Saw this interesting bird on a walk around my neighborhood yesterday. At first I thought it was a juvenile Grackle, but then I saw it better in the light and realized the color seemed off. I haven’t really seen many juvenile grackles, so I thought that maybe they are this lighter color when they are immature. However, after doing some research I realize that some species of grackle are a medium brown color when young but never this light.
Then I thought, perhaps it’s a young Mockingbird based on the size and overall color (gray, white patch on wing). If you look closely at the beak though, this bird’s beak is much larger than a Mockingbird.
I couldn’t find any others that were this size and shape that have yellow eyes in our area. If anyone has any thoughts as to what this might be, please let me know!
EDIT: It’s been pointed out to me that this is a really scruffy and sad looking Mockingbird with feathers missing from it’s face. That’s why I thought that it wasn’t a mockingbird because the beak looked longer, but it’s because the feathers that would block part of it’s face are missing. Thanks for your help everyone!
Birding Ninja 