“A tranquil duo: one vigilant, the other in blissful slumber." - Copilot
These are two mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) that I saw a week or so ago, before all the trees started popping out leaves.
'A graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove that’s common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or whinnying. Mourning Doves are the most frequently hunted species in North America.' - allaboutbirds.org
A street around the corner from my house borders a marsh where this Sandhill Crane family lives. They visit our neighborhood frequently! The little darlings! 
This hawk was in an oak tree outside my backyard fence this morning. I tried taking a photo through the storm door because it was raining. But some leaves were covering the head of the hawk, so I made a hasty waterproof cover for my camera and went out into the rain to get some photos. I think that this is a Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) based on its size, but it could be a sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus). I'm basically guessing between the two they look so much alike.
Among the bird world’s most skillful fliers, Cooper’s Hawks are common woodland hawks that tear through cluttered tree canopies in high-speed pursuit of other birds. … With their smaller lookalike, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawks make for famously tricky identifications. Both species are sometimes unwanted guests at bird feeders, looking for an easy meal (but not one of sunflower seeds).
Fascinating and heartbreaking article about the akikiki birds that are close to extinction who were bravely defended from the fires in Hawaii. It’s a gift link, so you should be able to read the whole thing.
Please spread the word about this and help everybody in Hawaii if you can—both people and birds!
Earlier this summer, I met a very curious pair of Black vultures in a Central Texas state park These carrion eating birds are peaceable creatures with excellent eyesight and a sociable disposition. (A friend of mine who runs a bird sanctuary with several rescue vultures told me that wild birds occasionally turn up to hang out on the roof of their aviary.)
Usually, Black vultures are wary of people. These two...were not.
Eventually they decided I wasn't that interesting--I was annoyingly alive, for one thing -- and went on to do a bit of sun-worshipping instead.
Delightful creatures, vultures. They get a bad rap.