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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chris Benesh" data-source="post: 1408134" data-attributes="member: 6775">Hi All,Cattmadden, the folks on this forum have done an excellent job with trying to suss out the identification of your mystery bird(s).  Based solely on the evidence visible in the photo itself, the bird in question is almost certainly a male Brewer's Blackbird. The only physical anomaly is that the bill appears yellow and misshapen.  The fact that there are flower pedals littering the ground next to the mystery bird suggests that the bird is in the process of eating a pedal. That would explain the appearance of the bird in the photo.  If it was a tasty enough blossom, perhaps many of the Brewer's were similarly joining in to the feast on them.  None of the other candidates mentioned pan out in my opinion.  Further, Rasmus has an incredible knowledge of birds in a global context, and would be likely to suggest other possibilities if they existed.  On the other hand, Aptos is a place where Brewer's Blackbirds are abundant.  Chances are that the likeliest scenario is the correct one.  Chris</blockquote>