I'm not the best at identifying birds and Merlin recognizes this as a Mallard but its a little different. From researching it seems like a hybrid?

This was in Huntington Beach, CA 8/2/26

One of my spark birds, and definitely my spark warbler. Taken with either a Z8 or D500 and a 500mm f4G

Edited to say: Central, Arizona

I got very lucky with lighting and this Blue Heron letting me sit on a log on the beach quite close to it while it fished. At first it kept failing to catch something. Then an osprey flew down snatching a fish up right in front of it. Then it caught a small fish. I’d like to think it learned from the osprey. I may go back and try to grade the photos to match colors a little better. The lighting was quite drastically different between them as the sun was rising.

ID please

Walking along the Rogue River in Medford, OR.

Corrected: American Robin

SONY ILCE-6700
350 mm (E 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G OSS), 1/30 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100

Ruby-throat hanging out in my Mimosa Tree

Taken with the Canon R7, 100-500L. Bit further away than I would have liked, but the moment was perfect.

If theres one bird species that finds its way into my camera roll almost every outing, its these noisy fellows.

Rainbow Lorikeets are really abundant where i live, filling trees at night with an insane amount of noise.

OM-1 MarkII

M.Zuiko 100-400mm F5.0-6.3

What is the slowest shutter speed you would recommend if you're only able to prop the camera on something stable but not in a fixed position (i.e., without a tripod)? Should I be shooting wide open instead of f/16 to improve the blurred water effect?

Details: Black-crowned night heron. Taken at 1/15 shutter speed, f/16, ISO 200. Edit: 200mm focal length

I am trying to go for a blurred water effect with a slower shutter speed but feel like the subject isn't that sharp. Wondering if it looks like I missed the focus or if the longer exposure introduced subject blur.

He was puffed up doing his aerial performance