This one is tougher. The presence of the bright eye ring allows one to rule out Veery and Gray-cheeked Thrush. That leaves Swainson's Thrush and Hermit Thrush. I don't see a lot of rufous in the tail of this bird but it is sort of obscured. The uniform coloring on the back, the lack of buff-brown flanks and the presence of what appears to be a dark moustachial stripe extending back from base of the bill leads me to think this is a Swainson's Thrush. That is my best guess based on the photo. BN

Thanks Konrad. Its a pretty dark picture. After searching for images on the internet, I think I'm inclined to think its a young starling. I read that both cowbirds and starlings walk instead of hop, so I'm thinking starling. There have been several adult starlings around, but never with this little one. Maybe I'll try to lighten the pic. I should have done that to start with.

Feather, our local birding expert also went with female Baltimore at first (he's still studying it and hopes to come see the bird today). I am really surprised. I have not seen female Baltimores this yellow/green and with so little head color. Am I mistaken on that? (obviously so). As for rarity - a Western Tanager is seen in our area about once every 5-10 years and it is always a male. Is that because the females aren't recognized but are thought to be orioles? It is hanging around some with the orioles, certainly loves the grapes. To my mind though, it behaves a bit differently. She seems calmer and less flitty on the feeder poles. When I drove up last night, all the orioles flew away, she did not. We put together this little collage using our pictures of her (mystery bird) and a couple pics stolen off the web (my apologies to whoever took those pics). This definitely sways my mind, but I'll let all of you take a look and see what you think. I need to go search for Baltimore females to see if I find one like our girl.

CONGRATS!!! It is soooooooooooooooo exciting to see a new bird, and especially one as gorgeous as the Blue Grosbeak. I have lived in the South all of my life, and I have seen one of them. I was living just SW of Atlanta at the time.~Angie