Expert: Julia Booth - 7/6/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hello my  name is Ron,and I have a question about a bird I saw come to a finch feeder. The bird was alone,was a greenish color with black and white bars on the wings,and had a long straight tail that looked to be a brownish color.The head was a yellowish color,and the beek was dark,or black.  The thing that puzzeled me was the fact that it was about 2 times the size of a finch and really stood out. I have looked online and in books and have come up with 1 idea,but I was just wondering on an expert.I did see this brid in late afernoon or early  evening and the feeder just has nyger seed in it.

ANSWER: The only bird I can think of that fits this description would be a female painted bunting. Their plummage can vary greatly by location. So here are some varied images for reference purposes.

http://igsaceeswb00.er.usgs.gov/pabu/i/046.jpg

http://www.azfo.org/gallery/2009/images5/PABU_Sweetwater_Beatson_20091128_a.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_RuJ4_PdWs3g/Sfk6xfQPsXI/AAAAAAAAC8M/PE3D0YSJezQ/s400/P

The other alternative is that it's some kind of feral bird that is not native to North America, but was someone's escaped pet. The fact of the matter is, there are hardly any green birds that are native to Canada or the US.

Let me know if that's not it and we will continue to search,

Julia

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Julia,sorry but thats too small of a bird to be the one I saw. The bird I was thinking was a female ,or first year orchard oriole. That just seems a bit weird to see one on a finch feeder though,but it was a much bigger bird than the ones you normally see
thanks for the reply though
ron

Answer
Well only you know for sure what you saw. But neither the female or the juvenille orchard oriole meet all the criteria that you've given me here.

Orioles eat mostly fruit, berries and large insects. They are highly unlikely to show up at a seed feeder, since they do not eat seeds.

When you say green, do you mean olive green, bright green or what? Did you notice any other field marks, like a white ring around the eye, the color of its feet etc?

This site has an excellent search engine for bird identification.

http://whatbird.com/