Mark Amico Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 Greetings all, Last evening (8/1/2018) I saw this unique bird in my backyard around 7 pm. I live in western NY, south of Rochester in a slightly wooded area. Sorry for the poor image, but feel there is enough detail to try and make a determination as to what I was seeing. It stood about 24 inches tall. Had a white head, and what looked like a mullet hair ridge on top. It slowly walked around my backyard, and then walk through the foliage into the woods. Never seen this kind of bird in this area before. Any help in this solving this backyard mystery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bird Nuts Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 This is a domestic guineafowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HamRHead Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 Agreed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Amico Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 1 hour ago, The Bird Nuts said: This is a domestic guineafowl. Thank you for the quick and accurate analysis. While they are stated to be domesticated, does that mean they are not normally found in the wild or would you guess this was someone's pet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HamRHead Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 It probably strayed from a nearby flock. When you first acquire guineas you have to keep them penned up for about two weeks. Otherwise they will leave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psweet Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 The word domestic means simply that a population has been changed through human selective breeding -- even plants can be domesticated. (Just about all of our food crops are.) There are plenty of populations of domestic animals living in the wild -- Rock Pigeons and wild Mustangs are both examples here in the US. (The term feral is often used to refer to domestic species living in the wild.) In this case, though, I'm not aware of any established populations of guineafowl in New York -- the habitat really doesn't fit. So it's almost certainly an escape. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 1 hour ago, Mark Amico said: While they are stated to be domesticated, does that mean they are not normally found in the wild or would you guess this was someone's pet? Think of them the same way you would barnyard chickens, ducks, or geese. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry Friedman Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Incidentally, they're native to Africa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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