And then we've been having this yellow bird again:
Ah, I think mystery solved. Not fellows at all, but of the feminine persuasion! Thank you once again, Sibley.
***Edited to add: Well if I would read your comments more carefully, Randy, and actually RETAIN THE INFORMATION, I wouldn't have been wondering about this bird at all, since you helpfully ID'd it a few posts ago. How embarrassing! But at least we agree. :-)***
Which brings me to one other point: Sibley has an absolutely awesome eGuide, which I recently purchased for my iPhone . Not only do you have the entire Sibley guide in your pocket, but you have the sounds of each bird...and not just one sound, but the sound here, there, in this state, that state, the call, the chirp, the alarm tweet, the warble...whatever sound that bird can make in whatever location, you can find it in the Sibley eGuide. So I had my first conversation out in the woods with a red-bellied woodpecker the other day, keeping in mind that I do not want to overdo it and disturb the natural order of things. But it was very exciting!
Hi Heather,
ReplyDeleteIt looks as if spring is trying to happen in Traverse City. Here in Seattle we are having a typical April - cold and rainy.
The mystery gray bird looks suspiciously like a Tufted Titmouse to me. He knows you are new to birding so he is challenging you by holding his tuft (crest) flat against his head. They do this from time to time. But the big black eye against the very pale gray face, the bit of black just above the bill, and the darker coloring along the edge of the wing all look like titmouse to me.
I don't have a lot of experience with titmice because we don't have them here. Perhaps at some point you could show the picture to someone in the local Audubon club.
Good job on the Goldfinch id. They are also challenging you. They have started to molt but they are still half way between winter and summer plumages. You look to have both males and females in the pictures - the males have small black caps starting to come in.
Also, you may well have seen a bluebird. They are probably starting to show up in upper Michigan. But the picture you posted is of a Barn Swallow. They are also blue on the back with rusty undersides. Bluebirds and swallows have very different shapes, so if the bird you saw looked like the bluebird in Sibley that is almost certainly what it was.
Randy
Ahh, right you are on the barn swallow...he is also in my Birds of Michigan book, and I see that he is more squatty than the bluebird. That picture is from a hallway I happened to be walking through recently...I thought it was pretty funny! Now to find a real one...and also an indigo bunting, which looks like a lovely bird and is supposed to be around here in the summer.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet your right about the titmouse...he has fooled me before, but always raised the crest right back up so I knew it was him.
Interesting about the goldfinches! That explains their strange mottled coloring and the mysterious black on some of their heads.
I saw another bluebird at the park...see next post. Thanks, Randy.