• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Where premium quality meets exceptional value. ZEISS Conquest HDX.

There is a "discussion" on a local site as to the ID of the bird on the right. Ontario, Canada. (2 Viewers)

Tom Lusk

Well-known member
This bird was photographed in South-eastern Ontario a few days ago and there are two camps - one that insists this is a female Red-winged Blackbird and the other saying it's a bird well out of its range.
 

Attachments

  • BIRD ID CROP.jpg
    BIRD ID CROP.jpg
    434.3 KB · Views: 146
This bird was photographed in South-eastern Ontario a few days ago and there are two camps - one that insists this is a female Red-winged Blackbird and the other saying it's a bird well out of its range.
Looks fine for a female Red-winged Blackbird. Just for a giggle what was the other suggestion?
 
The other suggestion (actually a decree) was that it's a Redwing, from Europe.
The Redwing description in Collins says 'Note whitish stripes above eye and beneath cheeks, also rusty red flanks...' This bird does not have those features.
Fits female Red winged blackbird very well however.
 
(Edit: My apologies for prolonging the thread; I misread the "bird well out of its range" part of the first post, thought it was referring to the range of RWBB.)

Very clearly female red-winged blackbird. Cornell's map says their winter range includes the edges of Ontario, though the same map shows a winter range that includes Massachusetts, where I've never seen one in January. They might indeed be rare in winter at the location... but it's a RWBB nonetheless. Certainly not a redwing; it's got an icterid bill, not a turdus bill.
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top