lonestranger

Welcome to Whatbird, @Shirley Phares. I can't help with your ID but if you post it to the North America ID forum, you'll likely get a much quicker response. Personally, I have no idea why there is an iBird Only ID forum. All this forum does, in my opinion, is segregate the iBird ID requests from the other ID requests. The North American ID forum is more than capable of IDing birds for iBird users, and much quicker at doing so, too. There is nothing unique or helpful in using this iBird exclusive forum, it's nothing but a waste of space, in my opinion.

Birds can disappear suddenly for a variety of reasons. A new cat roaming the neighbourhood can have an impact on birds and squirrels alike.

I'm not sure how much help you'll be able to find on this forum, DC064. @Administrator usually suggests that people fill out a support request ticket on the iBird website when iBird problems are mentioned here. If you have already done that, twice, then you may have to hope that one of the members that uses iBird has had similar problems and found a solution. While the members here are great at helping with bird IDs, I'm not sure the same can be said about helping to identify programming problems though. Perhaps Admin will address your post now that he has been tagged, that is about the only help I can provide. It's not much, but it's all I can do.

The link seems to be changing frequently, I am seeing a totally different photo.

Sounds like you've got a new version of Murphy's Law book.

I had to try it a few times before I realized where the trickery was, and yes, it is just a trick. I'll keep the answer to myself, unless asked for it, so as to not spoil anyone else's fun.

Just for clarification, you'd carry the camera like this. Not like this.

Another option is to carry your camera with a shoulder strap instead of a neck strap so that it hangs at your side, like Melierax does. I used a deluxe padded neck strap as a shoulder strap for my camera. I just adjusted the strap a little off centre and a little longer so that it hung comfortably and could be brought to my eye without having to pull my arm out of the strap first. Just tossing ideas out there, not claiming any of them are good ideas though.

Hmmm, I'm trying to figure out how you'd score this one in golf. On par for the course??? Mulligan keeps coming to mind, you know...a do over.

I can't speak from personal experience, but I've wanted to get one of these because I've heard them spoken of highly, and recommended by other members. This model might not be the best option but there's other products you can access from the link. Black Rapids is just a brand name and I'm sure there are other manufacturers that have similar setups if you look around. It sounds like a good solution for juggling multiple cameras and/or binoculars, but like I said, I have no personal experience of how they perform in the field. http://www.blackrapid.com/Double-Breathe

Who are you going to pitch to, Charlie Spencer? I don't even think there is a batter in the box at this point.

I'm not saying with certainty that it is a brown-headed cowbird, I'm far from an expert on birds, but I do know that the young males look like the females until they moult into adult plumage. When they do moult, the transition varies from bird to bird, I would think. If you saw the same moulting bird at different times during the moult, it might very well look like a totally different bird each time you saw it, and totally unique from the other birds that might be going through the same moult..

Here is another shot of a molting Brown-headed Cowbird. I know that I was confused the first time I saw one looking like this, I thought I had discovered a new species of bird and was ready to call National Geographic to have them publish my super rare picture. Just kidding about the last part, I was really confused though and had to ask for help identifying it. Whatbird members quickly pointed out that I wasn't going to be able to name a new species with my discovery though. Untitled by lonestranger102, on Flickr

Is it possible that you meant about the size of a Finch, Bird man Brad? Even tiny hummingbirds are bigger than an inch.

I can't contribute to the discussion regarding the bird's ID, but I think you're right about the bill looking large because of the bird's age. Without the fully grown feathers at the base of the bill, which actually hides part of the bill, a bird's beak can look huge in comparison to it's parents.