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mockingbird asked in PetsBirds · 1 decade ago

wild bird ID needed... some kind of warbler? finch?

It looks like a warbler, but i'm not putting it past this bird to be a finch of even a sparrow of some sort. (probably not a sparrow).

black and white wings. tan back. very sharp line between the back and wings... no shading/streaking on the back and no tan color on the wings.

lighter tan (no streaking... probably) belly. maybe some white under the tail or yellow under the throat, but mostly just lighter tan.

The head is very distinctive if you look closely at it. It looks brown from far, but if you look close, you see the head is actually yellow but the bird has a brown/tan cap on the head and brown/tan cheek spots leaving very little yellow on the head.

Seed-eating wide beak. Large beutiful liquid eyes, they look larger than they should be for the bird's size.

I looked at warblers on google and i did several searches on WhatBird.come and can't find it.

the closes i can find is "pine warbler" but that one is too yellow and too streaky to be this one. and besides, those don't really come to bird-feeders, do they?

It is seen right now, dec, on a bird-feeder in CT. it does not feed there but visits from time to time.

I wonder if it's a female or juvenile of some kind of common warbler which is why it's no-where to be found...

Update:

both sparrows and yellow rumped warbler are all streaked all over. this birt was not streaked but solid tan on the back and sharp black-n-white wings like warblers have 'em, only the long feathers being colored, not like sparrows have 'em with the color going all the way up the back.

3 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    I might guess you saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler..they are pretty common right now. They do vary greatly....especially in the winter when the males are drab and brown looking. Females can be drab as well..and the yellow color can vary greatly as well. Did you notice if the bird had a yellow patch on the rump? This is usually always present but the yellow under the chin, on the sides of the body, etc. are sometimes bright...sometimes drab, or sometimes non-existent. Check out some photos to see if any of these look like your bird.

    http://images.google.com/images?q=yellow%20rumped%...

    To make a positive ID of your bird.. I would need a photo.

  • 1 decade ago

    No help for this question, but since you seem to be an avid birder you might want to invest in a book called the Sibley Guide to birds. Its EXCELLENT for bird identification. Its the best book I've ever come across. Might also help you ID this bird of yours as well.

  • 1 decade ago

    Field sparrow or American tree sparrow comes close to what you described.

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