as far as I remember.

Ah, makes sense. There was one swooping around our birdfeeders recently. Thanks!

This guy just showed up in my backyard today. Central KY. I wish I got a better picture! This is the only shot I got before it flew away (and I included a zoomed in and cropped version), but I saw it through binoculars too. It looked like it had a flat head like a falcon, but it was hard to tell. It also had very flappy wingbeats, almost like flailing when it came to perch in the tree. With the distinctive flight pattern, the color, and size, I think I have same this same bird around the neighborhood before, but I don't know what it is. Any ideas? If it comes back I will try to get a better photo and hopefully update this thread.

Thanks! I figured the first was unidentifiable, but worth a shot!

What beautiful pictures! Especially the second one!

Thanks!

Saw what I think were some bald eagles and red tailed hawks today in Kentucky. In the first pic, I think these are both bald eagles, but is there any way to tell? In the second, I think that's a bald eagle and a red-tailed hawk fighting. I followed the eagle to try to get a better pic, and the red tailed hawk perched in a tree in the third picture, which was very far away.

Taken today in central KY. There were a bunch of these guys hopping around in a dried out pond.

I'm thinking leucistic, not albino, since you can see tints of brown and the eyes aren't pinkish red. I think looks good for house finch though, with the beak and the wings and all, but I'm no pro! So I would wait for others to rule in.

Ahh hawks! Like you said, a hawk's gonna do what a hawk's gonna do. Thanks for the advice everyone! At least if there are hawks hanging around, I might get some cool pictures of them...

I don't guess there's anything we can do to keep hawks away from the bird feeders, is there?

That's a relief! Do you think this RTHA might be the same bird that came swooping under the deck? We have a bird feeder hung on a window under our deck that siskins and finches will eat from, but we kind of thought it might be a Cooper's Hawk bothering those birds, especially if Red-Tailed Hawks don't go after birds very often.

Oh no, another hawk! I guess purple martin gourds in the spring might not be the best idea ? Thank you!

Saw this hawk a couple weeks ago in central KY. There's a hawk that's been swooping around under our deck and eyeing the birds at the feeder, but I don't know if this is the same one. Help!

Yes, I think 3 is the same bird as in 4, but I took these pictures a while ago, so I can't be sure. Thank you!!!

I'm going to boost this in case anyone might be able to give a definitive ID. I wish I knew sandpipers!

I think I posted these last summer, but there were a couple other pictures of sandpipers in the mix and I am still confused about these guys. Are 1 and 2 (two pics of the same bird) a Pectoral Sandpiper, and 3 and 4 Baird's Sandpipers? Taken last summer in central KY. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Sorry guys, I reposted it in a different thread! This one can be ignored!

Thanks! Yeah I should have worded that better ? I meant I was worried it was a goldfinch or something! Glad it wasn't - that's a lifer for me!

Central KY this week. I haven't seen any pine siskins yet this year, so I'm worried it's a finch, but the beak and the coloration is making me think siskin.