
Mystery Bird
Any idea what this bird might be? I suspect it may be a young bird. I saw it on the south field plateau where the pumpkins are growing. It didn’t fly away but I couldn’t get close enough to get a really good photo.
Outdoors: 74°F/62°F Sunny
Tiny Cottage: 68°F/64°F
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I’m going to guess a purple sandpiper. I always figured they’d be hanging by the shoreline but what do I know. Maybe they enjoy the good company of pigz.
On second thought, I’ll go with a spotted sandpiper. That’s a pretty spotted bird you got there.
Wonder what it is . . . .
I know a fair number of New England birds, but this one . . . not even a guess.
I bet it’s an immature Robin.
Starling?
Try this website.
http://identify.whatbird.com/mwg/_/0/attrs.aspx
A Spotted Sandpiper, maybe?
http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/215/_/Spotted_Sandpiper.aspx
Isn’t this a killdeer? The speckles, stance, and beak look like it. Are those eggs you posted about still there?
It isn’t a killdeer, for sure. I had baby killdeer here and they are (the cutest) exact tiny version of their parents. My first reaction was starling, but most aren’t that light on the belly. Looks like the legs and beak are too long for a robin, but that could be the photograph. Sandpipers really are beach birds — killdeer are the inland members of the plover family.
If it was not flying away why couldn’t you get a good picture?
This little bird walked away very quickly as I tried to get closer. It was dim lighting so even though I had 7x optical telephoto on the camera I still wasn’t getting a great shot. Next time I’ll try and get more cooperation from the model. :)
I looked it up on the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology website:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/spotted_sandpiper/id
It does look like a spotted sandpiper, and they can be found inland as well as at the shore.
Legs and beak are too long for a songbird (such as an immature robin), and killdeer have a distinct black double ‘necklace’ around their throat.
Spotty breast looks like a thrasher, but those have a big long tail.
Proportions look like some kind of shorebird? Gonna second the spotted sandpiper. (Or third, or whatever it is by now. : )
Post it here: http://www.flickr.com/groups/bird_id_group/ be sure to include when and in what state and country this pic was taken. You will get some very educated guesses and likely the right answer.
young robin
we have them here too
The legs are built for running, the wings are smaller compared to body size for sustained flight, beak is long, pointy but denser and powerful than seed feeding birds. So likely in habit it eats bugs etc especially ones in tree stumps, bark, stream edges where it has to dig them out a bit.
Think Road Runner type birds, foragers near ground level, hangs out under scrub bushes for cover and nesting likely, roosts like chickens or Quail, not too high up a tree and concealed by thick growth.. interesting how much you can figure out by looking at the build and mechanics of limbs and body parts.. I cant tell you what it is but how its parts evolved for use in its habitat…