Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler

Unmistakable but very local wading bird with very long, ‘coat-hanger’ neck and very long legs. Adult is hot pink, but 1st-year birds are brown and white overall, attaining fully adult colors in 2-3 years. Usually found in flocks in shallow, saline lagoons. Flamingoes fly in straggling lines, much like geese, and their honking and braying calls can also sound rather like geese. Beware that many people use ‘flamingo’ for Roseate Spoonbill, another (much more widespread) pink wading bird, which other than color is very differently shaped than a flamingo.

Fairly large trogon of pine and pine-oak forests in highlands; usually at upper levels in trees and often rather shy. Male is striking, with big, bold white squares on underside of tail. Female has broken white eyering on brown head and coarse black-and-white pattern under the tail. Elegant Trogon overlaps in range and can be told from Mountain by the coppery color on the top of the tail (male) or by the white stripe behind the eye (female). Also note the finely patterned tail on both male and female Elegant Trogons. The similar but smaller Collared Trogon is found mainly at lower elevation and has much finer barring on the underside of the tail.

Unique smoky-gray gull with red bill. Breeding adults have a clean white head that blends seamlessly into the gray neck; nonbreeding adults have smudgy dark streaking on the head. Immatures are entirely dark brown with a yellowish or reddish bill with a dark tip. Almost exclusively coastal; usually seen in flocks loafing on beaches or feeding in nearshore waters. Breeds in Mexico mainly in the Gulf of California; migrates as far north as Washington and British Columbia in winter. Overall dark plumage of immatures might recall a dark-morph jaeger; note Heermann's lacks pale wing flashes and never shows pale mottling on the belly or underwings.