Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 11:50:56 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Sherry Peruzzi Subject: Help with bird identification? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Ospreyers, A friend here in Columbia just called me to ask what the unusual bird on his lawn was, but from his description, I haven't a clue. He was looking at the bird as he described it to me and responded to my questions about it. The most striking feature he described was an open red triangle on the back of its neck, "like it was wearing a neckerchief with the middle cut out." He said its head was gray and its back was "speckled gray." He couldn't see the undertail, but the upper side of its tail was "striped like a zebra" and "shaped like a fish-tail." He said the breast was primarily pale gray, but with a "pink tinge" to it. The bill was described as black, long and pointed. The bird was walking around on the lawn pecking at the ground; there was a robin there, too, and he said this bird was slightly larger than the robin, "about the size of a blue jay," and had a longer bill than the robin. I was about to say I'd be right over when he said, "Oh, a squirrel just chased it away." I went through the Sibley guide almost page by page and found various birds that matched *some* of those field marks, but I couldn't find anything that matched all of them. Does anyone have the slightest idea of what he could have been looking at? He promised to call me if it showed up again. Thanks, Sherry Peruzzi Howard County bookworms@home.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================