BigBill said:Yes, you actually have two species of birds there I think.
Image #1 is an American Goldfinch
Image #2 is also an American Goldfinch but it is this years baby or immature. The first was a female.
Image #3 is a Prairie Warbler I think, well 90% sure. I can't really see enough of it to be 100% sure but I think that's what it is.

I've never seen orangish coloring on the wings of a Goldfinch. Is that a winter color or maybe a juvenile? Or completely normal and I just never noticed (we don't get enough goldfinches here for me to study them)?

Well I thought the same thing about those wing bars. But when I checked a couple of bird books, there they were.

I wonder if it might be because I never saw recent, young of the year juveniles? I had them nest in my Nature Preserve Ham on Long Island. Traditionally in that environment, they were always late nesters, typically very late July through August. Then I am assuming that they would migrate south. We didn't see goldfinch from early September until mid November. Then they came to the preserve and my feeders there. And always had whitish wing bars. Could these mustard colored wing bars be short lived? I just don't know for sure.

But everything else says goldfinch, seed eaters beak, yellow wash, seemingly a very small bird. I don't believe it is a warbler or a sparrow. It just seems very "finch like". Now there is a definitive identification term if I have heard one before. Finch like!!!!

Oops I forgot. One of the books I consulted was one of the Peterson Field Guide Series, a thick little book simply called 'Warblers'!! All kinds of extra images and information is packed into this book.

It looks like a goldfinch to me too (I know you'd know better between the two of us though).

I understand birds' appearances change while growing up (like juvenile birds look different than adults), but sometimes it seems like bird books and websites only want to show the most pristine bird pictures.

Which makes it difficult when you see a certain growing stage of a bird and you're not quite sure what it could be because the select pictures the books and websites want to seem to show didn't touch on that one.

Hamwild said:It looks like a goldfinch to me too (I know you'd know better between the two of us though).

I understand birds' appearances change while growing up (like juvenile birds look different than adults), but sometimes it seems like bird books and websites only want to show the most pristine bird pictures.

Which makes it difficult when you see a certain growing stage of a bird and you're not quite sure what it could be because the select pictures the books and websites want to seem to show didn't touch on that one.

This is so true & a great source of exasperation for those of us trying to ID!

Juveniles and some adult birds at times just don't seem to look exactly like we think that we observed. It could be like Orchids, they don't read the books and birds don't read either. On occasion it comes down to a best guess.

I still have with me all of my bird identification books, maybe they number 13, 15 or 16 books. Some show a little more, some a little less and yet some are pretty darn good. It's kind of using all of these pieces to make a complete picture. Some are sketches, some are photographs and some are better at presenting certain features then others.

AND then for the super kicker, birds hybridize! Then things get even more complicated.

But as I briefly mentioned, what else could it be?

Oh, add western races, eastern races, northern races, southern races. Etc. How can one book show everything?

That's be one thick book.

During my visit to Chicago, while my family went to work or to school, I took my camera and went to the parks. I met this woodpecker during one of those morning walks

Common Flicker.
This is a ground feeding woodpecker eating ants primarily. I have had a pair nest in my red maple tree the last three years. Every time I cut the lawn I see the mated pair and the youngsters when they are present. I guess that insects are much easier to find when the lawn is newly mowed.

Oh !!! I think you are very lucky !! I would love to have a woodpecker nest in my garden !!!!!

I know. It is a real treat to have them. Who can resist baby woodpeckers!!

I also had young Red-bellied Woodpeckers visit the suet cakes this summer! So cute with their downy feathers.
I think that they nested across the street from me this Spring. I have one or two visit all winter.

When I put the seed cakes out in the fall, it's a non stop parade of Downey's, red bellied and hairy woodpeckers. I love watching them! They eat the suet well into spring. So, Bill, what are they eating in the summer? Insects?

I am sure it is insects. And with young they do not stray far from the nest.

Thanks fo the info!

The first picture is a female Lesser Goldfinch (I think) and the second is a male American Goldfinch in non-breeding plumage. For awhile the wing bar is buffy and then that part of the feathers wears down to white. It's a short-lived transitional phase.

Lesser Goldfinch are primarily west of the Rockies and not east of the Mississippi but isolated pockets of this species are known to occur.

Lesser Goldfinch are yellow under the extreme rear of the belly and under the tail, American Goldfinches are white.
I still am leaning towards American Goldfinch. Which by the way have found my coneflower seed heads!! Hungry little buggers!!

Well, I am asking for your help again. I don' t know which bird is this. Would you help me please ?

Yes Ceci, happy to assist. Swainson's Thrush I think. Great bird to see!!

Thank you very much Bill !!!!

Oh, you are welcome!!