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Brown bird - Eastern Ontario, Canada (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Gordon W
- Start date
No offense, but we should probably have a "have you checked if it's one of the following..." at the top of the page.
It would contain (at least):
Immature/winter/breeding eurasian starling
House sparrow, esp. Female
Brown cowbird
Northern and tropical mockingbird
Winter wren
...For North America
It certainly pays to be au fait with these. The introduced ones can be ubiquitous but clearly "odd" compared with the natives
It would contain (at least):
Immature/winter/breeding eurasian starling
House sparrow, esp. Female
Brown cowbird
Northern and tropical mockingbird
Winter wren
...For North America
It certainly pays to be au fait with these. The introduced ones can be ubiquitous but clearly "odd" compared with the natives
Yes forgot that and agree. I guess no-one reads the stickies though (I don't) so a lost cause
Gordon W
Well-known member
Thanks. Would have never guessed this was a starling and it's this sort of thing that means I'll never be a birder. I've also never heard of a 'Eurasian' starling. Can I assume that is the same as a European starling? If not, what's the difference? I find almost nothing online about a bird called a Eurasian starling.
Don't give up on birding. The more you watch them the more you'll learn to identify them. There is a section in our Gallery that is centered on North American Birds which can be found here:
When you have the time you can scroll through the images and it might very well help you identify more birds
Sangahyando
Well-known member
There are many species of starling in Eurasia (three of which occur in Europe), so "Eurasian Starling" is hardly a sensible name for the species. It's called Starling, or Common Starling, in its native range.
Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
Common Starling perplexes more Americans than I think any other species?
Yes sorry I was "blindly" copying the previous poster. I assumed that was the Clements/ebird name. But it's "European" there of course.
Re: mockingbirds. Yes but since North America covers Mexico and Central America, we get a lot on both mockingbirds
ryckfour
Well-known member
For UK, I would (based on posts here) suggest Dunnock and Stonechat
Yes also starling and house sparrow, domestic ducks, immature robins, female blackbirds and the 2 common thrushes. If none of these then it's a chiffchaff...
It is one of only a few that occur in both Europe and Asia, so it is perfectly sensible. It wouldn't be a sensible name for those that occur only in asia.
Not really. I've never seen it be an issue among birders in the field here; this forum is a small sample size. One of the first things I learned as a birder more than 50 years ago was how to tell a starling from a grackle.
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It really is.
I'm sure you're right. Alas some years since I was in the States. But certainly lots of posts from US birders here on BF having problems id-ing them.
Cowbird's probably just ahead although it's close. Sparrow's in the race too
