Please help with identifying this bird

by Elizabeth
(Birmingham, AL. USA)


I live in AL and I have been seeing a lot of these birds lately. There were 5 or 6 in my bird bath at one time. Mostly brown body, with some black in their wings. The thing that stands out the most are large black patches on each side of their chest with white spots. I was watching the live wild bird cam on animalplanet.com and one happened to show up.

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Sep 01, 2014
 please help with identifying this bird
by: Brook

Dearest AuntGigi, I owe you a humungous apology, I have never ever come across a Starling that looks even similar to this picture and, in fact, thought I had remembered reading that their beaks were always orange when they were young. I searched and searched for the bird in the picture and of course came up with nothing but frustration until I saw Judy's message to me. You are so right, it is a Starling! I am sorry!
Thank You to Judy too, we need to hold each other accountable.
Aug 31, 2014
 some kind of jay?
by: Anonymous

It looks to me more like some kind of jay or jackdaw family.
Aug 30, 2014
 Mystery bird
by: Judy-Seattle

Brook, my curiosity about this strange looking bird led me to do a google search for " photos of baby starlings". I was surprised at the variations in the photos. As I looked all the photos, there was one labeled " Another baby starling" that looked just like this one in question. So I think Aunt Giki is correct. I have seen starlings with dark bills as well as yellow.
Aug 30, 2014
 please help with identifying this bird
by: Brook

WOW, I am sure that this is not a starling, so now I guess I will have to try to find out what your bird is. But I wanted to let you know that this is not a Starling. Starlings have a shorter, yellow to orange beak depending on their age and the spots are uniform through out the whole body and not merely in one place. There is no two toned differentiation on a Starling as on this bird. Please don't go away thinking that your birds are Starlings.
Aug 30, 2014
 Bird ID
by: AuntGiki

looks like a young Starling

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