Identify this bird.

I visited my hunting property in east central MN yesterday just to check things out. The property is east of Hinckley, MN.

The snow was deeper than I thought it would be, so I drove some of my trails with the ATV to pack them down for the deer and also so they don’t drift in.

I went down to shovel off the ATV bridge over the creek and that is where I first encountered a flock of these birds. I have never seen anything like them. They were down by the little creek in flocks of about 5-8 birds. There were 2 flocks near places of open water. Once I noticed these flocks, I noticed these birds were everywhere. They mainly would hang in small bushes eating red berries.

Their flight characteristics are very much like a common robin with their swooping flight. That’s what caught my eye, at first was that I thought they were northern robins, which would be very strange indeed. But obviously, they are not.

In size, they are 1-2 inches bigger than a common robin and with a bigger, longer tail. They are gray and white, but have a rust-colored patch at the base of their back where it meets the tail as can be seen in one of the photos.

Here’s what I know they are NOT. Not a robin, of course. Not a gray jay or whiskey jack.

The Cornell bird ID app finds no match except for a quail, which is right for the color of gray and rust, but totally wrong for all other characteristics.

Of course my photos were turned sideways on upload and the quality is not great because I had to use the digital zoom. I tried to get as close as I could.

What are they?

Grouse

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Is that a black beak?

They sure have a similar look to a female or immature Pine Grosbeak.

That is a really horse crap picture grouse, but it looks like some type of grossbeak or waxwing, maybe a shrike. With that pic though it could be an owl

Curious why you ruled out Whiskey Jack/Canadian Jay. That’s exactly what it looks like to me. And the swooping flight and size you mentioned sound right for a Canadian Jay also.

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My best guess is Bohemian Waxwing, but with that pic it’s impossible to tell. Does have the rust by the tail and they love berries this time of year. Might be a cedar waxwing too

I was thinking one of the waxwings, too.

Another vote for waxwings. Seems they show up around this time of year.

munchy wrote:

Is that a black beak?

Yes, the beak is black. Also note the distinctive coloration around the eye.

tegg wrote:

They sure have a similar look to a female or immature Pine Grosbeak.

Yes, I totally agree there is a resemblance, but there are 2 things that make me think this idea is unlikely.

1. Look at the length of the tail. My estimation is the tail of the bird I saw is at least 2/3 the length of the body. A Grosbeak’s tail is about 1/4 to no more than 1/2 its body length.

2. The overall size is wrong. The bird I say is bigger than a common robin, grosbeaks are distinctly smaller than a robin.

Is there a northern sub-species of grosbeak that is much larger?

Grosbeak female for comparison.

Grouse

Problem with Waxwings is they have black eye banding. After looking at Cornell Ornithology website the Pine Grosbeak seems to be a good candidate.

Were there any that had obvious red coloring in their plumage?

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The Cornell website did indicate Pine Grosbeak size can vary over their range.

Ptarmigan

Gray Jay?

Bass-n-Eyes wrote:

Curious why you ruled out Whiskey Jack/Canadian Jay. That’s exactly what it looks like to me. And the swooping flight and size you mentioned sound right for a Canadian Jay also.

My understanding is the gray jay / Canadian Jay is non-migratory and the area where I spotted these birds is not within its known range.

Also, the gray jay lacks the reddish-brown patch on the back.

But you are right, the flight characteristics are right as is the size. Maybe???

Grouse

The best picture I have of the reddish-brown back.

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We’ve had them at our cabin the last couple years. Small raptor. I will think of the name shortly.

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Looks like a Merlin. We’ve had them at our cabin the last couple years.

Edit. Maybe not. Been staring at your blury pic.

The Pine Grosbeak is the closest fit, but if it really is, then I have discovered a new subspecies, the Giant Pine County Pine Grossbeak XXL. This is NOT your father’s wimpy little grosbeak…

And, absolutely no males were seen. It’s hard to miss a male grosbeak I watched 3 flocks and easily saw 15+ individuals and NEVER saw a single male. Maybe this is not unusual at this time of year?

Male and female pine grosbeaks.

Grouse

suzuki wrote:

We’ve had them at our cabin the last couple years. Small raptor. I will think of the name shortly.

Is it a Northern Shrike? I saw it eating berries and I thought the shrike was strictly a carnivore.

Also, I thought the shrike was solitary or paired, not in flocks.

Grouse

tegg wrote:

Problem with Waxwings is they have black eye banding. After looking at Cornell Ornithology website the Pine Grosbeak seems to be a good candidate.

Were there any that had obvious red coloring in their plumage?

No offense tegg, but from that crappy pic how can you tell if it has an eye patch? I can’t even tell which way the head is facing

I am sticking with waxwing. We get them at the farm all the time in late season and they travel in small flocks and eat the crap out of red berries.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
We’ve had them at our cabin the last couple years. Small raptor. I will think of the name shortly.

Is it a Northern Shrike?

Grouse

Shrike’s have that distinctive black wing and are not as stocky. You have a classic out of focus sasquatch picture.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Clem wrote:</div>
Curious why you ruled out Whiskey Jack/Canadian Jay. That’s exactly what it looks like to me. And the swooping flight and size you mentioned sound right for a Canadian Jay also.

My understanding is the gray jay / Canadian Jay is non-migratory and the area where I spotted these birds is not within its known range.

Also, the gray jay lacks the reddish-brown patch on the back.

But you are right, the flight characteristics are right as is the size. Maybe???

Grouse

It is common for a lot of birds to move further south during cold winters such as this year. They are very common all year long on my property up near Crane Lake so I wouldn’t think it would be that unlikely that they could be 150 or so miles further south during the dead of winter. The fact that they are larger than a robin I would think would rule out most of the other birds mentioned. If you look at the picture I posted of a Canadian Jay and compare it to the 2nd picture in your original post the heads and beaks are identical.

I would vote for Pine Grosbeak as well.

Pine Grosbeak

With their soft, sweet songs, these friendly finches gather in large winter flocks to feed in fruit trees or to feast on seeds in ash trees. They fly south to Minnesota virtually every winter. Poor seed crops in Canada mean more birds traveling to Minnesota. In years of such irruptions, pine grosbeaks can be quite numerous in the northern third of the state.

An adult male is red on head, back, chest, and rump. The female has a rusty orange or olive-green head and rump, and gray breast and back. Juvenile males are colored like females. The second-year male retains the gray breast but sports red head and rump and flecks of red on its back. Both males and females have dark brown tail and wings with two white wing bars.

Winter flocks often are segregated by sex. You might stumble upon 30 pine grosbeaks feeding in a fruit tree, but not spot a single red adult male among the females and juveniles. The reverse situation also occurs, although in my experience less frequently.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mcvmagazine/issues/2017/jan-feb/birding-grosbeaks-in-Minnesota.html

Here is some additional info on the range of the Canadian Jay:” P. c. canadensis, the nominate subspecies, breeds from northern British Columbia east to Prince Edward Island, and south to the northern reaches of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Vermont, and New Hampshire, as well as northeastern New York and Maine. It winters at lower altitudes within the breeding range and south to southern Ontario and Massachusetts, and is an occasional visitor to central Minnesota, southeastern Wisconsin, northwestern Pennsylvania, and central New York. P. c. canadensis is a vagrant to northeastern Pennsylvania (Philadelphia).[9]”

suzuki wrote:

You have a classic out of focus sasquatch picture.

sticker wrote:

…but from that crappy pic…

Look, all you photography/art critics are decidedly unhelpful. The little buggers are skittish AND I was trying to take a picture in bright sunlight with fresh show on the ground so it was like taking a picture of a bird standing beside a welding arc. I could barely see the blessed screen to make sure the bird was in the frame.

Obviously, I will be better equipped for my next visit with a camera that has an actual optical zoom shooting at 9 bazillon megapixels. I will then text 500 high res photos to Sticker.

Grouse

Well you could email the pictures but………the cool thing would be to catch one of those birds, print the pictures and band the photos to the birds leg. After all, I’m pretty sure thats a carrier Pigeon on your land.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Clem wrote:</div>
You have a classic out of focus sasquatch picture.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>sticker wrote:</div>
…but from that crappy pic…

Look, all you photography/art critics are decidedly unhelpful. The little buggers are skittish AND I was trying to take a picture in bright sunlight with fresh show on the ground so it was like taking a picture of a bird standing beside a welding arc. I could barely see the blessed screen to make sure the bird was in the frame.

Obviously, I will be better equipped for my next visit with a camera that has an actual optical zoom shooting at 9 bazillon megapixels. I will then text 500 high res photos to Sticker.

Grouse

Not sure why you attributed the sasquatch quote to me, I did not write it.

Tell you what Grouse, when I get seed this year I will text you a really bad out of focus picture of the check as payment…ok

I digitally enhanced the one photo and ran some CSI algorithms on it.

It appears you didn’t see birds at all.

Gray Jay.
With the cooler winters we are having these last couple decades the Gray Jay’s range has moved considerably south.