Bird ID Help, please.

[Pat]

We have several bird books but the best we have are specially made for Oklahoma. The bird we can't ID may be an uncommom visitor but I think I saw an example nesting in the grass on or near the ground. I did NOT investigate as I didn't want to disturb them.

I have seen the bird in question on the ground beneath both of our back yard feeding stations (two feeders per station.) It doesn't seem to be interested in the seed feeders but does eat seed from the ground.

The bird is smaller than an eastern bluebird and larger than an American goldfinch, maybe slightly smaller than a tufted titmouse. It is beautiful blue on its back and bright orangey red on the belly. In flight in the sun the blue back is iridescent and amazingly BLUE. The red-orange breast is far more colorful than a robin or an eastern bluebird but its breast/belly is not the red of a redheaded woodpecker as it has a tinge of orange in the red.

Sorry, no pix. I almost got pix of the painted buntings but my wifes bino-cam has separate focus on the cam part and I didn't so only got colored blurs. (*%&$ 7654*&$(*%

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[BlueRidge]

Can't help directly, Pat, but here are a couple of sites that might help:

http://www.whatbird.com/

http://www.wildbirds.com/Identify.htm

http://www.enature.com/home/

[Michael]

Is this one a possibility?

[Pat]

Michael, As I mentioned in my post, we have eastern bluebirds, We have them but the bird in question isn't one. The X-Bird is smaller and slimmer than a bluebird and has a much more vivid red-orange belly. I'm not sure but don't think an eastern bluebird woudl nest on the ground when there are so many alternatives. Last spring I had a nest of them in my tractor shed (open to the south.)

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Blue, Nice sites! Thanks for posting. I will certainly revisit those. Unfortunatley I tried to find the X-Bird using the facilities at those sites and failed. In all cases my search parameters yielded a bird or birds with which I am familiar BUT that was definitely NOT the X-Bird.

Still, I'm sure I'll get use out of at least two of the three sites. One of them is much less convenient but I used it anyway hoping to find the X-Bird.

Red-orange on the belly/breast and blue on the back fits several birds common to my area but none would be mistaken for the X-Bird due to size, exact distribution of color, or "other." Barn swallow, belted kingfisher, painted and other buntings, and the like are what I found in the searches but none are really very close.

I'd hate to do what Audubon himself would have done to ID the bird for sure.

NOTE to bird lovers: Charley Audubon shot the birds he painted in order to be able to examine them closely. This is a facet of the "GREAT NATURALIST" that is not prominently disclosed.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Pat, perhaps a trip to area 51 may be in order to locate the x-bird. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Michael]

[img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] Sorry, I missed that in the post.

[Pat]

Egon, Although "The truth is out there" you can "trust no one", least of all the folks at area 51. Although previously deeply involved with a famous blackbird and various black birds they aren't particularly "into" Blue and red-orange birds.

Though accused of "harboring" some "visitors", in general their welcome mat has ben retired as regards the lay public.

I have been near this and similar environs many times and have an appreciation for just how unlikely the habitat is for the bird in question.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Darned; no area 51 tour! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I beleive you have had some very warm weather and strong winds this past year. Perhaps a book depicting Birds found farther south or even offshore may be in order.

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[egon]

As an aside; do you think a composite material glider would be able to successfully complete a midnight landing on Groom Lake? [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]