Search Results matching tag 'Washington'

Re: Bird with bright yellow back and tail

cc360 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:03:09 GMT

Hello,

I am in SW Washington and saw a bright yellow bird with a bold black stripe down its throat and a black stripe back over the head..

I believe it also had a much smaller black stripe above the eye. It was almost as big as a robin and had a long pointed beak.

I have combed through the images and cannot find it. A very bright yellow with bold black markings. It is a very striking mystery bird at least twice as big as a gold finch. It was in my window feeder (sunflower seeds) but I startled it as I tried to get a closer look and a photo.

I get quite a variety of grossbeaks, but this one has a much longer, slimmer beak and the body is slimmer

Does this sound like your bird Marshgirl? Any ideas anyone? I have wondered if it is just passing through or lost?

Thanks, cc360

what kind of owls are these cute little guys?

displeasure — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:21:57 GMT

http://www.whatbird.com/forums/photos/upload_your_photos/images/99991/original.aspx

I know the image quality isn't the greatest, but this is one of the owls I've seen inhabiting the trees in our back yard. Based on the identifier tool on this site, my best guess would be a northern screech owl. Though I'm not 100% certain. It has yellow eyes, vertical barbed type stripes on the front, and is multiple shades of brown and white/grey. The stripes are either dark brown or black.

http://www.whatbird.com/forums/photos/upload_your_photos/images/99992/original.aspx

This is the other one I've seen. It appears to be quite a bit different than the other, as it's stripes are soft, horizontal and brown rather than black, it's somewhat smaller, and the face is less defined. I have no clue what this one is.

As far as the calls they have, I am not certain. Though I believe the second one has a mid to high pitched single tone repeating cooing type call - Similar to the second mentioned voice text of the western screech owl. http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/14/overview/Western_Screech-Owl.aspx ("cr-r-oo-oo-oo") but I don't think that's what it is.

I live in Washington state.

Hopefully this is enough information to make a correct ID.

Re: Seattle - Bizarre single-tone birdcall we only hear this time of year

eagledawg — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:52:46 GMT

You & the others with varied thrush are correct, thank you! I wonder why they only hang out around the evergreens (not enough to call an urban forest) now when the range map has them in Western Washington all year.

This blurb is certainly accurate from http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/200/_/Varied_Thrush.aspx

The best clue to this bird's presence is usually its song, which often seems to emanate from the forest itself, and is generally unhelpful to observers wishing to locate the singer.

I hope one day we'll see one of them!
~Nikki

Seattle - Bizarre single-tone birdcall we only hear this time of year

eagledawg — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:48:35 GMT

I am brand new to birding with our 6-year-old son as part of Cub Scouts and I have to start with saying how valuable this site is with information that has easily helped us identify all our backyard feeders so far... thanks!

Unfortunately none of the suggestions in searching by Washington, unusual, flat, trill etc for the calls are coming up with anything close to the unseen birds we hear for less than a month or so each year that arrived last week. We live in an area of the city with loads of evergreen trees and they're quite good at hiding in there!

They call in a single continuous tone that is sustained for a long time, doesn't really trill or warble, and doesn't vary in pitch except slightly at the end where once they'll drop down a few notes, then with the next call they'll go up a few. It is such a distinctive sound, almost like someone holding down a key on a keyboard set to some strange electronic synthesizer effect.

Does this sound familiar at all to anyone? Every year I've wondered what these are but now I'm on a mission to find the answer!

Thank you,

~Nikki

Rescued Bird -- Immature Female Song Sparrow?

mynameistaken — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 20:19:13 GMT

(Photo taken: Woodinville, WA, outside of Seattle)

This little bird was flapping wildly and getting nowhere today when I went out to refill my bird feeders. Inside now, away from the cats and hawks, and hopefully back to good health soon.

Can't identify it, though. Suspect it might be a female immature song sparrow?

Has anyone in western Washington seen this bird?

Giraffiesaurus — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 01:12:42 GMT

I have been searching the site, and I think the bird that's made itself at home in my backyard this last week is a Varied Thrush! I've never seen this bird before. It's deep orange in front, with a u-shaped crescent around it's throat. The only bird on this entire site that looks like our bird is the Varied Thrush. Anyone ever seen one? I've lived in the area for 35 years!

Uncommon Washington Bird

Miracle Miriam — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:17:57 GMT

Greetings All,

I just joined this forum because I saw an intriguing bird in my yard this sunny (yes, we do have sun in WA) Sunday morning. I looked it up in my Washington bird book to no avail. So I came here. The thing is, it doesn't match anything common to this area. This bird most closely resembles the Island Scrub-Jay and the Florida Scrub-Jay. The best description I have for it is as follows:

It was feeding on the ground. It was shaped like a jay and maybe a little smaller than the common Stellar Jay we see, but not by much. It had a white belly, and blue wings, tail, and head. The tail was longish, like a Jay. The two most prominent things I noticed were that it had a grey back, and it had a distinctive white horizontal stripe across it's eye area. It had no crest.

I noticed that the Island Scrub-Jay is restricted to Santa Cruz Island in CA, and the Florida Scrub-Jay is exclusive to Fl. So what could it be? This is October and I am wondering if it is on some kind of migration?

I have read in the last year how the Earth is giving signs that there might be an impending magnetic pole shift, and that in the interim of that shift there would be magnetic poles scattered throughout the globe and it would interfere with bird and other animal's migratory patterns. I wondered if in coming years we might see birds in areas where they didn't use to be seen. Just a thought.

Miriam