DLecy

I dipped on it a few times back when it was hanging out at Devil's Slide in San Mateo County. Still need it for my state list. Bonkers bird for CA. If you ever need an extra set of eyes on a trip to the Farallones, don't hesitate to reach out. 😎

Yes, I wrote my original post after misreading your post. My bad. As I said, There is one NOGA in the pacific so I was freaking thinking it was THE NOGA and you had found it dead out here in Santa Cruz, not South Carolina. I read the original post too quickly. I am much calmer now.

Ha! Edited just now. I misread the original post and thought SC was Santa Cruz County and that you had found THE Northern Gannet in CA deceased. I was freaking out for bit. There is ONE Northern Gannet in the entire Pacific, but yes, in South Carolina they are ubiquitous. See @Hasan's posts.

Additionally, the length of the gorget "flare" is on the long-ish side of ANHU, but in looking back at my own photos I have pictures of various birds where the length of the gorget lateral flare matches this bird.

I ALMOST wrote that I think it could be a GWTE, but second guessed myself because the belly didn't look light enough. Thnx Tony.

Feels much more like a buteo sp. to me.

I think they are regular, albeit in the right habitat and in small numbers at the confluence of southern NV, SE CA, western AZ border area. In CA, you pretty much have to go to Mojave National Preserve for this bird, but it looks like there are some very reliable spots in southern NV.

Not a scaup. A female-plumaged scaup would have a white belly contrasting with a dark breast and dark trailing edge to the wing. I think this bird seems fine for CITE. The lighting in the image is throwing things off a bit, but the structure, head, and underwing pattern seem fine for CITE. I think th dark line making the bird look “hooded” is the shadow from its own head.

This is a Varied Thrush.

Just a quick note. When two individuals of differing subspecies have offspring, they called "intergrades." When two individuals of differing species have offspring, they are called "hybrids." In the case of this Northern Flicker, it should be referenced as an intergrade.

Bird number 2 has iridescent feathers on the forecrown, which rules out Broad-tailed. Looks like a Calypte to me...I agree with COHU.

I keep mine in a few different places. - eBird, obviously. - Sibley Life List and Field Diary. I like this because I can write notes in it that I may not otherwise add to the comments section of an eBird checklist. More personal notes about the sighting or more importantly, the people I was with and maybe additional notes about the trip I was on. I also still have a very old Peterson that was my first field guide and I like to use the checklist in the back, more for sentimental reasons than anything else. - Google Sheets. I do this primarily because I like to have it somewhere

Gotcha. 👍 Thanks. I got lucky with the TUDU. It was on the far shore but an off leash dog actually pushed the whole flock closer to me. Can be a tough bird to get really good looks at.

I was wondering how you get so many ratings so fast. Your RBGU photo is great but only has one rating. 🤔

PRFAs are uncommon to rare in Orange County. @Connor Cochrane just beat me to it.