Black cardinal? VA, usa (1 Viewer)

[MamaMoosicorn]

While driving my daughter to school, I saw a black bird fly in front of me and land in the grass. I was immediately interested because it was larger than a Starling, smaller than a Crow or Raven, and fatter than a Blackbird. I slowed down a bit and tried to get a closer look and saw that it had a tuft on his head, just like a Cardinal, and its body was shaped very much like a Cardinal. I really wish I could have taken a picture, but I was driving.

Is there any bird that meets this description in my area (south eastern VA)? Or is it possible I saw a black Cardinal?

 

[Tiraya]

The options would be:

-a melanistic cardinal (an all-black one has never been recorded from what I know, and this is the only melanistic cardinal I've known about. melanism is highly rare in any visible form)
-phainopepla
-a bird that is just ruffled up

 

[nartreb]

Very, very rarely, a bird will be much darker than normal: this is called melanism, and it's basically the opposite of albinism.

The really fun possibility is this, though it's way out of range:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Phainopepla/

In that case it would absolutely be worth going back to look for it with a camera.

But I think you most likely saw something like a grackle that happened to be having a bad hair day. The part about "fatter than a blackbird" makes me wonder if this bird had just been taking a bath.

One way to tell would be if you noticed the eye color. The actual iris color of a cardinal is sort of brownish, but in the field you usually don't see the iris at all, the whole eye looks a beady black. A male phainopepla has a bright red-orange eye. Most grackles (any in virginia) have a very visible pale-yellow iris.

Edit: another out-of-range possiblity would be an especially dark Stellar's Jay...

 

[MamaMoosicorn]

That's very interesting about melanism. Never heard of it.

I've been googling pics all morning. I looked at some Grackles and I found one with his feathers all puffed up. That could be it, if he also was having a bad "hair" day. I didn't see any iridescence on the plumage, but it was still early in the morning.

Another thought was some kind of Jay. They have tufts on their heads too.

I'll keep a sharp look out in hopes of seeing it again, and hopefully get a pic!