A Strange Black Bird

I found a strange oddity of a bird the other day while out on my usual hike and nature hunt. Actually, I had an eventful day that includes some news I have for you. But I'll tell you about that part after I talk about this odd bird.

There is a huge problem with this bird. The problem is that I'm not sure what it is! It seems to be some kind of blackbird, but it doesn't quite match any blackbird related birds around here. Even though you can't see it in these pictures, it doesn't have the red shoulder feathers of a red-winged blackbird. And the color is just not quite right for that one either.

The next bird I looked at was the common grackle, another type of blackbird. That one seems close but the eyes look like the wrong color. A grackle's eyes are yellow, but this bird has black eyes. And again the color isn't quite right.This bird seems to be a duller black than either one of the first two birds. The common grackle also has a dark blue head, but I don't see that on this bird.

Let's move on to the next.

The next bird I tried was the brown-headed cowbird, another kind of blackbird. So far this is the closest looking bird I can find to the one in the pictures. The eye color, the beak, and even the body color seems to match. A problem though is the color of the head. Just like the name says, that bird is brown-headed. I've seen brown-headed cowbirds before, and this bird's head is too dark.

So what can I conclude by all of this? The only conclusion I have is that I'm not sure at all what kind of bird I have here. My guess would be that it's a brown-headed cowbird with a dark head. Maybe the light and the angle is fooling me a little bit. I'm not sure. What do you think?

On to a few unrelated matters. Do you remember the crippled deer I featured last week? I was talking to somebody who has also seen this same deer, in several places. I was told that this deer has been like that since at least last winter. I was also told that the deer has been seen running just like any other deer. It may be crippled, but it gets around just fine.

I also wanted to let everyone know that I've been having a lot of time management problems lately. It seems like as soon as I get started doing anything, I soon find that the day is over with. So I haven't been on the internet very much for the past week. I'm hoping time will slow down a little bit for me so I can catch up with your blogs, but I still haven't figured out why my time has gotten so short. I think my brain needs a reset. Yup, I said reset, not rest (a bad joke).

Nature Center Magazine - Today's feature is Cool Nature Videos. In this week's video we will take a look at the Venus Flytrap, my favorite carnivorous plant.