Outdoor Ontario
Request for Information => Bird ID => Topic started by: Great Southwest on May 04, 2015, 09:17:04 PM
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Hi Folks,
I'm an outdoors person, but not a birder. Still, a couple weeks back I encountered one strange looking bird and am asking anyone for a lead as to its ID.
The sighting was about 40Kms west of Point Pelee, only a few hundred feet from Lake Erie. The bird was about the size of a robin. It had a completely white head and the body looked mostly white, with grey wings. I'm thinking he/she was only passing through, as never saw anything like that around here before. Thanks for any ideas.
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snow bunting? or a leucistic robin?
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Although not identical, did you look at photos of Northern Mockingbird
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Nort ... ingbird/id (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Mockingbird/id)
and Northern Shrike?
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Shrike/id (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Shrike/id)
some terns also have a lot of white on the head while younger
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Tern/id (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Tern/id) (click through to the photos of the younger ones)
Not sure what else to suggest off hand.
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What a great birding resource this site is. Thanks for the leads Pat and Bet. Could have been a leucistic robin from the photos I've viewed on line, though this bird's snow white body was more extreme than any photos I saw, and note, eyes were not pink. The photo I reviewed of a snow bunting had a shorter beak, ditto the tern, the Strike photo was of a puffier-looking bird than I saw, and the Northern Mockingbird was too grey, though it could have been a leucistic one too.
Johnny Winter was heretofore my only experience with albino characteristics.
Before I sign off, I'd like to mention that I have turned my half acre yard into one with no grass, but with trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and gardens and have noticed a lot more bird activity as yard has matured. If anybody doubts it, I'm saying small scale habitat changes by home owners can make a huge difference and then you get to live really up close and personal with your feathered friends. Now if those red-winged blackbirds would only stop dive-bombing the garden visitors...
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It's tough to make a definitive ID based on the information you provided. Can you give us more details? Leg length and colour, bill length and colour. Was the bird more like a song-bird or more gull-like or perhaps more shore-bird like. Anything you can give us. Even the way it flew or any peculiar behavioural characteristics you noticed.
Here's a website I use from time to time when I struggle with ID, give it a shot, it might help. Just make sure you're in "icon" view so you can see the thumbnail previews. Good luck.
http://identify.whatbird.com/mwg/_/0/attrs.aspx (http://identify.whatbird.com/mwg/_/0/attrs.aspx)
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I would like to thank Rotarran for even attempting to deal with a gardener. Plants I can ID and relate to more. Songbird or shorebird? Heck if I know. The sighting occurred as I was hiking thru a village, and it was the odd-ball appearance that caught my eye. It was just hanging around, maybe jumping to another branch, in some low trees next to a ravine. Leg length might be like a robin's, the dark beak too, black eyes, smooth feathers. I will try the suggested site, thanks, and I might go back and see if he's still there.