Patti, that scarlet ibis is...well...scarlet. At least "I" is highly pigmented.

Dale (hey I did it)

shoot. I just canNOT seem to remember to sign these posts.

here, by the way, is the female. A no-indigo indigo. You go girl.

I got this photo from this site, a nice site.
http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek030515.html

Donna, that looks totally indigo!  

all blue birds are OK by me.  INDIGO. 'nuf said.

photo from here: http://thundafunda.com/33/animals-pictures-nature/indigo-bunting-pictures.php

ooooh, Aafke, that hoopoe picture is MUCH MUCH better than the wikipedia one I posted. That's AMAZING!

I love them.

Patti-  the image below is on
http://www.richard-seaman.com/USA/States/California/TahquitzCanyon/index.html
and they call it an Anna's. I think this is the same bird, or maybe its friend from down the block.
Anna's, then! Thanks.

[H is for Hammerkop]

H is for Hammerkop
Gayle

Found another picture (wiki). I like the bird a lot. Thanks, Gayle! Also, his feet are all wet.

wikipedia: "One unusual feature is that up to ten birds join in "ceremonies" in which they run circles around each other, all calling loudly, raising their crests, fluttering their wings. Another is "false mounting", in which one bird stands on top of another and appears to mount it, but they may not be mates and do not copulate."

("let's not and say we did" sort of thing, I guess.)

If you were there during summer, the other bird that might also be a possibility is a summer resident:   Black-chinned Hummingbird.  There are other summertime or "rare" possibilities, but none of them particularly looks like your photo.  Does Anna's or Black-chinned ring a bell, since you said you used to know?

It was early September. Definitely no one mentioned black-chinned. I've never heard of the beast. Maybe Anna's. I thought I knew Hmmmm....

to Shaky, I guess -

I have a really hard time remembering to sign my posts here, but I would go back and put my name in a few using "modify" - if it modifies over there as well. If the posts are sent over once and anything I change here just makes a mess or makes no difference at all over there, I won't bother and just try to remember in the future.

thanks. dale

shoot. I do it for a while and then I forget. And once I forget, I've forgotten.
I'll try.

dale

Ei - happy birthday -- wishing you a wonderful year!  dale

Dale, I did not know that the hoopoo was considered tref.  I shall remember that when next I prepare a kosher meal!!

Dictionary.com says: tref: "unfit to be eaten or used, according to religious laws; not kosher."

Apparently, you're not supposed to cook raptors either. Or bats. That whole list.
So, we have a choice. Severely limit our ingredient list or not invite people who care.
I'd find it hard to give up my old bat-eating habit.

The chestnut-bellied is gorgeous. He has all those bells and whistles, like the other herons.

I have a harris hawk picture, too, with a "beginning falconer" --

But I'll add my own favorite backyard hummingbird photo (Ruby-throated Hummingbird).

wonderful picture. my optic nerve is sizzling a bit

  Secreting a substance that smells like rotting meat that they rub into their feathers, shooting feces (and I thought only primates did that), and hissing like snake!  Pretty cool bird, but I wouldn't want to get on his bad side.

I bet it's behavior like that that got him into some Old-Testament-sized trouble.
But his bad side is surely also fabulous.