Hawk, sparrow, shearwater NW Baja California (1 Viewer)

[ensis]

Hi,

All birds seen December 16th 2023 in NW Baja California, Mexico during our Christmas Bird Count.

Hawk: Ferruginous? Rough-legged?
Sparrow: Brewer's?
Shearwaters: Pink-footed?

 

[Bewick]

1.
2. Brewers sparrow
3. Heermann's gull

 

[Butty]

1. You'd first need to eliminate red-tailed hawk, and from this photo I'm not sure how to do that - tail pattern maybe, but I'm not convinced it's showing correctly in this rather odd light. Any more photos of it?

3. Heermann's gull

Agree. Shape is gull-like, not a shearwater.

 

[ensis]

Bill's too small for RTHA IMO.
Bill's too long for HEEG IMO.

 

[Sangahyando]

Bill's too small for RTHA IMO.
Bill's too long for HEEG IMO.

In both cases, IMO the bill shape might be suffering from the effect of photo artifacts and/or awkward angle. Structurally, #3 look like gulls and Heermann's Gull is the obvious candidate, given the pattern.

 

[smiths]

The gulls in photo 3 are California gulls, not Heermann's.

 

[qwerty5]

I don't see anything to eliminate RTHA, although I'm fairly inexperienced with western buteos. I certainly don't think bill shape can be relied upon here.

 

[Butty]

The gulls in photo 3 are California gulls, not Heermann's.

... because...

 

[smiths]

Sorry, scratch that...
On second look, they could well be Heermann's.