[sososleepy]

Third bird down on the right side on this page: http://butterflies.heuristron.net/others/birds.html
Small, brown head, white belly, brown feathers with a bit of white....
What is it?
Thanks- I do butterflies, and I'm just starting to pay serious attention to my local birds.

[J. Moore]

Same as the bird discussed in this recent thread: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=108808

Best,
Jim

[sososleepy]

Thanks Jim; WOW that was FAST!!! I'm going to look now.

[sososleepy]

I'm stunned that you answered so fast! I made a page for the little bird and credited you with telling me what it is. The page links to this thread. Thanks very much again!!! http://butterflies.heuristron.net/ot...ernPhoebe.html

[J. Moore]

Glad I could help. I use the "new posts" feature in the upper right-hand corner, so I often see new posts pretty fast. Phoebes are one of those fairly nondescript little birds that often puzzle birding beginners. One thing to look for is the characteristic tail wagging.

Cheers,
Jim

[AlexC]

Hey sososleepy - some nice pics! As Jim verified for you, your bird in question is an Eastern Phoebe.

I just wanted to give you some ID notes on a few shots in your gallery:

Your "owl" looks to be one of the Screech-Owls... seeing as the thread is entitled "Florida," I guess Eastern? Did you take the photos there? If not, where? And when? Also, heads up, the audio file doesn't work.

Your "ibis" is a White Ibis.

Your "Mourning Dove" is actually a White-winged Dove, not a Mourning.

(If you want to get technical, "peacock" is the male subsidiary name for Common Peafowl, haha)

Anyone wanna follow me out on a limb and question those two Anas ducks (for now I'm assuming Florida as location)?

Left one first. That's a MIGHTY yellow bill to my eye... no American Black Duck will show that yellow. The crown seems too dark for Mottled, although body feathers seem warmish (see attached). My money's either on male Mottled (field marks would fall into place... except dark crown! and just doesn't seem all that buffy...), or a male Mallard x American Black Duck, either mid-molting out of drake plumage (hence no trace of drake plumage itself, but bill still in full color), or it could be a cross-back to American Black that held the feature of Mallard's yellow bill? Sososleepy, date info would be useful on this photo.

Right duck... ORANGE bill. Again, not American Black Duck's expected color. But... no dark saddle as expected on female Mallards and Mottleds. C'est bizarre. Body feathers seem out of American Black range, too. THIS crown IS kinda pale though... could it be a Mottled? Interested to hear other opinions.

[cajanuma]

Originally Posted by AlexC

Right duck... ORANGE bill. Again, not American Black Duck's expected color. But... no dark saddle as expected on female Mallards and Mottleds. C'est bizarre. Body feathers seem out of American Black range, too. THIS crown IS kinda pale though... could it be a Mottled? Interested to hear other opinions.

I also focused in on the ducks when I went to sosleepy's website. I don't have any books with me right now but I think they are both Mottled Ducks. They both show a black 'nail' (for lack of a better term) at the lower base of the bill, which is characteristic of Mottled Duck and should not be shown by Am. Black Duck.

[birderbf]

I agree with Alex, these are typical Mottled Ducks. Also, American Black Ducks are quite rare in Palm Beach County.

[sososleepy]

Wow, thanks for all the information everyone!

J. Moore, I didn't see my Phoebe wag its tail, but I'll look for that the next time I see it. I couldn't get very close to it, and it's such a small bird... perhaps I'll be able to see it through the camera.

AlexC, yes, the owl and all of my birds are in Palm Beach, and possibly Broward counties in South East Florida. The Owl visits my yard sometimes, but is very people and camera shy. Thanks, I'll check the sound - it was a dark video, but the audio should still work, I wonder what happened. I'll update with your ID's and credit you with them. The two ducks landed side by side in the lake the day before yesterday; I'll put up a bigger picture of both of them and post when I do so after I get back home this evening - I'd do it now but I have to be somewhere shortly:(

Thanks again for all of your answers; I'm out of new butterflies and the birds are getting just as interesting!

[Gillian_M]

Hi sososleepy,

I've gone the opposite way! I started out as a birder first, but have become more interested in butterflies lately. (I've got a lot of unidentified skippers that I really should look at one of these days!) At least the birds are with us year round. I have to wait a while longer before the butterflies come out.

Good luck with the birding!

[sososleepy]

Thanks again everyone! I've started my updates, but still have some more work to do. I made a page with the bigger pix of the Mottled Ducks: http://butterflies.heuristron.net/ot...ttledDuck.html

Gillian, I checked your site for your skippers, but didn't find any butterflies that were unidentified, or for that matter, any skippers.... I'm still struggling with my local skippers, so I doubt if I could ID yours anyway, but just in case, where are they?

I uploaded a picture of a bird I always see standing on the sprinkler pipe floats in the lakes down here... I hope it displays... does anyone know what it is?

[sososleepy]

Sorry, this one was too far away and the wind was blowing, but here it is in case someone knows what it is too... Oh, both of those pix were this morning.

[Hotspur]

Double-crested Cormorants :)

[sososleepy]

Both of them, the top one, or the bottom one?

[sososleepy]

WOOT! I just looked up Double-crested Cormorants, and I'm thinking both of them; I'd never have thought that because they look so different. This is getting fun! Thanks Hotspur. I've noticed these birds for years, but never knew what they were, and until I got this camera, was never able to get a good enough look to even think about trying to find out. This is FUN!

[AlexC]

Originally Posted by sososleepy

WOOT! I just looked up Double-crested Cormorants, and I'm thinking both of them; I'd never have thought that because they look so different. This is getting fun! Thanks Hotspur. I've noticed these birds for years, but never knew what they were, and until I got this camera, was never able to get a good enough look to even think about trying to find out. This is FUN!

Glad you're having a blast learning about these birds! (I have a friend who has a saying, "Birding: contagious, terminal." - because you'll do it until you die! )

Yup, you're right - they're both Double-crested. They look different because they're different ages. Your first one is a 1st year, young bird - mostly yellow/orange bill, paler neck, breast and general plumage. Your second one is an adult - mostly all black plumage, grayish bill with an orange base.

[sososleepy]

Alex, it might be terminal; I posted this (early afternoon, late morning? really didn't look at the clock lol, but shortly after my last post) and ran out with two memory sticks and a full camera battery to see what brids I could find. There's a swampy marsh nearby where I know the big ones are, so I went there. I got back to the car about an hour after my husband and kids did. Do you birders think it was a hint that they were in the car with the high beams on pointed down the path I was on when I got back, in evening, but still very very bright, daylight? Yup; terminal (giggle.) So, here's what I found. Most of them I've glanced at on the web (while waiting FOREVER for the pix to copy to external drive that DIED mid way through which I cooled (overheated drive) with vac cleaner (creative? at least it worked...), but the one that looks like a morehen but it's all sorts of bright colors... what's that one????? ... and feel free to ID any others; I'd love to know if what I think they are is what they are!!!

AAAh, there's a five file max. OUCH
well, I'll do another post then.

[sososleepy]

It had a 5 pix limit, so here' s 2 of 3 of todays birds:)

[sososleepy]

I'm absolutely done for the day, so I'll post the big pix on my site over the next week or two or three or... But I HAD to share what you folks helped to start! The black one is a Grackle, no clue if I spelled that right... and I've found the herons and a few others, but I still HAD to share what I found today. The very best part was when I was getting the wing spread pix of the Double-crested Cormorant Hotspur ID'd today, and I remembered the name when other people on the trail asked what bird it was!!! I told them I learned it today on the birdforum dot net discussion and encouraged them to visit; it was SO fun!!! Thanks all.

[birderbf]

In order:

Great Blue Heron
Limpkin
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
White Ibis

Common Moorhen
Great Egret
Blue-winged Teal
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron

I'd recommending investing in a field guide so you can learn even faster by researching the birds yourself.

[sososleepy]

Birder, I am laughing so hard!!! I just won a bet with my husband that I'd have and answer when I hit refresh; he didn't think I'd have one. I have a field guide, but this is SO much more fun! Some of them I'd all ready figured out, but I really wanted to share what I found today. I took over 600 pictures, and honestly, I haven't even looked at all of them because I was playing with RAW vs. JPEG and it took me a LONG time to figure out how to get the RAW off the camera; I nearly DELETED them, but I noticed that the swimming snake pix were missing so figured out that the "scanner and camera wizard" does NOT see the RAW pix. Grumble!!! There are SO many things to learn at once, and this 'semi-old dog' is having a tough time with that. Thanks very much birder and everyone here!!!!! You folks made my weekend!

[sososleepy]

that was "an answer" sorry

[sososleepy]

Um.. Birder and anyone else; the one I have no clue about is the last one that looks like a cross between a moorhen and the fruit loops toucan in full crayola; what's that one?

[J. Moore]

Originally Posted by sososleepy

Um.. Birder and anyone else; the one I have no clue about is the last one that looks like a cross between a moorhen and the fruit loops toucan in full crayola; what's that one?

The last three are Boat-tailed Grackle, Little Blue Heron, and Purple Gallinule. (By the way, what is now called "Common Moorhen" used to be called "Common Gallinule" in the U.S.; so you are right to see a resemblance between the two).

Best,
Jim

[sososleepy]

... and to be very honest I'd never heard of Blue-winged Teal or Anhinga.