Inspired by Karen at Rurality I've decided to photograph and identify the birds from around our yard. So, like any budding birder, I sat down last night to play with CSS and HTML in order to best display the growing pile of bird pictures. Priorities.
Instead I should be taking a trip to the bookstore to get a new bird book. Any recommendations? Hopefully something that identifies the little bird in the second photo. I've found a couple close ones but nothing with such a dinky little beak. I tried this interesting bird-by-attribute site but no luck.
Not to say I'm one hundred percent on the flycatcher's identity...
Please leave a comment if you can identify either of them.
UPDATE 4/17: Thanks for all of the comments and bird IDs! To answer the where & when question both of these were photographed in Lebanon, NH (mid-state on VT border) on April 12th, a few minutes apart. I've posted another shot of the kinglet, same bird, just different angle/lighting. I don't recall the first bird "wagging" its tail and it was more on the small side, while a Phoebe is listed as 7".
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Shibleys(author) has a general book, might have a New England edition. Best book I've found. Books with photographs tend not be as easy to use for ID(my and a few other birders opinon).
might be a vireo type, but Laura only has a western book here -- or a kinglet. Laura is getting you the Sibley's for you for your birthday. She said I could tell you. Happy almost birthday.
Hey, thanks!
Vireo's look pretty close, especially the Hutton's Vireo:
http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSpecies_LI.asp?imageID=17333
i think this bird is pursing it's lips.
If it's a Hutton's Vireo, it is lost. It's range is on the CA coast and parts of Mexico. I thought it was a Vireo too, but none seem to match. Must be immature?
Dang!
And it's not like you can ask the bird. Tink says it looks like a Yummy but that's not listed in the book either...
I'm casting my vote for a female pine warbler based on Sibley's. First year.
(p.442)
Thanks, Jaz. I'll check it out when the book arrives.
In my quest for bird photos I ran across a fellow D70 owner with a huge collection of images. Mostly Colorada/West from what I can see.
http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/ThumbnailGallery.html
Here's the warblers:
http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/Warblers.html
And Shrike/Vireo:
http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/Shrikes_Vireos.html
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. They should be in migration now, in groups flitting around low shrubs and bushes. Note the two white wing bars and the white eye ring. Female constructs a pendulous sac-like nest.
second bird that is...
The second one is indeed a ruby-crowned kinglet. Usually you can see a bigger eye ring than it looks in this picture, but it's probably just the angle.
The first one is maybe a Pheobe. Where was it taken (state) and when? A Phoebe bobs its tail all the time.
It might also be a Pewee. I can tell them apart in real life but it's harder (for me) in pictures! Pewees have wing bars. But from this angle it's hard to tell if those are wing bars or not...
But the time and place might give more clues.
I don't think it's one of the other flycatchers, because they all have fairly conspicuous eye rings.
Particularly good picture that second one. And don't you love bird names? Peewee, ruby-crowned kinglet, warbler, phoebe?
Andy: out on a limb? Well, thanks! ":^)
Karen: a Pheobe sounds too big. Shots were all in New Hampshire a week ago.
Shelley: I'll see your Peewee and raise a Dickcissel, Pipit, and a Bobolink.