amandas Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 Hi, I'm stumped. We were in the Lake Glendale area of South-Central Illinois this past weekend, and I got a glimpse of a black bird that looked exactly like a crow, except it had two very distinct white patches on its shoulders. I only got a glimpse, but except for the white patches I would have just assumed a common American crow. The tail was not like a magpie and from what I could see the entire rest of the bird, at least on the top side, was all black. Now I'm leaning towards an American crow with perhaps some leucism, but the white markings were extremely regular. The patches ran horizontal across the coverts and not vertically along the body as in a magpie. Any ideas? Thanks! It's driving me nuts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerri Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 (edited) Red-winged blackbird can have just the pale yellow patches showing - can look white in some lighting. Or Tri-colored blackbird? Edited April 26, 2022 by Kerri added sentence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKLland Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 27 minutes ago, Kerri said: Red-winged blackbird can have just the pale yellow patches showing - can look white in some lighting. Or Tri-colored blackbird? Tricolored blackbird in the east? No way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerri Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 1 hour ago, IKLland said: Tricolored blackbird in the east? No way. Sorry didn't note the location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandas Posted April 26, 2022 Author Share Posted April 26, 2022 Not a red-winged blackbird. I definitely know that one, and saw the patches on wing as it was flying, from the back. White and not yellow, no red. Also, definitely larger that a blackbird--crow sized at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meghann Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 If you could sketch what you saw, even a badly done sketch, sometimes that's more helpful than just text. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipperatl Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 Crows can throw off some convincing white reflections off their "black" wings. I had one that showed white patches under the wings, similar to a Golden Eagle. I'm now convinced it was related to tricks of light. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Friedman Posted April 27, 2022 Share Posted April 27, 2022 4 hours ago, chipperatl said: Crows can throw off some convincing white reflections off their "black" wings. I had one that showed white patches under the wings, similar to a Golden Eagle. I'm now convinced it was related to tricks of light. But also crows can have abnormal white in their plumage. Sibley says "rare but regular". (I've seen a lot of crows, but I've only seen it once.) Welcome to Whatbird, @amandas! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWM Posted April 28, 2022 Share Posted April 28, 2022 Possible crow with poop (guano) on it. Seen several like that, side affect of roosting in a tree with a 100 other crows. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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