Spring 2009 Bird ID Thread.

[AgingEyes]

Took this today. I believe I have never seen this species before, but this is also only my 2nd year of paying attention to birds.

[paulnj]

Took this today. I believe I have never seen this species before, but this is also only my 2nd year of paying attention to birds.

Female black-headed grosbeak.

[AgingEyes]

Female black-headed grosbeak.

Hmmm...a pretty good-looking black-headed bird then

[billy320]

Looks more like a female rose breasted grosbeak

but then again what do I know I am looking in a book

[Loupey]

1st one I posted earlier but still unsure of its ID. Brown forehead, yellow upper breast, no wingbars - female common yellowthroat?

[A.M.D.A.]

1st one I posted earlier but still unsure of its ID. Brown forehead, yellow upper breast, no wingbars - female common yellowthroat?

#1. Female common yellowthroat.
#2. Veery.
#3. Hermit thrush, eastern form. Ours is pale brown... but still with reddish tail.

[Loupey]

Thanks for quick ID, Alex. Those thrushes are difficult! Come to think of it, to me so are the sparrows, many fall warblers, flycatchers, ...

[CaraRose]

I spotted the male of this one bobbing around and at first thought it was a purple martin, but he's much too small. There was a female along with him, moving from my neighbors lawn to my lawn to my next neighbors lawn. Got a shot of both.

Lots of birds out today. I saw a male goldfinch shoot from a tree getting chased by another male. Too fast for me to get any sort of shot though.

[A.M.D.A.]

Brown-Headed Cowbird.

[paulnj]

Cara you have brown headed cowbirds.

Loupey, I am torn between hermit and bicknell's on that last thrush, but It has to be a Hermit due to bicknell's migrating coastally Thrushes are very hard on the east coast during migration.

[CaraRose]

Another visitor to the front lawn today... Googled around, is this a Brewers Blackbird?

[paulnj]

common grackle. brewer's look similiar, but thier beak is alot smaller and they are smaller too.

[mjs1973]

Sat for 3 1/2 hours this morning and took one photo, and a crappy one at that. This is a pretty heavy crop. The closest thing I can find in my book is a Louisiana Waterthrush. Can someone verify?

[paulnj]

Looks very similiar, but I think it's a young sparrow. I can honestly say.. I am lost on this ID. Maybe try contacting a local birding group, cornell or an ornithology group.

[AgingEyes]

This bird has a boring look. I mean, not a whole lot of field marks...I'm guessing

[paulnj]

This bird has a boring look. I mean, not a whole lot of field marks...I'm guessing

Female Brown-Headed Cowbird

[AgingEyes]

Female Brown-Headed Cowbird

Apparently, people named the birds after the males

[CaraRose]

My neighbors tree had loads of birds in it... Unfortunately it was a ways up there so none of the pictures came out well. Not sure if any of these are good enough to get an id from. I was thinking the first is a starling, no idea on the middle two, and the last... female cardinal maybe?

[paulnj]

Starling and the last 3 are all house finches.

[AgingEyes]

Sorry, that's all I've got :blush2:

[A.M.D.A.]

Sorry, that's all I've got :blush2:

Adult male black-headed grosbeak. Unique photo!

[CaraRose]

I know this is some sort of sparrow, but not sure what. He was teeny tiny (he's in a honey locust, if you want to use the leaves to get a sense of size), black stripe goes from beak to the eye, and a red brown crown.

Young chipping sparrow? I mainly see tree sparrows around here, and he doesn't look like one of them.

[A.M.D.A.]

That's an adult Chipping sparrow, in breeding plumage. Young chipping's are more uniformly brownish coloured, plus they don't have a rufous crown.

Chipping sparrows are indeed a bit smaller than American Tree, almost an inch.

[mjs1973]

Found this guy about a month ago in northern MN and forgot all about it.

[paulnj]

looks like a short billed dowitcher Mike.