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Hope you can help with this one.. (1 Viewer)

pattianne

Well-known member
I hope someone can confirm my id from this description: total black head(hood like).. light buff colored breast with slight dark brownish red coloration that was repeated on upper wings.. the underside of about the bottom half of the tail was very light or white in color... My thoughts are a male orchard oriole, not yet showing the mature coloration...a beautiful song and he thrust his head back sharply each time he sang. I could not see his back at all. No scope yet - but I do have new binoculars, Nikon Sporter I. One step at a time. At least, I can see what I hear, even if I can't capture it with my camera. Location: southern Louisiana near small lake - stayed in treetops. Thanks.
 
nope, certainly not an orchard oriole, as first summer males do not have the hood you describe. We need a beak description in order to really be of much assistance to you on this one. No bird I know of matches this description to a T, although Eastern Phoebe comes extremely close to your description (without the brownish red coloration you mention). I saw an Eastern Phoebe (at least I think it was an Eastern Phoebe), so you could try that. they are songbirds (passerine) so that could be it.
 
With a little more info. we might be able to help. How large was the bird compared with other birds? What did the song sound like? What did it seem to be saying/singing?
 
No reason it cannot be an adult male Orchard or Baltimore Oriole, based on the description so far, Pattinanne. Colors of individuals may not be as intense as the fieldguide illustrations-- what book are you using?
 
This is from a distance; Although this photo was not taken in my yard, I did see an immature b/oriole with the black bib last spring at my feeder and I realize that they change completely by the second spring. I would guess the bird to be about 6-8" long with a black head - strange in that the black coloration did not extend down onto the chest area. Thanks to all for your interest and help.
 

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Larry Lade: Why would the naming org change the name of the Rufous-Sided Towhee, when we've all gotten used to saying it, to Eastern Towhee?
 
Hi gthang,

We seem to be going through an era of "splits" of late. The "powers that be" split" the birds into different species, later "lump" them back together into a single species. Later, as new information "comes to light" and as new individuals become involved in the process of "sorting everything out" they may stay "lumped" or be "split" again. In the case of the Rufous-sided Towhee, they were considered to be two races the eastern and the western varieties. Now they are considered to be two distinct species, the Eastern Towhee and the Spotted Towhee. Two other examples which come to mind:

Green Heron changed to Green-backed Heron changed back to Green Heron
Baltimore Oriole changed to Northern Oriole changed back to Baltimore Oriole

The whole thing is "a little crazy" but that's how it goes!
 
Doesn't seem the right habitat/behaviour for me for E Towhee;pattianne said it stayed in the tree tops,I've always seen them on or near the ground.
 
Trevor, I normally see Eastern Towhee near the ground also. But in the spring of the year the males will sometimes ascend to high perches to advertise their whereabouts to any who might be interested. This is common also for Brown Thrashers, Northern Cardinals, etc. These are birds which generally stay low in their preferred habitats but during the breeding/nesting season can be found in the very top of a tree singing.
 
I agree with you re Thrashers and Cardinals,Larry,but have never seen an Eastern Towhee out in the open like that.That's only personal experience and I've been wrong before!
What about the description of..'beautiful song' and...thrusting the head back,doesn't fit for me?
 
Grousemore said:
I agree with you re Thrashers and Cardinals,Larry,but have never seen an Eastern Towhee out in the open like that.That's only personal experience and I've been wrong before!
What about the description of..'beautiful song' and...thrusting the head back,doesn't fit for me?
"Beauty", I suppose is "in the eye (or ear) of the beholder". I can not recall if when the bird is singing it tilts its head back or not, so can not comment on this. I am by no means certain that this bird is in fact an Eastern Towhee. It was just a suggestion of what it might be. I do not think it was an oriole though.
 
I don't think it's an oriole either. There are no orioles that I know of that have a black hood or head and a complete white belly. It looks right for an Eastern Towhee to me. Yes, singing male towhees will often sit in tree tops or on top of brushpiles, etc. to sing (I've seen it maytimes). The fact that he thrust his head back to sing is very towhee-like. Check out this link and see if that's what he sounded like (note: they can and do sing their song backwards at times)

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/BOW/eastow/
 
The song link didn't help me any, so I'm off this afternoon to the lake. Hopefully, I will have better luck with a photo. Thanks. I'll report when I get back.
 
Yeah!!! I did get a good look today and male Eastern Towhee it is. A lifer for me, too.
Man, ya'll are good at this id stuff. And, he does tilt his head straight back and sing to the heavens... This area around this small lake is alive with birds. We went back over today and saw the Eastern Towhee, 3 Eastern Kingbirds (one sitting on a nest), a beautiful Brown Trasher and two Yellow-billed Cuckoos (another lifer). I couldn't believe the cuckoo - I was on one side of the lake and saw one. I headed back to my SUV to scratch through my id book and my husband met me telling me about these two weird looking birds that had landed in the tree right above where he had been sitting. When he started describing them, I opened my book and we found the picture of the cuckoo together. I knew when I saw the long curved bill it that it must be in the thrasher family, and what about that tail. We saw the "posted" sign as we were leaving, but I think I'll try to find out the owner and ask for permission to go back. It seems to be a favorite spot for birds of all types. Yeah! again, and thanks for your help and encouragement. I can't understand why everyone isn't bird crazy..like me.
 
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