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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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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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Steller's Jay: Large crested jay with a black head and crest and a blue body. Head has slight white eyebrow, forehead, and chin spots. Wings and tail are blue with black bars. Feeds on pine seeds, acorns, fruit, frogs, snakes, carrion, insects and eggs and young of other birds.
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Short-billed Dowitcher: This large sandpiper has mottled gray, black, brown and red-brown upperparts, white rump, red-brown underparts with spots and bars, a long, straight dark bill and long, dark yellow-green legs. East and west coast birds are heavier barred and spotted, paler underparts and often show white bellies. Diet includes insects and crustaceans. Strong direct flight. Sexes similar.
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Scripps’s Murrelet: Medium-sized Murrelet with black upperparts and white cheeks, throat, underparts, and underwing coverts. Bill is dark and thin. Eyes are brown with broken white eye-rings. Legs and feet are black. Feeds on small crustaceans and fish. Swift direct low flight with rapid wing beats.
Xantus's Murrelet was split in 2007 by the AOU into the Guadalupe Murrelet and Scripp's Murrelet.
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Spotted Dove: This medium-sized dove has gray-brown upperparts and pink-brown underparts, a pale gray cap, dark eye-line, white-spotted black nape patch and black bill. It has a long and gray tail with black edges and white corners and pink legs and feet. It feeds on grains, seeds and scraps. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats. Sexes are similar.
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Smew: Small merganser, mostly white body except for black back, mask, breast bar, and V-shaped nape patch. Wings are dark with large white patches. Gray legs, feet. Feeds on fish, aquatic insects, and their larvae. Swift direct flight with rapid wing beats. Flies in straight line or V formation.
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Sabine's Gull: Small gull with gray back and white nape, rump, and underparts. Hood is solid black and eye-ring is dark red. Bill is black with yellow tip; legs and feet are black. The upperwings are gray with black primaries and white secondaries. Tail is slightly forked when folded.
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Sora: This small rail has dark gray-brown upperparts with black-and-white streaks, gray breast and dark gray flanks and belly with white bars. Gray head has a darker crown and nape and black face, chin and throat. It has a dark-tipped yellow bill. Low, weak and floppy flight over short distances with legs dangling. Feeds on seeds, grasses, insects and snails. Sexes are similar.
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Spotted Redshank: Large sandpiper, mostly black body in summer except for white rump, white spots on wings, barred tail. Bill is red with black tip. Legs and feet are dark red. Winter bird (shown) has gray upperparts and white underparts. Feeds and forages on land or in shallow water by probing in mud, and sweeping bill back and forth. Swift direct flight when flushed.
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Surfbird: Medium sandpiper, dark gray upperparts marked with rufous, white rump, white underparts marked with distinct black chevrons. Upper breast, head, neck are heavily streaked. Wings are dark with bold white stripes visible in flight. Tail is white with a black triangular tip visible in flight.
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Stejneger's Petrel: This small petrel has gray-brown upperparts, dark gray rump, white underparts, black head, nape and bill, white face, gray-brown upperwing and black greater coverts. Outer primaries form an M shape across lower back. Blue-gray legs and feet and gray-brown, mottled white tail. Feeds on fish. Rapid erratic flight with fast wing beats followed by arcing glides. Sexes are similar.
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Scissor-tailed Flycatcher: Medium flycatcher with pale gray upperparts and head, white underparts and throat, salmon-pink sides and flanks, and dark brown wings with white edges. Tail is long and scissor-like, black above with white outer edges and white below with black inner edges.
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Smooth-billed Ani: Medium-sized, shaggy bird, black overall with bronze overtones, thick bill and long tail, often bobbed, wagged, and held beneath body. Feathers on upper breast and back are lined with iridescent silver and are scaled. Flight is slow and weak,often low to the ground.
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Short-tailed Hawk: Small hawk of grass and woodland habitat in Florida. Occurs in two color morphs: Dark morph adult is uniformly dark brown with thin dark bands on a dull white tail. In flight shows white flight feathers with thin dark bands and dark wingtips. The light morph has white underparts.
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Sooty Tern: This medium-sized tern has long wings, a deeply forked tail, black crown, nape, and upperparts and a broad triangular white forehead patch. The underparts are white; upper tail is black with white outer edges. It has a direct flight with strong, shallow wing beats. It hovers before dipping for prey. It feeds on squid and fish. Sexes are similar.
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Sandwich Tern: This is the only medium-sized tern with a long slender black bill tipped with yellow. The upperparts are very pale gray, nearly white, and the underparts are white. The black crown has a short black crest, the white tail is deeply forked, and the legs and feet are black. It has a direct flight and hovers before diving for fish. Sexes are similar.
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Scaled Quail: Large quail AKA "cottontop," due to its white-tipped gray crest; nape, neck underparts have dark-edged gray and buff feathers creating a distinctly scaled look. Upperparts are plain gray with white stripe at base of wings; sides are gray with short white stripes. Pale brown legs, feet.
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Spruce Grouse: Medium grouse with barred, dark gray-brown upperparts, black underparts show white bars on breast, white chevrons on sides, belly. Throat is white-bordered black; red eye combs. Tail is either black with fine white spots near base (Franklin's) or black with rufous-brown tip (Tiaga).
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Swinhoe's Snipe: Small to medium shorebird with brown and black mottled back and wings, white stripes on back. White stripe on black-brown crown, black-brown line through eye and mark below eye. Mottling on breast, white belly. Black-brown bars on flanks. Long, straight, black-brown bill with green-yellow base. Sexes and juvenile similar.
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Slaty-legged Crake: Small to medium rail, red-brown head and breast, narrow yellow eyering, and olive-brown back and wings. Black and white barring on belly and vent. Short to medium, gray-black bill with blue-gray or olive base. Fairly long, black-gray legs and feet. Sexes similar. Juvenile dark brown with white throat, some barring on belly.
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Scaly Thrush: Large thrush with brown and black scaled pattern on white underparts and face, fine buff and black scaling on crown, and black scaling on brown back and rump. White eyering, lores, and throat. Black mark on ear and malar. Two buff wing bars and narrow black stripe on long wings. Sexes and juvenile similar.
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Striped Owl: Medium sized, slender owl, mottled brown and buff upperparts, white and buff underparts with black streaks. White facial disk with black outline. Long ear tufts. Eyes yellow-brown. Long wings. Bare, yellow feet.
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Stygian Owl: Large, slender owl, black-gray mottled upperparts, underparts mostly white with black streaks and bars. Black-gray facial disk, white below bill and on front. Long ear tufts. Eyes yellow, bill black-gray. Long wings, bare, gray feet.
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