Identify This Bird Please - Vol.8

Thought I would start a new thread since the other was getting a little long. Of course, it is a bad pic!
We came from here
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/824813/
Brown Thrasher?

This message was edited Apr 9, 2008 7:52 AM

Yep, Brown Thrasher.

Yep, it was getting rather long, thanks for starting the new volume!

Resin

Thanks!

Those are so cool, haven't seen one in a couple of years, maybe this year...

I was just telling DH last night they ought to be here but I hadn't seen one. I thought this was a robin when I took the pic, and in fact deleted a couple others. Then I downloaded the pics this morning...not a robin! lol

I love the Brown Thrashers. I think I saw one in the undergrowth last week, but it was just a quick glimpse and not positive.

Is this some kind of sparrow or a female Red-winged Blackbird?

Sora?

?

This message was edited Apr 9, 2008 3:52 PM

American Bittern?

Also?

Female Red-winged Blackbird, Sora, Eastern Kingbird, American Bittern

Resin

Thank you Resin.

Are they both Chipping Sparrows? The one on the right looks different from what I've seen to date. Thanks!

Is this a female Brown-Headed Cowbird? It was feeding with a Male CB and Starlings.

And this a Song Sparrow also?

Hi burn, Yes yours is a female Brown-headed Cowbird. :-)

Purple finch or house finch?

Thanks Pelle. I've never notice them before with the Brown-Headed Cowbird.

Yes sometimes my males come in alone.

The last looks like a House Finch.

Thanks Pelle.
I've posted this here, on the Bird forum, as a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, and I think I made a mistake, because the size of the bird was bigger then that of a Dove, according to the book I have. It was more the size of an American Crow. So would you say more a Copper Hawk? What threw me of, it doesn't show it, as been in our region, but more toward lower Maine.

This message was edited Apr 11, 2008 10:44 PM

Tough one! It doesn't look all that large to me, but hard to judge without knowing the dimensions of the table. The white tail tip and rounded tail corners do point to Cooper's, though.

Sibley maps Cooper's for roughly the southern third of NB, so while outside the normal range, it is only just outside, and a spring overshoot (a spring migrant going a little further than it intended) is not unlikely.

Resin

This guy came yesterday. Cooper's?

Here's the tell "tail" shot. These are blurry cuz my digital kept trying to focus on the screen in the window instead of the hawk outside!

Are the cooper's hawk and sharp-shinned that similar?
We have been having quite a few hawks come in and I have noticed the one smaller one (sharp-shinned) sometimes has orange eyes and sometimes dark.
I just thought they were 2 different sharp-shinned, maybe I am seeing a cooper's hawk and a sharp-shinned.
Both hawks have banded tails, nice light spotted bellies, and grey backs.

I've recently moved to a new, more rural home, and have a new bird that I don't know. I thought at first it might be a kind of wren, but I'm not sure because the speckled chest doesn't fit with the wren pictures in my Iowa bird books. It doesn't have a sparrow-like beak so I don't think it's a sparrow species. It's too small for a thrush, I think, and it doesn't have a yellow eye. Any ideas?



This message was edited Apr 12, 2008 9:35 AM

Here's another pic of it.

Here's a shot showing more of its tail and side, in case that helps.

There seem to be 2 of them and they look roughly the same. They hop mostly, not walkers. They bob their tails a little bit, but not a lot. One of them ate a very large worm from the driveway, so they are definitely not just seed eaters!

Hi CMoxin, Resin will know for sure but it looks like a Gray-cheeked Thrush.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Gray-cheeked_Thrush.html

But it might also be a Hermit Thrush although I'm not seeing an eyering.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Hermit_Thrush.html

Ah! Very good - thank you! My famous "Birds of Iowa" book doesn't actually have any thrushes in it at all, so that didn't help me identify it! My "Birds of North America" book has several, but only the "wood thrush" was shown as living in Iowa, and it is quite the wrong colour (more rusty brown) compared to the bird in my pics, so I decided it wasn't that. Your links, however, show that they do come into Iowa on their migration, and my thought now, in looking at both, is that the hermit thrush might be right because there is a certain degree of redness to the tail (esp. in the last shot I posted) that doesn't seem to be there on the gray-cheeked thrush. I am guessing I will not see it again since it is probably just migrating. How exciting that I had such a good opportunity this morning to observe them.

I'd go for Hermit Thrush - there's not as much spotting on the breast as I'd expect for Gray-cheeked.

Also Hermit winters further north, and migrates north earlier, than the other Catharus thrushes; it is the only one I'd expect to see around putting up with that white stuff on the grass. I can't see Gray-cheeked reaching Iowa before late April or even early May

Resin

Bump :-)

Thanks for the confirmation on the hermit thrush! The white stuff was an anomaly yesterday. It snowed for a short time only, and was gone a few hours later. We don't usually have snow by now. Tomorrow is due to be 13 Celsius, so any leftovers will certainly be gone! I will be on the lookout for other thrushes now, in case they do decide to visit during their migration!

Three different pics for Id

#2

#3 I think a Purple Finch maybe?



This message was edited Apr 14, 2008 9:53 PM

I dont' suppose there's ANY way someone can get an idea about what this is. It was flitting around far away.

Still, thought I might get some ideas by the shape.

I think #2 is a common redpoll, but am not 100% sure. Somebody will know for sure, but that's my best guess. I don't see them here in Iowa but I used to in Ontario.

Claire

The weatherman said partly cloudy, so I decided to go to the coast for some birding.
When I got there it probably was partly cloudy above the solid overcast. The next day it rained so I cut my trip short and came home. I have 6 pics here , I think I know what some are, but to be sure I'll let the experts tell us. (and one)