Help on Bird ID

['eyesmaster89]

While I was out today i was taking a few picks of some birds. THen I saw what I first thought was a juvenile robin. My camera doesn't zoom in to far so I looked with the binocs. The birds head looked like it had the markings of a female rose breasted grosbeak, and the chest looked almost like that of a juvenile robin. I didn't get a pic and that is all I got before he flew away. Hope this is a good enough description. Does anybody have any idea of what it might be.

THANKS

[Tom Wilson]

Well at the risk of offending you--because I don't know how long you've been birding...Are you sure that it wasn't either a juvenile robin or a female red Breasted Grosbeak. By your description the only bird I could find in my books (by your description) is a female black headed Grosbeak, which matches your description perfectly, but according to the maps would be an accidental here. According to the range charts, they shouldn't make it past the black hills. I'm more tempted to think it was one of the birds you mentioned. I've seen birds before that have something just different enough to make you question their ID, but they turn out to be what you thought they might have been to begin with. Its hard to say without a pic. I would love to hear others thoughts on this as well.

['eyesmaster89]

No offense taken. I'm just looking for info. I know it might not sound believable to everyone, but I looked up the female black headed grosbeak and I am almost positive that is what I saw. According to the Minnesota Orthontologist Union it would fall under the list of casual birds. I have seen many juvenile robins and female rose breasted grosbeaks and I know it wasn't either one of them. The shape of the bird wasn't like that of a juvenile robin. It had more of the grosbeak shape. That is why I was thinking it was a grosbeak at first, but I have never seen those chest colors on one until now.

I would also love others opinions.

[Steve Foss]

master89:

I guess the only advice I'd give is don't marry what you see in the field guides. Even the best of them can only give you a sort of representative "average" of what a female rose-breasted or black-headed grosbeak looks like. There's sometimes fairly wide variation between individuals within the same species, too. And a female rose-breasted seen in a certain light that makes her look a little buff-colored could easily skew the impression toward the black-headed.

Odds are far more likely it's a rose-breasted. That being said, it's easy to dismiss an uncommon sighting reported by someone not an acknowledged "expert" birder as really being a more common species. I was a victim of that predjudice a time or two and know how it can sting. So the odds aren't always the way to go. Maybe it was a black-headed. The species is known to wander a long ways.

[buzzsaw]

So what is this bird????

eastern Kingbird!

[Steve Foss]

Eastern kingbird.