Hasan

Due to the lack of iridescence, my impression is Rusty, which is also by far the expected species (though this looks like prime Brewer's habitat).

Confirmed!

Generally Blue Ross's has black that extends well onto the head, which this bird does not have. That said, blue morph Ross's is exceptionally rare, and should never be the default.

There are a small number of mis-ided birds here, though it's actually pretty common to get birds that sing other birds' songs. For example, Golden-winged Warblers often sing Blue-winged-ish songs, and vice versa. Black-throated Blue or Parula can sing Cerulean-ish songs. Blackburnian or Cape May can sing Bay-breasted-ish songs. I might add a flag tool, but not sure yet. Without photos of the bird, it's hard to say for sure that a bird is mis-IDed, as opposed to simply singing a weird variant song. I may also add a tolerance to allow for slight misspellings. Prothonotary to me is really distinctive- it invariably has a sweet, clear "sweet sweet sweet". Worm-eating is the only one that has a long, very dry, very fast trill. Orange-crowned usually goes up or down slightly in pitch at the end. Bay-breasted- well yeah, that's really tough. It tends to on average have a more complex song that Cape May but lacking the rattle notes that Blackburnian has. @Jerry Friedman Urbana Illinois? I'm in Bloomington (unfortunately), the next town over!

Yes, blue morph snow.

Thanks for the feedback! Don't feel bad- even for me, an Eastern birder, it took a lot of practice to get where I'm at now. Stay tuned for my western quizzes.

Hi all, As I'm sure you all know, one of the most important indicators of a well-rounded birder is their ability to bird by ear. In an effort to increase my knowledge, I wanted to master my eastern warbler songs this year. However, I was unable to find a free training course which matched my needs. So.... I built one! Basically, this game pulls several thousand audio clips from the Macaulay library and quizzes you on them, meaning that no two clips will ever be the same. Here's how to play: Go to http://benguofilms.com/quiz.php, and enter a nickname. No other info is required to sign up and start! Then, just type in what you hear- don't worry about capitalization, hyphens, or spaces. Spelling is important though! (So for example bluewingedwarbler is valid, and so is Blue-winged Warbler). There's a skip button that you can use, though how I like to play I only skip if it's a 'chip' note (almost impossible to identify), if the bird is named in the audio (sometimes people say what the birds are) or if there are two obviously identifiable species and it's not clear which one the observer might be trying to record. Do a few practice runs and you can click 'reset progress' to reset your stats. I'll warn you that this is an incredibly difficult quiz- because the samples are sourced directly from ebird, there is a huge variety in songs which birds often sing. Some of the most variable include Northern Parula, Hooded Warbler, Yellow Warbler, and Blackburnian Warbler. Also, the quality isn't always the best, but I think this makes the experience much more realistic. Some of the birds I really struggle to differentiate and could use help figuring out are Bay-breasted vs Cape May, Yellow vs Chestnut-sided, and Palm vs pretty much everything. My current score which is viewable on the leaderboard (though this will likely change) is 86%, though I think my true rating is probably somewhere from the high 70s to the low 80s. I'd love to see someone on here beat it- I'm sure it can be done. For those who are more beginners in the birding by ear space, I'm already working on building out a full-fledged training course. I also have plans to expand this game to have empid quizzes, vireos, thrushes, etc., as well as several devoted to more west-coast species. However, I'm the only one developing this and I have limited time so it may take a little while.

The second bird looks to have a pale nape and my impression is Coop, but it's hard to say for sure as it could feasibly be the light. The first also looks like a Coop from structure.

This is a worn 1st cycle Herring. Ring-billed is never this smoothly brown overall, instead having sharp streaking. Also, notice the bill is starting to turn pinkish at the base, and the lack of contrasty black on the mantle ruling out Lesser Black-backed.

This is a Herring with that light mantle

Also, it's hard to describe and I can't exactly put my finger on why, but I've always felt there's a subtle structural difference between the two species.

Without more context, better photos, more angles, etc. this is unidentifiable. DLecy is right in that it has a Neotropic feel, but from an objective view I could easily see this being either species.

My impression has never been that is the same size as a Mallard, but they are significantly smaller than Canada.

Looks like a Song Sparrow

Double-crested, to be exact.

That's a Yellow Palm Warbler, a VERY good bird for S Tx! I think it may be a first record for the area. I'd get it reported on ebird asap!

Perhaps I should have rephrased. Though there may be a slight size difference, it is not immediately noticable in the field. I've had the two side by side in the field and did not notice a difference.

There is no significant size difference between the two species.

It's hard to say for certain as the photo is very bad, but domestic African Collared Dove can be occasionally seen throughout the US. They are not countable, however.

@Birding Boy So you manually listen through the entire recording and pick out birds? Also, what guide did you follow to build your setup?

I've always wanted to get into NFCs.... What does that process look like? How on earth do you differentiate all the chips and little notes? I've got the eastern warbler songs down (though some trip me up like Cape May vs Bay-breasted) but I can't comprehend how one can identify it purely on a single chip. Also, do you usually stand outside and listen? Or just record and listen later?

I agree with Herring, the streaking is not sharp enough for Ring-billed and GISS is off.

I'm not really picking up what you're putting down. Last bird looks like a Common Grackle to me.

Ah, I wasn't seeing the shape/structure correctly. I'll retract my ID.

Why did you rule out Bonaparte's Gull? That wing pattern is distinctive, not to mention the dark hood.