Southern Michigan USA, blurry picture coming later... (1 Viewer)

I am at my aunt's house because I lost power. Me and my aunt were outside when a bird landed on the ground near her feeder. She saw it better than I did, but I declaired it a Horned Lark. We got a fuzzy photo of the bird with my cell phone, but because my phone is roaming and my aunt doesn't have a microUSB adapter, I have to wait until I get power again to upload it.

The bird had a strong yellow and black pattern to the face and was brown above and yellow below. However, the bird had a large black bloch on the lower belly, unlike a Horned Lark. Also it was by itself. Bigger than the nearby juncos and tree sparrows, but it wasn't that much bigger.

I'm a bit stumped. As I said, picture coming soon, but it's very poor quality.

Meadowlark? A bit big though...

It wasn't a meadowlark. I know this picture isn't going to help, but meh, shows the size of it kind of. The bird in question is the one to the far left.

Angnix said:

It wasn't a meadowlark. I know this picture isn't going to help, but meh, shows the size of it kind of. The bird in question is the one to the far left.

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Looks like it could be a HOLA; the black you mentioned on the lower belly might be staining or dirt. Is your aunt's house near any fields or in a rural area? That would also support HOLA of course.

Best,
Jim

J. Moore said:

Looks like it could be a HOLA; the black you mentioned on the lower belly might be staining or dirt. Is your aunt's house near any fields or in a rural area? That would also support HOLA of course.

Best,
Jim

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It's right at the edge of town, I checked out satellite images and sure enough, there are farmer's fields very close by, on three sides.