For a ‘little brown NYC bird’ it sure is kind of pretty.
I snapped this little guy aobut two weeks ago at the Columbus Circle entrance to the park.
I don’t think it’s a robin or a sandhill crane.
Velociraptor?
QtM, who recognizes a few birds, but is pretty clueless about the rest.
Maybe a starling? Let me look around and I’ll get back to you.
Yeah, I’m going with European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), in adult non-breeding plumage Sibley p. 416). The prettiest starling I’ve every seen!
Starling? Doesn’t look much like a starling to me. But then I generally see them flying over in an unholy flock. By the shape of the head looks like some kind of pidgeon.
That or a velociraptor. Keep the kids indoors.
If you Google starling photos, you’ll see some where that burnt-orange bit about the wings is more prominent. As I say, I’ve never seen one this pretty, but the illustration in Sibley looks exact to me.
Some starlings with good detail (though Zebra’s beats them all):
desc=images/photos/b_starling_europe_rspb.html&width=&caption=Common+Starling
http://www.gla.ac.uk/~gbza22/jpegs/birds/starling.jpg
http://www.naturephotography.org.ua/photo/starling.jpg
That is a really good picture, the colors are great! Only problem is we can’t see the face.
It looks like this starling..
I love starlings! They sound like R2D2 and the high pitched scream he does 
Seriously, Zebra, a terrific photo. Mind if I throw it on my desktop before I teach this week? I like to change the background before every PowerPoint.
I’m going to go with immature European starling. If it were an adult the head would be all black, no matter what time of year.
Pretty fresh plumage too; the white spots are visible on the tips of starlings’ feathers when their plumage is new, but by spring the tips of the feathers (where the white is located) is worn down enough that they are glossy black.
It is a shame that they are such pests, because they really are beautiful birds.
Good call on the head color, Hirundo82. I was too caught up with the orange on the coverts.
No problem, it’s on my desktop right now.
Here is another shot with his buddy.
Thanks. That is one festive bird.
I take it back. I don’t think it’s a pidgeon. But I don’t think it’s a starling either. I’m pretty sure it’s a grackle. Quite like a starling. But they have marking just like that.
Sigh I got bad information. But it could be a grackle…but let’s face it’s probably a starling.
Another nice pic, sure the moving bird is blurry but you still captured drops of water flying through the air. What camera were you using?
My canon eos 30 d
I was originally playing with different shutter speeds on fountains. Fast to catch the drops or really slow to have the sprays be blurred. Then I happend upon the birdies, drinking and bathing. They don’t stand still or take direction well but I was able to basically walk up pretty close to them.
Definitely a starling, which make great pets and talk better than most parrots. (BTW, isn’t this a pretty standard GQ-type question? You’da got confirmation from our resident ornithologist, Colibri, by now; he hangs out mostly in GQ.)
Yeah I guess it is, but it’s a pretty simple question and I mostly wanted to show off the photo.