It's not often that we see a bird fairly well, from different angles, and
hear its song over and over, yet have no clue what it could be. Its song was
very similar in quality and style to the Eastern Meadowlark, but fewer
notes. At one point it seemed to sing a call note that was a guttural
"Dzhhh." We heard it Thursday, also, and dismissed it as a Starling
mimicking a Meadlowlark, though we couldn't find any Starlings in the area.
Today we saw the bird singing, and this was no Starling.

It sang fairly high in trees. With less-than-ideal lighting, we couldn't get
a good read on the color, but it appeared black all over, with possibly a
tinge of deep blue in the head. Sparrow-sized, its tail was too long for a
starling and too short for a grackle. Its beak was narrow, dark, and
somewhat long, longer than a typical warbler beak.

On a more positive note (positive identification, that is), I was pleasantly
surprised to find a beautiful male Baltimore Oriole enjoying the bathing
area in our waterfall. Charlie had just mentioned today that we haven't had
any luck attracting that species to our yard, though we've tried oranges,
grape jelly, and an Oriole feeder. I guess this one just wanted a place to
clean up.





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