What an elegant, mad professor of a bird, some type of heron?
It is a Little egret, a species of heron. My wife and I think the same thing, the feathers on the back of the head of the bird look like the hair of a mad cientist or a passionate conductor.
I am fairly certain this is a white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis), given the yellow spot 'twixt the eye & bill (awright!) lore:
I am less sure about this other one: I can kind of see the yellow spot, but the head stripes are different (tho which the field guide suggests, “yep they’ll do that”)
From a year ago.
Cats will chase off bears and alligators. They have no idea how small they are.
But they do know how fierce they are.
A visitor to the back deck. Someone’s probably been feeding it to make it so comfortable around people, and it gave a strong vibe of assessing my intelligence. I’m not convinced I passed the audition.
Such a stylish and elegant birb!
Strine Magpies have such wild songs, too, also.
Definitely in my top 3!
The first time I heard a Nightingale IRL, I almost melted into a puddle. The first of many times we stayed at a beachfront place in Jamaica, the owner was showing me around the property, and I was ooohing and ahhhing over the plantings. A birb suddenly burst into song, and I gasped! I said, “That’s a Nightingale, isn’t it?!”
Lloyd looked at me like I was nuts, and said, “Yeah, mon,” in a sort of
tone of voice.
He was V surprised when I explained that I’d never heard one before, but I knew a song that beautiful could only be a Nightingale’s…and that was the first of many times I surprised Our Lloyd. 
ETA a smol detail