RobinHood

Southern Georgian Bay yesterday. Terrible photo but is the shape of the wing good enough for an ID? Thanks.

Mourning Dove versus White-crowned Sparrow. By far the most obvious difference is in the vocalizations, after that it gets trickier.

I don't think you can do much better than this for a first post without a photo (other than -11C in Vancouver??). The links for colour characteristics are interesting.

Thanks Tony, very much appreciated. First bird seemed somewhat more delicate with a smaller bill than the typical Herring, but I was not hopeful as I know they vary a lot. Second bird I was fairly sure but I always get confirmation for a new bird. Third bird puzzled me with the absence of real black in the primaries, maybe lighting, but again I was not too hopeful. Thanks again.

Addendum. Coincidentally dpreview produced their review of this camera today (it takes them a while as they are usually very thorough). https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d3500-review

Appears to be a Nikon D3500 Charlie, which has a very nice sensor but perhaps not the best for BIF.

Southern Georgian Bay yesterday. Any suggestions/comments welcome. Thanks.

Agree, and I like your recent additions (despite family restraints/complaints I managed to add a few of my old favourites back in July this year).

Ouch, that hurts (only joking) and a response to Tony - two really nice looking adults (@akiley, I did reference the Glaucous in my original post), and yes I agree they are quite large, appeared around 7.00am this morning ahead of the impending ice storm here in Ontario, and they did actually raise my heartbeat - really gloomy morning but they were a very nice sight). For background I have been trying to get photos locally of an Iceland (hence my misplaced enthusiasm), a Lesser Black-backed and also some local Screech Owls (tried at 6.00am last week in the dark but no luck - this YT video has spurred me on to try harder. Please excuse the digression (I've been looking for an excuse to sneak this one in), but for me this is what birding is all about. I try to stick strictly to ID topics on this forum but now and again wander off course. Apologies.

Not wishing to push my luck but I did read the pdf on Scaups you recently shared (I would suggest this is required reading), and have subsequently lost most of my faith in my Scaup ID skills (a good thing). I am now much more cautious about my eBird Scaup IDs. Does the top right bird in the first two photos suggest Lesser, or not identifiable - so Greater/Lesser?

Agreed and very much appreciate the response (still learning) but I am puzzled by the amount of white on the head as I don't think this is lighting or artifacts. At this point I am going to bow out not so gracefully.

I am leaning strongly towards the former (the variations for Mallard transgressions is bewildering) but if you are familiar with my posting history you will know to wait for the more experienced.

Corey - that is spectacular, although I feel a little sorry for the mouse.

Same problem for a local hotspot and eventually found out there is one location where the fence has been "lowered" (had to quiz a number of local birders to eventually get the answer). The first visit was a complete waste of time - but then again no-one said birding wasn't a challenge.

Thanks Ethan, very much appreciated (I suspected the low temps were a factor - they were around a few weeks ago and then mostly disappeared). PS. If you are up this way, either with or without DT, I would be happy to tag along. Regards.