Caley Thomas

bump. also, even if it's not identifiable, if you could help me understand perhaps the various possibilities of what this bird could be, even that would be appreciated. thanks!

Nice photos and great bird!

I'm no expert, but that tail length alone seems to suggest it to my eye, and I'm seeing a contrasting, light-colored belly as well (pic # 3). Granted, said light-colored belly is obfuscated by the branch and leaves in the foreground of the bird.

This thread: "Shoot me, please, put me out of my misery already." Kevin: "I'm not giving up on you yet, damnit!" ?

I'm too busy for a bird guiding business with my other business, and far from qualified in any event, but obviously I would be honored to bird with any of you all if you ever find yourself in Texas! Over time, I'm going to get pretty familiarized with the better known birding hotspots in Texas at least, which can be useful even for experts when you haven't been to a location before I should think :-).

That is a super cool story, thank you for sharing it. Talk about jealous, that trip in and of itself sounds like heaven to me!

@Birding BoyI've tried for these so many times and failed, if it makes you feel any better ?

Except for the first bird I think, an Upland misplaced...

Maybe a bit better still here re: low contrasting yellowish-olive malar and throat, which yellow throat Sibley points out as distinctive other than with Pacific-slope and Cordilleran in my 2nd edition. Not to say I actually know what I'm talking about, but just explaining how I got to my best guess here :-).

Interestingly enough, 5 of them were spotted in Texas within the last two days, and one of which was by a third birder at the same park that afternoon, supposedly. The guy I ran into and was birding with thought it was one as well, but I don't think he's too much more experienced than I am, which is not very, having a life list around 330+/-. Same with the other person who ID'd it there (220+/- life list). At this particular location and time of year, you'd be more likely to see a Yellow-bellied (uncommon) than an Acadian (rare) , according to ebird. A Least would be considered common for the time/place in question, but I don't believe it looks quite right for that one (white eyering shape + yellowish throat + low contrast look between malar and throat on this one). I'll attach one more picture here that perhaps shows the throat and low contrast aspect a bit more clearly for further review.

Meticulously ebird stalking my target species and locations + consistently wide open weekends during COVID = high success rates ?

Already used by Quiscalus, but since there isn't a "dislike" button, you get a "haha face" as well ?

It would be a lot more lyrically favorable if you elected for a midnight train, and if he actually lived there, js ?

Green Heron I believe. Wait for others to confirm.

OK, so this awesome reviewer did a bunch more looking at it, and came back to me with juvenile Spotted Towhee, which, factoring in the behaviors, elevation, and abundance of this species at this location, makes perfect sense to me. Just thought I would follow up one last time, and sorry my poor pics made this one so damn difficult to pin down!

Thanks Kerri! I actually figured something similar last night on my own, submitted my two birds with photos (amoywg.org), and received email responses about my submissions by this morning. Hopefully, the site I submitted it to is just as effective in reporting as the ones you mentioned, but thank you for getting back to me on that!