I took a trip this summer and saw a bunch of birds. Most of them are probably common birds, but since I don't even have an official list, they are all basically new to me. Even if they are common, it is still fun to practice my identification skills and then read more about them in my bird book. Of course, I would have a much harder time identifying birds without the help of web sites like WhatBird.com with their interactive wizard that narrows down the list of possible birds to a manageable number. Take this guy for instance. I spotted him when I was walking around Mono Lake in CA. WhatBird helped me to narrow down the list which leads me to think he is a Violet-green Swallow. Let me know if you think that is a correct ID or not. If you would like, I would be happy to provide more details on location and environment to help confirm this id.
