Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. I was recently laid off from my job. I decided while I am looking for another one, I would put some bird feeders outside of the window I am next to when I work on my resume/cover letters. This is what is happening: I am seeing many birds, including mourning doves, blue jays, woodpeckers, house finches, cardinals, robins, chickadees and tufted titmouses. I have an apartment, not a house, so I put some potted petunias out on the balcony, a bird bath, suet and hummingbird mixture, but alas, no hummingbirds! Any ideas? I live in CT. A couple of other questions for the experts: How an I tell if the Woodpeckers are downy or hairy? How can I tell a black capped chickadee from a Carolina chickadee? I also keep seeing big black birds (not as big as crows), that almost look multicolored when the light hits-purplish/bluish highlights, that is,tose and they have a long skinny yellow beak...what kind of bird might this be?

>>This is what is happening: I am seeing many birds, including mourning doves, blue jays, woodpeckers, house finches, cardinals, robins, chickadees and tufted titmouses. I have an apartment, not a house, so I put some potted petunias out on the balcony, a bird bath, suet and hummingbird mixture, but alas, no hummingbirds! Any ideas? I live in CT.

It is still a bit early for hummingbirds in the northern part of the US. They are in the process of migrating northward from Central America. I am outside of DC and only just saw our first hummingbird the other day.

>>A couple of other questions for the experts: How an I tell if the Woodpeckers are downy or hairy?

They look basically the same, except downy's are small and hariy's larger. If the bird is something around robin size, it's probably a hairy. If it is much smaller say around titmouse size then it's probably a downy. Hairy's also tend to have longer beaks compared to downy's.

>>How can I tell a black capped chickadee from a Carolina chickadee?

Carolinas are a smaller version of the black-capped. Black-capped also have a white area in the wings when folded close whereas carolinas do not, but unless you have a good view of the bird sitting fairly still you may not notice the white.

>>I also keep seeing big black birds (not as big as crows), that almost look multicolored when the light hits-purplish/bluish highlights, that is,tose and they have a long skinny yellow beak...what kind of bird might this be?

The two 'black' birds that best match in terms of multicolored irredecent purple/blue/green highlights are the Grackles and european starlings. Grackles are noticably large compared to starlings so they would match your 'not as big as crow size' description, however they do not have the noticably yellow beak while starlings do have the yellow beak. Grackles have long gorgeous tails reminiscent of the tails on mockingbirds and catbirds. Starlings have next to no tail to speak of.
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Wyvern

Dear Friend,
First of all, thank you for your responses. The blackbird with the yellow beak is the only thing I am stumped on. This is what you said: ***********************************************
"The two 'black' birds that best match in terms of multicolored irredecent purple/blue/green highlights are the Grackles and european starlings. Grackles are noticably large compared to starlings so they would match your 'not as big as crow size' description, however they do not have the noticably yellow beak while starlings do have the yellow beak. Grackles have long gorgeous tails reminiscent of the tails on mockingbirds and catbirds. Starlings have next to no tail to speak of."*********************
************************It's still the narrow, long, yellow beak that has me perplexed. Your description of the tail was right on the money: "multicolored irredecent purple/blue/green highlights". I looked up all the birds you mentioned, and oddly enough, I saw my first "gackle" today at the feeder (very intriguing to look at close up-a blue head and piercing eyes) but it is not the same bird as yesterday. Yesterday was actually a flock, eating from the patio, rather than the feeder, if that helps. They did not have "conical", dark bills. I looked in my books, on the Internet, and I am still stumped!

With a slender yellow bill, would be a starling - They are iredescently colured, but do not have a long tail.

Ive included a photo of a european starling in winter plumage - Thier bill and plumage changes back and forth between seasons - In winter it turns black, and thier plumage gets spotty with the moult -

In the summer - (check next post)

In summer, you can see thier bill turns a bright yellow, and thier plumage a glossy colour -

These guys are pretty common around feeders, and are fascinateing to watch. The make good pets too

Raven -

Dear Ravenspirit,
It's me again...the person who is "new to birding". These birds I am trying to identify...the ones that are black to almost purple (because they are irredescent), with the long yellow beaks, are now hanging out by my feeder with black birds of a similar size, but THESE birds have a dull black coat with a dull black beak to match, and they are noisy and aggressive around the suet feeder. They will fight their own kind off, but the smaller birds just stay the heck away from them all together. The red bellied woodpecker seems to come to the feeder solo all the time, as does the red cardinal. Th red bellied woodpecker is the only bird not intimidated by these loud, dull black birds. If the sleek, blackbird with the yellow slender beak is a European Starling, what might this other blackbird be?

Also, I saw a red headed woodpecker once which I understand is very rare. It never came back. Yellow bellied sap suckers were seen not too far north from where I live, so I am keeping my eyes open. And I have yet to attract a hummingbird. I put some flower boxes out on the patio and planted flowers they are supposed to like, but alas, they have not discovered it. THANKS.

Is it possible for 2 kinds of birds to mate and make a hybrid type of a bird? That may explain the duel features in this case of the long, yellow, billed blackbird with the irredescent tail. I also remember seeing black seagulls when I went to Virginia beach and wondered if they were a blend of crow and seagull. (This might be a crazy thought because it seems like you would see all kinds of weird permutations flying arround if this were possible).

Posted by: New2Birding at Fri May 23 13:15:25 2003 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

"Is it possible for 2 kinds of birds to mate and make a hybrid type of a bird? That may explain the duel features in this case of the long, yellow, billed blackbird with the irredescent tail. I also remember seeing black seagulls when I went to Virginia beach and wondered if they were a blend of crow and seagull. (This might be a crazy thought because it seems like you would see all kinds of weird permutations flying arround if this were possible)."

While some hybrids between related species occasionally, (rarely) occur in nature, and is only possable between related types, particulalry subspecies, like the several color forms of the flicker, which intergrade - Starlings and grackles are only distintaly related, with a starling a relative of the myna, and a grackle, related to birds like new world orioles.

I dont know what kind of seagulls are black here in north america - The closest to a "generic black sea bird" we have is the distinctive frigate, of the islands off the florida coast and related areas, and the fish crow, which likes to hang around docks, and the shore. Im betting you may have either seen black rock doves (eg feral pigeons, which frequent the beach) or fish crows, which would be aboundant in VA -

Raven -

Dear Raven,
Very interesting input. You explained the alleged black seagull in depth (I guess I need to master backyard birds before I speculate on sea birds)! You may be right about the Eurpoean Starling with the "mood beak". I am trying to get a picture of it in my backyard to put on the computer to show you (but I am pretty lame at these kind of maneuvers!). If it is a change that occurs in the summer, in must have some kind of Darwinian explanation, and these birds must be coming from the deep south as it is a few months away from summer here in CT and the beaks are definitely yellow right now. Wish me luck on my bird photography with my cardboard camera!