id this bird

[lazygood4nothinbum]

checking pics on wiki. doesn't have white under neck. nor onthe wings.wing structure is similar however. anyway, i know. better picture. i know. i'm working on it.

 

[Urchina]

I took a peek at my Sibley guide and I'd vote with Martha on this one -- this guy looks like a Nighthawk. The throat band he has seems to match that of the Lesser Nighthawk, which has a spotty range in parts of southern Florida. He could also be a common nighthawk as well -- which has a wide range throughout the US.

Pretty guy!

 

[TromboneAl]

Juvenile nighthawk

http://www.bixby.org/parkside/multimedia/birds/DH041022-Lesser Nighthawk.JPG

 

[harley]

Juvenile nighthawk

http://www.bixby.org/parkside/multimedia/birds/DH041022-Lesser Nighthawk.JPG

Looks right to me. Good on ya, Martha, Urchina, and T-Al.

 

[kyounge1956]

checking pics on wiki. doesn't have white under neck. nor onthe wings.wing structure is similar however. anyway, i know. better picture. i know. i'm working on it.

I have to agree with the people who say it looks like a nighthawk. In the first picture the bird is looking straight at the camera, right? If it's an owl, where are the "ears" in that picture? I don't see any sign of them. As to no white on the neck, maybe he is a she. Wikipedia says the throat band is light brown in females of either species mentioned above. I would call it rust colored in either photo, but that may just be the dim light.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

i got a very good look at his outstretched wings and he did not have these stripes found on the lesser nighthawk.
view from above


view from below


also odo didn't have that type of mottling. it was more a subtle brindle of brown tan & black.

not all owls have the pronounced "ears" as does the great horned owl


for instance, one of my favorites is the barn owl. look ma, no ears:


look how pretty


the hawk is more streamlined. look how the tail feathers fold together at rest on this common hawk


now compare that to odo whose feathers fan out.

anyway, i tried to find him today but he was not in sight. i'm afraid i might have scared him from the garden. or he's already caught what prey was there and has moved on to new hunting grounds. thus ends the mystery of odo, the owl/hawk hybrid.

 

[harley]

Well, I'm confused. I would be really interested if you can find out what it is. Know any bird watchers with big binoculars or major camera lenses? I love identifying birds. We've got a whole new group of them for me to learn out here at the shore.

 

[TromboneAl]

But what if he's a juvy (hasn't earned his stripes yet)?

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

ya, me too. i have learned to accept my confusion so i am able to allow into my life without prejudice shape shifters such as odo.

my brother has a fancy 35mm digital with lenses but he's fussy about it. if odo is still here in the next few weeks i'll try again to get a better picture (i just don't want to freak it out).

edit for t-al. if a juvy, odo's gonna be one major lesser nighthawk cause he's already about 3 or 4 times the size of the one in your pic.

 

[kyounge1956]

(snip)

not all owls have the pronounced "ears" as does the great horned owl


for instance, one of my favorites is the barn owl. look ma, no ears:


(snip) thus ends the mystery of odo, the owl/hawk hybrid.

True, not all owls have ears. You said Odo had 'em but I sure didn't see any in photo #1, in which he appeared to be looking straight into the camera.

Hope he (or she) comes back.

P.S. could you ever tell what he was hunting? IIRC, nighthawks eat insects; I believe owls mostly eat mice and other small mammals.

 

[harley]

True, not all owls have ears. You said Odo had 'em but I sure didn't see any in photo #1, in which he appeared to be looking straight into the camera.

Hope he (or she) comes back.

P.S. could you ever tell what he was hunting? IIRC, nighthawks eat insects; I believe owls mostly eat mice and other small mammals.

I've seen barn owls munching on cicadas and grasshoppers quite enthusiastically.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

it's not a barn owl. that's all i know. maybe it's a hawk. it might just be some kid's wind up toy. all i know is it is too stealthy and too quick and too smart for me. so instead of trying to stalk it with a camera i'm going into the garden with a white flag.

i tried early this morning. i was vewy vewy quiet. i surveyed the area carefully, a little at a time. i went over the garden from one end to the other. i decided he'd flown the coup. so i put the camera away into my top pocket and instead gathered some fallen areca fronds for today's garbage pick-up. returning from my third trip to the curb, i closed the gate and headed round the back of the house to come inside.

from maybe just four feet above my head, the bastid takes flight. he soars over to the opposite side of the garden where he hides in the thick shrubbery. i walk over with camera in hand. not a sound. not a movement. i can not see where he is. i know odo has shape shifted onto a branch or a frond somewhere in the vicinity but he has turned on his cloaking device.

i turn my head for a second whereupon he comes out of hiding and before i can focus my own eyes, never mind ready the camera, he's already across the garden again and has disappeared into the landscape. i surrender. there's no hawk there. there's no owl there. there's no bird at all. please forgive these posts. i believe i've imagined the entire affair. odo is just a figment of my imagination. an apparition, a play of sunlight picked up by the lense of an obviously faulty digital camera.

i'm sending the camera to the shop and i'm sending myself to the nearest pub. bartender, another bloody mary if you please.

crossing off bird watching from my list of acquired skills.

ps, just in case you're wondering why someone might not be able to find even a big bird in their garden...
you can hardly even find my house through the trees (that's about a 50-60 ft high canopy)

 

[Bestwifeever]

Lazy, I don't know much about birds, but I gave these binoculars w/camera (<$50) to dh a few years ago (I bought ours at Radioshack):

Amazon.com: Bushnell Image View 8x21 Binocular w/VGA camera: Camera & Photo

Here's one we took using the binocular's camera from really bad far away seats (watching a really bad team )

You can easily take a decent photo of your elusive little brown birde while using these and then download them to your computer and share them with us.

 

[jambo101]

To the OP your bird looks like a female/juvenile Black Headed Grosbeak
http://www.photobirder.com/Bird_Photos/black_headed_grosbeak.jpg

 

[Martha]

jambo, that is why the pictures are so tough. Sounds too big for a grosbeak.

Lazy, can I come and bird watch in your lovely yard?

 

[Bestwifeever]

Speaking of birds, I just ran outside because there was so much noise up high. The geese are flying south over our house, hundreds of them. Beautiful.

 

[kyounge1956]

To the OP your bird looks like a female/juvenile Black Headed Grosbeak
http://www.photobirder.com/Bird_Photos/black_headed_grosbeak.jpg

jambo, that is why the pictures are so tough. Sounds too big for a grosbeak.

Lazy, can I come and bird watch in your lovely yard?

And, according to this map found with the Wikipedia article, the usual range of the black headed grosbeak doesn't include Florida.

Does Odo sing, or make any sound at all? That's another possible way to ID him.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

You can easily take a decent photo of your elusive little brown birde while using these and then download them to your computer and share them with us.

you don't seem to comprehend the nature of the odo. you see, it isn't me. odo is like god; you can not look at him directly lest you turn to dust. odo has stolen duke university's cloak of invisibility. it isn't the camera. it isn't the power of the lense. binocholars won't make a difference. hubble couldn't get this shot.

To the OP your bird looks like a female/juvenile Black Headed Grosbeak
http://www.photobirder.com/Bird_Photos/black_headed_grosbeak.jpg

duck, i am now going to break out my bird gun and shoot you.

Lazy, can I come and bird watch in your lovely yard?

i am already setting up for you. considering that odo can not be seen, this could not be more appropriate...

Does Odo sing, or make any sound at all? That's another possible way to ID him.

not a peep

 

[Bestwifeever]

Ahh, I understand. Odo has not yet taught us the way, perhaps the chant, perhaps the bow, that will reveal the glory

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

almighty odo has left us holy remnants of his true self. scat.

speaking of bird poop and geese, there was a ton of this stuff all over the place when i visited jersey & new york. yuck. curb your geese please.


ps. while in garden i found gertrude set up shop right alongside the birdbath. gertrude, this is everyone. everyone, this is gertrude...

 

[gettingthere]

I agree with others here that the mystery bird in your first 3 pics is of the nighthawk/whippoorwill ilk.

#4, #7 Male Cardinal
#5 Red-Bellied Woodpecker – probably female?
#6 American Redstart
#8 Difficult to tell, maybe two different warblers? – I’m not really good at IDing those.
#9 Female Cardinal
#10 Oriole - most resembles Spot-Breasted or Spotted Oriole im my guidebooks. Says released to or escaped to SE Florida region.
#11 Blue Jay
#12 Dove (Ring necked?)
#13 Catbird


Please post more pics, this is fun!

 

[Urchina]

Lazy, can you hear his wings flapping when he flies? I'd always heard that owls have silent flight. Also, how big is he, including tail?

Just a thought....

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

#12 Dove (Ring necked?)

mourning dove, actually. named for their woooo woooo sound when they fly. i've read they can reach 55 mph though they never struck me as all too bright. i notice they are often dinner for my end of summer falcon or hawk or whatever that one is who visits yearly, about twice the size of odo (not the dove) but no pic yet.

#6 American Redstart

wow, impressive. good call. just looked him up. that sure is it. had no idea. i thought it was some kind of finch.

#13 Catbird

getting, yer good at this. i guess that makes my birdbath the catbird seat. i was wondering who that one was. he's very secretive. i have to be careful he doesn't see me at the window or he flies off.

Lazy, can you hear his wings flapping when he flies? I'd always heard that owls have silent flight. Also, how big is he, including tail?

no, i've already stated that odo's flight is completely silent, like an owl. it's actually disturbing to watch such a big bird making no noise. he only makes noise on take off from a branch when the branch bounces back or when he hits one of the branches or bamboos or fronds on his way under and through the lower canopies, which create quite the obstacle course for him.

 

[Martha]

Lazy, I don't think that it is a mourning dove, but is a Eurasian dove (or maybe a ring necked). The marking on its neck is not like a mourning dove.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

ok, i'm gonna have to check myself before i speak now. we have so many mourning doves that i didn't know there was a similar dove here. if only we didn't have a don't ask don't tell policy, maybe i'd finally realize nature's diversity.