USA birds ID please (1 Viewer)

[mcmerlin]

Hi, I went travelling at the end of last year and the last leg of my trip took me to the USA. I was there from mid November to mid December. I managed to identify most of the birds I saw and photographed, however there were a fair few that i failed to identify. I'm new to posting images on here so don't know if i will do it correctly but I'm going to try as i'd really appreciate any help in identifying these. There are quite a few so I will have to post them in a few posts. Cheers.

 

[mcmerlin]

The second picture was taken in St. Louis, Missouri. The last one was taken in the hills around Boulder, Colorado. The rest were taken on the coast of California.

 

[mcmerlin]

For these five-
The first two were taken at Santa Monica beach, Los Angeles. The 3rd was taken in a lagoon near the sea in San Francisco. The last two were taken in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

[etudiant]

#1 Western Grebe
#2 Female Goldfinch
#3 Willets
#4 Pacific Loon
#5 Townsend Solitaire

 

[Microtus]

1. Western Grebe
2. American Goldfinch
3. Willet (Western Willet, a potential future split)
4. Common Loon
5. Townsend's Solitaire
6. Marbled Godwit
7. Black Phoebe
8. Long-billed Curlew
9. Cooper's Hawk
10. American Goldfinch

 

[etudiant]

#6 Marbled Godwit
#7 Black Phoebe
#8 Whimbrel
#9 Sharp Shinned Hawk
#10 American Goldfinch

On posting I note Microtus has some different ID's.
My reasons for Pacific vs Common Loon is the relatively smaller bill, for Whimbrel the evident dark eye line and for Sharp Shinned the relatively face centered eye.
Happy to be corrected though if appropriate.

 

[lou salomon]

1. Western Grebe
2. American Goldfinch
3. Willet (Western Willet, a potential future split)
4. Common Loon
5. Townsend's Solitaire
6. Marbled Godwit
7. Black Phoebe
8. Long-billed Curlew
9. Cooper's Hawk
10. American Goldfinch

i agree with all these.

 

[mcmerlin]

Thanks guys, however, i see there is some difference in opinion on 3 of the birds. So here i include more pics of the same Loon, Whimbrel/curlew and Hawk incase that helps atall.

 

[Tony Morris]

Originally Posted by Microtus View Post
1. Western Grebe
2. American Goldfinch
3. Willet (Western Willet, a potential future split)
4. Common Loon
5. Townsend's Solitaire
6. Marbled Godwit
7. Black Phoebe
8. Long-billed Curlew
9. Cooper's Hawk
10. American Goldfinch

The are all correct!

 

[etudiant]

Thanks guys, however, i see there is some difference in opinion on 3 of the birds. So here i include more pics of the same Loon, Whimbrel/curlew and Hawk incase that helps atall.

Score 3 for Micrototus.
Loon bill larger than it looked from the first photo, curlew photo with it on 1 leg shows the eye line an artifact and hawk photo shows rounded tail with white tip more typical of Coopers.
Nicely done, Micrototus! I clearly need to spend more time with the birds....

 

[mcmerlin]

thanks guys I may have some more needing ID'd yet, got loads of pics.

 

[Microtus]

Score 3 for Micrototus.
Loon bill larger than it looked from the first photo, curlew photo with it on 1 leg shows the eye line an artifact and hawk photo shows rounded tail with white tip more typical of Coopers.
Nicely done, Micrototus! I clearly need to spend more time with the birds....

The loon displays the white half-collar of Common, the curlew is way too buffy for Whimbrel and is rather long-billed to boot, and the Accipiter just looked too bulky to be Sharp-shinned (this last one was a bit perilous |=)| ).

 

[Microtus]

thanks guys I may have some more needing ID'd yet, got loads of pics.

I'm ready. |=)|

 

[mcmerlin]

These were all taken on the Californian coast. The loon was in a different location to the other one so just checking incase its a different species.

 

[lou salomon]

red-throated loon, heermann's gull, ring-billed gull, brandt's cormorant and greater scaup.

 

[tom baxter]

#4 that bill looks too thin for common loon to me, and the forehead appears less angular than I am used to seeing in common loons. I immediately thought pacific loon. I have never seen pacific loon, but have seen thousands of common loons. What factors discredit the possibility of pacific?

 

[lou salomon]

neck markings typical of common.

 

[Microtus]

red-throated loon, heermann's gull, ring-billed gull, brandt's cormorant and greater scaup.

I agree on a quick pass.

 

[mcmerlin]

I think one of these is an immature Bald eagle, and one is a red-tailed hawk but i'd like confirmation before I can be 100% sure.

The first 3 were taken in St. Louis, Missouri. The 4th was taken in Central Park, New york and the 5th was taken by the sea in New York.

 

[The Falcon]

#1 Rock Pigeon
#2 Song Sparrow
#3 Bald Eagle
#4 Red-tailed Hawk
#5 Ring-billed Gull