Hi Edana,

I've looked through several series of photos from other observers of the Mile
Square Park flycatcher, and my reaction to date was that it was probably a
Dusky, but I just wasn't fully convinced. However, with your even lengthier
series of photos, I now agree with the identification of it being a Dusky. Other
photos have suggested a moderately lengthy primary projection, which is
obviously problematic for a non-calling Hammond's/Dusky. However, the overall
impression from your photos is of a moderately lengthy bill and a moderately
lengthy tail, and, in combination with other features, indicates, in my opinion,
a Dusky.

regards, Jim Pike

--- In OrangeCountyBirding@yahoogroups.com, Edanasal@... wrote:
>
> Monday and Tuesday a brown Eurasian Collared-Dove visited my backyard;
> today a very pale/whitish Eurasian Collared-Dove was seen. All the Eurasian
> Collared-Doves that I have seen have been the standard pale gray-buff - I
> have never seen a variation from this coloration anywhere in the US or
> Europe/UK. Now I've seen dark and light in 3 days. Are these variations
> typical for this bird?
>
> They both seemed to be a bit smaller, but I couldn't verify this because
> there were no other Eurasian Collared-Doves in the backyard at the time for
> comparison. Also neither of them perched, so I wasn't able to look at/take
> photos of their undertail coverts.
>
> I tried to load photos on the ocbirding site, but they wouldn't load for
> some reason. So I put them on my flickr page. While there, you will notice
> some flycatcher photos from the Spring Count at Mile Square Park. This
> bird was tentatively IDd as a Dusky Flycatcher, but the Count experts were
> going to look over the photos and the submitted description. If you have any
> other suggestions or confirmation...please let me know!
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/95051641@N08/
>
> Edana Salisbury
> Buena Park
>
>
> 

Monday and Tuesday a brown Eurasian Collared-Dove visited my backyard;
today a very pale/whitish Eurasian Collared-Dove was seen. All the Eurasian
Collared-Doves that I have seen have been the standard pale gray-buff - I
have never seen a variation from this coloration anywhere in the US or
Europe/UK. Now I've seen dark and light in 3 days. Are these variations
typical for this bird?

They both seemed to be a bit smaller, but I couldn't verify this because
there were no other Eurasian Collared-Doves in the backyard at the time for
comparison. Also neither of them perched, so I wasn't able to look at/take
photos of their undertail coverts.

I tried to load photos on the ocbirding site, but they wouldn't load for
some reason. So I put them on my flickr page. While there, you will notice
some flycatcher photos from the Spring Count at Mile Square Park. This
bird was tentatively IDd as a Dusky Flycatcher, but the Count experts were
going to look over the photos and the submitted description. If you have any
other suggestions or confirmation...please let me know!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95051641@N08/

Edana Salisbury
Buena Park

Would appreciate your help.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OrangeCountyBirding/photos/album/1555113635/pic/20\
69119566/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OrangeCountyBirding/photos/album/1555113635/pic/14\
78989330/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc

Thank you very much.

Sherry Meddick
Silverado

Monday (5-21) afternoon there were an Olive-sided Flycatcher found on the
top of a dead tree 60 yards south of the parking lot, and two Willow
Flycatchers in the ditch near the area with picnic tables.

Mike Huang
Irvine, CA

Hi all:

Over the past couple of years I've posted a few times about the situation here
at my place of employment, the Park Place complex on Michelson Drive in Irvine. 
Due to the mirrored glass that covers all of the buildings here, Park Place has
been a real hazard for birds, particularly during the Spring migration. This
year has proven to be different, thankfully. Back in March, the powers that be
here at Park Place decided to remove nearly all of the mature jacaranda and tipu
trees that surround the complex. At first, I was rather annoyed that the trees
would be taken out during nesting season, but it appears that the decision to do
so has resulted in a beneficial effect: since the trees were removed, I have
not encountered a single bird carcass around the buildings. On May 9th, I did
find a dazed Townsend's warbler that I hand carried away from the buildings; he
soon recovered and flew off. But that's the only collision of which I'm aware. 
This suggests to me that the lack of reflected tree images in the mirrored
windows is directly responsible for the decreased fatalities. Hopefully I'm not
celebrating too soon, but it seems to me that the bulk of the Spring migration
should be done already....so color me hopeful here at Park Place!

Charles Baker
Tustin

Dear fellow birders

Now I am finally here from puerto rico and up and birding.

This sunday the 19th I made a 30 mile biketrip through the county.
Irvin-> brommer canyon-> crystal cove state park -> newport beach ->
upper newport bay.

In Brommer canyon I saw some Yellow-breasted chat, White tailed kite
among other things.
In a tree with a big whole I found a young Barn owl, I was wondering
if anybody is ringing Barn owls around here and is maybe interested in
the location.

In Crystal cove, plenty of wrentist, Greater roadrunner, Californian
gnatcatchers and a lot of places and even found a female making a very
cute little nest, which she stopt visiting when a srub jay came on the
scene. I also found a male northern harrier building a nest, it was
flying in branches every two minutes too a place in the bush 30 feet
from the trail. Is there any authority working with Northern harriers,
the state park ranger I talked too didn't seem to care.

At the beach I found some nice Californian thrashers and a late
wandering tattler.

Going up upper newport bay I saw a American bittern, MacGillivray's
Warbler, swainsons thrush, Westen wood pewees, huttons,wandering and
bell's vireo. Plenty of marsh wrens and quite some marbled godwits and
willets and a pair of hooded orioles.

Have a nice birdy day.

Bas van Schooten

Today was the Sea & Sage Bi-monthly Laguna Niguel Regional Park Walk. A group of
28 active birders participated, lots of great sightings.

The big highlight was the mystery bird by the dam/channel that posed a bit of an
ID challenge for us. Thanks to Rob McNab & Doug Willick for the confirmations,
the bird was a WILLOW FLYCATCHER. A "whit" like call similar to the Swainson's
Thrush, low foraging behavior near willows, wing length, and the color on the
mandible were some of the fieldmarks worth noting.

We did well with other migrants, WARBLING VIREOS, WESTERN TANAGERS, YELLOW
WARBLERS, BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS, but the other most notable migrant was the
BLUE GROSBEAK which stuck around and gave us some great looks at it.

There were two active hawks nests with nestlings.

Total number of species was 54. The bird list:

Species
Canada Goose
Mallard
Ruddy Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Turkey Vulture
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Coot
Killdeer
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
White-throated Swift
Anna's Hummingbird
Allen's Hummingbird
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Western Wood-Pewee
Willow Flycatcher
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Cassin's Kingbird
Warbling Vireo
American Crow
Common Raven
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Bushtit
House Wren
Bewick's Wren
Wrentit
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Yellow Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
Western Tanager
Black-headed Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Great-tailed Grackle
Hooded Oriole
Bullock's Oriole
House Finch
Lesser Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
Nutmeg Mannikin

The list can be found here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14171399

There was some confusion about the start time, it should start at 7:30, one area
on the Sea & Sage page says 8am. The next walk at LNRP will be in July, the next
third Sunday Walk will next month at Carbon Canyon.

Thanks to all who participated, it was a pleasant day.

--==--
Garett Lepper
Orange

I joined the feeder club. I left each of the two large feeders visibly half
filled. I had to leave my Prius about a mile downhill. That's a difficult walk
for an old, short-legged sh**. I also didn't see a Townsends Solitaire. In the
pines there were many ash-throated flycatchers, blue-gey gnatcatchers, an Oregon
Junco, Ravens above and a couple of mystery birds, but no picture. It was in
the tallest pines singing and moving a lot. On the way up and down many
Black-chinned Sparrow, saw one heard many, Phainopepla, Scrub Jays, both types
of Goldfinches, Wrentits galore, White throated Swifts and so on. Also pale
swallowtails and lots of Blues and Coppers. Good Burgers at Hell's Kitchen.

Rick Shearer
Huntington Beach

--- In OrangeCountyBirding@yahoogroups.com, Tom Benson 
wrote:
>
> I also birded the mountains today (May 4), running into Robert McNab just as I
was leaving. I did not see any of the previously reported rarities, including
Pygmy and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Townsend's Solitaire, or Green-tailed Towhee.
I took down the three small feeders but left the two large ones and refilled
them.
>
> Tom Benson
> San Bernardino,  CA
>
> PS I also had the pleasure today of watching a flock of Baltimore Orioles in
Anaheim as they squeaked (or is it squawked?) out a win against the Angels.
>
>
> Sent from my Galaxy S®III
>
> 

Speaking of Willow Flycatchers..
I sent a question for ID help, and a flickr link to Robert of some poor quality
images, and he replied it looked good for a Willow.
I had this bird at the end of the lost trail, in the willows between the Lost
trail and Shady lane trail at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary this morning. I
only saw it briefly, and didn't hear any vocalizations. My Flycatcher pics are
super cropped and not very good quality, but it's all I managed.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trishrg/
It was very "birdy" along the Shady, and Lost trails in the Willows, but the
rest of the marsh was quite slow. I had 4 Yellow-breasted Chat spread around my
walk, a few Tri-colored Blackbirds, and a very distant Yellowlegs in pond C, and
not much else of note.

Trish Gussler
Anaheim

It was interesting to read Robert's post about the timing of Willow Flycatcher
arrival, as--coincidentally enough--had my first of the season as well today.
This was at home, actually (well, to be truthful, the next door neighbors yard,
where I heard it calling first--and later singing; the neighboring yard has much
better "habitat" for this and other migrants than my area, but I'm still going
to count that flycatcher for my "yard list"!). It's interesting how mid May is
usually when the first of our migrant Willow Flycatchers appear, this being, of
course, after the vast majority of our other western migrant landbird species
have already gone through.

It was an OK day at home, doing chores, as the neighboring yard in the other
direction has hummingbird feeders, and noted a displaying male Black-chinned
Hummingbird in a large avocado tree (for apparently a female Black-chinned but
couldn't see it). A Black-chinned male has summered at this yard for the last
couple years it seems, which seems a little odd for this, habitat-wise, but
don't often check out hummingbird feeders in more-or-less typical OC residential
areas, such as here in s.w. Orange.

Doug Willick
Orange, CA

> --- In OrangeCountyBirding@yahoogroups.com, "jacksnipe1990" 
wrote:
>
> I have been searching high and low for spring migration goodies the past few
weekends with little luck - no eastern vagrants of any kind in OC for me. I've
checked the Dana Point Harbor, DP headlands, Doheny, various small parks in Dana
Point, Mason Reg Park in Irvine, and Laguna Niguel Reg Park. Nada. I did see a
fos WILLOW Flycatcher today at Laguna Niguel Regional Park (LNRP) about 1:00p
(SUN 5/19/13)at the creek directly across from the maintenance building (this
area, especially at the large bottle brush on the creek seems like the birdiest
area in the, park lately, fyi.
>
> The Willow Flycatcher is right on schedule, with this species appearing at
LNRP almost exactly on this date for the last five or so years I have been
paying attention. Link to two WIFL pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47862125@N03/
>
> Good birding,
>
> Robert McNab
> Laguna Niguel

I have been searching high and low for spring migration goodies the past few
weekends with little luck - no eastern vagrants of any kind in OC for me. I've
checked the Dana Point Harbor, DP headlands, Doheny, various small parks in Dana
Point, Mason Reg Park in Irvine, and Laguna Niguel Reg Park. Nada. I did see a
fos WILLOW Flycatcher today at Laguna Niguel Regional Park (LNRP) about 1:00p
(SUN 5/19/13)at the creek directly across from the maintenance building (this
area, especially at the large bottle brush on the creek seems like the birdiest
area in the, park lately, fyi.

The Willow Flycatcher is right on schedule, with this species appearing at LNRP
almost exactly on this date for the last five or so years I have been paying
attention. Link to two WIFL pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47862125@N03/

Good birding,

Robert McNab
Laguna Niguel

P.S. There is a Common Yellowthroat at Mason Regional Park in Irvine with a
strange and atypical song. Listen for the bird about 150-200 yards north of the
entrance (HQ bldg.) along University Dr. The bird has its territory in a stretch
of tules about 10-15 yards long with willow trees on each side. What is most
interesting to me, is that this male with his unusual song was at his very spot
the previous year or the year before, as I recall being fooled by the song
before.

All: This is a response from Brian Wheeler to Brian Sullivan's comments.
This being said, I have decided to leave the entry at eBird as Sharp-shinned
and the photos will be tagged on Flickr as such.

Begin Brian Wheeler's response to Brian Sullivan's comments
-----------------------------------------
Anthony,

I will still stick with Sharp-shinned Hawk. It is almost unheard of for a
juvenile one year old Cooper's, even for a male, to have such an orange iris
this time of year, but typical of this age of Sharp-shinned Hawk. Tarsi are
a bit thin and long for a Cooper's in my opinion, but good for a female
sharpie.

Brian
-----------------------------------------
Anthony Gliozzo
Mission Viejo

Anthony,

Despite expert opinion, I still had doubts about your bird being a
Sharp-shinned, so I hope you don't mind that I forwarded your message to
Brian Sullivan for further comment. Here is his reply:

---------------------------------snip---------------------------------

From: Brian Sullivan
Date: Sun, 19 May 2013 09:14:42 -0700

Joe

No, this is a young male Cooper's. It's a hard one though. The bird is
likely molting, either an extensive preformative or the beginning of second
basic (jury's still out there). Eastern Coops really never look like this,
even in spring. If this were a SSHA, it would be a female based on the tail
shape. But the eye is already quite orange-red, which is characteristic of
first-spring male Accips, not females. It takes the eye a few years
(sometimes many years) to turn reddish in females. And it never gets as
blood red as males. The ventral shot shows a fairly typical male Cooper's
head profile with raised hackles and smallish eye positioned more forward
on the face.

Here's a photo of a similar male Coop from Liguori's blog:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-O0PoS_sc7gE/UYsI3GEm0JI/AAAAAAAAAiU/FX9GOIJsC1Y/s1600/\
Coop+legs+04.jpg

Thanks

Brian

---------------------------snip---------------------------------------------

On Fri, 17 May 2013 17:15:43 -0000, "revup67"  wrote:

>There was much controversy on whatbird.com and a few locals that had
>difficulty in determining if this bird was a Cooper's or Sharp-shinned
>especially since Sharp-shinned are gone this time of year.
>
>It has been confirmed via Brian Wheeler (an Accipiter authority) who has
>written a book on this topic, that the photos I've taken were in fact a
>Sharp-shinnined Hawk.
>
>2 Photos and email from Brian below
>
>http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8743994147/in/photostream
>
>http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8742950041/in/photostream/
>
>Brian's email read:
>
>Anthony,
>
>This bird a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk. Two photos popped up, one a
>vertical perched image and one on Flickr of a horizontal leaning bird.
>The horizontal bird shows best: orange eye is indicative a of a juvenile
>sharpie this time of year (bright yellow on cooper's). Rufous streaking
>and rufous leg barring seen only on sharpies (brown on cooper's). White
>supercilium is thin as on a sharpie. On rear perched, head is not puffy
>and square-shaped as on a cooper's.
>
>Always glad to help out,
>
>Brian
>
>
>
>
>

Saturday(18 May) landbird migrants seemed hard to come by, so decided to drop by
Burris Basin/Anaheim Coves Park (BB/ACP) in the evening. Bird activity around
the nesting island in the middle of Burris has picked up a bit. In addition to
the many American Avocets that appear to be on nests, the numbers of Forster's
Terns and Black Skimmers were certainly up, but it didn't look like any of these
had begun nesting yet. There were also about six Least Terns, a pair of which
landed a few times on the island, so hopefully they'll be nesting soon. (For
those that don't know the history of this site--as many as 8 to 10 pairs of
Least Terns have bred most years at Burris, going back to 2004). Last year,
large numbers of Forster's Terns and Black Skimmers also bred successfully here,
though so far this year the numbers of Forster's appear to be perhaps only a
third of last year's numbers. An odd setting to see these three colonial nesting
species, being at an inland site like this. Other things of note at BB/ACP
included a late male Green-winged Teal (a male summered here last year, so
possibly the same bird here again), and a male Costa's Hummingbird (in an area
with lots of flowering Purple Sage--adjacent to where the church property lies
immediately west of ACP; the sage scrub plantings here are doing quite well, by
the way). This general area can best be accessed from the entrance to ACP that's
along Rio Vista, about 50 yards north of Wagner (in the city of Anaheim). A
territorial male Blue Grosbeak remains in this area as well.

Going back to last weekend, on the 13th I took a look at the Orange County Water
District reservoirs in the east Anaheim area. Although large numbers of
Double-crested Cormorants have nested for some time now at "Anaheim Lake" (along
Miraloma Ave., west of N. Tustin Ave.), the dying Eucalyptus trees here were
crammed with a few hundred nests (most of these having been constructed during
previous years nesing activities). On the 13th I estimated about 150 of these
nests were active, with many containing nestling cormorants that looked fairly
close to fledging age. It was quite a racket when you get close to these trees.
Elsewhere, there was a pair of Least Terns at the Santa Ana River Lakes complex
(off La Palma, east of Tustin Ave.), and a single Least Tern along the Carbon
Canyon Channel just east of Miller Basin (vic. of Orangethorpe and Miller St.);
interesting how these Leasts seem to continue wandering farther into the
interior of the county in this general area.

Doug Willick
Orange, CA

I was over at the HBCP today to try and get photos of the Philadelphia Vireo
(which my mother in law Sharon and I saw again yesterday) and find the Black
poll Warbler and saw these 4 birds foraging on the ground together. I can't find
them in any of my N. American guides. I posted two pics in the Mystery Bird
folder.

David Evans
Tustin

Howdy,
The only other picture I have of my possible Orange-crown is a blowup of the
first picture. I posted it to the mystery bird folder with the first photo.
Thanks for all your input!

Barbara Boethling
Huntington Beach

I had only a fleeting view of the CLAPPER RAIL from the Bolsa Chica footbridge
this morning. I heard a second in the far distance. Also saw a male RED-NECKED
PHALAROPE foraging by the north side of the eastern part of the footbridge. I
ran into Trish Gussler who found a HORNED GREBE in alternate plumage at the
first lookout. Otherwise, bird activity was low due to the breezy conditions.

Later went to Harriet Wider Park with Trish. We didn't see anything terribly
exciting there. Considering the numbers present last weekend, warblers were
surprisingly sparse.

Roger Schoedl
Huntington Beach

San Juan Capistrano, 31777-31951 Alipaz Street, Orange, US-CA May 15,
2013 2:19 PM - 6:52 PM

Protocol: Traveling

6.0 mile(s)

Comments: Submitted from BirdLog for Android v1.6

37 species

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) X 33.5049, -117.6696 with numerous
chicks on water passage

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 1 in stream / creek

Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) 2 33.5026, -117.6683 - in stream /
creek and also in water channel as pictured here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8751504058/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8751504058/>

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus) 1 Photo:
"http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8743994147/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8743994147/> " Sharp-shinned Hawk
(8298) by Revup67 AND http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8742950041/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8742950041/> "
title="Sharp-shinned Hawk (Juvenile) (8296) by Revup67, on Flickr.
Confirmed by Brian Wheeler - wrote book on Hawks-juvenile around 6pm on
branch with northern mockingbird on its tail

Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 3 33.5226, -117.6756 2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8751394560/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8751394560/> " title="Red-tailed
Hawk in Flight (8265) by Revup67, on Flickr"> AND
http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8750328411/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8750328411/> " title="Red-tailed
Hawk (perched) (8276) by Revup67

Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) 1 GPS coordinates
33.5020, -117.6679 in water channel - photo in flight at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8747116514/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8747116514/>

Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) 1

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 3 33.5143, -117.6742

Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna) X

Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin) X 33.5254, -117.6768

Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) 1 closeup photo at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8746137917/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8746137917/>

Nuttall's Woodpecker (Picoides nuttallii) 1 33.5138, -117.6738

Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) 4

Cassin's Kingbird (Tyrannus vociferans) 1 photo at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8745345202/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8745345202/> "

Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) 1 photo at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8743927558/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8743927558/>

Western Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica) 4 33.5221, -117.6755

American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) X Common Raven (Corvus corax) X
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) 4

Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) 3 33.5089, -117.6724

Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) X 33.5021, -117.6678

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon) 1 33.5097, -117.6722

Bewick's Wren (Thryomanes bewickii) 1 33.5054, -117.6706

Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata) 1

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) 6

European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 3 on telephone wires

Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens) 1

Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) 2

Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens) 1 33.5259, -117.6773 photo
at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8742840667/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8742840667/>

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) 5

California Towhee (Melozone crissalis) 3

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 5 33.5041, -117.6691

Western Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana) 1 33.5055, -117.6707

Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus) 1 33.5051,
-117.6704

Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus) 1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8747268470/
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8747268470/>

House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) X

Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) 8

View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14130195
<http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14130195>

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org
<http://ebird.org> )

Submitted by:

Anthony Gliozzo
Mission Viejo

Taken today at Santiago Oaks Regional Park.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OrangeCountyBirding/photos/album/1555113635/pic/92\
6916560/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc

Thanks so very much.

Sherry Meddick
Silverado

This morning, in the water off most northern cove at Treasure Is. Park (Montage
Hotel) a lone Loon. I think it was an immature Red-throated Loon-mostly because
the description of bill often held angled up. I will upload pics to the mystery
bird folder.

Barbara Harley
Laguna Beach

There was much controversy on whatbird.com and a few locals that had
difficulty in determining if this bird was a Cooper's or Sharp-shinned
especially since Sharp-shinned are gone this time of year.

It has been confirmed via Brian Wheeler (an Accipiter authority) who has
written a book on this topic, that the photos I've taken were in fact a
Sharp-shinnined Hawk.

2 Photos and email from Brian below

http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8743994147/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/revup67/8742950041/in/photostream/

Brian's email read:

Anthony,

This bird a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk. Two photos popped up, one a
vertical perched image and one on Flickr of a horizontal leaning bird.
The horizontal bird shows best: orange eye is indicative a of a juvenile
sharpie this time of year (bright yellow on cooper's). Rufous streaking
and rufous leg barring seen only on sharpies (brown on cooper's). White
supercilium is thin as on a sharpie. On rear perched, head is not puffy
and square-shaped as on a cooper's.

Always glad to help out,

Brian

Didn't realize I hadn't make the pic's public - they are now. Sorry. Don
Hoechlin Costa Mesa

All eyes and cameras were focused on the Clapper who came out and put on quite a
show around the 6:00 pm hour. It was a true thrill to see the bird and not just
hear it.
Least Terns are in now as well and they were great to watch.
Glassed a Killdeer in flight as well.
Earlier in the morning I was able to spy a Sharp Shinned Hawk perched on a wire
for nearly 10 minutes down by Talbert Park at the end on 19th. Just up the road
from the Hooded Oriole palms.
All in all a fantastic birding day.

Jeff Druckenmiller
Long Beach, CA

Photos in mystery birds.

This first one, a gnatcatcher, has been called both a CA and a black-tailed
(which isn't in range here). It was taken at Tucker Wildlife. Puzzling because I
have never seen/heard a CA there. Can you tell me the reason behind your ID as
well?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OrangeCountyBirding/photos/album/1555113635/pic/12\
70453588/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc

The second two photos (and yes that IS a nice picture of the stick in front of
its face!) is a flycatcher of some sort, my guesses (and those of others) being
either a Hammond's or a Dusky. Taken at Santiago Oaks Reg. Park.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OrangeCountyBirding/photos/album/1555113635/pic/12\
84203695/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OrangeCountyBirding/photos/album/1555113635/pic/17\
22048050/view?picmode=&mode=tn&order=ordinal&start=1&count=20&dir=asc

Thanks so much for your help.

Sherry Meddick
Silverado

Howdy,
I posted a photo to the mystery birds folder in hopes that someone could tell me
if it is of an Orange-crown Warbler that is actually showing an orange crown.
Thanks.

Barbara Boethling
Huntington Beach