Robin, The second bird is a male Yellow Rumped Warbler 100% sure. I love all of our warblers so very much. Here where I live I have many species that nest in the woods,fencerows,etc behind me. The Yellow is spectacular and the Prothonotary..well Wow!!!! is all you say when you see one. No other country on Earth is as blessed with so many cool birds as we are here in the United States and the warblers of North American are a very special part of that group indeed. Great pictures of one of our most common warblers...Mike

Thanks Konrad. Its a pretty dark picture. After searching for images on the internet, I think I'm inclined to think its a young starling. I read that both cowbirds and starlings walk instead of hop, so I'm thinking starling. There have been several adult starlings around, but never with this little one. Maybe I'll try to lighten the pic. I should have done that to start with.

The guy I took a photo of (#2) didn't move, no tail pumping...so I don't think it was an Eastern Phoebe and I looked up both in all my bird references and none showed either with a yellowish beak...only flycatchers seemed to have a yellow beak. It's hard to tell tho. I've been doing some more searching and wonder if it could be either an Alder Flycatcher or a Willow Flycatcher. Both are in my area in Illinois this time of year and both seem to have a yellowish beak ...the problem is, according my my sources there's no way to tell one from the other except by their song, so it could be either one of them. The only thing maybe would be that I saw this one right next to a river in a wooded area. I think it was the Willow Flycatcher that lives in that sort of habitat. I wish I knew...either would be new birds for my sister and me tho so I'm pleased if it is one of them. Thanks for all the comments and ideas! I really appreciate it!

European Starling. Check the transitional juvenile photo in the Field Marks section of All About Birds. It's the sixth photo in the lineup - click on the arrow to see them all. Claire This post was edited by claire on Sat, Sep 20, 14 at 11:00