Help with identification

I sometimes cannot be sure about the identity of a bird. Is there a site or area within this one that is set up to help with identification?

This is an example. Similar to a Willow flycatcher but it seems too yellow breasted and wrong bill shape. I need help.

Taken in SE Minnesota mid-July.

Peter,
These are probably best posted in the Avian forum though somebody might direct you otherwise. In any case, it looks like a Great-crested Flycatcher to me.

Drew

Peter, with ID questions I can't settle on my own, I go to www.birdersworld.com. They have a category on their Web site that allows you to e-mail the image to their ID experts. I've used this a couple times and always got a reply back within one business day.

Pretty sure it's a great crested flycatcher. Given where you shot it, there's little chance it could be anything else. In some parts of the U.S. there are a couple other species of flycatcher that closely resemble the GCF, but SE Minn is not one of them.

Steve,

Thanks that is exactly the info I was looking for.
Now I have a future reference source.

I see that you guys must be right on the ID. It looks much more brown than the book I have shows them, which is what threw me off.
Peter

Peter, the best field guide hands down IMO after looking at and using them all over 35 years of birding is the Sibley guide. They now make one for the eastern U.S., but I recommend the full North American version. It's bigger than a standard field guide, and pricey at about $35, but it is tremendously comprehensive and detailed, and is particularly valuable because, more than any other guide, it shows so many different plumage variations in each species. Including juvenile plumages, variations based on region and others. Great resource.

Steve,

Thanks I'll get one.