Melierax

1. and 2. They look fine for Gray but differentiating from Dusky is extremely difficult. In the future, Grays are (I think) the only North American empids that dip their tails down. 3. Agreed with Sagebrush, looks like a hatch year bird. 4. The loudest call is a young robin's alarm call.

Ah! That makes more sense. A little confusion there....

Absolutely a Virginia Rail. In general birds keep bill shape from a young age, and Green Herons have straight bills.

1. Black-chinned with the fairly large beak and curved wings. 2. Strikes me as a Cassin's Finch. Not positive though

Not a Gray Catbird (light front and undertail)... it strikes me as a vireo.

Maybe Ring-necked Pheasant?

I'd still like to see the photo! You got me intrigued...

Just so you know I figured Gray Partridge would fit because fanned out, they definitely have a bright orange tail and depending on the angle it could look like just the tip was orange.

Maybe a Gray Partridge? The habitat matches better.

They're growing up. About to fledge! All 5 are doing really well. There are 3 males and 2 females.

Finally got lifer Scott's Oriole! There's been a small population of them in southern Idaho for a while now in a small area of good habitat. They're extremely difficult to find and the roads are bad, so this has taken 3 years of attempts to get. I saw 5 of them today!

Looks to me like the reflection of the surrounding yellow leaves. In the first photo you can see the normal color on the right side, but the left side has the yellow. I'm pretty sure field sparrows don't have yellow on them. EDIT: Sniped!!

I'm not seeing any stripes on the belly... I'm also seeing white outer tail feathers. Chipping Sparrow is what came to mind for me. Here is a lightened version:

Since the bird is really wet the feathers separate and make dark shadows. I'm not good with the flycatchers but I can confirm 2. and 3.!

You're in breeding range I think. I live in Idaho and they nest here! I normally don't hear of sparrows singing that early, but out of all the sparrows I think Lincoln's are one of the most vociferous. It could definitely be nesting nearby! I