Other Trip Birds
All photos are © Marshall Faintich
American Woodcock in her ground nest
American Woodcock in her ground nest
Immature Bald Eagle
Immature Bald Eagle
Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Black-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Broad-winged Hawk
Carolina Wren
House Wren
House Wren
Common Grackle
Eastern Screech-Owl
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Hairy Woodpecker
Osprey
Purple Martin
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Ruddy Turnstone
Ruddy Turnstone
Ruddy Turnstone
Red-winged Blackbird
Scarlet Tanager
Spotted Sandpiper
Trumpeter Swans
Trumpeter Swans
White-crowned Sparrow
I also photographed two other birds that I cannot identify, and opinions are welcomed. The first one might be warbler - note the olive crown and partial eye-ring.
Unknown 1
Unknown 1
Unknown 1
The second one has the back and streaked breast of a sparrow, but its bill shape looks wrong for a sparrow. Note the eye-ring. Photographed at Tawas Point State Park.
Unknown 2
[Update: Warbler expert John Rowlett, along with two other readers, identified this bird as a female Kirtland's Warbler. I took a look at your unidentified photo. To me this looks like a washed out Kirtland's Warbler. I can't tell if the wash out is due to the light or what. The bill, broken eye-ring, strong back streaks, very dark secondaries, the narrow lower wingbar, and the flank streaks (showing as stripes due to how the bird is positioned) leave room for nothing else. The lack of any yellow or yellowish showing could easily be due to the light, your treatment of the image, or a first-year female.
Several features weigh against Yellow-rumped. Although the rump can't be seen from this photo, the sides show well enough to expose the yellow characteristic of Myrtle were it there. The somewhat large, rounded head and heavy bill are also characters of KIWA; YRWA normally shows a pale supraloral mark, missing here; and the extremely narrow lower wing-bar is characteristic of KIWA, whereas YRWA shows a wider (more normal for Setophaga) bar. These are the features that favor KIWA, although the lack of better light and the disadvantage of having but one photo of the bird makes it impossible to be certain. But that's the fun of having a close look.]
Kirtland's Warblers: male (left), female (right)