psweet

Thanks! That actually makes three different ID's for this guy!

I agree that it's either a Herring or a Lesser Black-backed, but these worn summer birds are really hard.

Yes, looks like a very worn Herring Gull. The bill does look heavy, but the tail pattern is all wrong for Great Black-backed. The bill looks too heavy and the primaries a bit short for a Lesser Black-backed.

Given the location, I'd say yes to Brown-crested for #2.

Perhaps a young Yellow-rumped Warbler?

#1 sounds like a Summer Tanager -- short, fast, sweet. Scarlet Tanager sounds similar but with more hoarse notes, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak has a more frantic sound and usually goes on a bit longer. The vireos are all slower than this, or they lack the distinct phrases (Warbling, White-eyed, Bell's perhaps). #2 I'm having trouble with. It sounds familiar, but I can't place it. It does sound like some of the quieter notes with it.

A key thing to remember for those spots on Duskywings is the word "usually". You'll find exceptions to most of the marks with them.

Ah, I didn't catch the date. I still have no idea what spots you're talking about -- the only ones I've heard about for telling those two is the ones that Juvenal's "usually" has on the underside of the hindwing. The cell spot is usually lacking on Wild Indigo, but not always. These guys are often misidentified in museum drawers!

As far as I know, grasshoppers are incapable of changing color, but I'm sure they adapt over generations to their environment. The color pattern on this guy reminds me of a Seaside Grasshopper (Trimerotropis), but structure is a better way of IDing these guys. And I'm not much good with them.

This is a young Brown-headed Cowbird. I'm not sure where the yellow tones come from, though.

The same way that the sun bleaches clothes or hair -- prolonged exposure to UV light breaks down pigments. In the case of bird feathers, it's amplified by the simple feather wear breaking down the structure.

That bird is heavily bleached. It's either a Western or a Glaucous-winged (or a hybrid) based on the bill, but I wouldn't want to try saying which one.

These look like young birds, so you're not hearing the typical calls. Also, a Red-shouldered and a Red-tail don't sound all that similar, so I'm not sure what call you're referring to. Red-tails have a single, descending scream that "fuzzes out" a bit late in the call. Red-shouldered give a series of short screams, and Broad-wings give a long, shrill whistle. Again, these are all the typical adult calls I'm describing.

Just out of curiosity, given the date and how fresh this one looks, why is this a Juvenal's and not a Horace's? The apparent spots on the underwing look like they're on the forewing, so I don't think they're useful.

A little hard to see, but it looks like a Great Crested, with the white tertial edges, gray throat, what appears to be a bit of yellow at the vent, and perhaps a bit of rufous in the tail.