# Birdwatchers - What did I just see?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birdwatchers-what-did-i-just-see/984237
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 18, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birdwatchers-what-did-i-just-see/984237 "2023-05-18T20:04:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birdwatchers-what-did-i-just-see/984237/1 "2023-05-18T20:04:13Z")
Sorry, no photo.
A bird I have never seen around here before just landed on my front walk to peck at some bird seed. If I had to pick it out of a line-up for the bird cops, I’d finger the Black-Vented Oriole. Bright yellow belly, jet black top, short beak. Bigger than the finches and LBBs but smaller than the crows.
Small problem: orioles don’t live west of the Rockies, and I’m about as west as you can get without getting your feet wet. So what did I just see? Any suggestions before I go in search of mug shots?
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birdwatchers-what-did-i-just-see/984237/2 "2023-05-18T20:13:59Z")
I’m not a birdbrain, but it sounds like the common American Goldfinch.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2023, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birdwatchers-what-did-i-just-see/984237/3 "2023-05-18T20:46:32Z")
It was much, much bigger than the finches that eat my seed every day. Common finch - Spitfire. This bird - P-47. Even working with the fact that birds aren’t Catholic, this thing had easily 3 times the mass of a common finch.
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### Author:  [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2023, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birdwatchers-what-did-i-just-see/984237/4 "2023-05-18T20:49:11Z")
Bullock’s Orioles do. I’ve seen them in California.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2023, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birdwatchers-what-did-i-just-see/984237/5 "2023-05-18T20:51:10Z")
Much bigger and without the yellow around the eyes. When I mean “yellow,” I don’t mean “bird yellow.” I mean “Krylon yellow.” This bird was _bright_ underneath.
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### Author:  [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2023, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birdwatchers-what-did-i-just-see/984237/6 "2023-05-18T22:08:50Z")
Scott’s Oriole.
[Scott’s Oriole Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology](https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Scotts_Oriole/overview)
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2023, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/birdwatchers-what-did-i-just-see/984237/7 "2023-05-18T22:22:38Z")
Bingo! One of the breeding areas overlays my town completely.
Thank you!