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Re: Need help with a bird id
- To: rperkins@fayettevillenc.com (Robert C. Perkins)
- Subject: Re: Need help with a bird id
- From: "BILL HILTON JR. (Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History)"<hilton@hiltonpond.org>
- Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2000 20:26:18 -0400
- Cc: carolinabirds@duke.edu (CAROLINA BIRDS)
- In-Reply-To: <v01540b11b5657cfe793c@[63.253.168.224]>
- References: <v01540b11b5657cfe793c@[63.253.168.224]>
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
BOB . . .
Could the bird have been a second-year male Indigo Bunting? Males are
not fully blue until after their second year, so they often have a
"calico" appearance, with a mix of blue and brown (tan) feathers.
Cheers,
BILL
***********
> This morning as I was walking the RR track behind the Methodist
>College golf course, I spotted a bird in the weeds and brush that seemed
>odd to me. A few minutes earlier I had seen a blue grosbeak sitting on the
>telephone wires by the track. This bird was blue with blackish wings and
>tail. It lacked the chestnut wingbars of the blue grosbeak but it showed a
>narrow strip of tan (buff) on its flanks just below the wings. I suspect
>that if I had seen it with its wings raised, the tan would have extended
>upward under the wings. The bird also had a very dark cap on the top of
>its head, dark blue or nearly black. The dark crest reminded me of the
>dark cap on a gray catbird. Overall I thought the bird looked a little
>large for an indigo bunting, but no other bird was available for making a
>direct comparison and viewing a bird through binoculars tends to skew my
>size impressions anyway.
> When I first spotted this bird, I thought it was an indigo bunting,
>but after taking two very good looks at it, I wasn't certain, especially
>because of the tan/buff along the flanks. I need some help from folks with
>more experience with grosbeaks and buntings. What was it?
>
>Bob
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------
>Robert C. Perkins, Ph.D.
>Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
>Methodist College, Fayetteville, NC 28311
>910-630-7037 rperkins@methodist.edu
--
**********
BILL HILTON JR., "The Piedmont Naturalist"
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
1432 DeVinney Road
York, South Carolina 29745
USA
e-mail: <hilton@hiltonpond.org>
Voice: (803) 684-5852
eFax: (503) 218-0845
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History is a 501(c)(3)
non-profit research and education organization, so all in-kind or
monetary gifts to Operation RubyThroat and the Center are
tax-deductible. Please visit our websites:
Hilton Pond: <http://www.hiltonpond.org>
Operation RubyThroat: <http://www.rubythroat.org>
"Never trust a person too lazy to get up for sunrise or too busy to
watch the sunset."
BHjr.
**********