I A Munro

That's it! I checked eBird and it looks like they're definitely present in Thailand and throughout SE Asia. Adorable bird... thanks!

Osprey (and "owl")

traveling in december and saw this hawk in ann arbor MI - eating prey in an urban area. is it an accipiter? perhaps a juvenile redtail? thank you!

Laughing Gull

is it possible to ID these cormorants? february in pacfica CA (extra points if you can ID the gulls too!) thank you!

seen on koh samui in march - is some species of barbet? thank you!

Ah yes - thank you!

taken in december in san francisco (not the same bird) - i am thinking i have 2 white-breasted nuthatches and 1 red-breasted nuthatch (with the eye line). they were all extremely quick and furtive and thus difficult to photograph. thank you!

taken in december in san francisco, ca - the duck was on a fairly small pond with coots and mallards and seemed to be the only one of its species. is this a female ring-necked duck? thanks!

i am pretty sure this is my first waxwing - if so, is it safe to assume this is a cedar waxwing from the photo/location/time? taken in december in san francisco, ca. thank you!

Hi all! I realize this may be tough with no photo, but today in an urban park in Tel Aviv I saw a small pale sparrow with definite light eyelines. Is this enough to make an ID? I've had several nice lifers that are common in the city and I'm wondering if this one might be as well. I checked eBird and only saw House/Spanish Sparrows as common in the city, but this wasn't one of those. Maybe a different bird I overlooked? Thank you

I think what I see here is 1) Fox Sparrow and 2) female Brewer's Blackbird. Would love a confirmation! Taken in February near Santa Cruz, CA. Thanks everyone 🙂

Agreed! Aside from the bill shape/color, which is probably the best indicator, I think body size/proportions are a good clue. The Towhees I see are pretty hefty with a longer look to them including the neck & tail - almost robin-sized. Juncos are much smaller, usually have little to no neck and appear more ball-shaped (of course this depends on posture). Lastly, at least in my experience, adult Towhees vary in appearance very little (unlike Juncos) - they pretty much all look identical to me while Juncos are more unique from individual to individual.

Could be, but i think the colors/patterns were extremely dramatic and it seemed a bit too big (definitely oriole-sized) but I have very little experience with Kingbirds. My sense was that they would be a bit daintier & paler in color than the bird I saw above. Thank you though! Edit: the patterns were clear blocks and lines of color, not in a gradient or shading as far as I could tell.

Yes - the location and fully barred back make it so.

One more from this batch (Palo Alto, CA in March) - hopefully sort of an easy one but I only got one good photo since the subject was very shy. Possibly Green Heron? Thanks again!

I am hoping this was a Varied Thrush, but it could have been an oriole of some kind. I only got a very quick sighting... it was medium-sized (maybe robin-sized or larger) with lots of patterning that seemed black/orange/yellow. It flew from one wire to another really quickly then disappeared from view. March - Palo Alto CA, habitat was creekside with open fields and some trees near the marshy edge of the bay. I realize this may not be enough to go off of but it's the only photo I got. Thanks!

Say's Phoebe? I am used to seeing lots of Black Phoebes but this would be a first I think. Thank you! Taken in March in Palo Alto CA

how strange! thanks for sharing. i have seen some unusual bills before but that shape/size is quite dramatic. it is unmistakably an acorn woodpecker though 🙂

Thank you! Was bigger up close than I would have thought. Would it be the Sooty sub-species? Might be too hard to tell from this photo.

march in san francisco, hopping around the underbrush. thanks for all the help!

seen in march near san francisco bay - does the yellow indicate savannah sparrows? at first i thought it was a trick of the light on song sparrows but now looking at the photos im second-guessing. the second 2 photos may be a different bird, it flew into the bushes and then reappeared. thank you!

more photos from the archive - taken in march in northern ca. i think these are scaup and yellowlegs - but are they greater or lesser? i have my hunch but would like to confirm (and they aren't all the same bird, but taken in the same area at the same time) thank you!

thank you!

all photos taken in northern california in jan-march. thanks in advance for your help, i am still a beginner so i apologize if some of these are very basic! 1) sparrow i think... is it a white-crowned? 2) ruby-crowned kinglet or maybe a huttons vireo? 3) wren - is it bewick's? house? i don't think it's pacific but otherwise not sure 4 & 5) I believe these are finches - could the second one be a siskin? does the first have a yellow face or is that just pollen 🙂