Eastern Wood-PeWee
For some reason, the Merlin Bird ID had a very hard time identifying the tiny guy despite the detailed image.
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I’m in the UK, but it seems that the Eastern Wood-PeWee is difficult to distinguish from the Western Wood-PeWee on visual grounds. Sibley Guides suggest that even the call isn’t infallible. I guess location is a general guide unless you are in an overlapping area.
https://www.sibleyguides.com/bird-info/eastern-wood-pewee/
I live close to the Chilterns and have a dense population of Red Kite.
The Chilterns is where Kites were first reintroduced in 1989/94, the project has been an outstanding success with the Kite population spreading far and wide.
Unfortunately Kites are very easily habituated into feeding from humans and it has resulted locally in some unnatural feeding habits including some cases of close contact stealing, nothing like seagulls stealing chips and ice cream, but hints of it.
Locally we are told don’t feed Kites.
You are correct, they look very similar though apparently their call differs. Our Midwest is clearly the territory of the Eastern Wood-Pewee.
Merlin is widely used here, especially to identify birds by call. I guess it will add your photo to its database as you have confirmed identification. Some species are difficult to identify, gulls in Europe because of the plumage changes.
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Usually a more quiet time of the year for many birds - but one thing I do see more of is juveniles moving into adulthood ie adolescants - and as such they are discarding their juvenile feathers and growing their shiny new adult ones - here is a Black-headed gull doing exactly that on Friday evening.
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I really should learn how to use a camera. Trust me, its a hummingbird. It was taking a short break after trying out the hostas. A pleasant surprise being in the city centre.
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You…err, find that attractive do you??
… perhaps I have been photographing them for too long…… or perhaps I was a drake in a previous life.
Blue in Green
The larger wings of the great herons and egrets enable them to glide with uncommon elegance and silence, quite lacking with the smaller ducks and birds who raise a racket trying to gain altitude.
The new camera has a much better AF and the extra resolution as well as the deeper hand-grip are also appreciated.
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