Carol Johnson and I were on the East Trail boardwalk at Sapsucker Woods on Thursday morning, enjoying the sounds of several Northern Waterthrushes and a Great Crested Flycatcher, when we both spied a peculiar bird snooping around the base of a tree in the marsh not far from the boardwalk. We had only a few seconds once we each got our binoculars on it before it flew off. But we were left with the impression of a male BH Cowbird whose head was about the right color, but whose body was far too light (about, say, the color of a female BH Cowbird's breast). We didn't really see--or "register"--the color of the eyes and the exact size/shape of the bill in the brief glimpse we had. That's unfortunate, because in my later Googling for this color pattern, and for "leucistic" and "cowbird", I didn't find any images of cowbirds that looked like "our" bird, but I DID find a photo of a supposedly leucistic Common Grackle which looks quite a lot like our bird:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdoheadtanager55/5343946235/ But whether we were looking at an anomalously pigmented cowbird or grackle (bummer that we didn't get the eyes and bill!)...or even something else, I can't be sure. Has anyone seen such a bird at Sapsucker Woods, or have any insights into pigment issues in those or similar species? If so, TIA! Rick -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
