I can't figure out which bird this is! (1 Viewer)

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 12, 2003

Hello everyone!
I am new to this wonderful forum; I have been looking for something like this for awhile and I'm so glad I found it. I've attached a picture of a very small bird that's been in my backyard the past few days, but I've never seen it before and I can't find it in my bird identification book. Does anyone here know which bird this is? Thank you for your help!

Tim · Sep 12, 2003

It's a male American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)

PhilM · Sep 12, 2003

Russian, this is a female American Redstart.
The male is unmistakable, with the orange patches contrasting with the black body and white belly. Females and young birds are olive-gray above, with yellow tail and wing patches.

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 12, 2003

YES!!!

AHA! Olive gray above, yellow tail and wing patches! That describes this bird exactly - oh, I am so happy you told me what this is. I have never seen one before and I'm so very, very happy I was able to attract it to my backyard. It's been flitting around my waterfall, so fast I could barely see what it looked like. My boyfriend snapped a bunch of photos, but this was the best one to use for identification because of the tail shot.
THANK YOU so much, you've been a great help!

Steve · Sep 12, 2003

Welcome Tim and Russian, to the Forums.

American Redstart was good enough tim.:t:

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 12, 2003

Here it is again!

I looked up this other picture from the web once I was told it was the femal American Redstart. Yep, this is the baby! Thank you all again, what a fabulous forum!

Larry Lade · Sep 12, 2003

Redstart

Here is photo of an American Redstart which we mist netted and banded here in Saint Joseph, Missouri, September 3, 2003.

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 12, 2003

Range and song

I was wondering why I had never seen this bird before so I looked up its range. The site below also provided a recording of its song, too!

Distribution: Breeds from southeast Alaska south to northeast Oregon, through boreal Canada to Newfoundland south to the Gulf Coast and to the midwestern states. Scattered in the eastern Rockies and Great Plains. Common in second-growth forests, often near ponds or swamps.

Winters from Mexico through Central America and into South America. Also Bermuda and throughout the West Indies, extreme southern Florida.

Status: Declines noted in Midwest and New England; stable in boreal and Appalachian regions.

http://www.birdsource.org/warblers/species/amered/

Michael Frankis · Sep 12, 2003

Hi Russian,

Good you got it sorted.

I'm wondering, where was the photo taken? - that looks a really strange backdrop, seems like it is perched on a stone on top of a cliff overlooking a gigantic opencast mine, with a dusting of snow on the upper ledges and a cavernous hole at the right . . . I don't suppose that's what it is, though!!

Michael

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 12, 2003

LOL! Your description of my backyard was hilarious! No cliff, no mine - I had to crop the picture to make it fit in my first post. The original photo shows the bird sitting on my teeny-tiny waterfall in my backyard. The bird is actually standing in the shallow part of the water on one ledge, next to a dry stone. The cavernous hole at the right is where the ledge ends and drops off to the next ledge below. I built the waterfall specifically to attract birds that I couldn't get with food. I made sure the waterfall has shallow ledges for small birds to bathe in and one lower, deeper ledge for the bigger birds. It worked! Especially during migration periods, it attracts all sorts of birds that don't go to my feeders. The waterfall runs into a small pond. I'll try to attach another, better photo.

Michael Frankis · Sep 12, 2003

Very nice setup, thanks. Yes, there's lots of birds will come to running water but not to tables.

Michael

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 15, 2003

Need another I.D!

Here's another one! Again, my boyfriend snapped this shot in one of the rare moments when this bird was still. This bird was hanging around my red pond flowers, acting like a hummingbird, but this bird is about 3-4 inches long. I thought it might be a Philadelphia Vireo, but my bird book says they are 6-7 inches long and this bird was nowhere near that size. Any ideas?

CJW · Sep 15, 2003

Prothonatory Warbler (?)

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 15, 2003

The website below has this description:

The Philadelphia Vireo is 4.5 to 5 inches, long with a wingspan of 8 to 9 inches, and weighs from 12 to 16 grams. It lacks wing bars, is similar to the Warbling Vireo, but usually shows a strong yellowish wash across the under parts. The back is grayish with an olive green wash.

http://www.wbu.com/chipperwoods/photos/philvireo.htm

My bird has the same coloring, but again, it's not as big as this description says. In fact, when I first saw it, I thought it was a large hummingbird.

As for it being a Prothonatory Warbler, I don't think so. I've attached a picture of that bird and it doesn't have the stripes through and above the eyes like my mystery bird. Hmmm...

Larry Lade · Sep 15, 2003

Hi Russian,

I think your bird is a first year, female Black-throated Blue Warbler. If you happen to have "Sibley's Guide to Birds" you might take a look at the picture on page 434.

Larry

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 15, 2003

Female Black Throated Blue Warbler

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i6540id.html
Females are rather nondescript but the small white patch in the wing is diagnostic. When this patch is absent, look for the dark cheek patch contrasting with the white supercilium. The unstreaked underparts and lack of wing bars are also helpful field marks.

Could be!!!

See if these pictures match (I'm sorry, I don't have Sibley's Field Guide).

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 15, 2003

Picture number two:

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 15, 2003

Picture number three:

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 15, 2003

Picture number four:

Russian Wulfgar · Sep 15, 2003

Last picture:

I can't figure out which bird this is! (1 Viewer)

Guest

Attachments

Member

Active member

Guest

Member

Guest

Moderator

Attachments

Guest

conehead

Guest

Attachments

conehead

Guest

Attachments

Hit-and-run WUM

Guest

Moderator

Guest

Guest

Guest

Guest

Attachments

Guest

Similar threads

Users who are viewing this thread