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Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:53:50 -0800 |
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This blustery winter day led to a great day of backyard birding. It started at about 10:00 this morning when I saw a HUGE flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds fly in to descend upon my ground platform feeder. I began to look for other types of blackbirds among them, expecting starlings, maybe some grackles or red-wings. I was stuck almost speechless when I saw a bird with a brownish body, black head & yellow eye. It seemed to jump right out at me. It was too small for a grackle, with a shorter tail that was definitely not wedge shaped and the bill, while not as slim as a starling's, was not as large as a grackle's. There was a slight iridescence to the wings. It did not look like an adult male Brewer's pictured in the books but rather like a young bird whose head plumage has changed but the body plumage has not. The pattern of browns/colors on the body had a scalloped effect. I have never seen this on a grackle.
We got to observe him for about 15 minutes before the flock departed. Never thought to get the camera out, though it is doubtful we could have gotten a definitive picture with the other tree limbs we were looking through. The camera would have focused on the limbs, not the bird.
Laura Dornan
Louisville
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