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Recent content by tom baxter

  1. T

    Can’t identify this bird, St. Paul MN

    I think its a tufted titmouse
  2. T

    Bird ID - Bluffers Park, Toronto, ON

    I get what you mean. No offense meant, but you are always precise to a tee with semantics. I on the other hand use words to match others and try to speak using the same language as others. Both have their pros and cons in my opinion. I don’t mind refining my language to try to communicate with...
  3. T

    Bird ID - Bluffers Park, Toronto, ON

    I zoom all the way in and see the iris isn’t completely dark, but overall it is dark and completely normal for Iceland gull. I also agree with this. I only am conforming to the verbiage proposed by Lou. Typically i would not use eye color to differentiate a herring gull from an Iceland gull...
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    Bird ID - Bluffers Park, Toronto, ON

    It looks perfect for kumliens in my opinion. Your point about irides confuses me because I see dark irides pretty clearly personally. Also the head shape is round, the bill rather dainty, and of course from what can be seen the primaries are much whiter than I have ever seen in even a “northern”...
  5. T

    Shorebirds & Loon, Northern CA, Jan 2024

    Look like Long-billed Dowitchers, and in Petaluma they would be more common than Short-billed. Short-billed is unlikely unless on expansive tidal mudflats along the edges of the bay.
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    Bird ID - Bluffers Park, Toronto, ON

    I’d say iceland gull too
  7. T

    Sparrow Audio for ID - Illinois, USA - Nov 2023

    It would be rather absurd for it to be a Golden-crowned Sparrow. You would need much more compelling evidence than this seep call for something as rare as Golden-crowned in Illinois. They have only been recorded in eBird 2 or 3 times in the past 20 years. As far as I can tell by both sound and...
  8. T

    Shorebirds, Petaluma, CA (Sonoma County)

    I missed two Westerns in my above post
  9. T

    Shorebirds, Petaluma, CA (Sonoma County)

    The ones underlined are Western and the rest are Dunlin.
  10. T

    SW Florida USA - Great Egret or Great White Heron?

    Yes, the bill shape looks like a white morph Great Blue Heron ie. Great White Heron, and the legs appear yellow, as you pointed out.
  11. T

    Long tailed Jaeger ?

    How can you tell that? I don’t see anything that looks like a tail streamer. I am sure that some people misjudge the size of them but I’ve never had an issue with it. This bird is huge, especially bill thickness, which should be reliable. I could be wrong. I am looking to learn here, please show...
  12. T

    Long tailed Jaeger ?

    It actually looks too heavy chested and billed for Arctic. Looks more like Pomarine in my opinion. I think it looks way too big for Arctic personally.
  13. T

    SW Florida USA - possible Tropical Kingbird?

    The bill is also not strikingly large, and the crown is flatter than usual for Tropical Kingbird. Often, not always, Tropical Kingbirds show a noticeably notched tail, but the white outter tail feathers clinch the ID for Western here. Even though Western Kingbirds are not a very common wintering...
  14. T

    Orinda, California (USA) - Thrush

    Looks good for Hermit Thrush. They can look a lot like Swainson’s along the West Coast populations, but the face of yours is pretty plain with no obvious Buffy throat stripe or eye ring. I saw one earlier today that I have to do some photo review on too. Initially I am thinking it is also a...
  15. T

    Bird ID - Georgia, near Atlanta, about two months ago.

    I concede. I think you’re right. It is a pretty big coincidence that I checked ebird to see if there were any Bell’s Vireo’s around Atlanta around the time frame of the original post, and sure enough there was. That was after I gandered that guess. Still, I think it is probably a coincidence...
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