lonestranger

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.

I'm going to guess that @blackburnian was referring to the duck behind the Ibis since you can't see the breast spotting on the one in the upper right.

Welcome to Whatbird, Lookingforabird. Size is notoriously hard to judge in the field. Most birds are full grown, the same size as adults, when they leave the nest. Calling a bird a juvenile just by it's size doesn't usually work. In fact, some juvenile birds can actually be bigger than their parents because the parents tend to feed their babies better than they feed themselves. It's easy to fall victim to the size issue, we've all done it, but size is really hard to gauge and not the best ID feature to use.

They may very well have been ducks living in the wild, @Speedbird, but they have domestic genes in them which makes them look different than true wild ducks. One escaped domestic duck can mate with a wild duck and the offspring would be considered domestic ducks, and their offspring's offspring would still have domestic genes and still be referred to as domestic ducks. What I'm getting at is, it's totally possible to have domestic ducks that are wild. It's the genes that make them domestic, not their place of residence. At least that's how I understand it, someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

The way us old folks read, even with the bad eyes and all, that sure looked like an invitation to me.

You're x years older than me, and 2x years younger than @Bird Brain, so you're 13 years old.

Even though @Bird Brain and I share the same birthday, we don't share the same view on math. His math formula makes me 24 years older than it makes him when I am actually ?? years younger. Something is definitely wrong with the math there. Sorry young birders for filling your space with us old birders. I'm also sorry for the ?? above, too. They were just put there to see who does, and doesn't, do their own math. I just have to check the visits to my profile to see who had to cheat to get the right answer. LOL I bet the Young birders weren't expecting this to turn into a math lesson...

I don't think I like your math theory, @Bird Brain. According to your formula, you start aging 1 year for every 2 days at your age. I always thought it just felt like that, I didn't want to see a math formula that supports that theory.

We sat in the yard and watched the Robins coming and going to and from the nest yesterday, and were amazed at how much food they could gather in the short time they were gone. This one was waiting, and posing, while the other adult finished sharing it's haul with the nestlings. Now that's what I call a mouthful. American Robin by Glen Mercer, on Flickr

A quote from https://www.peregrinefund.org/explore-raptors-species/Osprey "Though Ospreys mainly eat live fish of a wide variety of species, the types of prey they might catch are quite diverse. Snakes, birds, frogs, reptiles, mammals, crustaceans, and other invertebrates can all fall prey to the deft, sharp talons of an Osprey."

I THINK this is a Northern Mockingbird, @Stamperlovesbirds. If you post it in the ID forum you can get someone more familiar with them to confirm or correct me. https://forums.whatbird.com/index.php?/forum/2-help-me-identify-a-north-american-bird/

Just so you know, @Bird-Boys, by replying to posts that are nearly a year old, just to agree with already confirmed IDs, you are putting old old posts at the top of ID forum and bumping the current ID requests further and further down the page or off the first page altogether. Try to keep an eye on the date of the topic you are replying to, so new ID requests aren't buried under the old ones.

I'm not going to make recommendations, but I will say that tripods usually have a hook on the centre column to connect a weight to help weigh the tripod down and make it more stable in adverse conditions. If you're not weighting your tripod down, you're not maximizing stability. I have an empty nylon mesh onion bag, that I can fill with rocks wherever I happen to be, then I attach the bag of rocks to the centre column with a bungy cord that's just long enough for the bag of rocks to touch the ground so that it doesn't swing. The mesh bag comes in handy when putting the tripod in rough water as it just needs a shake to get rid of excess water and dirt when you're done. Here's a few videos with relevant tripod tips.

Are you talking about Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the USA, @johnwest, or are you in another part of the world? South Africa maybe? I ask because your suggested IDs aren't North American birds, and this is a North America ID forum. Some people can still help with the ID, but it'll be a lot more accurate if they know where the bird was spotted.

Thanks for the correction, The Bird Nuts. Having never seen anything but house wrens, I was guessing they were Carolina wrens.

Your last photo didn't load either, cobal.

Yes, I can see them now, but there's only 4 photos where your original post showed 5 missing photos. I agree with you that #3 is a brown-headed cowbird, I THINK that #1 & #2 are Carolina wrens and #4 looks like a song sparrow. Wait for someone that has more confidence/experience to confirm these though.

Your images aren't showing for me, @cobal.

Nice shot bearcat6. Any idea what it is I'm seeing draped across the duck? It almost looks like he's got a camera strap on his shoulders.

You're not the only one. I had pretty much given up on IDing some flycatchers because I could never figure out how people gauged the primary projection in relation to the tail. Now that I know what to look for, I will be paying closer attention to the less obvious flycatchers.

For what it's worth, my first thought was night heron based on GISS(General Impression, Size, and Shape) and the fact it was seen nightly, at night.