Hi everyone,
I just joined up and am enjoying the reports so far.
Here's my problem (sorry no viable pictures): I'm in Salem and a few days
ago our backyard feeder was visited by a small flock of birds (6-8?).
I've never seen them before and can't spot them in any of my books or
through the Cornell site. As far as I know they haven't been back, so I'm
thinking migrants.
We had some red-winged black birds at the same time, so I'm going to use
them as a point of reference. The unknowns were maybe an inch shorter than
the red-wings, but similar in shape with a slender-ish build, medium tail
and upright stance. Assuming there were both in the flock, there wasn't
much to distinguish males and females. So, overall they are a beautiful
rich brown (redish rather than grayish brown) with dark sable stripes. The
stripes on the underside went from the neck down a little over half way,
straight lines making a fan shape that faded into a slightly lighter lower
belly. The back, wings and tail were likewise striped in the sable color
over a slightly lighter brown. As best I could tell, both the beak and the
eyes were dark.
One would never see them in brush, but standing around on the feeder board
they were striking and gorgeous.
Any ideas?
Thanks so much,
Carol V
