Rare birds

njp5678

wrote

Posted: 28/05/2010 21:46:56

I have a bird to report but have no idea what bird it is. I have spent hours looking thru books & looking at internet photos & nothing resembles this bird. I have connected with several bird societies & no luck in identification. So I am branching out & asking anyone if they have seen a bird like this. I live in a small city and my house backs up to a forested area. We have a lot of birds of many varieties. About 4 weeks ago I walked out onto my deck & looked down, dropoff of about 11 feet, and saw a remarkable bird. It was a large bird about 24 to 30 inces in length. I was looking at it from overhead, he wasn't scared, he just looked at me & kept slowly walking and finally disappeared into the next yard about 100 feet away. I saw him for about 2 minutes. He was between 24 & 30 inches from the top of his head to the end of the tail feathers. He was mostly a light to medium brown with flecks of white running thru. His tail was remarkable in that it was almost a square, about 7 inches wide & 6 inches deep & a bright yellow/gold in color with brown at the base. The tail did not touch the ground, was off the ground about 7 inches, he was walking thru freshly cut grass so he & his color stood out. His bill was maybe 3 inches in length. His neck was twice as long as the body. The length of the neck was about 14 to 16 inches long so the body was about 7 to 8 inches long. The neck was about 2 inches in diameter, but no more, & it flowed back to the body ever so evenly. I wanted to run to get my camera but knew if I did, I would never do so in time to take a photo. I have checked the yard many times but he is gone, maybe a bird migrating. Have you ever seen a bird like this? Except for that tail, his brown/white color was quite even over the entire body. I have called the local zoo and they asked for a photo and offered no idea. I checked with the Audubon & Cornell, zip. Surely this bird has a name. One person suggested it may be an exotic imported bird. Do you have any idea what this bird might be? Thanks, Nancy

Last Edit: 28/05/2010 21:52:46 by njp5678

Lin Treadgold

wrote

Posted: 27/12/2011 23:10:35

It would help if you could say what kind of species it may derive from. eg goose, swan, wading bird, sea bird, parrot, bird of prey etc.

If I see a bird I always tell myself ah yes, by its beak it looks like a ... and then I might look it up. I can usually find it. It could be a vagrant or a captive bird - an escape.