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Just for curiousity's sake, try doing a search for a Yellow Billed Blue Finch and see if that one looks similar.  If I hadn't read on this site that they do not exist in the USA then I would swear that ours is one. The closest one that I have found that we have in the United States is on a site "Patuxent Bird Identification Information Center".  The bird is a Blue Bunting.  It is similar to the Indigo Bunting but a much darker Blue.  It also has Black on the wings.  The top picture does not look exactly like our bird but the bottom picture does.  I still say that the YBBF is the closest. 

Yes, Yellow-billed Blue Finch may be the "closest" in appearance, but a wild Yellow-billed Blue Finch in the US is simply impossible, because Yellow-billed Blue Finches are not kept in captivity. The fact is, all of these people in this thread are seeing Indigo Buntings, and claiming that the birds they see have "yellow bills." So far, there have been no photos to prove this, and no experienced birders have reported it.

So, anyways, this topic has already been discussed thoroughly.
 

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Art Thread

TIM Birdboy,

 Sorry, but you are simply wrong.  My wife and I are experienced birders and we saw a bright blue bird with a yellow beak.  We were able to observe it for quite a while at a distance of about 15-20 feet.  We did not take a picture because we never expected to be told that the bird we were looking at did not exist.  What nerve you have to assert your opinion simply because you know better.  Frankly, I am sure that we saw a yellow billed blue finch - in time somebody will get a picture.  If you are tired of seeing postings about this subject, quit reading them.

 

JG

Hi -

This reminds me of the book 'To see every bird on Earth' by Dan Koppel, about his father Richard, who has seen over 7 thousand species.

Richard was one of the first people to note the changed migration pattern of the Louisiana Heron, and because he was only a kid, no-one believed him - 'impossible' to see a Louisiana Heron so far north (New York) in the 40s. Now they are quite commonly seen. 

Never say never, Tim, it could be a new migration pattern for these birds.

By the way, 'To see every bird on Earth' is a great read and has certainly gotten me into birding.

Regards, and please no offense was meant by this post,

MMKoppes    

The problem with suggesting that it could be a new migratory pattern is that it isn't an issue of where they migrate, it's an issue of which continent they're on...  the yellow-billed blue finch doesn't exist in the United States, it's not as though someone in California is seeing them when their range supposedly ends in Texas. 

I'm not saying that it definitively is NOT a yellow-billed blue finch, I'm just suggesting to those people who claim to have seen it that they need to provide photographic proof in order to convince us that it is.  I don't believe Tim or anyone else who say it's an indigo bunting is trying to be close-minded, it's just that you're asking them to believe that you saw a bird that has not yet been recorded to exist on the entire continent. 

One more note:  not only is the yellow-billed blue finch found primarily in Brazil, but it's also considered to be "near threatened"...   if they're relatively hard to find down there, you have to see why a lot of us are so skeptical that so many people have seen this bird up here. 

I've read nearly every post and it's funny how skeptical some people are. I too have seen this blue yellow bill UFO in my backyard, it is not an Indigo Bunting and the bird that happens to be the closest is the Yellow-Billed Blue Finch. This does not mean what we are seeing is a Yellow-Billed Blue Finch but it eliminates the Indigo Bunting as they are not even remotely close. We do indeed have a genuine mystery on our hands and I will do what I can to get a clear photo or video of this beautiful visitor. BTW in case your curious I'm located in Canada in the heart of Toronto which happens to be nowhere near Brazil.

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"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind." M.K. Gandhi

Splash:

This does not mean what we are seeing is a Yellow-Billed Blue Finch but it eliminates the Indigo Bunting as they are not even remotely close. We do indeed have a genuine mystery on our hands and I will do what I can to get a clear photo or video of this beautiful visitor.

I hate to add yet another post to this never ending topic, but I feel that I need to.

Splash, Indigo Buntings are not even remotely close to your birds???? Indigo Buntings and Yellow-billed Blue Finches actually appear quite similar (yet their range is THOUSANDS of miles apart), so if your bird looks nothing like an Indigo Bunting, then your bird is not a Yellow-billed Blue Finch.

As to the topic of "changing migration", like mentioned earlier, this is not a topic of migration pattern, but range, there is a difference. Yellow-billed Blue Finches are found in Brazil, and during the summer Indigo Buntings are in North America. Now if Yellow-billed Blue Finches were found in Northern Mexico and you guys lived in southern Arizona and you claim you have a Yellow-billed Blue Finch, that is more plausible, but in this case, we are way way way way way far away. That is almost like claiming you have an extinct bird, which happens to be in many peoples yards across the country appearing regularly.

They say never say never, but in this case you have about 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance of having Yellow-billed Blue Finches.

Take a look at this picture, and maybe this will convince you that maybe indeed you do have Indigo Buntings (the middle bird is an Indigo Bunting. If you are having trouble beleiving that the bird pictured is an Indigo Bunting, think about this: The foreground and back ground are both Lazuli Bunting, which proves that the bird pictured is not a Yellow-billed Blue Finch, because even Lazuli Bunting's winter range does not even reach South America, so to see Lazuli Buntings and Yellow-billed Blue Finches together is once again nearly impossible).

Image taken from: http://www.rshantz.com/Animals/Birds/Buntings/Indigo/20060422Indigo01N.jpg

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featherbrain

Try out my photo quiz!

Life is simple: Eat, Sleep, and BIRD!

"Walk softly and carry a big scope!"

Gus & Bobbie:

TIM Birdboy,

 Sorry, but you are simply wrong.  My wife and I are experienced birders and we saw a bright blue bird with a yellow beak.  We did not take a picture because we never expected to be told that the bird we were looking at did not exist.  What nerve you have to assert your opinion simply because you know better.  Frankly, I am sure that we saw a yellow billed blue finch - in time somebody will get a picture. 

JG

note: emphasis on the above quote was added by featherbrain

 Gus & Bobbie, if you are an experienced birder, you would know that Yellow-billed Blue Finch would be an EXTREMELY rare bird for this continent, so you would be snapping pictures like crazy, taking videos, sketcing it, maybe getting voice recordings so that you could report this bird!!!!! But apparently you didn't think that a Yellow-billed Blue Finch (which has never ever ever been recoded on this Continent) is rare so you simply sat and observed it??? If your bird was indeed a Yellow-billed Blue Finch, you would have reported it and hundreds upon hundreds (probably thousands) of people would have rushed to your house to add it to their ABA list.

 I would love to see somebody's picture of a real Yellow-billed Blue Finch on this continent.

 

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featherbrain

Try out my photo quiz!

Life is simple: Eat, Sleep, and BIRD!

"Walk softly and carry a big scope!"

Featherbrain, it eliminates the Indigo Bunting because....

1) the bird is smaller

2) it is a deeper blue

3) the colour is solid and uniform from head to tail

4) the tail is shorter

5) it has a distinct yellow bill, top and bottom (not the pale yellow, only on the bottom bill, of the bird in the photo you provided)

...now if that does not qualify my earlier statement then it's a lost cause, to discuss this matter with you is pointless because you are convinced of your false belief and nothing I write will alter that, to you all us blind idiots are seeing are Indigo Buntings.

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"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind." M.K. Gandhi

I don't pretend to be an experienced birder, but I was photographing Indigo Bunting's last weekend (both immature and adult), and from certain angles, they appeared, at times, to have yellowish bills. I realized that it was a combination of the sun, the angle, the shadow, the glare, etc. I'm not saying what anybody else did or did not see, but I can see how one can see a "yellow-billed" indigo.

 

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Iowa Voice

I apologize for being so harsh earlier, what I stated was true, but I should have been more calm about saying so.

Your description basically fits no bird that I can think of, even Yellow-billed Blue Finch. Indigo Bunting is closer to your description than Yellow-billed Blue Finch. Yellow-billed Blue Finches are not deeper blue than Indigo Buntings, infact, buntings blue is more brilliant than Yellow-billed Blue Finch, and Yellow-billed Blue Finches are not solid blue from head to tail.

You've got to understand the bird world, when the species that you think it is doesn't fit your bird perfectly, and the species that you think it is is about impossible (as in this case), then you have to look for other options. Indigo Bunting actually fits your description better than Yellow-billed Blue Finch. Keep in mind that an Indigo Bunting, unless you got it in a powerful spotting scope, can look solid blue and depending on the individual, the bill could look yellow.

 

Take a look at this picture of a Yellow-billed Blue Finch, notice that the bird is not deep blue and that it is not dolid blue.

 

 

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featherbrain

Try out my photo quiz!

Life is simple: Eat, Sleep, and BIRD!

"Walk softly and carry a big scope!"

http://www.whatbird.com/forums/forums/thread/14614.aspx

check this one out

You email address is bouncing all the messages sent to your private email address. I have disabled your private email until you determine why the email is bouncing.

i dont why the settings have changed, but i changed them back to be able to receive all them. sorry for any inconvience it caused.

Hey featherbrain,

    No need to apologize, it is obviously a passion of yours so your actions are understandable. What we have here is a communication problem inherent to e-mail type communications, utterly impersonal and without inflection and definitely no substitute for a face to face or even a phone call. There is also no substitute for seeing something with your own eyes but unfortunately it is also impossible to have someone see through and or with your eyes. This is why we have this type of back and forth bickering in forums and this is why it is pointless to argue with someone that has made up there mind about what you are seeing. Now to the business at hand, I never said I was seeing a YBBF I said the bird I was seeing is closer to a YBBF than an IB. The fact that you presented a photo of a YBBF that is remarkably similar to a IB does not change a thing.

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"An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind." M.K. Gandhi