This bird has come to my feeder the last two winters in southeastern mn. His or her primary trait is that he is so nervous that he stays only long enough for one or two pecks of food and then he's gone. Until I happen to get this picture, I wasn't able to describe him even though I have seen him many times. this trait is unlike any of the other birds that come to my feeder. He is a loner and will eat seeds or suit. I would guess is about the size of a Junco. He will feed from the ground or the feeder.
Can you help identify this bird?
Kellogg, Do you have a larger size shot you can post?. It's so small the print is completely coving it.
Bird does seem distinctly sparrow-shaped, a little small in the bill but the head/body size ratio just doesn't look like a warbler to me. The white feathering is almost certainly leucism at work. Congratulations on an uncommon capture--you can probably tell why leucism is fairly rare in the wild outside a few closed populations of birds & mammals around the world.
Look's like a leucistic Black-capped Chickadee.
I have many chickadees at the feeder. Baldy, as I affectionately call him, is larger than a chickadee. Chickadees are very tame and this bird is very, if not extremely, skittish.
My first thought was a Snow Bunting...but I've never seen one and am often wrong.
Definitely leucistic something, but working out what, isn't easy! I'll make a provisional guess of Dark-eyed Junco. But there's also the possibility it could be an escaped cagebird of some sort.
Resin
Here's the original picture. It was by sheer luck that I caught Baldy with the camera as he was in flight as I snapped the shutter. You can see a chickadee on the bottom of the silver top feeder on the right. Baldy is on the bottom of the leftmost feeder. Top center is a Hairy Woodpecker. My yard is open area with pine woods on either side. Does leucism affect behavior?
Definitely leucistic something, but working out what, isn't easy! I'll make a provisional guess of Dark-eyed Junco. But there's also the possibility it could be an escaped cagebird of some sort.
Resin
Agree that it look's more like a Junco.
Does leucism affect behavior?
It can do; leucistic birds are often low down in the pecking order and tend to get bullied by others of their species.
Resin
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