[va-richmond-general] Re: Mystery Bird

Jim,

It was probably an Eastern Towhee with red eyes but if there is not direct 
sunlight they would look black. Notice the illustration of the red-eyed male on 
p 475 of Sibley's but under low light. The white outer tail feathers and black 
bill pretty much confirm it. The size looks right too. Did you notice that the 
tail is very long? That would go one step further. The call would help too. 
They usually call almost continuously. It sounds like the name but without the 
"to", just "tweet" with an up lilt at the end. Of course the males also sing 
"drink-your-teaaaaa" but not always.

Al Warfield
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jim Blowers 
To: va-richmond-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 10:28 AM
Subject: [va-richmond-general] Mystery Bird


Today I found a mystery bird near our feeder. It looks superficially like a 
robin. But it is smaller, and its top part is much blacker than that of a 
robin. It has white on its breast as well as robin-red, which mainly occurs on 
its flanks. It has some white tail feathers. Anne and I looked at Peterson's 
and Sibley's bird books, but we could not find it. It looks like an Eastern 
Towhee, with the white and orange breast. However, the Eastern Towhee has red 
(or maybe white) eyes, and this bird we saw had black eyes. It looks like a 
Rose-crested Grosbeak, which has black eyes, but it also has a yellow beak, and 
the bird we saw has a black beak.

 

So what is it? A cross between an Eastern Towhee and a Rose-crested Grosbeak? A 
Rosern Groshee?

 

Jim Blowers

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