Help me identify this bird

Factual Questions
1

No picture, so I’ll settle for a web site I can browse if no one can identify the bird from its description.

Seen in Monterey, CA, the bird is about the size (length) of a bluejay, but more robust. It has dark, speckled feathers (green flecks on the belly), and was seen munching on figs. The flock was bout 15 or 20 birds, but that might have been dictated by the size of the fig tree, which was only about 8 ft high. I wish I had snapped a picture, because it was a very cool looking bird. I tried to google “birds in Monterey”, but didn’t get anything useful.

2

“Dark, speckled bird in large group” says European Starling to me. However, they’re somewhat smaller than blue jays (or the Steller’s jays and scrub jays you have out west.)

More data would be useful — did it have a long tail? Was it uniformly dark, or lighter on the underside? Did it have a crest? Were the birds chattering to each other, and if so what did it sound like?

3

Starling flocks can occasionally be larger.

4

You can take a trip through a checklist of birds of Monterey County and see if anything looks familiar. I’d say you can skip the first 4 or 5 sections, as the description you gave pretty much rules out water and wading birds.

5

They might not be local; I’m thinking it’s still migrating time, and figs would be a good high-energy snack.

There are, of course, a buttload of species that migrate from waaaay up in Canada and Alaska down the Pacific Coast (Pacific Flyway).

I’ll see if I can google up something…

6

I’m voting for Flicker.

7

Do flickers flock? I’ve only seen them singly or in pairs.

8

Is that a flock of flickers? It’s where the flickers flock.

9

Yep, Flickers Flock.

10

Whatbird is a good site for bird identification.

11

That is close, but I think it was a bit bigger. My first thought was starling, but I thought starlings were smaller, and they seem to be in that picture.

It wasn’t a flicker. The flecks were much smaller and there was no red patch on the head.

12

I like that site. I’ll poke around a bit-- my first attempt did not find work.

Thanks, all. I wish I had more info, and will definitely make a point to bring my camera next time I’m down there. This was a very striking bird.

jayjay: Yeah, I like your site, too. Thanks.

13

paging Colibri…

14

Could it possibly be a grackle? Grackles and starlings are sometimes confused for one another.

There are both Common Grackles and Great-Tailed Grackles in Monterey, according to** jayjay**'s website.

15

I don’t think this is necessarily what John was seeing based on the speckling, green flecks and the size of the flock ( at least in that area, where I assume they’re still uncommon ), but poking around I was surprised to find that Common and Great-Tailed Grackles are now invading Monterey county as of 1999-2000.

http://montereybay.com/creagrus/grackles.html

http://montereybay.com/creagrus/MTY_2000.html

ETA: Hah! Beaten to the punch :D.

16

Good thing it wasn’t a fucking flock of fifteen flecked flickers flamboyantly flocking in a fiercely flaming fucking fig tree.

17

I didn’t think there was enough information in the OP to venture a guess. I would need a more detailed description to speculate.

18

I was going to go with Bohemian Waxwing or Cedar Waxwing based not only on the diet, but the similarity to something I saw in Oregon. Speckled feathers doesn’t really fit, but I don’t know what you saw for sure.

19

No crest like that. It really did look a lot like a starling, but just bigger and more robust. Plus there was the beautiful plumage with the green flecks.

But after looking at all the pictures people have suggested, I think my remembered image of the bird has been polluted. :slight_smile: Seriously, I need to get a picture of one of those suckers the next time I’m down there. Should be within the next few weeks. There were plenty of unripe figs on that tree, so they should be feasting for some time to come.

20

I betting it’s an immature something, but I couldn’t guess what. A lot of the youngsters (and females) of their species are more speckled than the adult males (who are usually the striking ones).