Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 13:03:17 -0400 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "E.H. Rankin" Subject: Re: Help with bird identification? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit A flicker perhaps? - Dillon Rankin Sherry Peruzzi wrote: > 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 > ======================================================================= ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================