Yesterday during the Birdathon, Linda Pivacek and I encountered a mystery bird near the banks of Chebacco Lake in Essex. We believe it to be most likely a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak (RBGR), because Linda had just heard a Rose-breasted call moments earlier, and because it conformed to the overall pattern. The problem was the coloration.

This bird had a very tawny, almost reddish, back, wings, and head, instead of the rather flat brown that you'd expect, with yellowish-cream facial stripes in place of the usual white. The breast and flanks were whitish with rather heavy dark streaking that extended all the way back through the belly. The tail was notched, and the overall shape was right for RBGR. Neither of us could come up with any other candidate, and we believe that's what it was, but the color looked so wrong that we couldn't help but question ourselves.

Has anyone else seen a RBGR that looked like this? Maybe it was on a really extreme diet that made it look this way, or maybe it was just a genetic anomaly...

Jim McCoy
Melrose, MA
jfmccoy at hotmail.com