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Birds for I.D., etc.

14 years ago

On a bird watching outing I took this picture...bad one....but I can't figure out what this is. Could it be a fledgling of some sort?

Here's another one...this pic is a little better...seems to have a yellow beak and a white spot in front of it's eye. I thought it was an Eastern Phoebe or and Eastern Peewee...but I just don't know because none of my bird books show those with a yellow beak.

We called this beauty with the bird calls on my phone app hooked up to the car speakers...we were thrilled!! We could hear them in the woods all around us but this time of year the woods are so dense you can't see anything. They came right up to the car to see what intruder was in their woods!

Indigo Bunting..

This little Downy cutie seemed to be posing for us. She was definitely curious about us.

TIA! Ginni

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Comments (9)

beegood_gw
14 years ago
The first one looks like a type of flycatcher
saide
14 years ago
The second looks like an indigo bunting and the third looks like a downy woodpecker to me!
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Robin, The second bird is a male Yellow Rumped Warbler 100% sure. I love all of our warblers so very much. Here where I live I have many species that nest in the woods,fencerows,etc behind me. The Yellow is spectacular and the Prothonotary..well Wow!!!! is all you say when you see one. No other country on Earth is as blessed with so many cool birds as we are here in the United States and the warblers of North American are a very special part of that group indeed. Great pictures of one of our most common warblers...Mike
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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.
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You didn't give us much to work with (no location), but I find Great Crested Flycatchers to sound like frogs. You can listen to their sounds on All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) or Xeno-canto.
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Couldn't I.D. this bird. Sorry, no pic....
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I thought I had responded to this earlier. I think I did, but was having trouble with where Houzz was posting it and/or erasing it. Yes! I decided it was a Dickcissel. I'm excited to have them here now.
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ginni77
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for your comments.

Saide, I knew those last two...in fact, if you look, I had labeled them...I just put them on there to show a couple we'd seen that we could identify...that's why the "etc'" in my title...LOL Sorry for the confusion!
saide
14 years ago
Haha.. my fault!! I got so excited that I knew what they were, I guess! Great pictures!
bandjzmom
14 years ago
Nice pics Ginni! Def. a Flycatcher...but the question is which one? The Phoebes have black bills, so that rules out Phoebe. Maybe one of the experts will drop in and tell us.
gardener365
14 years ago
#2 resides here in IL. At dusk he sits on my deck fence rail and fly's continuously to the covered deck ceiling and catches bugs and then back to the rail. I assumed Eastern Phoebe.

Dax
deanie13
14 years ago
One way I can usually spot a eastern phoebe is by how it sits. If its tail is pumping a lot (like he has to move his tail up and down or he'll lose his balance) I assume phoebe. Look up eastern wood pewee -- they look similar but don't flick their tails while perched plus they have a yellowish beak.
ginni77
Original Author
14 years ago
The guy I took a photo of (#2) didn't move, no tail pumping...so I don't think it was an Eastern Phoebe and I looked up both in all my bird references and none showed either with a yellowish beak...only flycatchers seemed to have a yellow beak. It's hard to tell tho.

I've been doing some more searching and wonder if it could be either an Alder Flycatcher or a Willow Flycatcher. Both are in my area in Illinois this time of year and both seem to have a yellowish beak ...the problem is, according my my sources there's no way to tell one from the other except by their song, so it could be either one of them. The only thing maybe would be that I saw this one right next to a river in a wooded area. I think it was the Willow Flycatcher that lives in that sort of habitat.

I wish I knew...either would be new birds for my sister and me tho so I'm pleased if it is one of them.

Thanks for all the comments and ideas! I really appreciate it!
gardener365
14 years ago
Same here, I'll have to watch closer. Thanks. Dax

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