This blustery winter day led to a great day of backyard birding.  It started at about 10:00 this morning when I saw a HUGE flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds fly in to descend upon my ground platform feeder.  I began to look for other types of blackbirds among them, expecting starlings, maybe some grackles or red-wings.  I was stuck almost speechless when I saw a bird with a brownish body, black head & yellow eye.  It seemed to jump right out at me.  It was too small for a grackle, with a shorter tail that was definitely not wedge shaped and the bill, while not as slim as a starling's, was not as large as a grackle's.  There was a slight iridescence to the wings.  It did not look like an adult male Brewer's pictured in the books but rather like a young bird whose head plumage has changed but the body plumage has not.  The pattern of browns/colors on the body had a scalloped effect.  I have never seen this on a grackle. 

We got to observe him for about 15 minutes before the flock departed.  Never thought to get the camera out, though it is doubtful we could have gotten a definitive picture with the other tree limbs we were looking through.  The camera would have focused on the limbs, not the bird.

Laura Dornan
Louisville

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