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Mississippi Kite: Small kite, dark gray upperparts, pale gray underparts and head. Eyes are red. Upperwings are dark gray with pale gray patches. Tail is long and black. Feeds on large flying insects. Bouyant flight with steady wing beats, alternates several wing strokes with short to long glides.
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Merlin: This small falcon has blue-gray upperparts, white to pale brown underparts with dark streaks, white throat, eye ring, and eyebrow, dark gray bill, brown or black barred tail with white tips. Pacific race is dark gray. Prairie race is light gray. Taiga race is a mixture. Females of all races are duller. Diet includes mostly small birds. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
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Mourning Dove: This medium-sized dove has gray-brown upperparts and pink-brown underparts. The eyes are dark with a small black spot beneath. It has a dark bill, gray-brown wings with black spots and dark primaries. The tail is long and pointed, with black-edged white tips on outer feathers. Mostly feeds on seeds. Swift direct flight. Sexes are similar, but the male is slightly larger.
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Marbled Murrelet: Small, chubby seabird with dark brown mottled upperparts and paler, white-tipped brown feathers on underparts, giving a wavy-barred appearance. Bill is dark. Legs and feet are brown. Feeds on fish and crustaceans. Swift direct flight low over the water on rapid wing beats.
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Manx Shearwater: Small shearwater with brown-black upperparts and white underparts, underwings and undertail coverts. Black head is darker than back. The bill is dark. Wings are long, slim, and straight. Tail is short and pointed. Feeds on fish and squid. Alternates long glides and rapid wing beats.
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Mottled Petrel: This medium-sized petrel is mostly gray with mottled white markings. It has a gray and white face and throat, and white upper breast and under tail. The wings have distinct black bars on white undersides. It feeds on small squid and fish. Alternates high soaring arcs and gliding with rapid wing beats. Sexes are similar.
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Murphy's Petrel: This large petrel is overall gray or gray-brown with a pale throat. The under wings have pale bars, the legs and feet are pale, and the toes have black distal webbing. The bill is black, and it feeds on squid and crustaceans. It has a swift flight, alternating several rapid wing beats with long glides. It does not follow ships. The sexes are similar.
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Mexican Jay: Large, crestless jay, blue-gray back, blue head, wings, rump, tail, and pale gray underparts. Bill, legs, feet are black. Feeds primarily on acorns, also eats insects, fruit, carrion and eggs and young of other birds. Slow steady bouyant wing beats. Glides between perches.
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Mangrove Cuckoo: Medium-sized cuckoo with gray-brown upperparts, black ear patch, yellow eye-ring, white throat, and buff-washed white underparts. Long, dark tail has six large white spots underneath, each with a dark spot. Decurved bill is dark above and yellow below with a dark tip.
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Monk Parakeet: Medium parakeet, green overall, gray forehead, cheeks, lores, throat. Breast is gray, variably barred by dark edges on feathers. Pale pink bill. Belly; lower back, and rump are yellow-green. Wings are dull green with blue flight feathers. Tail is green above with central blue shafts.
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Mitred Parakeet: This fairly large green parakeet has a red forehead grading into scattered bright red feathers on the crown, face, cheek, and at times on the bend in the wing. Its dull green underparts are faintly washed olive, the hooked bill is dull yellow, and the legs and feet are gray. It feeds on fruits, berries and nuts. It has a fast direct flight with rapid wing beats. Sexes are similar.
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Mountain Quail: Large,striking quail with long elegant black head plume, white-bordered rufous-brown face and throat, gray-brown upperparts, blue-gray breast, and rufous-brown belly and sides with distinct white bars. Rapid direct flight, series of several stiff wing beats followed by a short glide.
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Masked Duck: Small stifftail duck with black-tipped blue bill and black mask with thin white eye-ring. Body is rufous-brown with black streaks on the back and sides; white wing patches are visible in flight. Feeds on aquatic plants, insects and crustaceans. Direct flight with rapid wing beats.
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Mexican Whip-poor-will: Medium-sized nightjar with brown-gray-black mottled upperparts and pale gray-brown underparts. Throat is black; eyebrows and neckband are white. Tail is long and rounded with white corner patches. Until recently, this bird and the Eastern Whip-poor-will were combined as the Whip-poor-will.
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Micronesian Starling: Small, glossy purple-black starling with hint of black streaks on neck, black lores and black around white-yellow eye. Fairly broad, medium-length wings. Medium tail. Medium gray-black legs and feet. Female is slightly smaller and duller than the male. Juvenile is gray-brown above, buff below with gray-brown streaks.
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Marsh Sandpiper: Slender, medium-sized wader. Brown-gray wings and upper back with black mottling. Lower back white, and tail is white with black barring. Head and neck white and pale gray with black streaking. White underparts with black speckles on breast and flanks. Straight, thin black bill, and yellow-green legs.
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Matsudaira's Storm-Petrel: Medium, black-brown storm-petrel with buff-brown patch on upper wing, and small white U-shaped patch on base of primaries. Wings are long and pointed. Medium black bill has small tube on top. Fairly long, strongly forked tail. Both sexes and juvenile similar.
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Mottled Owl: Medium sized owl, brown mottling on upperparts, underparts buff with brown streaks and some barring. Mottled gray-brown facial disk with mottled white outline, no ear tufts. Eyes brown, bill buff or yellow, barred tail. Bare, buff feet. Sexes are similar.
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