bird id please - Wildlife Gardeners

turttle · 08-18-2012, 11:08 AM

Can any of you tell me what kind of bird this is? He is fairly elusive and this is the best photo I have so far. He is the size of a hermit thrush or small robin; I have seen him eating pokeberries and appearing to eat bugs off of plant stalks. He lands on my deck rail but I haven't seen him eating the seed from the feeder there. He doesn't use the tube feeder. He has been in my woods for about a week and I have never seen him before in the five years I have lived here.

I live outside of Chapel Hill, NC, in a rural area in mixed deciduous woods if that helps in the identification.

recurve · 08-18-2012, 12:29 PM

I'm torn between female blue grosbeak and female summer or scarlet tanager. I wish the profile of the bill was a little better but I'm leaning towards blue grosbeak.

turttle · 08-19-2012, 12:29 PM

I am leaning toward one of the tanagers. I will try to get a better photo, but I have seen his beak and it is longer than the grosbeak. Thanks, recurve!

linrose · 08-19-2012, 05:05 PM

turttle, I wonder if that is my mystery bird! I haven't seen him/her for a week or so now but the behavior sounds very similar. I thought female tanager too.

turttle · 08-19-2012, 06:07 PM

I don't know linrose...it is a long way from Kentucky to Chapel Hill, though if you haven't seen her recently, maybe she came to see me!

Kidding aside, the description fits, and I thought of your mystery bird when I saw mine. I hadn't realized quite how drab the females are for the tanagers. I had decided it might be an immature Baltimore Oriole, but the beak was wrong. It actually looks a bit peachier in person, rather than the olive-yellow that my photo through the window came out.

08-18-2012, 11:08 AM	#1
turttle Curious George & UAOKA recipient Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Chapel Hill, NC	bird id please Can any of you tell me what kind of bird this is? He is fairly elusive and this is the best photo I have so far. He is the size of a hermit thrush or small robin; I have seen him eating pokeberries and appearing to eat bugs off of plant stalks. He lands on my deck rail but I haven't seen him eating the seed from the feeder there. He doesn't use the tube feeder. He has been in my woods for about a week and I have never seen him before in the five years I have lived here. I live outside of Chapel Hill, NC, in a rural area in mixed deciduous woods if that helps in the identification. __________________ There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, this is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar. - Lord Byron Turttle's pollinator garden

08-19-2012, 12:29 PM	#3
turttle Curious George & UAOKA recipient Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Chapel Hill, NC	I am leaning toward one of the tanagers. I will try to get a better photo, but I have seen his beak and it is longer than the grosbeak. Thanks, recurve! __________________ There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, this is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar. - Lord Byron Turttle's pollinator garden

08-19-2012, 06:07 PM	#5
turttle Curious George & UAOKA recipient Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Chapel Hill, NC	I don't know linrose...it is a long way from Kentucky to Chapel Hill, though if you haven't seen her recently, maybe she came to see me! Kidding aside, the description fits, and I thought of your mystery bird when I saw mine. I hadn't realized quite how drab the females are for the tanagers. I had decided it might be an immature Baltimore Oriole, but the beak was wrong. It actually looks a bit peachier in person, rather than the olive-yellow that my photo through the window came out. __________________ There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, this is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar. - Lord Byron Turttle's pollinator garden

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08-18-2012, 12:29 PM	#2
recurve Heron Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: powell,Ohio	I'm torn between female blue grosbeak and female summer or scarlet tanager. I wish the profile of the bill was a little better but I'm leaning towards blue grosbeak.

08-19-2012, 05:05 PM	#4
linrose WG Fundraising Coordinator Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Kentucky	turttle, I wonder if that is my mystery bird! I haven't seen him/her for a week or so now but the behavior sounds very similar. I thought female tanager too.