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Black-throated Sparrow? on a cholla cactus.......I can't even walk by a cholla without getting stabbed by them.....ouch!

I got a half of a magpie! The top and bottom!

White-throated Sparrow by Mark Goodwin, on Flickr

Hi all, Today I saw an unusual bird I have never seen in the area. I would appreciate your thoughts on what it could be. Here is my description: Location and conditions -Suburban area outside Vancouver, BC, Canada -Bird spotted in a Holly tree around 11am -Temperatures well below freezing (-11C) Shape -Like a robin, but fatter, almost like a pregnant robin. -Not as large as a crow, but much bigger than finches and starlings Colour -Brown head and wings -Yellow-orange stripe on head (like the Siberian Accentor) -Yellow-orange throat and belly (like the Black-headed Grosbeak) -Distinctive horizontal stripe of brown across the chest -Possible orange speckles on the wings Behaviour -Hopping from branch to branch in a Holly tree -Eating some berries from the Holly tree I have lived here for almost 30 years and never seen a bird like this. I was unable to find candidates from photos online, but I would recognize it if I saw a photo of one. I will update this post with a photo if I can spot it again and snap a picture. Thanks!

Why not ask odd dark juv Snow Goose?

Photobombed by a coot!

Yes, Harris's is ruled out by the long wings (extending to tail tip), as that species, being essentially non-migratory, has relatively short wings. Additionally, the tail's color pattern is reversed fro that of Harris's. However, this could be a dark morph of either Red-tailed or Ferruginous hawks, and that's as precise as I can be, given the photos.

That's actually a leucistic Black-capped Chickadee. Leucism is a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation in a bird or animal. In this example, it's on the head. Nice find!

I think am a Cardinal!

Thanks for the info and that link. I played the audio, and that is definitely what I heard. I was hoping this bird would have squirrels in its diet, but that does not appear to be the case.

appears to be a Ross's goose in right foreground also

We live out in the country, and have 25 acres. (On our three mile road there is all of five houses.) There is a field across the road. A small creek runs threw our land, around the creek it is heavily wooded. The rest of our land is lightly wooded. Yes the Siskin was in my yard. Most of the photos I post our in my yard. https://ebird.org/MyEBird?cmd=list&rtype=loc&r=L8143448&time=life

I don't think you can do much better than this for a first post without a photo (other than -11C in Vancouver??). The links for colour characteristics are interesting.

I don't see any blue on my monitor, just black and gray. it could be an effect of the device you're using to view the image. Just to formally confirm, this is a Northern Mockingbird.

Just a photo artifact. It's quite common for black to appear blue in photos, and this doesn't have to happen throughout the photo.

Yes. Leaning Long-billed. Redhead.

A pair of American Goldfinches and a Black-Capped Chickadee at the feeder this afternoon.

Small head, small bill that juts out sharply, ridiculously long middle toe, tail feathers seem to be all the same length--I'm going for Sharp-shinned. Great shots!

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Male and female Oregon Dark-eyed Juncos:

Agreed. Big bills too.

I think he is telling them to move out of his way

Agreed.

Juvenile Bald Eagle and Golden Eagle from today

Hahaha! Never saw that coming! 😂

Agree. Also, please post location and date for photos in the future. It is really helpful.

Seconded

AAB's page for Hooded Merganser suggests Bufflehead, and Bufflehead suggests the larger goldeneyes, although more so in breeding plumage. The range is good for all. I can't address the wing sounds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Hooded_Merganser/id

Dark morph (rufous is intermediate morph and has a black belly band contrasting with rufous chest and vent area)

What points away from a Herring? I think I'd need more photos to really be sure. Considering it's winter on Georgian Bay Herring is more likely, but not definitive at all.

Agreed.

@egosnell2002 Yup - Sandhills - had it in my head that it was spelled as two words hence my brain auto generated the wrong code.

Yeah, I was going to say, where you live really matters. We live in the country with 9 acres and have about 165 on our property list. But 3 serious birders for 20+ years.

Looks better for a Lesser Yellowlegs.

@egosnell2002 Just pulled up the map and I guess it was more to the NE - it was the Detour Lake mine. Drove all the way from Lake Joseph that day - got to the mine about dusk - probably about 10-11pm and then drove all the way back to Cochrane that night. Took the 652 the next day all the way across the border and came down the Quebec side. I wasn't ebirding at the time and didn't keep very good track of what I saw but do know that I photographed a large enough flock of SHCR that it got flagged when I recently added it after the fact. Nice variety in those lists! - now if only you'd been able to id all those 81 mystery peeps 🙂 so annoying sometimes I know - gull sp are my nemesis.

Looks like a dark morph Red-tail rather than Harlan’s, but not sure.

Best description I think I’ve seen on this site. I agree with Varied Thrush.

Be sure to get @RobinHood's new "Field Guide to Cameras". Watch for the new iCamera app for Android and iOS.

Looks good for Lesser Scaup, with that back-peaked head.

Doesn’t look like it is a domestic or hybrid. Female MALL can be variable in plumage color, and this just seems to be on the grayer end of the spectrum. The lighting might also be a factor as well.

Post pictures of birds fighting.

Ouch, that hurts (only joking) and a response to Tony - two really nice looking adults (@akiley, I did reference the Glaucous in my original post), and yes I agree they are quite large, appeared around 7.00am this morning ahead of the impending ice storm here in Ontario, and they did actually raise my heartbeat - really gloomy morning but they were a very nice sight). For background I have been trying to get photos locally of an Iceland (hence my misplaced enthusiasm), a Lesser Black-backed and also some local Screech Owls (tried at 6.00am last week in the dark but no luck - this YT video has spurred me on to try harder. Please excuse the digression (I've been looking for an excuse to sneak this one in), but for me this is what birding is all about. I try to stick strictly to ID topics on this forum but now and again wander off course. Apologies.

How about an Iceland Gull?

Eastern Meadowlark