I'm about to upload a MASSIVE art piece but here's a section with the new ground flock... and my discovery... I didn't realize we get NEW sparrows for the set!?...
...
Anyway, either I'm missing a bird set I didn't know I was, or we do get new sparrows? OH WAIT, I DO HAVE IT... in Cool and Unusual birds... it's the White Crowned Sparrow! Sooo many birds, I could not find it until I had Flint help me, with both of us looking in our runtimes!
Yes, not all of the ground feeding birds in Flock Formations 2 match the flying ones in Flock Formations. I didn't do seagulls or crows for FF2... instead you get Quail, Sparrows and Sandpipers.
As you mentioned in the second half of your post, it is possible to take many of the existing Songbird ReMix textures from the individual sets (like Cool 'n' Unusual or Sparrows of the World) and apply them to FF1 or FF2. You have to be a little careful in the selection of materials-- obviously you wouldn't attach a hummingbird material to the sparrow or quail props. Finches, Grosbeaks and Sparrow look close to one another, so you use those in a sparrow or finch prop.
Creating materials for most of these props is pretty easy (some extra work is required for m/f props). Load a SBRM bird from the set you want and do a material save, then apply the saved material to the Flock Formations prop. That's it!
With the M/F props you'll need to apply the materials individually on the second sex because they have unique material names (like "
wingfeathersf " as opposed to the default "
wingfeathers").
I'm probably getting into the weeds a little here but here's a few specific tips for those that are adventurous with material changes...
I have
a freebie for FF1 that uses the Northern Gannet texture (
from Seabirds2) for the "Geese in Flight" prop. One note is that the Goose prop from FF1 uses the older WF1/WF1B base (used in
Seabirds I/
II,
Birds of Legend and
Hawai'i) , while the Goose prop in FF2 uses the newer (and better) Goose model from
Waterfowl v4 (so only use textures from
Waterfowl v4 with that prop).
When using the "Sparrows of the World" texture maps that have m/f versions-- I suggest using the "Finches in Flight" prop (in FF) and the "Finches" prop (in FF2) that both support m/f materials. The "Sparrows" prop in FF2 only supports one texture set (male or female).
Flock Formations 1 will be getting a little update this summer so it's matched Flock Formations 2 format (with a reorganized folder structure, Superfly/Iray materials and a DS native format). This newer format will probably be the new standard for all my sets.
Another winner Ken! I can't think of the last time I didn't use Flock Formations in a render! 
