off topic Any birders?

[Stoner]

Bird mystery. I usually have good luck with whatbird.com's search tool, but not this time.

 

I've never seen this bird around here or heard its call. It looks very much like a robin, but it's lighter in color. The breast seems to be a lighter shade of that warm orange robin's breast. The call is simple but unusual, four or five almost two-toned whistles in a row. Thrushes keep coming up in searches, but the photos are not good matches. And when I listen to thrush calls, it's nothing like this bird's.

 

Clay-colored robin is a pretty close match, but they don't come north of Texas from what I'm reading. Maybe this one did.

 

I'll try to post a picture later. I have a recording of the call but don't think I can post it.

[darksabre]

Could it be a robin that is genetically defective?

[IKnowPhysics]

I have a recording of the call but don't think I can post it.

 

Not that I'll necessarily be able to help identify it, but you could probably use SoundCloud to share the sound.

[Stoner]

Could it be a robin that is genetically defective?

 

There are albino robins, I've learned. This only looks like a robin. It seems to be a bit sleeker.

[Stoner]

[deluca67]

There are albino robins, I've learned. This only looks like a robin. It seems to be a bit sleeker.

You need to draft larger birds with grit. ;)

[wonderbread]

Not that I consider my self a birder but having spent a fair time in the pa wilds, I'd say it's a young immature robin. The feathers around the neck look like their still the nest feathers.

[darksabre]

Not that I consider my self a birder but having spent a fair time in the pa wilds, I'd say it's a young immature robin. The feathers around the neck look like their still the nest feathers.

 

I think you're probably right however it is quite lacking in the spotting I'd expect on one. The other possibility is that it's some kind of foreign thrush kept as a pet then discarded to the wild.

[Neo]

 

You need to draft larger birds with grit. ;)

 

 

Cracked me up!

[Stoner]

I think you're probably right however it is quite lacking in the spotting I'd expect on one. The other possibility is that it's some kind of foreign thrush kept as a pet then discarded to the wild.

 

Interesting. It sits on that roof peak for long stretches and keeps coming back. It almost does seem domesticated.

 

Clay-colored thrush? It's the national bird of Costa Rica!

 

http://www.briansmallphoto.com/images/Clay-colored-Thrush_T0B97059.jpg

 

Not that I consider my self a birder but having spent a fair time in the pa wilds, I'd say it's a young immature robin. The feathers around the neck look like their still the nest feathers.

 

If it's a robin, that doesn't explain why it stands out so much, especially the call. There's just something not-Pennsylvania Wild-sy about this bird.

[wonderbread]

What ever it is put down the ornithological book and scrap and repaint your fascia.

[darksabre]

It almost looks like a female of this species

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-breasted_Thrush

 

 

[Stoner]

What ever it is put down the ornithological book and scrap and repaint your fascia.

:) Neighbor's garage.

[JJFIVEOH]

There are albino robins, I've learned. This only looks like a robin. It seems to be a bit sleeker.

 

Or they could just be from Buffalo. :angel:

[inkman]

It almost looks like a female of this species

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-breasted_Thrush

The ol turdus dissimilis.

[Stoner]

I'm coming around to d4rk's theory that this is a mutated, demented robin. We humans have them, why shouldn't they?

[IKnowPhysics]

Looks like a female robin. Several pictures online are showing the light coloration.

 

Big difference in calls?

[qwksndmonster]

I glued a wing to my bird.

[Stoner]

Looks like a female robin. Several pictures online are showing the light coloration.

 

Big difference in calls?

 

Not a big difference. But I haven't connected it to a robin with any recordings found online.

 

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/robin/Dictionary.html

[Stoner]

I got within a few feet of this bird today. It was on the side of the garage roof, moving its way up and down in a zig zag fashion. It was also making very familiar robin-like clucking or tutting sounds. Up close, it's almost certainly a robin. It's just very pale, not only the breast but the body.

 

I have no idea what this bird's story is. Since I got so close, I wonder if it can't see well. Or at all. It's different, that's for sure. (I am resisting the urge to call it an odd bird.) I've kind of grown attached to it. The call is so beautiful and attention-getting. It got my attention, for sure.

 

This comes at an interesting time. I just finished a work assignment where I interviewed five intellectually and mentally challenged people. Maybe I'm just in a sensitive place, I don't know.

 

Thanks for the input everyone. Bird-watching seems like it would be a great pastime.

[That Aud Smell]

Bird-watching seems like it would be a great pastime.

 

It's not my thing, but I think you're right about that. I've watched my little guy phase through a weirdly thorough knowledge about 100+ Thomas the Tank Engine trains, then move onto a detailed familiarity with twice that many Pokemon characters. It's something that a lot of guys tend to be hard-wired for, I think.

[darksabre]

 

 

It's not my thing, but I think you're right about that. I've watched my little guy phase through a weirdly thorough knowledge about 100+ Thomas the Tank Engine trains, then move onto a detailed familiarity with twice that many Pokemon characters. It's something that a lot of guys tend to be hard-wired for, I think.

 

You're probably right. I went through very similar phases as a kid, Thomas to Pokemon to paintball guns, cars, motorcycles, etc. You eventually discover that these obsessions build communities. Heck we see it right here with the accumulated knowledge that our members have of all sorts of players, coaches, teams, etc.

 

 

Personally I think studying trains and dragon fly species are my next two obsessions.

 

Oh I also spent a lot of time as a kid studying WW II aircraft. I used to be able to tell you every variant of the Hawker Hurricane or the history of the He. 177 Grief.

[josie]

It's not my thing, but I think you're right about that. I've watched my little guy phase through a weirdly thorough knowledge about 100+ Thomas the Tank Engine trains, then move onto a detailed familiarity with twice that many Pokemon characters. It's something that a lot of guys tend to be hard-wired for, I think.

 

I'll step up as a girl who has always catalogued and collected things. As a child i went through many many phases- I could tell you every rock/gemstone. Every amazon tree frog. Every airplane ever (down to serial numbers in different regiments in different theatres of war). Most cars. Civil War and WWII battles. Geography. Eventually Pokemon/any video game I played. Honestly, my knowledge as a younger kid was greater than my knowledge now! I'm starting to do it with hockey players/hockey history now! My sister did it as well (woman learns languages in no time). But I think we're anomalies. Certainly got me made fun of plenty growing up, and probably why I mostly hung out with guys.

 

 

I think it's probably a caveman thing- you men had to be out hunting/gathering/keeping tabs on the surrounding dangers... What to eat what not to eat, what kills you, what's safe... Us ladies were in the cave with babies to our breasts.

[That Aud Smell]

Personally I think studying trains and dragon fly species are my next two obsessions. Oh I also spent a lot of time as a kid studying WW II aircraft. I used to be able to tell you every variant of the Hawker Hurricane or the history of the He. 177 Grief.

 

:w00t:

 

I'll step up as a girl who has always catalogued and collected things.

 

Good stuff.

[darksabre]

 

 

:w00t:

 

 

Good stuff.

 

We are certainly knit from similar cloth :D