edm@vrdxhq.verdix.com (Ed Matthews) (07/10/90)
I was stumped by a bird last night -- don't even have a guess. Maybe someone can come up with an idea. Description: Small passerine, resembling slate junco, only smaller, sleeker, less round; half the size of nearby female blue grossbeak; finch/sparrow-like gray beak; dark eye, no eye-ring, moustache, wing bars or identifying characteristics; charcoal gray all over with underside slightly paler; notched, single color tail, more notched than slate junco, about like house finch tail; fully-fledged and probably not juvenal; hopping and flitting from branch to branch in mixed cedar/pine/shrub thicket at edge of pasture in northern Virginia; song a long fairly loud series of tcheek calls at 1/2 to 1 second intervals, not unlike the chip of a cardinal, but different. -- Ed Matthews edm@verdix.com Verdix Corporation Headquarters (703) 378-7600 Chantilly, Virginia
grp@unify.uucp (Greg Pasquariello) (07/11/90)
>In article <35287@vrdxhq.verdix.com> edm@vrdxhq.verdix.com (Ed Matthews) writes: > > Path: unify!csusac!ucdavis!ucbvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!ucsd!ames!dftsrv!dev!vrdxhq!edm > From: edm@vrdxhq.verdix.com (Ed Matthews) > Newsgroups: rec.birds > Date: 10 Jul 90 14:12:20 GMT > Organization: Verdix Corporation, Chantilly, VA > Lines: 17 > > I was stumped by a bird last night -- don't even have a guess. Maybe > someone can come up with an idea. Description: > > Small passerine, resembling slate junco, only smaller, sleeker, less round; > half the size of nearby female blue grossbeak; finch/sparrow-like gray beak; > dark eye, no eye-ring, moustache, wing bars or identifying characteristics; > charcoal gray all over with underside slightly paler; notched, single color > tail, more notched than slate junco, about like house finch tail; fully-fledged > and probably not juvenal; hopping and flitting from branch to branch in mixed > cedar/pine/shrub thicket at edge of pasture in northern Virginia; song a long > fairly loud series of tcheek calls at 1/2 to 1 second intervals, not unlike > the chip of a cardinal, but different. > -- > > Ed Matthews edm@verdix.com > Verdix Corporation Headquarters (703) 378-7600 > Chantilly, Virginia Sounds like a female or immature indigo bunting. The habitat is correct, as is the general nondescript nature of the bird. The color is a bit off, but that could be a lighting problem. The bunting is a mousy brown. Another bird that matches this description, except for size, is a female or imm. brown-headed cowbird. -- -Greg Pasquariello grp@unify.com