It is a cowbird that, based on the lack of obviously swollen commissure of
the beak, has probably been out of the nest for a few days. . A fledgling
starling would be grayer overall, lack the pale throat patch, and have a
longer beak. A fledgling towhee would show the white wing patch and have a
more conical beak. Towhees are fairly common cowbird hosts. You would
probably also have noticed the white in the tail of a fledgling towhee.
Chuck Nicholson
Norris, TN
On Wed, May 1, 2019 at 3:22 PM Scott Heppel <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
David,
Sorry for originally pressing send before the attachment. I think you may
be correct about the Brown-headed cowbird. The bird in question seemed to
be very interested in a calling Eastern Towhee male that was about 5 feet
away from this bird, and it did look somewhat like a juvenile Towhee. I
just ran it through iBird photo sleuth which gave it a 60% chance of being
a European Starling, but that did not look right. Now I am wondering if the
Cowbird, if that is indeed what it is, was raised in a Towhee nest.
Scott
On May 1, 2019, at 1:51 PM, David B Coe <davidbcoeauthor@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I’m probably wrong about this, but based on the fine streaking, the fact
that the head color is not all that dark, and the general shape and
attitude of the bird, I would call this a juvenile cowbird. Would be very
interested to know what others think.
*****
David B. Coe/D.B. Jackson
www.DavidBCoe.com <http://www.davidbcoe.com/>
www.dbjackson-author.com
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On May 1, 2019, at 1:46 PM, Scott Heppel (Redacted sender "scott.heppel"
for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Sorry for failing to attache the photo earlier.
On May 1, 2019, at 1:34 PM, Scott Heppel <scott.heppel@xxxxxx> wrote:
I think this might be a juvenile Eastern Towhee. The size looked right
when I saw the bird. Anyone out there have an opinion? Any suggestions
appreciated.
Photographed 4/28/2019 in East Memphis, Kirby Woods.
Scott Heppel
Shelby County
Memphis
<20190428_Scott_Heppel_0345.jpg>
