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Trying to ID a Bird

hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA

11 years ago

I was out walking yesterday in N. San Diego County, in the hills about 7 miles inland and came across a bird I have not seen before in our area. Possibly a migrating bird, or, one that I simply haven't come across in my birdwatching. Tried to take a photo of it with myiPhone, but was not successful. It was a rather large bird - about the size of a California Thrasher or maybe a bit larger. Buff underside, some grey up on the shoulders and at the top of the tail. But, the most distinguishing characteristic was is very large, long, thick, curved black bill. Does this bird sound familiar to anyone? Have been searching through my bird apps with no success. Thanks for any help in identifying this bird.

Patty S.

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Comments (4)

birding_nut
11 years ago
Not sure if they are in that area, but what about Crissal Thrasher?

BN
hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
Original Author
11 years ago
Nope, not a Thrasher. This beak was black, thick, long and curved downward. Thrasher's beaks are thinner and longer, and brown. This beak was about twice as thick as a thrasher's beak. And black. And I think the eyes were black, but, it was a bit far away (and I'm a little near-sighted), so can't swear that the eyes were black, but the head was very dark. Greyish-blue patches on the back below the neck and at the top of the tail, dk brownish on top, buff underbelly.

Patty S.
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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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User
11 years ago
I wouldn't venture a guess about what you may have seen, since I know very little about birds from your region, but I will mention that Thrashers seem to be susceptible to bill deformities (chemicals in the environment?), and I've seen Brown Thrashers here in SC with oversized, thick downward-curving bills...

Good luck,
Virginia
hoosierquilt USDA 10A Sunset 23 Vista CA
Original Author
11 years ago
No. Not a deformed beak I don't think. We have tons of California Thrashers here (the bane of my fruit and fig trees!), and this didn't look like a Thrasher. Head was blackish, beak was much thicker and black, not brown. I have never seen this bird before, so I'm thinking it's a visitor, flying through. The bill looks like a Magpie's bill - thick, black, longer, and a curved slightly downward. But thank you all for trying. Anyone else care to venture a guess?

Patty S.

This post was edited by hoosierquilt on Fri, Feb 6, 15 at 13:45

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