CLOSED: Identify This Bird Please Vol. 3

Jo, sybils is a Common Redpoll. :-)

Who am I ? Gray crown, black throat ...Sorry it is in the shade and through a window....

Never mind, I found it.. male house sparrow. He was on a different page from the other sparrows in my book. lol
Here he is again, with a couple of friends.

House Sparrow, male.

Resin

This one was on a light pole on the street behind my yard...I think it's an immature White Ibis.

Yep, correct.

Resin

Hard to tell Resin, but I think this one is actually a Royal Grackle :)

LOL!

GP, ROTFLOL!!

Oh, that is too funny!!! Good one.

JulieQ - It's not listed with the other sparrows, because the native sparrows are in a different family. The House (or English) Sparrow is an import and is in the Weaver Finch family (Passeridae) and the native sparrows are not. The House Sparrow and the Eurasian Tree Sparrow are the only two weaver finches we have in the US, both imported.

Hi Ceejay - not quite:

House Sparrow is in the sparrow family Passeridae

The American "sparrows" are actually buntings (Emberizidae), not sparrows at all.

The weavers are in a third family, Ploceidae; some older books list them in the same family as sparrows but they are so distinct that they are now treated separately.

Resin

Interesting! I still have a lot to learn.

(The National Audubon Society's) The Sibley's Guide to Birds lists American Sparrows and their allies - the Emberizine Buntings, Emberizine Sparrows, Towhees, Juncos, Longspurs - in the family Emberizidae, and the Old World Sparrows, (including the House Sparrow) are classified as Passeridae.

The House Sparrows are referred to as Weaver Finches in Audubon's' Field Guide to N Amercian Birds (yes, Ploceidae there), while the American Sparrows are placed in the Fringillidae family, along with Grosbeaks, Buntings, Finches. The Warblers are in Parulidae.

If that isn't bad enough, National Geographic Society's Field Guide to the Birds of N America puts our Sparrows in Emberizidae and throws Warblers and some others, including Cardinals, into the mix. Here the House Sparrow is put in the Passeridae family and is referred to as a Weaver.

I'd say that is quite confusing!!! And I am indeed confused.

Well, yeah!!

What the heck, if the experts don't know how are WE to know??

I took the liberty of starting vol. 4 here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/809038/

Hope that's okay

Going to be working at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden Conservatory as a volunteer in March. While there yesterday there was a bird up in the rafters... It is not a native,.. Just wanted to see what it is, so I got a couple pics, (poor pics) but between him hiding and the misters in there it wasn't easy to get them, lol..
John ,(the director) said the bird was from Africa

Is this a Superb Starling (S. superbus or L. superbus)

Another

Last one...


Thanks!

I don't know what it is but I am curious!

What a great Botanic Garden!

Last time I was at the Fort Worth Botanical Garden, there were several of those guys inside of the tropical exhibit flying freely all around. Nobody I talked to there knew why they were in the greenhouse or how they got there.



Oh...the bird is a Superb Starling from East Africa.

Thanks Ned!! I think they imported them to help with insects. They will have to be taken out once the butterflies fill the Conservatory.. Then put back after the exhibition is over to clean up. Kinda like what goes on here all winter after 20 native species have used my garden to breed. I posted more here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=4490548

:^)

My first time ever on a forum. I do not have a picture of my little bird but thought perhaps with the slight description I have you could point me in the right direction. This small bird is green colored and slightly larger than a finch. It has two definite white wing-bars on its wings and its wings seem dark brown or black. The green is on it's head and chest. Unfortunately that's about all I was able to identify. I sat down yesterday afternoon with my binoculars and a digital camera but when he/she landed, I couldn't get a good look and no picture. I'm in NC (zone 7b) and Wildbird suggested it might be a ruby crowned kinglet but it doesn't really look like the pics in my birdbook - not green enough and not the right look with the wingbars. As for other birds around my feeders, I have Juncos, house finch and purple finch, an occasional bluebird, Carolina Chickadee, etc. Oh yes, it loves the flat feeder and ate some bread crumbs I threw in it just to see what they might attract. I have black-oiled sunflower seed and the Special Feeder with nuts. If you have any ideas, I can look them up and will try again this afternoon to get a better look.

Welcome to the Bird Watching forum at Daves Kdee!

I'll let Resin or someone else talk about the bird you've seen. :-)

Another House Sparrow, I suppose??

BTW, just for the future, this is the Old Thread.

Heres the New One:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/809038/

Hi,

It is a male Siskin. We are over run with them this year.

Hi This is a very old thread; heres the

current volumn of Identify This Bird:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/832470/