Beautiful!
larkohio | 05.15.08 - 4:10 pm | #

Howdy, Lark! It's pretty clear your guy has won it, and best wishes for him, too.

I should note that I did NOT take those photographs. But the warblers are gorgeous birds. They are also friendly in the sense that you can pish warblers up close. I've had the pleasure of demonstrating pishing to people from time to time and, if the bird population is cooperative, you can amaze and delight folks with the sheer number of tiny birds that will occupy the branches near you. I was staying at a cabin by Lake Tahoe with my brother once and told him about pishing. He was skeptical, so I started pishing and, before you knew it, there were twenty or thirty little birdies in the branches of a tree not fifteen feet from us. I spotted the Palm Warbler because I pished a mating pair over.
DBK | Homepage | 05.15.08 - 4:18 pm | #

What bird looks like a Robin, but has large white blotches on it's back?
Rook | Homepage | 05.16.08 - 12:41 am | #

On it's back? Don't know off-hand. Where was it seen? Any other distinguishing features? The Rufus-sided towhee looks like a robin but has white on its breast instead of being all reddish (i.e., rufus). I can't tell much from your description.

Give me an idea which state and what part of the state you're in and any other info you have and I'll try to work it out.
DBK | Homepage | 05.16.08 - 8:34 am | #

Are you thinking of the rose-breasted grosbeak maybe?
DBK | Homepage | 05.16.08 - 9:29 am | #

Not, not that bird. I only saw it from behind. Yet it was the size and shape of a robin. It even flew off exactly in the manner of a robin. It looked as if someone had spilled bleach on it's back. Otherwise, it appeared to be a robin. I am living in Hastings, MN. which is just 5 miles up the Mississippi from where the St. Croix River and the Mississippi converge.
Rook | Homepage | 05.16.08 - 11:03 am | #

I'm just outside of Minneapolis in Edina. Not too far away from you. I'm not a particularly good birder and am new to the area, so I recognize it from that description, but I'll check my field guide when I have a chance.

By the way, I recommend the Peterson Field Guides to all prospective birders. I've got both the Eastern Birds and Western Birds guides. They has plates instead of photographs and great instructions for IDing birds. I don't like photos because there are enough variations in real life in color and shape, small but subtle as those variations might be, to make photos differ significantly from what you see in the field. The plates, showing an "ideal" bird, are much easier to use for comparison.
DBK | Homepage | 05.16.08 - 11:47 am | #

Could it have been a snow bunting on its way north?

A mockingbird showing wing flashes?

Northern Wheatar?
DBK | Homepage | 05.16.08 - 11:57 am | #

How much did I miss around here, DBK? When did you move to Minnesota? That makes another fellow blogger somewhat in the area here. I'm down here in Milwaukee and am in the beginning stages of planning a trip to the Twin Cities area. I may just have to schedule a stop near you. How far are you from Mound, MN?
Bulldog | Homepage | 05.18.08 - 9:11 pm | #

About 15 miles as the crow flies. I'm in Edina.

Milwaukee, eh? You know what I was told? I was told that Minnesota is the third heaviest drinking state and Wisconsin is the first. I don't know how true it is, but I thought, "Now there's something a fella could be proud of."

I'm just prairie-folk now.
DBK | Homepage | 05.19.08 - 8:48 am | #