Jerzy

Recently I have been watching a lot common grackles and red wing black birds. Both seem to hanging around together in some areas (as well as at the Cornell feeder).  Their shape differences are not very pronounced so it was useful to hone in on those. European sparling also joins the two species and Colours help to tell them apart - yellow bill and spots on the sparking, red and yellow stripe on the male red wing and Metalic blue head and brownish body on grackles. Northern Cardinal was the first bird that I could ID by shape, colour and sound.  With time I got to appreciate the female cardinal for her very diverse colour: Brown, yellow and red/orange.  Typically she is hiding in lower branches while the male is easy to hear and spot. Telling the difference between sharp shinned and Cooper’s hawks gives me grief. Apparently not only me - late in 2018 I photographed one in my yard.  Trying to report it properly on e-bird I first sent the picture to the local expert who vets submissions. He concluded that it was Sharp shinned. Unfortunately after I submitted my report I was told by a different “vetter” that it was Cooper’s hawk.  Fun. Since I started using Merlin I had no problems.