Sparrow, finch, warbler or something else entirely?

[The orange bird]

Recently, I saw a bird that looks like a male house sparrow fell in a bucket of orange dye, and didn't clean his feathers or get wet since then. The closest things are Bullock's Oriole, which has too much black and not enough orange, or Blackburnian Warbler, which only has an orange head. I didn't take a picture, but I can describe from memory: it had a yellowish orange body, and the tail was a bright candy orange. It was that orange I thought I was seeing things, but when I repeatedly saw that color, I knew I wasn't. Could it be a Blackburnian Warbler with extra orange color? Or did a house sparrow actually fall into something orange, tail first, and perching on the bucket, dip his tail back into the color? (which most likely wouldn't have happened, they can fly, dye can be toxic, and he couldn't have gotten out unless someone rescued him and tried to clean him up but it really stained him, most people wouldn't leave dye out, and sparrow tails aren't that long and people probably wouldn't fill the bucket up so high.) It was seen in NY. It was in more than one tree type because it flew to a few trees while I saw it. It didn't sing. I didn't see it eat anything. Is this enough for an identification? 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Aveschapines
To remove blank quote (mistake by original poster)

[Katelyn Davis]

Check out Baltimore Oriole. 

[Devin Carrinton]

bump

 

[BackyardBirdEnthusiast]

I am also trying to find a bird that looks like this one you are describing but I saw mine in my backyard in Utah! It has a beautiful song, not far off from a robin. I did not see it eat either but I have feeders that it might have been trying to get a snack from.

Hoping for a return visit and possibly a picture?

[Connor Cochrane]

9 minutes ago, BackyardBirdEnthusiast said:

I am also trying to find a bird that looks like this one you are describing but I saw mine in my backyard in Utah! It has a beautiful song, not far off from a robin. I did not see it eat either but I have feeders that it might have been trying to get a snack from.

Hoping for a return visit and possibly a picture?

Black-headed Grosbeak is a good possibility. 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black-headed_Grosbeak/id

Edited May 20, 2020 by Connor Cochrane

[The orange bird]

Thanks everyone. I looked at Baltimore Oriole before and it wasn't exactly the same. It had too much black. The bird I saw had more orange. The Black Headed Grosbeak did too, the female is much closer, but the whole bird was orange, and her head is brown. It was about 5 inches long including the tail. I also tried the females of Baltimore and Bullock's Orioles, they are a bit closer than the males. The quote at the top with nothing in it was accidental, I didn't know how to get it off. BackyardBirdEnthusiast, I hope you find the bird you are looking for as well. It seems there are a lot more different kinds of birds everywhere outside. If it's the same thing, wow, does it have a wide range or what? It might even be a common bird that was being mistaken for sparrows because people saw them in the shadows and didn't see their colors! 

[Connor Cochrane]

3 minutes ago, The orange bird said:

Black Headed Grosbeak 

Those wouldn't be in NY. I might check out American Redstart

[The orange bird]

Ok, thanks! I checked out the American Redstart too, but it had too much black feathers also, and I have seen one before but it was far away. We had to hurry, so we just heard his song for a bit. It was very nice.

[The orange bird]

I still can't believe how candy orange the tail was, it was about the same color as an orange peel, but a bit brighter. I have never seen that color on a North American bird before!

[The orange bird]

Actually, the color is almost exactly like the fifth circle on the bottom of the page above the IBird app sign. The one with the orange robot head in a white circle with the same color orange circle around it. On my device it looks orange, especially next to the red circle at the end, but it could be just my device.

[Katelyn Davis]

huh, perhaps look into Scarlet Tanager?

[Katelyn Davis]

20 minutes ago, The orange bird said:

Actually, the color is almost exactly like the fifth circle on the bottom of the page above the IBird app sign. The one with the orange robot head in a white circle with the same color orange circle around it. On my device it looks orange, especially next to the red circle at the end, but it could be just my device.

Do you remember anything else about the coloration? was there any black on this bird?

[The orange bird]

No, I've looked at Scarlet Tanagers too. They just don't seem to match. There was hardly any black on the bird. The tail color was that orange, but the body was a normal yellow-orange. It had light brown stripes and maybe some black stripes mixed in covering its body, like a female sparrow does, but has the same head markings as a male house sparrow. The head markings were why I described it as a male sparrow dipped in orange dye. Sometimes bird identification can be so hard, especially when you see something you've never seen or heard of before. Hopefully we see it again when we go out today, and maybe get to take a picture.

[The orange bird]

Sorry I wasn't clear about the orange. I completely forgot to add "the tail" before color.

[Charlie Spencer]

Immature male Orchard Oriole?  Young males transitioning to breeding plumage can vary widely.

 Scroll right to the fifth photo:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Orchard_Oriole/id

[The orange bird]

No, it was more yellowish orange than the rusty reddish orange he has. Also, the bird I saw did not have any black on its wings. He is a beautiful bird though.

[Charlie Spencer]

Sunset Swordtail?

[Connor Cochrane]

Maybe it’s someone’s pet that escaped, or that they let free. 

[The orange bird]

☺ Sunset swordtail... she actually looks exactly like a swordtail I've had. Unfortunately she died recently, she was pregnant too, but never had her babies. Yes, it's probably someone's pet, like a type of finch that escaped or they couldn't take it, so they let it go. We actually have seen a lovebird around that used to be someone's pet, he is still living in the wild right now. We have seen him a few times. I even once saw a white parakeet or something with blue wings and a blue tail.

[The orange bird]

It could just be a Blackburnian Warbler with extra orange, or I was seeing its orange head first and it somehow made its body look orange too.

[Connor Cochrane]

1 minute ago, The orange bird said:

It could just be a Blackburnian Warbler with extra orange, or I was seeing its orange head first and it somehow made its body look orange too.

You keep saying there was orange on the tail, which I believe Blackburnian wouldn't have

[The orange bird]

Oh yeah, I forgot for a minute about the orange tail. Probably some type of escaped finch that has orange. And I forgot one thing about the tail-only the bottom was orange.

[The orange bird]

I actually didn't get to see the top of the tail. The bird moved so fast! So I can't say for sure what the top of the tail was.

[akandula]

5 minutes ago, The orange bird said:

Probably some type of escaped finch that has orange.

Yeah, that's possible. Check out a red factor canary.

[aveschapinas]

Could it maybe have been a male Baltimore molting into adult plumage? They can be very mottled and uneven in coloring.

Male American Redstarts have orange patches on the sides of the tail, which would look like stripes if you just saw part of it. Also 5" is better for a Redstart than a Baltimore Oriole, but we all know - it's very hard to estimate the size of a bird you see in the wild. We've all been fooled by that.