Bird Identification

“For work today, I got to go out and try to identify the boundary of a wetland. This wetland (much to our dismay) was actually a shallow pond, and not much fun to delineate.

Anyway, while we were there, I saw a pair of black, yellow/orange billed birds. The male (I'm assuming) was jet-black, the female more of a very dark grey. They were quite shy, and flew away from the logs they were sitting on when we approached the pond. They came back after a while, but flew away again when we walked to another part of the pond. I think they were about the size of very large crows, and quite graceful.

I haven't been able to figure out what they are, can anyone help identify them? I don't ever recall seeing a bird like this before.

(BTW, I'm in southeast Michigan)

Thanks!”

“Maybe they were naturalized mynas. Were they similar in appearance to crows, or more like wading birds?”

“no, they had short legs and short necks. i'll see if i can find a picture of those, treebait.”

“This reminded me of something I saw in the Discovery Channel catalog not long ago.

The trees around here are so full of leaves that you can't see the birds most of the time, so I've often thought about bird identification by their songs.

And then I saw this.”

“That's pretty cool, Tilt.”

“If they keep producing cards it'd be neato peachy keen, <G>... maybe have them specific to regions like other bird books?”

“Hey! Don't degenerate my thread until you identify my bird!!

I found a picture of the common myna, that's definilty not it. Can't find a pic of the naturalized myna.”

“Ooops! Sorry! LOL”

“I'm guessing "naturalized" means they were formally in captivity (or decended from captive birds)... so physically they'd be the same (?)”

“Yes they'd be the same bird.

I looked in my Sibley guide and couldn't find anything that size of that description.”

“I checked my guides as well but can't find anything matching. Surely, you MUST be mistaken. Was alcohol involved? :)”

“Maybe it was a mynah going incognito? <G>”

“Go to enature.com they should be able to tell you what birds they were.


8)”

“The only other birds that kind of match your description for your area are the red-faced and double crested cormorants but they have longer necks. All I can say is keep on looking.”

“If you haven't found it maybe try

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

You can identify your bird by several diff. criteria”

“A couple of months ago on a hiking trip I saw an unfamiliar bird. Actually, I heard it first. I had heard them before but had never seen one. Then I saw it. It was only a couple of feet away and it had been so involved in trying to smash a large bug on a rock that it never noticed my approach. It saw me the same time I saw it. It finished off the bug before flying away, it was very cool. Of course when I got home I had to find out what that bird was. It was a .

Veery cool little bird(lol).

Good luck I.D.'ing it S.G.”

“i love bird watching. on my recent solo hike a saw lots of great ones. one in particular has me wondering what it was. i have seen them rerely around here before but it's a very small(bout the size of a bluebird) and intence yellow and black. my friend says it's a carolina wren. thanks for the sites ya'll . i'll look it up...whatever it is t, they are very fast and elusive. you rarely get more than a flash of yellow as they are dissapearing before you eyes.


i saw TONS of kingfishers too. they are really trippy birds. i was also serenaded by a great horned owl bout 30-40 feet away. he went off for quite awhile. then when the sun came up, the hummingbirds came out. they were everywhere feeding on wildflowers.


birds rock”

“Can a heron be black?

I gotta look up some more pics, I still can't find it. I was pretty far away from them, though, so maybe I misjudged the size or something. All I know is they were jet black with yellow/orange beaks. I'll keep lookoing.”

“Stratdewd- Carolina wrens are NOT black and yellow. Your friend is mistaken.”

“i couldn't find jack on those websites....no pics, jsut names...WTF!”

“This is a very cool thread! Thanks!”

“Blackbird = turdus merula”

“Wow. I just found something I looked for some time ago without success... the New Zealand Blue Duck, also known as the Whio or Torrent Duck. I've never seen it in the wild (I need to go to New Zealand for that!)

Cool bird, though. I saw it on Discovery, I think, 3 or 4 years ago... It lives near streams and rivers, diving into rapids, climbing up waterfalls (it has big claws on those webbed feet for climbing). The way it handled the rocks and whitewater was really impressive.

Blue Duck

Better photo”

“Twinks, no, that's not it. The birds I saw were much bigger.”

“I didn't realize blackbirds were in the same genus as robins.”

“SG???”

“Sorry, Geo, I was out watching the grill catch on fire after the lunchtime BBQ.

Nope, nothing but black on their bodies. Black feet and all. And bigger than that.”

“Found that on this birds of Michigan site: Link to site

There was nothing else that looked close.”

“Let's try a double crested cormorant:

”

“Closer, but I'm telling you, as black as a crow.

Nice shots of the dung pile. :)”

“Under certain lighting conditions a cormorant could look black. Just a thought. Then too, there's the ever popular red faced cormorant:

”

“Bird identification is gay. When I was in the dacks in july some of my friends where pointing out birds. Since I am ignorant to what the hell they are talking about, I decided to insult them to make me feel better and above them. It worked, I felt like a better person after I put them down.”

“Ice Tea = Mutt???”

“No, Muttonhead is not the best speller in the world, but he's better than tea!”

“Knowledge is gay.

Ignorance is manly.


That about cover it?”

“And the ubiquitous turkey vulture, although you probably considered it:

”

“I was referring to the insulting other to make one's self feel better. But I"m just kidding, like I know Tea is just kidding. :)

Geo, you're getting closer. But, no red. Just the colored beak.”

“I was referring to the picture above the vulture. Thanks so much for your help, Geo. :)”

“If that's not it, I'm flat out of ideas.”

“Okay, I'll go for the obvious... It was a crow, wasn't it?? LOL”

“I thought you were like an engineer or something smiley G?”

“Crows and ravens have black bills, not yellow and orange.”

“What are you trying to say, Ynami???”

“lol, that I was just wondering how this equates with being out measuring wetlands?”

“Well, I'm not sure. I got a nice 2 mile hike in and out. But I forgot a backpack, so we had to carry all of our reference books and whatnot in our arms. Kinda sucked. We took and Army Corps of Engineers wetland delinateion class last March, and were trying to remember what we learned. The birds were just a bonus. :)”

“Okay, it was a crow wearing a disguise.”

“Maybe a Starling? Although I don't think they get that big”

“hey anyone know what bird this is???
”