bird id in se,michigan (1 Viewer)

[birdmikey]

this little bird popped up in my backyard the other day right before dark, and i cant find it in my field guide or online, maybe someone here can help me out, it was hanging out in some underbrush near the edge of the woods and was a little bigger than a chickadee, and about the same shape, it had a black head and back a bright orange bow-tie shaped patch on its breast, and a white underbelly, with an orange patch on its back at the base of its tail, i drew a basic pic of it, i hope it helps!

 

[DaveN]

I was thinking American Robin but I'm not sure now if it's got Orange on its back and base of tail.

 

[birdmikey]

well

this bird popped up while i was in the process of watching a female blue throated warbler, going thru the grass, we have a ton of warblers and vireos hanging around here, and this was only a bit bigger than a chickadee, it had this weird call, kind of like someone drawing a bow across a violin, the orange was practically neon, like blaze orange

 

[OK Birder]

Have you ruled out male American Redstart?

 

[birdmikey]

definitely not a redstart, its like a chickadee with blaze orange on its chest and rump

 

[jomo]

Are you suuuure it's not a redstart? Because it sounds exactly like one from your description, especially the 'bowtie-shaped' orange patch. I can't think of anything else at all like you describe, unless you get into orioles (which are much larger than a chickadee).

 

[birdmikey]

i just looked up all the types of redstarts and the shapes of the patches and bird are wrong, this bird was fairly close about fifty feet and was there for about ten minutes, so i got a good look, i drew a basic picture of the bird and the coloration and posted a link

 

[Gillian_M]

The part about it hanging around the underbrush sounds more like an eastern towhee to me than a redstart. Have a look at this link, birdmikey, and let me know what you think. Note that the bottom right hand side of the page has pictures of similar birds you can look at as well.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Towhee/id

 

[mrmanning]

I'm with Gillian on this one, sounds like a towhee!

 

[MLoyko]

I'm with Gillian on this one, sounds like a towhee!

What about the OP saying it was the size of a chickadee? Not putting down your idea because your guess is as good as mine, just restating it.

 

[birdmikey]

i have a link with a pic i drew of the bird with its colors, the orange is a small patch not the whole belly and it had the orange on its back a squareish sort of patch

 

[mrmanning]

Well, if it was the size of a Chickadee, then I'd say Redstart, but since Redstart was ruled out, my next guess based on the colour profile of the bird, was Eastern Towhee. And since it was hanging in the underbrush and such, the behaviour seems right too.

 

[Gretchen]

I don't know if you had a chance to draw the bird while watching it, but I have found that my memory for features is not exact when I see something, especially for the first time. It's great to draw a picture, but if it was done from memory, it is like all of our memories - not so precise, and may leave out important things.

Photos aren't perfect either, actually...

PS this does sort of look like your picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/latenightowl/13363012/in/pool-birdguide

 

[Larry Lade]

I think it sounds like a first calendar year, male American Redstart.

 

[birdmikey]

after much digging into redstarts, i think it must be some variation of redstart, the pic i found was pretty close except the patches were yellow instead of orange, and the black patch in front of the throat isnt present in the bird i saw but it may not have darkened yet, ill keep watching, and see if i can find it again, thanks for all the help! :3

 

[MLoyko]

Well, if it was the size of a Chickadee, then I'd say Redstart, but since Redstart was ruled out, my next guess based on the colour profile of the bird, was Eastern Towhee. And since it was hanging in the underbrush and such, the behaviour seems right too.

Hey I wasn't arguing, I agree with you on Redstart.