Bird with powder blue belly brown wings and head in CNY feeder today 04_24_24. (1 Viewer)

[Engineeringtech]

I'm a very inexperienced bird watcher. Today I saw something at my feeder that really caught my attention. My security camera isn't working, and I feared that if I left the window to get my cellphone it would be gone before I retrieved it. So unfortunately, I have no pictures. The bird was about the size of a cardinal, but no crest, very plump, powder blue belly and tail feathers, brown wings and brown coloration on its head. It wasn't very animated. It pecked slowly (cautiously) at the pile of nyger, sunflower, safflower, and peanuts in the feeder. It never faced me, so I didn't see the beak or face. The feeder is 8 - 9 feet from the kitchen window, and I was a couple feet just inside of the window. My eyesight is not that great, but I had a long steady look at it, and it had a nice, uniform powder blue belly and tail feathers, and brown wings. After it left I looked online. It didn't look anything like the birds on this link: Avibirds.com

The closest thing I could find online is this bird (Wikipedia, Blue Waxbill). But I know that is impossible, because that is an African bird.
Could I have seen a female cardinal with a stunted crest and some weird sort of coloration?
I will try and get a picture next time.

 

[wheatearlp]

Where in the world are you? The image you've posted is a female Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, which is a sub-Saharan African species.

 

[Indobirder]

I believe the OP is located in New York (USA)

 

[Engineeringtech]

Where in the world are you? The image you've posted is a female Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, which is a sub-Saharan African species.

I live in Homer, NY just south of Syracuse. The picture I have posted was from Wikipedia and is a Blue Wax Bill, which you referred to as a Cordon-Blue. I realize this is probably impossible. But I can't find any other species in North America that resemble what I saw this morning.

 

[birdmeister]

Perhaps an immature male Indigo Bunting or Blue Grosbeak that's not quite in breeding plumage yet?

 

[Lisa W]

Perhaps an immature male Indigo Bunting or Blue Grosbeak that's not quite in breeding plumage yet?

This was my thought also.

 

[Engineeringtech]

But an immature male Indigo Bunting and Blue Grosbeak have blue heads and I believe they are both considerably smaller than the cardinal sized, plump bird I saw.

 

[rkj]

It is not impossible that you saw a Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu or similar species. These are commonly kept cage-birds and you might have seen an escapee.

 

[nartreb]

Are you quite sure about the blue color? Was there anything nearby that might cast a blue light on an otherwise white belly and tail? (e.g., the feeder itself, or a large blue tarp on the ground nearby)

See how the lower belly of this bird looks pale blue, when it's actually white: https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:2400/1*-yzGLSZELvX4GDEoMUxJjQ.jpeg

 

[Butty]

Are you quite sure about the blue color?

...which is something I'm far too polite to have suggested But... we All know from experience that description-only queries commonly (always?!) turn out to be wrong in one or more important aspects (no fault of the observer - that's simply how life and birding are, especially for someone inexperienced). So it's truly wrong-headed to expect every aspect of such a description to fit a proposed ID - and, as such, and as implied by Mr Treb, I would think it definitely necessary to consider species with no blue on them at all... in my opinion... which kindof blows the field wide open I don't think this query will be resolved - sorry.

 

[Engineeringtech]

I will try and get a picture if it returns. Quite certain about the powder blue color. I stared at it for a good three minutes, and from several angles, going to a second window. My house is grey with white trim. Nothing around to reflect a blue color. The bird was on a perch on the side of the feeder facing the kitchen window. Same size as a plump cardinal, eating very slow and deliberate, just as my cardinals do. I've heard cardinals can show different tints in different lighting. that is why I wondered if it could've been a female in weird lighting. But it didn't appear to have any crest whatsoever. And the brown wings, back, and cap were a much more uniform brown than other female cardinals I've seen.

If it is an escaped cordon-bleu, I hope it finds it's way home.

 

[Larry Sweetland]

I will try and get a picture if it returns. Quite certain about the powder blue color. I stared at it for a good three minutes, and from several angles, going to a second window. My house is grey with white trim. Nothing around to reflect a blue color. The bird was on a perch on the side of the feeder facing the kitchen window. Same size as a plump cardinal, eating very slow and deliberate, just as my cardinals do. I've heard cardinals can show different tints in different lighting. that is why I wondered if it could've been a female in weird lighting. But it didn't appear to have any crest whatsoever. And the brown wings, back, and cap were a much more uniform brown than other female cardinals I've seen.

If it is an escaped cordon-bleu, I hope it finds it's way home.

Size can be very deceptive, but if it's the size of a Cardinal (as suggested here), then that excludes some of the suggestions so far, because Blue Waxbill/, cordon-bleus, and Indigo Bunting are obviously smaller.