White Rocks Trail - and a mystery bird

[Jeff Parks]

Well, it wasn't raining, so I thought I would go and see what was lurking at White Rocks Trail this afternoon. 

Things started off pretty well, there were LOTS of swallows all over the place, a lot of Cliff Swallows, but some VG and Barn as well.  The trees along the trail had House Wrens, Song Sparrows, a pair of Red-Tailed Hawks, some Bullock's Orioles and a few Flickers.  The fields had lots of swallows along with some Kingbirds, mostly Eastern but a couple of Western.  I scanned the marshy areas to the north of the RR tracks, and found a Great Blue Heron, some Canada Geese, a few Mallards and a Greater Yellowlegs?  I couldn't tell for sure with the binoculars, it was around 200 yards out, but it looked like one to me.  There were a few Spotted Sandpipers flitting around the marsh as well, and all of a sudden, an Osprey dropped in out of nowhere, and started taking a bath.  The wading birds disappeared quickly, but popped back out after ten or fifteen minutes.  I continued down the trail towards the creek, and found some Yellow Warblers, Black Capped Chickadees, and a few Robins chirping away.  Close to the bridge, I saw Lots of Swallows again, including some Tree and a few Northern Rough Wing. 

In a tree not too far from the bridge, a mystery bird sat near the top, mostly yellow underneath, with some black under the beak somewhat like an Oriole.  After looking through Sibley, I thought maybe an Orchard Oriole, but it had a grey head.  I managed to take a couple of quick pictures in between looks through the binoculars.  I tried to take a couple of steps so I could get a better picture, but I spooked it, and it quickly disappeared behind the trees.  I didn't get a look at the upper side of the wing, so I only saw what is in the pictures.  It was not quite as big as a Bullock's Oriole, I thought it might be a warbler, but didn't see anything in Sibley that looked quite like this.

So, any thoughts on what this might be?  Is it an Oriole?  Or something else? 

Jeff Parks
Boulder

[Zach Schiff]

Actually, a little deeper searching makes me definitely think orchard oriole. The black on the throat is much more complete than it would be on juv bullocks.

[Zach Schiff]

At a quick first glance, it looks like a hooded oriole, but that would be highly unusual. The black up through the eye may indicate a juvie bullocks oriole.

[Jeff Parks]

Well, from the responses that I have received so far, it appears that it is indeed an Orchard Oriole.  In Sibley, the notes say "Our smallest Oriole, often mistaken for a Warbler."  Which is what happened to me, I thought it was a Warbler at first, and was thumbing through the Warbler section in Sibley trying to figure it out.  Once I got home and thought about it, I decided to look through the Orioles as well, since there were a bunch of Bullock's Orioles in the trees out there. 
 
A birder from Louisiana contacted me and mentioned that the grey head is common in first-year male birds, before they change to the dark head and chestnut body color.  Thanks, Tom! 

On a side note, Teller Lake #5 is now full of water, after being so dry this spring that you could walk across it.  I saw a couple of Coots and five Pied-Bill Grebes swimming around out there yesterday, along with the large flock of swallows skimming for insects.  There were several Yellow-headed Blackbirds hanging out in the reeds as well.

Good Birding -
Jeff Parks

[Kat Bradley-Bennett]

I agree with Orchard Oriole. We don't often see them here in Boulder County, but they do pass through from time to time. I had one on Spring Bird Count many years ago west of Longmont.

Kat Bradley-Bennett