A Perching Mystery

All of my activity last week took more out of me than I hoped it would. It hit me about the time I published my last post. I became exhausted and dizzy so most activity had to stop for a few days. ...But I'm feeling muuuch better now.

So I'm back with a bit of a mystery. Take a close look at the bad pictures I have of this bird here. The first thing you might notice is the bright yellow belly. Then the darker back, which is either gray or maybe more possibly an olive color. The front of the neck appears to be white. That last part is very hard to see.

I found these pictures while browsing through my archives. I took them at the beginning of May last year with my old camera. I don't remember the event at all. I'm guessing that's because I must have thought at the time that this was an American Robin, which is very common around here. But after doing quite a bit of research over the last few weeks I suspect it is really a Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher, but I am far from sure. It's definitely not a robin.

I'm so interested in this bird because I have never seen a bird like this one before. Birds are some of the most interesting creatures because there is such a huge variety of them. Before I began really paying attention to them I thought there was only one kind of bird around here. Brown. You wouldn't believe my amazement when I saw my first American Goldfinch, which is bright yellow.

So now every time I find a new bird I am very excited. It's more fun to know the bird is new when I actually see it, but seeing the picture is pretty good too. I actually have stumbled across several very interesting pictures of birds in my archives. I only wish the quality could be just a bit better.

So, do any of you think you know what this bird might be? I already made my guess, but it could be way off. The one thing I am sure of is that this is the only one of its kind I am sure I've ever seen. So even if I never find the identity I am very excited to discover that I have seen another type of bird. What could be better than the discovery of something new?


Nature Center Magazine - This week begins the start of a series of some very good nature videos that I found. Today we feature some very special Reindeer that have a taste for magic mushrooms.