Sean:  I agree with Bob Ringler:  it's a male Pin-tailed Whydah.  We 
saw this bird quite a few times on a trip to Kenya a few years ago 
and took a few (bad) photos of it.  The female is kind of drab but 
the male (which your bird is) is really quite spectacular.

Mike Bowen
Montgomery Bird Club


At 06:20 PM 7/3/2008 -0400, Sean McCandless wrote:
>Hi all. I am sure that this is some sort of exotic species. I 
>thought originally
>that it was a Fork-tailed Flycatcher, but after discussion with my Uncle Fran
>who is the one who observed the bird, he said that the beak was red and it
>was not a red spot on the head. Now that I blew up the pic a little bit I can
>see that.
>I am open to suggestions. Obviously American birds are out of the question.
>
>Sean McCandless
>Cecil  Bird Club President
>Elkton, MD

D.H. Michael Bowen
8609 Ewing Drive
Bethesda, MD  20817
Telephone: (301) 530-5764
e-mail:  dhmbowenATyahooDOTcom