Attached photo is a bird I thought to be a juvenile red wing black bird. I am not sure what it is, it has much more yellow than any illustration in my 3 bird books. I have seen red wing black birds in our back yard, but my ID is questionable. Any help will be appreciated. Taken in central Illinois June 29, 14
Luke and Richard, thank you for your comments. It is what I also thought, but received comments that the beak was not correct for a RRWBB. I have attached a photo of a female RWBB taken in the same place. The beaks are different, or is it just the POV? Interesting.
I'm the guy who thought this was unlikely to be a Blackbird; the bill seemed far too heavy, and the bird itself far too yellow. Richard is my superior in bird ID, so I'll go with this call. But I still think the bill is quite different.
Back in my NJ days, Pete Dunne advised waiting until a bird presenting a difficult identification had flown beyond view before fixing an ID to it, in order to avoid the embarrassment of being demonstrably wrong. Unfortunately, John's mystery bird isn't going anywhere and I can't avoid the risk.
I've looked at this bird a number of times and still am hesitant about it. I have never seen a Red-winged Blackbird with so much yellow, but I can't find any other native species that it could be. Yellow-headed Blackbird doesn't have the streaking in any plumage, nor does Bobolink come close in any plumage.
The beak on John's bird seems a little thicker and less pointed than I'm used to seeing on red-wing, but not blunt enough to be a Brown-headed Cowbird (which can show some modest streaking as a juvie but not so much yellow).
Thank you Richard, I think we were all waiting for your comments. Also thanks again to everyone who commented. This has been a summer of odd bird sightings in my backyard. First the sparrow with white wing and tail feathers, who is still hanging around, then for several days a single indigo bunting was visiting, and now this bird, which I will go with an odd RWBB. It was interesting.
Discussion
7 repliesJohn Tobias
I've looked at this bird a number of times and still am hesitant about it. I have never seen a Red-winged Blackbird with so much yellow, but I can't find any other native species that it could be. Yellow-headed Blackbird doesn't have the streaking in any plumage, nor does Bobolink come close in any plumage.
The beak on John's bird seems a little thicker and less pointed than I'm used to seeing on red-wing, but not blunt enough to be a Brown-headed Cowbird (which can show some modest streaking as a juvie but not so much yellow).
So, I'm going with Red-winged Blackbird.
For comparison:
Various plumaged Red-winged Blackbirds on my web site.
A young Brown-headed Cowbird on my web site.
John Tobias