Central Texas Gray Bird (1 Viewer)

[Central Texas]

Hi all. I live 60 miles north of Austin near Ft Hood. I have two birds I'm not sure of. Let me see if I can attach the pictures here but if I fail you can see them at:

http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/uu165/central_texas/GRAY BIRD - UNK/gray_bird-04.jpg




Then there's this guy. I haven't put him on a web page yet. He has a head like a White Crowned Sparrow but the strips on top of the head are brown.

http://chicalina.com/images/mystry_sparrow 1.JPG

http://chicalina.com/images/mystry_sparrow 6.JPG

http://chicalina.com/images/mystry_sparrow 7.JPG

These are White Crowned Sparrows as you all know.

http://i644.photobucket.com/albums/...Crowned Sparrows/White_Crowned_Sparrow-10.jpg



I appreciate any help IDing these birds. The Sparrow looks a lot like an ordinary House Sparrow but the brown stripes on the head causes me to be unsure.

Bob
Lampasa County Texas

 

[chris butterworth]

The first ones a Cowbird and the sparrow is a ........... It's an easy one, I know it is, but at the moment my brain has nipped out to lunch. It's not a House Sparrow, but one of the American jobbies, I can tell you that much.

 

[jmepler]

Female Brown-headed Cowbird and immature White-crowned Sparrow.

Mike

 

[Steve Schoech]

Mike's right BHC and young white-crowns

 

[chris butterworth]

I knew it was easy :-C

Chris

 

[Lisa W]

Hello, and welcome to the forum on behalf of the staff and moderators. I am slightly jealous of your location, a good area for Golden-cheeked warblers.
Glad you found your IDs fast. When posting ids might be better in this subforum, it is frequented much more often than the state forum. If you include location it also helps.

 

[Central Texas]

Hello, and welcome to the forum on behalf of the staff and moderators. I am slightly jealous of your location, a good area for Golden-cheeked warblers.
Glad you found your IDs fast. When posting ids might be better in this subforum, it is frequented much more often than the state forum. If you include location it also helps.

Thank you all. A Cowbird, I would never have found it looking at pictures on the web. With all the immature White Crowned Sparrows here the numbers are increasing rapidly. There are times when there's quite a few on the ground under the feeders.

We built on land that was only cactus and cedar with some Live Oak around and I've never seen a Golden-cheeked warbler. But I will now be looking more carefully.

Thanks Lisa for the link to the other forum. I looked at it and it was so full of birds from around the world I think it's a great place to look at pictures but this Texas Forum looks better for now.

Again, thanks for all the answers. I have some new birds (Lesser Goldfinch I think) to upload to my Photobucket account when I can find the time to process them. Here's one picture.

Last question for Lisa. I think I read we were allowed only 2 posts a day? If so that's ok, I'll have to get more in some of my posts/questions.

Bob
Lampasas County Texas

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi Bob,

You can post as many posts a day in the forums and you are allowed up to 5 photo uploads per post. Now that's in the forums i.e. Bird Identification Q & A and anywhere else in the forums.

Now the Gallery is a bit different. You can post up to 3 photos in a 24 hour period. Hope what I just typed is understandable

 

[Lisa W]

Bob,
Golden-cheeked comes up to your area to breed each year, here is a small article that discusses the habitat.
I recommended the id forum mainly because you might get more answers to questions there as more of the forum members tend to look at it, rather than the state forums. But please feel free to post questions in this one if you want.
I do like the picture of the Lesser Goldfinch, it is the resident Goldfinch here in AZ also.
Lisa

 

[Central Texas]

Hi Bob,

You can post as many posts a day in the forums and you are allowed up to 5 photo uploads per post. Now that's in the forums i.e. Bird Identification Q & A and anywhere else in the forums.

Now the Gallery is a bit different. You can post up to 3 photos in a 24 hour period. Hope what I just typed is understandable

Thank You, I don't know where I read the 2 posts a day message but I can disregard it now.

Bob

 

[Central Texas]

Bob,
Golden-cheeked comes up to your area to breed each year, here is a small article that discusses the habitat.
I recommended the id forum mainly because you might get more answers to questions there as more of the forum members tend to look at it, rather than the state forums. But please feel free to post questions in this one if you want.
I do like the picture of the Lesser Goldfinch, it is the resident Goldfinch here in AZ also.
Lisa

That guy (Lesser Goldfinch) was hard to id at first and I didn't find this forum until recently. Change subject. For the past 6 years I've seen a bunch of Painted Buntings, sometimes 2 or 3 males at a time and lots of female and young Greenies at my feeders. This year I saw one Greenie in Feb, when it was freezing here, and one male a few weeks ago but nothing more. The House Sparrows have increased in numbers as well and I'm hoping the House Sparrows aren't the cause of the missing PB's.

Bob
Central Texas

 

[Central Texas]

Bob,
Golden-cheeked comes up to your area to breed each year, here is a small article that discusses the habitat.
I recommended the id forum mainly because you might get more answers to questions there as more of the forum members tend to look at it, rather than the state forums. But please feel free to post questions in this one if you want.
I do like the picture of the Lesser Goldfinch, it is the resident Goldfinch here in AZ also.
Lisa

Hi again Lisa. Thanks for the article on the Golden Cheeked Warbler. I learned something and behind my home there are about 70 acres of Cedar and Live Oak. It's possible they are nesting unseen, which would be good for them.

Bob
Central Texas

 

[Lisa W]

Bob, that would be great for them. I like your Painted Bunting. Saw my first in the Texas Hill country a few years ago. You do live in a great place for birds.
Lisa