First, let me thank the respondents who have suggested Black-headed Grosbeak (BHGR) for this bird.

Second, let me apologize for sending my original post to the wrong list server: I intended this for Massbird, not Tweeters. (I subscribe to both, having lived for several years in Redmond and Bellevue before moving back east a couple of years ago.)

But for those of you who are still interested, the bird in question was seen in Essex, Massachusetts, and so is far more likely to be a Rose-breasted Grosbeak (RBGR) than a BHGR.

The best alternative offered up so far is a funny-looking female Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL). It jizzed as a grosbeak to both of us, and I'm a pretty good birder, while Linda is a terrific birder. Of course, we might have been influenced by the RBGR call we'd just heard, and as Mark Twain said in Connecticut Yankee etc., "it's hard to depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus."
The underparts weren't streaked heavily enough to be a typical RWBL, and the facial pattern seemed too clear. And the color is still a problem for RWBL, although one observer suggested that females can sometimes be generally orangey-red above (has anyone else seen this?). It didn't seem like an icterid, but then no other ID quite works, either. So now I'm questioning myself...

I won't inflict any more on Tweeters generally, but if any individuals are curious, let me know and I'll keep you posted if I get any better information.

Thanks,

Jim McCoy
Melrose, MA
jfmccoy at hotmail.com




-----Original Message-----From: Jim McCoy Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2008 11:55 AMTo: tweeters tweetersSubject: [Tweeters] mystery bird -- RBGR?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 McCoyMelrose, MAjfmccoy at hotmail.com