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Say's Phoebe: Medium-sized, active flycatcher with gray-brown upperparts and head, paler gray throat and upper breast, and pale rufous belly and undertail coverts. The wings and tail are dark gray. Feeds primarily on insects. Weak fluttering flight with shallow wing beats. Hawks from perch, hovers.
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Semipalmated Plover: Small plover, gray-brown upperparts and white underparts. Forehead and faint eyebrows are white, while face and collar are black. Bill is orange with black tip. Wings have white stripes visible in flight. Tail is brown with white edges. Orange legs, feet. Strong direct flight.
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Sprague's Pipit: Medium pipit with streaked, brown upperparts, buff breast with dark streaks, and white throat and belly. Eyebrows are white. Tail is brown with white edges. Thin, pale bill. Legs are yellow to pale brown. Its plumage blends well among prairie grasses, making it difficult to spot.
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Stilt Sandpiper: Medium sandpiper with gray-brown upperparts, white rump, heavily barred white underparts. Head has a dark cap, white eyebrows, and brown ear patches. Bill is long, black, and curved down at tip. Legs are long and gray-green. Powerful, direct flight on long, rapidly beating wings.
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Solitary Sandpiper: Medium sandpiper, pale-spotted, dark brown back and rump, white underparts with streaks on neck and sides. Head is dark, eye-ring is bold white. Tail is black with conspicuous black-and-white barred edges. Bill, legs, and feet are olive-green. Direct flight is light and bouyant.
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Semipalmated Sandpiper: Small sandpiper with scaled gray-brown upperparts, white underparts, and fine streaks on the breast and sides. The black bill is short, stout and straight. Feeds on insects, worms, small mollusks and crustaceans. Legs and feet are black. Swift flight on rapidly beating wings.
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Snow Goose: Large goose with two color phases. White phase is all white with black wing tips. Blue phase has white head and neck, blue-gray upperparts, gray-brown breast and sides, white belly. Pink bill, black lower mandible. Pink legs, feet. Strong direct flight in bunched flocks or U formations.
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Sharp-tailed Grouse: Medium grouse with lightly barred brown upperparts and white underparts dotted with chevrons. Head has short crest, yellow-orange eye comb, and pink or violet neck patch exposed when displaying. Tail is pointed and white-edged. Often seen on prairies in the summer.
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Sage Thrasher: Small thrasher, gray upperparts, dark-streaked white underparts with pale brown wash. The head is gray, bill is short and slightly decurved. Wings are dark with thin,white bars. Tail is dark with white corners. Legs and feet are black. Fast flight on shallow wing beats.
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Swamp Sparrow: Small sparrow with dark-streaked brown upperparts, gray upper breast, and pale gray, faintly streaked underparts. Head has rust-brown cap with paler median stripe and gray face. The wings are rust-brown with black-and-white streaks. Eats seeds, insects. Pink legs, feet.
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Smith's Longspur: Medium sparrow, yellow-brown streaked upperparts, black head with white eyebrow and ear patch, and yellow-brown nape, throat, and underparts. Wings have large white bars. Tail is black with white edges. Yellow-brown legs and feet. Feeds on seeds, spiders, and insects.
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Savannah Sparrow: Small sparrow, dark-streaked, gray-brown upperparts, white underparts, heavy streaks on breast and sides. Head has a brown crown with pale central stripe and pale yellow or white eyebrows. Brown wings have two pale bars. Tail is short and notched. Pink legs and feet.
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Sedge Wren: Small wren with white-streaked, brown upperparts and pale buff underparts. Eyebrows are pale brown. Tail is short and barred. Bill is short and the legs and feet are pink. One of the most nomadic territorial birds. In any area it may be abundant one year, absent the next.
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Snow Bunting: Medium-sized, strikingly white sparrow with black back, central tail, and wing tips. Bill, legs and feet are black. Forages on ground for seeds, insects, larvae and caterpillars. Swift flight, alternates rapidly beating wings with brief periods of wings pulled to sides.
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Sora: Small rail with dark gray-brown upperparts with black-and-white streaks. Breast is gray and flanks and belly are dark gray with white bars. Gray head has a darker crown and nape, and black face, chin, and throat. Bill is yellow with dark tip. Low, weak, and floppy flight over short distances.
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Scarlet Tanager: Medium tanager with brilliant red body, black wings, tail. The only bird in North America with this unique plumage. Heavy bill is yellow-gray. Gray legs and feet. Winter male has dull green upperparts, yellow-green underparts, often interspersed with red during molt.
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Surf Scoter: Medium diving duck, entirely black except for white patches on forehead and nape. Bill is orange, black, and white. Eyes are white. Legs and feet are orange. Dives for food, primarily mollusks and crustaceans. Rapid direct flight with strong wing beats. Flies in straight line formation.
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Spotted Towhee: Large sparrow, white-spotted black back, black rump. Black breast, white belly, rufous sides. Head is black and eyes are red. Wings are black with white spots. Tail is long and black with white corners. Short, bounding flights, alternates rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.
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Short-eared Owl: Medium owl, light and dark brown mottled upperparts and dark-streaked, pale buff underparts. Head has large, round, pale buff facial disk with fine, brown tinges, black around eyes, and small ear tufts. Eyes are yellow and bill is black. Flight is erratic with flopping wing beats.
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Snowy Owl: Large, white owl with variable black bars and spots. The head is round and lacks tufts, eyes are yellow, and the bill is black. Feathered feet and toes provide protection from the arctic cold. Direct flap-and-glide flight with powerful, deep wingbeats. North America's only all-white owl.
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Snowy Egret: Medium-sized, totally white egret with a long slender black bill with yellow lores. The eyes are yellow and legs are black while feet are bright yellow. The head, neck and back have long, lacy plumes during breeding season. Generally silent and feeds on crustaceans, insects, and fish.
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Sandhill Crane: Large wading bird with gray body, white cheeks, chin, upper throat, and bright red cap. Bill is dark and eyes are yellow. Legs and feet are black. Direct, steady flight on heavy and labored wing beats. Slow downstroke, rapid and jerky upstroke. Flies in V or straight line formation.
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Swainson's Hawk: Large hawk, dark brown upperparts, white throat, rufous upper breast, pale buff underparts. Tail is gray with faint bars, dark terminal band, and white trailing edge. Yellow legs, feet. Alternates series of powerful deep wing beats with long glides. Soars on thermals and updrafts.
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Sharp-shinned Hawk: Small hawk with blue-gray upperparts and rufous bars on white underparts. Eyes are dark red. Wings are short and rounded. Tail is long and squared with heavy bars. Legs and feet are yellow. Flight consists of rapid wing beats followed by a short glide. Often soars on thermals.
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Spotted Sandpiper: Medium sandpiper, olive-brown upperparts, white underparts with bold black spots. Eyestripe is white. Wings have white stripes visible in flight. Tail is barred. Dull yellow legs. Low direct flight, wings flap in shallow arcs, producing clipped, stiff wing beats on drooping wings.
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Sanderling: Medium-sized sandpiper with dark-spotted, rufous upperparts, breast and white underparts. Wings have conspicuous white stripes visible in flight. Bill, legs, and feet are black. Feeds on crustaceans, mollusks, isopods, worms, plants and insects. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats.
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Short-billed Dowitcher Breeding Adult: Large sandpiper, upperparts mottled gray, black, brown and red-brown, white rump, red-brown underparts with heavy spots, and bars (east and west coast birds have heavier barred and spotted, paler underparts and often show white bellies). Strong direct flight.
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Song Sparrow: Medium sparrow, heavily streaked gray-brown upperparts. Dull white underparts have dark central breast spot, thick streaks. Head has brown crown, paler median stripe, pale gray eyebrow, white chin, dark brown moustache stripe. Rust-brown wings. Tail is long, usually tinged rust-brown.
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