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Re: Help ID mystery bird at feeders

From:

Les Roslund

Reply-To:

Les Roslund

Date:

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 21:46:19 -0400

Jenny - The bird looks like a young male Cowbird.  It is in the process of
changing to the adult plumage - hence the mottled appearance.

This is the first that I have heard of a Cowbird getting into a House
Sparrow nest, but it sounds like a nice trend.  Much better place for them
than in Warbler or Wood Thrush nests.

Out of my own curiosity I wonder how many species of Maryland birds have
been seen hosting Cowbirds during recent years - lets limit the listing to
the years that the Atlas Work has been going on.  If anyone has seen some
species hosting cowbirds during that period, let me know.  After most of the
answers are in, I will put the results onto MDOSPREY, but there is probably
no need to plug up the list serve with each of the responses (I hope there
are many).

As a start:  Jenny shows House Sparrow; I have seen hosting by Cardinal
recently. (Several years ago I saw hosting by House Wren and Wood Thrush.)
What other species have been seen as hosts in Maryland?

Les Roslund

Talbot County
Easton MD 21601


-----Original Message-----
From: Maryland Birds & Birding [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Jenny McClintock
Sent: Friday, August 11, 2006 11:38 AM
To: 
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Help ID mystery bird at feeders


Hello all!

I am looking for some help ID'ing a mystery bird at my feeders over the last
few days. This bird is always with the large flock of House Sparrows and is
half-again as large as they are. He definitly appears to be a mis-matched
part of the flock. The other day, I noticed him going beak-to-beak several
times with a female HS, it appeared as if she were feeding him. 

He is gray-brown overall, with a speckled breast, a dark wing bar (scapular
or coverts?), a darker slightly rounded and forked tail, and his beak is
thicker than the sparrows and the top is slightly darker than the bottom.

I have posted some pictures here. They are not very good, but hopefully some
expert bird detectives out there can give me a guess as to who he may be.

Thanks!

Jenny McClintock
Columbia

http://home.comcast.net/~mcclintock7/mysterybird.htm