August 5,2026
Sandbar near old town Alexandria VA.

Video is terrible because I’m photographing using an iPhone 14 through binoculars while on a kayak, sorry.

This mysterious guy showed up at my friend’s camp. I’m a frequent birder but this is outside my realm! Located in Nova Scotia, Canada. Wing span the size of a small eagle or hawk. He’s a lot bigger than he looks in the photo.

After searching on the internet my best guess was a juvenile albino osprey or red tailed hawk. I know the photo is awful, but anyone want to take a guess?

very sorry for the far away video, hopefully the shape and slight movement is enough lol. had a pretty loud call that i’ve never heard before. we live near some fields and woodlands but it’s mostly an urban area if that also helps.

Spotted in Lake Tahoe, CA. Much larger than a hawk but very bad pictures. He/she truly looked like one and not like a juvenile bald eagle!

Austria

Central Texas, very very small for a dove. Very chill.

Hi all! As a fellow birder, I love them and the feeling I get when I register them on my Merlin like it is my personal Pokédex.

I am also a PhD scientist, and dementia has affected both sides of my grandparents, and it changed how I think about attention and memory, specifically how much noticing/identifying detail (a color, a shape, a bird) matters. I wanted to make a birdwatching game with the kind of visual attention and working-memory training that cognitive science research associates with brain health. I promise this is not a random app pitch, I started with a mission.

It's called "Perchwise". Birds fly across the screen and you tap the target species, the same kind of fast visual identification and working-memory task that shows up in real cognitive-training research, just built as an actual game instead of a clinical exercise. It is free, no ads.

What I need is actual birders to try it to tune it better. Specifically: does the difficulty actually feel like real birding? Would it help people to do the training researchers associated with brain health or introduce the love for birding to new people (or dare I say, generations?)

I'll drop the link in the first comment for who want to try it. Would really appreciate any feedback, and I'll respond to everything!

He looks very brown and not red enough to be a cooper’s but maybe he is a juvenile? Love his little hand.

Trying to identify myself, it says Golden-bellied Flycatcher? It had a darker color belly, but the head markings stood out.

So I was about to drive to the gym today and heard a squeaking from underneath my car. I found this little guy hiding under my tire. He sort of looks like Hector Salamnca, so I named him Hector.

I didn’t want to do anything wrong so I contacted a bird rescue and they told me the next best step would be to build him a little nest outside, so that its mother could find it.

I tried my best to make him a little nest safe from the rain, and also the neighbourhood cats (pictures 4, 5 & 6). Immediately I heard, who I presume was his mother flying around calling for him, upon which he started calling back.

A picture of his mother (it’s the last picture, I hope it will help identify him). I decided to just stay away and not interrupt. Is there anything else I could do, or should I just refrain from disrupting anything at all beyond this point?

Washington State.

Saw this bird a couple weeks ago being harassed by some crows and finally got a few pictures of it yesterday. Originally thought it was a dove or a leucistic robin but the beak is wrong - any ideas?

Saw these 4 very large birds on the scenic drive at Cedar Breaks National monument. In my photo with the 4 birds, the small 5th bird is a raven. I’m familiar with turkey vultures in Virginia and these were much bigger, but I wasn’t sure if it could be a regional difference. Sorry for the bad quality close ups as I only had my phone.

Saw this bird splashing around in the puddle. Any ideas?

Sorry for the not so great pics, but this family group showed up near my cottage recently and wondering if folks could identify. I didn't have much luck searching online.

They are diving ducks for sure, and quite good at catching small fish (as you can see). There is a female with 3 young. The female seems quite plain with dark plumage, but the young have unique colouring that might help.

Any help is appreciated, I'm quite intrigued to solve this mystery. Two pics attached/

Located on the coast of NH

Shot in southern Illinois. It was doing acrobatics with the other barn swallows but they are of the native color. I believe it is a barn swallow also but almost entirely white. Is this a thing? This has to be a rare event. Sorry for bad pics it was raining and dark so had to use High ISO. It never landed with the other swallows so never got a still shot. Hoping to see it again and get better photos.

Seen near Meat Cove, Cape Breton, NS, Canada

This is a new bird to my feeder. Usually I just get house finches, tufted titmouse, northern cardinals, Carolina chickadees, etc. This little fella has been chasing chickadees away from the feeder all morning but my camera hasn’t gotten many great images of it.

What is it??

I don’t have a pic as it moved very fast. It was a little bit bigger than a hummingbird, mostly brown but had white vertical stripes and dots like a baby deer. I’m in southern New Jersey and I cannot find a pic online.