Sabrina, a coworker of mine who lives in Tampa, Florida, sent me the pic below of a mystery bird that has been showing up of late and roosting all night on a beam on the roof of her porch. Mike, Charlie, and I had wildly divergent guesses, and when Sabrina eventually got a shot that included its head we were all surprised. Can you identify the Florida mystery bird?
Put your guesses in the comments and eventually we’ll reveal the answer and post the shot that includes the bird’s head.
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
To me it kind of looks like a rodent…
Hard to tell with no scale and no head. My guess…Carolina Wren
I’m going to agree with Diana based solely on a post by Julie Z a few weeks ago about those white spots.
I’m with Diana. Wouldn’t have thought of it if I hadn’t read this one: http://www.juliezickefoose.com/blog/labels/wren%20camouflage.html
Darn that Zickefoose and her knowledge!
Not sure how I missed her original post but I am sure that she is pleased to know that the knowledge she shares is retained and used…
I feel like one of those pesky kids on Scooby-Doo. Velma, maybe.
😉 Guess my guess was good. Didn’t see the Zickefoose post just sorted through some of the species that might have been in the area. Guess I need to read more of her blog posts!
Nice to have validation since I was going to go crazy wondering…birds have not been my forte been a mammal gal mostly (even though I have worked with birds) and thought I’d take up a new hobby.
Late to the party, but looks like the backside of a Carolina Wren – and they do love to nest on porches, especially fond of hanging plants.
I see this post is from last year…did I miss the other photo? What is it?
🙂
It’s a Carolina Wren, as the comments above show. And, for some reason, I never used the second photo, and now I can’t find it.