A Different Bird for Thanksgiving

It doesn't matter if there is a holiday any particular day. I still head out whenever I can once or twice a day to scan the neighborhoods for any new birds that might show up in the area. Today was Thanksgiving but our plans for family events ended up causing us to celebrate the holiday tomorrow. So, off I went into the morning. Seems like I was the only person to do so.

It was rather odd. There were very few cars anywhere as I traveled around. Not a lot of birds out either. This super hot weather is seeing fewer migrants in Central Florida and it took a while before I even spotted something of interest. As I headed to my next body of water through a side street I saw a bird up on a wire that had a different shape than I was used to. East Grant Street is not super busy but it typically has a few cars on the move at all times. Today? None save myself. I even stopped, put the car in reverse, parked and got out to take a few shots. In the middle of the road.

Ghost town.

I couldn't really figure out what the bird was right away but when I got the images up on the computer my brain scanned through what might be around and finally decided it was a female Brown-headed Cowbird. I usually have seen then miles from here but this was the closest to the house ever. I sent the photo to a friend with my ID and he confirmed. The main thing throwing me off was the white throat.



I did some image searches and some females do show a bit of white but not to this extent. No Turkey for me today but a different special bird for the holiday. Can't wait for Turkey tomorrow.