CLOSED: Identify This Bird Please Vol. 3

Looks like a Red-tailed Hawk to me.

Yep, Red-tailed Hawk

Resin

Thanks Adel and Resin...that's the second bad shot I've gotten! Hopefully the third time will be the charm!

Rose

I'm not sure which this is my self?? Think it is a Hairy...



This message was edited Jan 27, 2008 9:27 AM

Hairy Woodpecker- it is larger and the beak much longer. I had a hard time to and am just getting it myself! Sort of.....



This message was edited Jan 27, 2008 9:20 AM

Here GG found the pics I wanted.

Downy

Hairy WP

Ok, I am still a little confused about IDing a Downy Woodpecker from a Hairy Woodpecker. I know Downy's are smaller, but that's hard to tell unless you can see them side by side.

Someone said Downy's have "dots". But where? Both seem to have dots to me. I am also wondering about the red patch on some of them. Some have it and some don't. Is it a male/female thing?

Hairy's have longer bills, but that's another one that is hard to tell unless they are side by side. Which one would this one be?

Here's one without the red patch

One more. What would they be and how about the red patch? And, does Missouri have both Downy's and Hairy's? I'm so confused!
lol


Edited for stupid spelling! :p

This message was edited Jan 27, 2008 11:26 AM

Thanks Resin!

Just as with the Greater vs. Lesser Yellowlegs above, relative bill length is another way to differentiate between Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers.

Here's nanny's Downy. Note that the bill length, tip to base, is shorter by far than the distance from bill base to back of head.

....While the distance from bill tip to base in nanny's Hairy Woodpecker is about the same as bill base to back of head.

As Resin and others have said on this Forum, bird size is often very difficult to assess in the field...especially without a good point of reference....seeing another bird or object of known size nearby etc..

If you don't get a look at the outer tail feathers and/or if the Woodpecker has no close reference point, try comparing length of bill to head size (not just trying to decide if it has a short or a long bill.)

Edit (kan't spel)

This message was edited Jan 28, 2008 12:04 AM

It also seems to me that the hairy wp has the broad straight line through its eye, while the downy's line is not straight - it broadens in the middle.

BTW, I was looking at a birder's photos today, taken over the weekend, and I recognized the Ruby-crowned Kinglet with no crown showing. I learned that here!

Very good!

Oh yeah CJ,
You should be seeing RC Kinglet down there quite a bit. I sure hope you can get some pics :-)

Hi everyone, got a bit sick so have not been following events. Everytime we have a cold spell coming we seem to have thousands of swifts, they come to a vacant site behind my house, and there are so many that there are not enough trees to take them, then they move over the road to another double vacant lot, the sky looks so full of them there must be thousands,just flying around then landing flying around some more before they move on. I only see them when we are expecting a cold spell -so it's not very often. Resin I never saw this kind of thing in UK (London area), it's only since I have lived in Florida (3 1/2 Years) we used to get them in the evenings over there, but not to this extent.

I'm hoping one of you can help me, even without a picture.
I've had a woodpecker on my suet feeder often this past week and weekend... It's about 6 inches long, dark bill... same coloring as a downy or hairy BUT it has red on its head and under its chin. It also has a white stripe all around its skull. It's NOT a red-bellied woodpecker. It has black and white on its back and it looks kind of dirty for lack of better word.. in other words, not just solid B&W.
It almost looks like a sapsucker... but it's eating suet.
Could it be a baby pileated?

Sapsuckers readily come to suet feeders.
A juvenile could probably appear dirty...chest and belly are a sandy color.
Flight-capable Pileated would be 16 inches long.

Thanks Ned. That explanation about the bill size helps a lot. I wasn't sure just how much longer a Hairy's bill was than a Downy's so that cleared up a lot.

Hmmmmmm. Well, then maybe that's what it is because that's the closest to matching what I have as I can get. I'll go with that. Won't lie... had my heart set on it being a pileated back in my yard.. but I'll stay on that task.

Thanks to all of you folks for the information on the Downy vs. Hairy Woodpeckers. This morning there was a woodpecker at the suet that is different from any I have seen before. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to get a really good picture. But, better days are coming.

Thanks again.

GG

Glad to help gw. In nanny's pic of the Downy, its head is squinched down which exaggerates the bill/head thing but it would still be obvious even in an unsquinched head. The squinching in the photo is probably obvious to everybody but I just wanted to say squinch lots of times in a posting.
OldSquinch

Who is this with the red patch on the top of the head?

Common Redpoll

Resin

LOL, OldNed!!!

Downy Woodpecker & Red Breasted Nuthatch

This for indiana_lily. This one has 2 Red Breasted Nuthatches in it!

Well dang I'm on the wrong one again!! lol

I'll just go over to the Daily Pics now..........

Another new bird for me! Thanks Resin for the id.

From Dec. 4 StarTribune:

See them in winter

Winter is the only time we're likely to see hoary redpolls in Minnesota. The birds sometimes drift down from breeding grounds that stretch from Alaska into Canada's high Arctic country.

At feeders

Their cousins, common redpolls, are more likely to visit feeders. (Thistle seed is a good lure.) Commons are expected to be more numerous this winter. They're among the finch species predicted to move south of their usual range because of thin seed crops in northern birches and conifers.

I'm looking for siskens in these pictures, they're from PEI, my sister thinks she see one, near the Goldfinch. I only see Redpolls and Gold finches.

And this one

or this one

And would you agree with me that the birds in the middle is a Hoary redpoll, all puffed up and white.

If so, are they rare sighting for PEI also?

This message was edited Jan 29, 2008 12:57 PM

That last one does look like a Hoary Redpoll.

Okay, I am confused. Is the one picture from Original Sybil a Common Redpoll or a Hoary Redpoll?

Thank Pelle and Resin. The Sisken, is harder for me, If I look in the book I see this yellow, but on the pic I have a hard time to see it. Really need a good trained Eye for this. I'll come back tomorrow to look again and study it.

Jo11, what I've learn about the Hoary here, They are bigger, whiter underneath, and wider rump, less pronounce streaks on the side of the bird, and if I'm wrong, Resin will fine tune it, for us I hope.