19 replies to this topic

[WingMan71]

Hello All,

My first post, and I need some help identifying a bird! We have lots of fruit (apples, pears, plums) and nut (pecan) trees in our yard so the bird traffic is quite high.

Murry and Marie, our Rufus Sided Towhees are our favorites! Yes, we named them because their songs sound like they are calling each other Murry and Marie by name!

I used the Step-by-Step process on this site, but could not identify this new guy to my yard.

I was not fast enough to get a camera before he was gone, but I can describe him well. If he returns, I'll try to get some pics.

Size:
About the size of an adult Robin, but not quite as plump as a typical Robin.

Habitat:
Sitting in a small apple tree pecking at an apple. Don't know if he was eating the apple or chasing a bug in it!

Body Color:
I only saw him from the back. He never turned to face me. Head and back both dark brown with perhaps just a bit of dark gray tint to it. Belly was off-white from the legs as far up the chest as I could see from the back, which was maybe only a couple inches up from the legs.

Wing Color:
This was his most distinctive visual character. The wings were the same as the back body color from the shoulders down to about two or three inches from the wing tips. On the last two or three inches of the wings to the tip were the brightest set of white stripes I have ever seen on a bird!

The stripes were across the wings, not parallel to the length of the wings. And, there were three distinct white stripes each separated by a thin strip of brown. The first stripe, highest up on the wing, was the widest, perhaps about 3/4" wide. The next two stripes were each a bit narrower, with the last stripe at the wing tips being the thinest. There was just a bit of brown left at the tip of the wings after the last stripe.

These stripes literally looked like racing stripes on the side of Saleen Mustang (car, not horse) if you've ever seen those. They were hot exactly perpendicular to the length of the wing, but angled just slightly forward at the top of the wing. When I first saw it, I said to my wife "somebody painted racing stripes on that poor birds wings!"

Never Seen Him, or one like him, before!
I have never before seen a bird with these very wide and bright white stripes on the end of his wings before in Georgia, and I've lived here 28 years!

What is this guy? Thanks for any help.

Bob

[hbvol]

sounds like a northern mockingbird

[spookyjimjams]

Agreed

[cabirds]

Welcome to WhatBird!

For comparison with what you saw:

Northern Mockingbird

[BarnSwallow]

The amount and exact placement of the white can be pretty variable, so you might not be able to find a picture that looks exactly like the one you saw.

[Kaysei]

The amount and exact placement of the white can be pretty variable, so you might not be able to find a picture that looks exactly like the one you saw.

I can agree with that! I see mockingbirds every single day. Earlier this week, I actually thought one was something else because the amount of white on the wings (and the brightness of it) totally threw me off. Darn, it was just a mockingbird after all.

[WingMan71]

Thanks all very much for your replies!

I now have some more information that sheds a whole new light on this new arrival in our yard.

It turns out that the bird that I was seeing and describing was a FEMALE. She has recently returned with her MALE mate! And he has changed this bird from a perching bird to a tree clinging bird!

First, they are not mockingbirds. We have plenty of those around here, and these two new arrivals are definitely not mockingbirds.

What they are is some variety of woodpecker! Yes, woodpeckers. We have lots of woodpeckers around as well, but all of them before these two new birds have had at least some red on them somewhere, even the occassional red-shafted flickers that come around. We actually had a huge Pileated Woodpecker here a few years ago that drilled a hole the size of a football into the side of our poor old pear tree. He almost killed the poor tree!

Having now seen the male, they are definitely woodpeckers of some variety that I have not seen in our area before. The varieties that I find in my North American field guide which have no red at all are NOT indiginous to our area, like the Black Back Three Toed Woodpecker or the Hairy Woodpecker. The MALE is much blacker than the female who had a slight dark gray tint to her. The male has these same very distinct white stripes across the last 3 inches of its tail just like the female. The both of them are literally destroying the remaining apples on our small apple tree in the front yard.

I am frustrated by my lack of anything but a small compact point and shoot camera. Every time I try to get close enough to get a picture of them they of course fly off. I'll try to borrow a friends digital SLR and get a picture. They are beautiful birds and I'd like to solve this mystery. They sure seem to be out of their range. Like I said my original post, I've never seen birds like this in the Atlanta area before in the 28 years I've lived here.

Hopefully I can get a picture to post.

Thanks!!!

[BarnSwallow]

Could be yellow-bellied sapsuckers. How could you tell the male from the female? The flickers you saw would be yellow-shafted, not red-shafted.

[Liam]

Hairy Woodpeckers are fairly common in Atlanta. Also, try the Downy Woodpecker, a very common resident. Here's a photo of a male Downy I took last September:

[WingMan71]

Could be yellow-bellied sapsuckers. How could you tell the male from the female?.

I checked pictures of the yellow-bellied sapsuckers in my field guide. They too have at least some red on their heads so I'm not sure. Also, these birds are big! At least 10 inches.


This new pair of birds have no red anywhere, which is why I at first incorrectly discounted the woodpecker family. The female and male showed up together yesterday and started working on apples together. The two have the same markings, in particular the same distinct broad white stripes across the last few inches of the wings. The female's color is overall more subdued than the male, whose main color is black. The female's main color is much more subdued black with a hint of dark gray in it. They are definitely a male/female pair as they are always together now and have the same markings. I did notice yesterday that the chests on both birds are off-white with dark spotting mixed in.

The pair also has very broad and straight long bills with which they literally tear apart the apples in our tree! Going to have to go and get a few before they are all torn up!

I'm going to beg my neighbor to borrow her digital SLR and see if I can get pictures. These birds are really unusual for here and are very pretty birds.

Thanks all.

[psweet]

That almost sounds like a couple of juvenile Red-headed Woodpeckers.

[Kaysei]

That almost sounds like a couple of juvenile Red-headed Woodpeckers.

I took this not long ago and didn't know what it was either. I'd never seen a juvenile red-headed. Wingman, do they look like this???

[psweet]

Yes, indeed, that's a juvenile Red-headed.

[BarnSwallow]

psweet - not sure if you realize, but that's not the OP who posted the photo. Kaysei posted that to see if it looked familiar to the OP.

[psweet]

Ooops -- thanks. I was up way too early this morning to still be up now!

[WingMan71]

I took this not long ago and didn't know what it was either. I'd never seen a juvenile red-headed. Wingman, do they look like this???

Yes! That is the closest picture I've seen that matches the very broad white stripes they both have on the last couple inches of their wings.

Though the juvenile thing still puzzles me. I'm used to seeing juvenile birds, and they mostly all still have some downy feathers left on them and are no where near their final full colors (i.e., the colors still a bit subdued compared to a full gown adult bird). This female/male pair appear for all purposes to be fully grown adults. Teh male particulary is in full bright color.

All that said, this is the first picture I've seen that shows those white wing stripes properly.

Another note: When perched, those white wing stripes are about the only bright white that you see on them, except for the off-white speckled bellies and chests. However, when they take to flight, there is a very prominent blur of white all over including wings and tails, particularly their undersides. It's like they morphed into a different color bird when the fly. Lots more white!

Looks like I'm going to be able to borrow the neighbor's digital SLR. I'm going to set it up in my livingroom on a tripod and aim it out the window at the apple tree these two birds have taken over. Hopefully they will keep coming back for more apples and I can get some pictures.

Thanks everyone again!

[WingMan71]

Well... I'm back to make my final report!

I borrowed my neighbor's digital SLR and tripod and set it up in my front livingroom window. I aimed it directly at the small apple tree this pair of what we now know are woodpeckers have been enjoying.

Everything set up and waiting and they have not been back! There are no apples left on the tree! I thought they might like the pears on the backyard pear tree, but I have not seen them there. Oh well.

Thanks again for everyone's help with figuring out what these two brids are.

[BarnSwallow]

Yes! That is the closest picture I've seen that matches the very broad white stripes they both have on the last couple inches of their wings.

Though the juvenile thing still puzzles me. I'm used to seeing juvenile birds, and they mostly all still have some downy feathers left on them and are no where near their final full colors (i.e., the colors still a bit subdued compared to a full gown adult bird). This female/male pair appear for all purposes to be fully grown adults. Teh male particulary is in full bright color.

All that said, this is the first picture I've seen that shows those white wing stripes properly.

Another note: When perched, those white wing stripes are about the only bright white that you see on them, except for the off-white speckled bellies and chests. However, when they take to flight, there is a very prominent blur of white all over including wings and tails, particularly their undersides. It's like they morphed into a different color bird when the fly. Lots more white!

Looks like I'm going to be able to borrow the neighbor's digital SLR. I'm going to set it up in my livingroom on a tripod and aim it out the window at the apple tree these two birds have taken over. Hopefully they will keep coming back for more apples and I can get some pictures.

Thanks everyone again!

If they are red-headed woodpeckers, the male and female are identical. A young bird recently fledged will have some down on it, but that only lasts a very short time ( a few days, maybe a week) after fledging. The juveniles of many species keep their juvenile plumage until the following year. In the case of gulls and bald eagles, among others, they will have their juvenile plumage for several years. In any case, looooong after any baby down is gone. This could very well be an adult female and a juvenile, still hanging around mom.

Forgot to mention - I looked it up, and red-headed woodpeckers keep their juvenile plumage until the following February, when they molt into adult plumage. As I said, the down is only around for a week or so after fledging.

[flipper]

I live in Mississippi, so we may have a lot of the same birds. Here is what the members told me was a juvenile red head......

[WingMan71]

If they are red-headed woodpeckers, the male and female are identical. A young bird recently fledged will have some down on it, but that only lasts a very short time ( a few days, maybe a week) after fledging. The juveniles of many species keep their juvenile plumage until the following year. In the case of gulls and bald eagles, among others, they will have their juvenile plumage for several years. In any case, looooong after any baby down is gone. This could very well be an adult female and a juvenile, still hanging around mom.

Forgot to mention - I looked it up, and red-headed woodpeckers keep their juvenile plumage until the following February, when they molt into adult plumage. As I said, the down is only around for a week or so after fledging.

Thanks very much for the explanation of the juvenile birds and their eventual change to full adult plumage.

These are definitely juvenile red-headed woodpeckers. Perhaps two juveniles, or a juvenile and the mom.

No apples left for us to make an apple pie with this year. These two pecked them all to pieces!

I live in Mississippi, so we may have a lot of the same birds. Here is what the members told me was a juvenile red head......

YUP!!! That's definitely the bird. Thanks for posting the pictures.

Thanks everyone for your help.

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