John Carroll

ok thanks! The color threw me off.

This bird, in center of screen, was seen on video in southern New Jersey yesterday and today. I haven't seen it in person only on video. Its been overcast so the quality is not great. It sorta looks like a Cowbird but other times not so I wanted to conform exactly what it is here. Thanks for the help! grey bird 1.mp4 grey bird 3.mp4

Yes we see plenty of Purple Finches too but the brow would have been noticeable in the video when the head turned. Nice HOFI picture but I still see it as more buff brown and more typical of the female House Finch's I normally see. Also in my video the head seems to have one color on the top of the head and a lighter color on the sides. Feel free to tell me I am out in left field on this one and that its an open and shut case of HOFI. LOL

The House Finch, both male and Female is the most common bird I see at my house so its definitely not that. I will have to post a picture or video of what I normally see. The thing that stood out on this video was the overall grey color of this bird. I can't recall seeing a female House Finch that wasn't overall buff or brown. This is a video camera that I have setup to notify me when there is motion at the feeder so I review a lot of videos from this feeder every day. After reviewing thousands of these clips when something is out of the ordinary it really sticks out to me, this is one of those occasions. Having the bluebird in the picture to contrast the color of the mystery bird was a bonus.

hmm really? I see plenty of those but not like this.

Sorry I only have a video of this bird on a suet feeder. I get a lot of bluebirds on this feeder and this has some markings of a bluebird but I see no hints of and blue or buff so I am not sure. I thought it was worthy of posting here since I have no clue. This was last Tuesday 2/9 in southern NJ. Thanks John Mystery gray bird.mp4

Charlie that's the exact scenario that my buddy described when he saw the Rusty. I sometimes have to force myself to look more closely at the brown birds because you never know what you might find in there. Its tough to do most time though.

A friend in my birding group saw this bird on the ground around his feeders on Tuesday in Central NJ. Yes I have permission to post these photos. He suspected an juvenile Grackle and I a Rusty Blackbird but neither of us have ever ID’d a Rusty. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone! I’ve seen plenty of Song Sparrows but this one just looked different to me. I have noticed that the Wyze cam I’m using adds a bit more color to birds so that may have thrown me off a bit. Plus I never see them on my feeders, only on the ground but I guess they don’t like snow!

Hi I'm having trouble with the ID on this one. It looks like it has too much color for a Song Sparrow and it could be a Lincoln but I've never ID'd one before. Please help? Thanks John Sparrow.mp4