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Need Help Id'ing Some Birds

chickadeemelrose

14 years ago

Hi,

This morning I was watching out my window and saw several brown birds hopping around on my porch, going after a few seeds that were strewn.

These birds were adorable, about the size of titmice, and they were a medium brown with no streaks or bars I could see, with a small finch type beak, hopping about after the seed.

I didn't have any resources right there to help me id them so I just continued to watch. But after consulting a couple of books, and bird guides on the internet, I am still not sure what they were. Any guesses?

I had thought juncos (we had a little snow this morning for the first time this year). But all the photos I could find had juncos with noticeable white areas, not just brown.

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Comments (5)

rachel_frome_ky
14 years ago
I checked your MyPage, but couldn't find where you lived, or the type of habitat. Did you check female House Sparrows?
chickadeemelrose
Original Author
14 years ago
Hi Rachel,

Sorry - I live in eastern Massachusetts, 7 miles north of Boston and I live in a suburb with a little wooded area bordering my backyard, and a wildlife reservation and ponds about 1/2 a mile away (I am very fortunate!). It has been very cold here the last few days and we got our first dusting of snow yesterday.

I have seen different kinds of birds here within a mile of the house - woodpeckers, hawks, swans, geese, the common feeder birds, we even have a heron who flies back and forth over our neighborhood every day - so we do get a variety of birds.
We definitely do have house sparrows, but these little guys I saw yesterday were not those. They were just about a solid brown from where I could see. No striping or definitive marks. They just hopped around eating stray sunflower seeds. I've gone through photos of species, both genders and juvenile appearances, on the internet and in my books, and I am not sure what this bird was.

The only even remote possibilities I could come up with were: field sparrow; junco; and female indigo bunting.

If you have thoughts on this I would be most appreciative.

Thanks,

Donna

P.S. Your last set of photos was, as always, astounding.
Congrats on your new lifer!
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orrin_h
14 years ago
From your description I would guess female Indigo Bunting, "little brown jobs" with nothing in the way of distinct field marks (other than a finchy bill).

-O-
rachel_frome_ky
14 years ago
Thanks!
If they're that close, maybe you can get some photos-it's cool that you might be getting female Indigo Buntings this late in the season. Living near the ocean must be wonderful
chickadeemelrose
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you Orrin and Rachel -

I will be on the lookout for any more of these little guys and try to get some photos.

Yes, it is wonderful to have the ocean nearby - we just don't take advantage of it often enough! And the North American Flyway crosses just north of here. Another place we need to visit....

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