10,000 Birds Clinic round-up #1: 19 April - 26 April

Every week we sweep clean our main 10,000 Birds Clinic page and compile the questions and answers into a handy, bite-sized “round-up”.

Please feel free to add additional comments to the published answers - we’re all on the same learning curve round here - and if you’ve a question you’d like to put to the team please go to the Clinic Page.

Two unidentified back yard birds - from Donna, south Mississippi

Any assistance you can give is appreciated.

 

• A: from Charlie

  Hi Donna
  I think we’re going to need a few more details before we can help you with any certainty - but bird #2 sounds like it’s probably a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a migrant that would be coming through in good numbers about now.
  The large blue bird may well be a Blue Grosbeak: are you saying though that it has a yellow beak? Or is that another bird?
  Could you let us know a few more things about your bird: what is its general shape(eg short- or long-tailed); does it have any markings on the head or wing; have you heard it give any sort of call; does it walk, hop, or run; does it climb around or perch on a branch. Things like that.

  We’re definitely keen to help you solve your mystery and will keep working on it until we do!

 

• A: from Jochen

  Hi Donna,

  A few details would increase our chances of identifying your birds, but I guess we can provide you with a few suggestions that might help you:

  A blue bird that looks like a Cardinal but is a bit smaller sounds very much like a Blue Grosbeak. If you see it again, check if it has some reddish/brown on the folded wing. So you might want to check a few pictures of Blue Grosbeak through google’s image search machine to see if it fits your bird. The amount of reddish brown varies according to age!
  A real toughy is the blue bird a bit larger than an Indigo Bunting with a yellow beak. Now, the only bird in your area I can think of that is blue, larger than an Indigo Bunting and has at least some yellow on the bill is an Eastern Bluebird, but you may know these and I might be completely off the track.
  The last one is almost certainly a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The males are very neatly coloured, but if your bird looked a bit more shabby like the picture in the book, don’t worry: when they moult from non-breeding to breeding plumage in spring or are just starting into their second calendar year (birds that were born last year), they can still show a lot of old brownish and worn/faded feathers here and there.

  When I started to get into birding, I tried to sketch the birds I saw and wasn’t able to identify. This helps greatly because it forces you to really check every detail of the bird. When I see a new bird, I am usually just overwhelmed by the new sight and only notice the obvious field marks, e.g. that this is a large blue bird, not unlike a Cardinal but smaller. When I try to recall later what e.g. the colour of the wing was (field guide in hand), I often can’t remember because the blue was such a huge distraction that the rest was not looked at properly. So if you feel like it, just grab a sketch book or any piece of paper and a pencil and put it whereever you usually see your birds (window, birding bag, car, …). Don’t worry about quality: you will be the only person looking at the sketches (unless they are so good you want others to enjoy them) and frankly, mine usually look like they were done by a 6-year-old trying to paint Easter Eggs.
  And most important of all: a warm welcome to the birding scene and don’t worry if you can’t identify some birds at first.These mysteries will soon be mostly gone with your knowledge and experience ever increasing, and sometimes being able to put a name on it is only half the fun anyway as long as you enjoy the sight!

Night vision in Mallards - from Hillary

I was hoping to find out what the capacity of the Mallard’s night vision is?
This morning my family and I found a dead female Mallard on our front lawn. We’re trying to find out, as best we can, what caused her demise.
We’re going through several possibilities. Right now, maybe she hit our house, breaking her neck.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!!

 

• A: from Charlie

  Hi Hillary
  Thanks for the interesting question.

  I’ve not read anything (or own anything) that specifically mentions Mallard night-vision (perhaps our readers can point us to a source) but wildfowl certainly feed at or throughout the night and many species migrate at night, so they certainly have good night vision. It’s possible that this Mallard flew into your house and broke its neck - was the neck very floppy or was there blood from the collision? - but perhaps as likely that it was killed by a predator (perhaps a fox or a dog) who dropped it on your lawn when they were disturbed (are you anywhere near a lake or river?). Another thought is that female mallards are under a lot of stress at this time of year when males are chasing them and trying to mate with them (male Mallards have been known to drown females when trying to mate with them on water they’re so determined) or when they’re trying to raise young: perhaps she was a weak bird who became susceptible to illness too.

  One thing I would like to say absolutely categorically (in case you or anyone else were wondering) is that there is absolutely no chance at all that this bird could pass on H5N1 poultry/avian flu to you. There is no H5N1 flu in the US, no known case of a dead duck passing on the virus to a human unless they live with, rear, or eat infected wildfowl (and even then it’s incredibly difficult to become infected), and the virus is not robust at all once in the environment.

  If you solve the mystery we’d be grateful to know!

 

• A: from Jochen

  ‘uff ‘(as we say in German, which translates to ‘whoa’), that’s a good question: As Charlie has said, many ducks feed at night and even migrate at night, so I really can’t see a duck colliding with a house unless you live in a skyscraper/high rise building with no illumination whatsoever. It may be possible that the duck collided with one of your windows as many songbirds do, flying towards the landscape reflected on the window pane. But if a duck collides with a window, that bang would have rocked your house to the foundation (I once sat in the living room when a finch collided with the window, and that was really loud) and the bird would also be right underneath the window (which I presume it wasn’t).
  To me, Charlie’s idea of a predator carrying the duck to your house and leaving it there for whatever reason seems most probable. Another option is that it collided with a power line, telephone wire or any other wire that might reach across your property. When ducks collide with power lines and the like, they can mostly be found quite a few yards away from the line on the ground. So you may check that possibility as well. In any case, a thorough inspection of the duck regarding broken neck, bones, wounds, missing feathers etc. would surely be helpful.

 

• Follow-up from Hillary:

  We think you’re right and that the duck was attacked by either a loose dog or more probably a coyote that was scared off before it could run off with the its prey. There was a nest in our bushes so we think the predator got it in its nest. Thanks for answering my question!

Unidentified bird in the Middle East - from Lesley

Hi there – I’m sorry if this is not what you’ve set up the 10000birds Clinic for, but I cannot find this bird in either of the two bird books I have for the Middle East. I didn’t get close enough for a photo, either…

DO hope you can help!

Lesley

 

• A: from Charlie

  Hi Lesley
  This is exactly the sort of thing we set the Clinic up for - to give readers a chance to get any sort of birding question answered either by us or the rest of the blogosphere! Thanks for mailing us…
  I’ve birded the Middle East a fair bit, and I know that right now there are many migrants going through (incidentally where in the ME are you?), so pretty much anything could turn up.

  One bird that might fit the bill though is a female Red-backed Shrike. It’s a common migrant, perches upright, looks very pale from a distance, has a large eye, and females (not males) have a pattern of regular crescents across the breast. The tail isn’t exactly red, but it is brown. There’s an excellent series of photos taken in Dubai at http://www.tommypedersen.com/UAE-Shrikes_ID.htm which may help.

  I’d really like to sort this out for you, so if it’s not a shrike could you let me know and add any more details you can think of.

  Your Bee-eaters will almost certainly be European Bee-eaters, incidentally, which are passing through the Middle East right now on migration. They normally stay very high, and you’ll hear them (a rolling “proop proop”) long before you see them. Beautiful birds!

   

• A: from Jochen

  Hi Lesley,

  Nice question: there are basically only two birds I can think of: A female Red-backed Shrike as Charlie mentioned, or a female-type Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush. The latter would be quite a nice find, not a rare bird but often hard to see/get to (breeding in high mountains).

  Bee-eaters are flying miracles. Have you seen Charlie’s post on bee-eaters here at the 10,000Birds site a while back? Great reading (no he doesn’t pay in beer for this, I am being honest here).

 

• Follow-up from Lesley

  Hi Charlie – thanks so much. As soon as I’ve sent this off I will check that site. I am in Doha, Qatar … bit of a barren place, and you might think at first sight not very much here as far as birds go, but we’ve had some good sightings, especially on our days out with the Qatar Natural History Group. A few weeks ago we saw flamingoes, shrikes, swifts, and lots of little sea birds (sorry: I’m not very good on them yet!). And in our garden sparrows (loads!), bulbuls (red and yellow vented) and interesting little doves. I did think once that I saw a goldcrest, but I may have been very wrong.

  The bee eaters are great. We used to live in Kenya and Tanzania many years ago, and the birding there was fantastic, and these bee eaters remind me very much of those days.

  Your site is brilliant – lots of thanks for it and all your help I’m sure it will give me in the future.

 

• A: from Charlie

  You’re very welcome. Glad you like the site - we’re all very proud of it!

[Lesley mailed later to say that her bird was indeed most probably a Red-backed Shrike.

Furthermore we were even able to put her in contact with a local birder who has emailed details of birding sites near her.]

Unidentified feeder birds - from Carol, east Texas

Hi. I live in the piney woods of east texas, and i have a pair of small green birds that i was told were blue buntings. The pictures I have seen are not of these birds.
They are smaller than a sparrow, but not much, and are the most lovely geen, dark shiney green. They came last year and stayed a few days, so i thought they were just migrating…now they seem content to stay awhile. I have searched the net and everywhere, but can not find a picture of them so I can find out what they are. I am in hopes that you will be able to tell me what i am feeding.
Also, yesterday a bird appeared that i have never seen before in my life, small, with a white chest and the most lovely light blue head…it sat on my fence but i was not able to get my camera before it flew away.
I am in hopes that you have the information to help me. thank you for your time.

• A: from Charlie

  Hi Carol
  You’ve certainly got the team scratching their collective heads with these questions! We think that the most likely identification for your “dark shiny green” birds are female Painted Buntings (perhaps this is what the person who offered you “Blue Buntings” meant?). Males are a riot of colour, but females are indeed a shade of green - and in fact look almost like different species. Painted Buntings do regularly visit feeders also (incidentally what do you provide at your feeders - eg suet, seeds, nuts - as this may help us narrow down the birds involved).

  The second bird is a lot more tricky. The consensus of opinion is that you probably saw a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - a migrant that should be passing through right now. We did briefly consider other warbler species - in fact there are very few small birds in North America with blue heads and white underparts - but a Gnatcatcher seems most likely. They do have long tails (especially in proportion to their slender bodies) but on a brief view you may not have noticed that.

  
  
  Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Chicago 2008. Photo copyright Charlie Moores
  

  We’d be very interested to hear from you if you think we’re on the right track with these suggestions - and, in the meantime, if any of our readers think they have a better answer please use the comment fields below and let us and Carol know what you think…

Sparrows facing eviction - from Ambra, New York

Hi guys. I live on Long Island, in a town that is quite built up. For many years, house sparrows have been inhabiting a nest they built under the eves of the house next door to mine. Last week I noticed a blackbird going into the nest and taking it apart -throwing the nesting material out of the nest. The poor sparrows have been going crazy! When they try to get to their nest, the black bird (sometimes there are two - I think males ’cause they’re black) are very aggressive and go after them. I started running out of my house, waving a dust mop at the blackbird/s (I’m sure my neighbors must think I went nuts!). This has been going on for 4 days. I watch the nest from my dining area window, and when I see the blackbird approaching, I run out and try to scare it away. It’s been quite useless! I feel really bad for the little birds, I don’t want them to leave and have the blackbirds move in. Is there anything I can do? I’ve thought about putting a birdhouse under the eves of my house, so the little birds would have another place to build their nest. Do you have any suggestions?

 

• A: from Charlie

  Hi Ambra

  Thanks for the question.
  It’s always upsetting to see birds being unceremoniously booted out of their homes. I’m wondering whether your ‘blackbirds’ are actually European Starlings - birds which like the Sparrows were introduced from Europe by early settlers. If they are then I’m afraid this is typical behaviour: Starlings have been aggressively usurping nesting holes/cavities for millenia and will no doubt continue to do so long into the future. Personally I would provide another nest for the sparrows, and perhaps protect it by hanging weighted strings/cords a few inches in front of it so that they hang down in front of the entrance hole. This is an old trick from the UK, and works (usually) because sparrows are more agile fliers than starlings or similar-sized birds and can fly up to the hole (avoiding the strings) while Starlings approach more head-on and are put off by them.

  If this is too difficult to do, perhaps our visitors can make alternative suggestions?