# Another Bird ID
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bird-id/530690
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 27, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bird-id/530690 "2010-02-27T21:39:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Kendyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kendyr)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bird-id/530690/1 "2010-02-27T21:39:11Z")
Saw this bird through binoculars and just briefly.
North Austin: about meadowlark shape (give or take; going by bird book drawings), brown with light tan markings (seemed almost like a salt & pepper pattern; small spots or short lines, thin outlines along feather edges, etc), bright yellow beak. Other than the beak, the rest of the body was just the brown and light tan colors. No yellow breast or anything.
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### Author:  [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bird-id/530690/2 "2010-02-27T22:13:11Z")
Did it have a sparrow-like beak (short and thick) or a warbler-like beak (thin)? If the former, I would suspect it was one of the sparrows.
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### Author:  [@Kendyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kendyr)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bird-id/530690/3 "2010-02-27T22:50:51Z")
> [@barbitu8](#):
>
> Did it have a sparrow-like beak (short and thick) or a warbler-like beak (thin)? If the former, I would suspect it was one of the sparrows.
Neither, it had a grackle-like beak. Long, medium-thick. Not like a sparrow’s that’s much wider at the head than the tip. And it looked bigger than a sparrow, more the size of a grackle as well.
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bird-id/530690/4 "2010-02-28T02:47:18Z")
Howzabout a [Sprague’s Pipit](http://www.pbase.com/dadas115/spragues_pipit)?
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### Author:  [@Kendyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kendyr)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bird-id/530690/5 "2010-02-28T02:58:08Z")
> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> Howzabout a [Sprague’s Pipit](http://www.pbase.com/dadas115/spragues_pipit)?
Hmm, possibly, though the bird I saw had a very bright yellow beak and seemed darker overall (of course, it was in shade).
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### Author:  [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bird-id/530690/6 "2010-02-28T03:10:07Z")
[Female starling](http://www.jrcompton.com/photos/The_Birds/J/March-07/JR60951-starling-yap.jpg)?
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### Author:  [@Kendyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kendyr)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bird-id/530690/7 "2010-02-28T13:30:13Z")
> [@amarone](#):
>
> [Female starling](http://www.jrcompton.com/photos/The_Birds/J/March-07/JR60951-starling-yap.jpg)?
Ah ha! I think that’s the one!
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### Author:  [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2010, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bird-id/530690/8 "2010-02-28T13:35:23Z")
For an amazing bit of video on starlings, go [here](http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/wild-balkans/video-full-episode/5519/)and start watching at 48 minutes.
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### Author:  [@Kendyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kendyr)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-bird-id/530690/9 "2010-02-28T14:14:40Z")
Yep, that is definitely cool.