Dan P

Taken 10-12-2020 in the late afternoon at Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve in Van Nuys, CA. The first 3 photos were taken in the same sequence. 1 and 2 are definitely one and the same bird. The last 3 photos were taken about 15 minutes later, from the same place and pointing the same direction, and definitely a single bird. I believe the Grebe in the first 2 photos is the same bird as the one in the last 3 photos. If I remember correctly there was only one adult Grebe in the area. I threw in the 3rd photo to see if it is a juvenile Grebe. The gull was in all 6 photos before cropping. If I only had photos 1 and 5, I would think it was a Clark's Grebe. But the other photos suggest a Western Grebe. Although it could have have characteristics of both. Maybe a hybrid? What's the story here? It is just the effect of the lighting giving me problems?

Taken 10-12-2020 in the late afternoon at Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve in Van Nuys, CA. Is this a Green Heron?

Is the mystery bird rolled on its side so that its underparts are facing the camera?

Taken 10-12-2020 in the late afternoon at Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve in Van Nuys, CA. Is this a Belted Kingfisher? It was moving fast and chattering loudly.

Thanks Michael. Not being a birder, it took me a while to identify it as a female Audobon's using WhatBird Search -- even with that last photo. I can usually identify adult males using WhatBird Search, but I'm never confident about females, juveniles or birds with different first/second year plumage. After I identified it, I was looking back at the other photos of it and wondered if there was enough info in them to ID it, or what could be said at minimum about it. So I posted that first photo. I expected the best I would get is that its some kind of warbler, or maybe not even that specific. I was stunned when MichaelLong came back fairly quickly and nailed the species. Then there was agreement, and no dissenting views or other suggestions. I wondered "how many birds have these people looked at from every possible perspective and stage of life?" Its a little scary. But I do want to say that I really appreciate all of the experts on this forum willing to spend their time to comment on all the photos posted. And its great that everyone is so pleasant and respectful. Thanks. Dan P.

Man, you guys are really good -- especially from that first photo. So is this a female?

Do these two additional photos help confirm the ID?

Thank you all for your comments.

What are you seeing that would point to Yellow-rumped Warbler.

This was taken on 10-8-2020 late afternoon in Glendale, CA -- residential area. I was first thinking it was a flycatcher, but couldn't nail it down. Then thought it might be a Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler. Verdicts, please.

Anyone willing to make comments about this bird (better photos coming soon). Taken 10-7-2020 late afternoon in Glendale, CA -- roadside in a natural area.

Singing Lessons... Aug. 6, 2020

Thanks Benjamin and Colton. It's interesting that it didn't come up in my search on WhatBird. I must have specified something that excluded it. Thanks again.

This was taken on 9-24-2020 about 10 am in Glendale, CA. It seems like this is distinctive enough that I should be able to identify it, but I'm coming up short.

Thanks akandula. Having not photographed a bluebird before, that's not a very good image to use to try to identify one.