lonestranger

This is how I saw it, too. 😁

@Leeward Birder, Here's a photo of a hummingbird moth, (which are quite variable) with the white rump that you couldn't match to any of the hummingbirds.

I could be way off here, but my first impression was a hummingbird moth, not an actual hummingbird.

There is a downloadable checklist on the ABA website. http://listing.aba.org/aba-checklist/ Printing out multiple copies would allow you to create yard lists, county lists, state/province lists, life lists, and yearly lists.

Welcome to Whatbird, alana. One method for uploading a video is to upload the video to youtube, or similar type site, and then paste the link directly into the message box. I hope that helps.

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.

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.