Is this a new species of bird?

Hi everyone, I was at my mom's house one day and I saw this really wierd looking bird on her porch. I took this picture of it with my cell phone and I was hoping someone could tell me what kind of bird it is.

I have never seen this bird before and I have lived here my whole life. It almost looks like an owl. Maybe a baby owl?



Here is a closeup of the face..

It does look like a baby owl, but I thought they were nocturnal. Good picture you took of it.

I hope some folks in the know, like birdwatchers or such respond to this query of yours cause I would like to know, myself.

Cute little bird.

I have had this picture since fall and it has been bugging me what kind of bird it is. This bird was not afraid of me either. It stayed there for a while as I got closer to get better pictures.

I figured someone on this forum has to be a bird watcher and could put a species name to this bird for me.

At least I hope so, if not then maybe I did discover a new species.

Star

Looks like an owl that just left the nest. The grass looks very green in the background so this may have been in the spring and I think that's about the time when nestlings are just trying their wings.

Or it may be an owl that was disturbed from its daytime snooze by a predator.

It's not an owl. Owls have HUGE wide-open eyes, even when they're babies. I've never seen that kinda bird, that's weird. Maybe try e-mailing to to a few aviations and see if they can tell u what kinda bird it is, i'm curious myself

it almost looks as if the hardness of his beak covers up his eyes

hmm. interesting bird to say the least

Well, I just emailed www.eraptors.org... to ask them if this is an owl. Hopefully they will answer me.

Getting out my bird book, I'm thinking it's either a young Screech Owl or a young Boreal Owl.

The kicker would be if I knew what the location for the sighting was.

I'm sorry, I guess that would help wouldn't it? lol

The sighting was in North Western Ohio.

SE Ohio would be within the Eastern Screech Owl range. The size of an adult would be about 8-10 inches. The feathered horns look right and the dark coloration is likely because the little guy was wet. The rain would also cause it to 'squint' a bit. (if it was raining)


If not...
When in a place where it is unsure of its safety, it habitually flattens its body, erects its ear tufts and closes its eyes to try to blend into its surroundings.

Very nice pic, though... definitely a keeper.



Edit to add a couple of 'if's'

[edit on 11/2/07 by masqua]

Also to add NW Ohio is also within its range (blame poor reading skills)



[edit on 11/2/07 by masqua]

Thanks for checking on that Masqua. It was not raining the day I took this picture. I was wrong on the season, it was 5-26-06.

That email I sent to eraptors.org came back to me undeliverable.

I have six pictures total of this bird but as you can tell the quality is not as good as the first one. This one will give you a side view.



You can see the rest of the pictures by clicking on the links below.

www.toledoconnection.com...

www.toledoconnection.com...

www.toledoconnection.com...

www.toledoconnection.com...

www.toledoconnection.com...

www.toledoconnection.com...

Before i seen the above pic, i was thinking owl but after seeing the profile view, the beak looks nothing like an owls beak

I don't think this bird is an owl.

It really does look strange.

From what I can see the face doesn't look like an owls face.

I hope you find out what it is.

It's a nestling of perhaps a blackbird or grackle. It still hasn't lost all of the down from its head, and its tail feathers aren't fully developed. This was in May so it may have fallen out of a nest or was just learning to fly.

Here's a baby/adolescent owl:



They look absolutely nothing alike!!

I think we can rule out the "baby owl" factor. I think this may be a new species you've found here! Or possibly a hybrid of two birds which should be equally as exciting.

The link below is to a picture of a Grackle:
flickr.com...@N00/177118075/

And here:
en.wikipedia.org...

Link to image of Blackbird:
en.wikipedia.org...

None of these images comes close to the bird I saw.

The side view shows it to definitely NOT be an owl, for certain. I'm tending now towards a very young Blackbird of some type.

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pic wouldn't load

[edit on 11/2/07 by masqua]



[edit on 11/2/07 by masqua]

Originally posted by Stari
And here:
en.wikipedia.org...

Link to image of Blackbird:
en.wikipedia.org...

None of these images comes close to the bird I saw.

Birds appear different at various stages of growth. Nestlings look very different from adult birds. I've seen birds similar to the one you've posted, but the photo is not very focused so I can't be sure, and I don't know the name of the species.

Thanks UK Wizard for moving this thread to the proper area, I couldn't find Cryptozoology.

Masqua, I have showed some links to the Blackbird and to me it does not look like a Blackbird. Do you have a better picture of one that might show the resemblance?

Paresthesia
I think this may be a new species you've found here! Or possibly a hybrid of two birds which should be equally as exciting.

Wow, if this is a hybrid of two different birds then that would really help to prove that hybridization had alot to do with how mammals (including humans) changed over the millions of years.

Darn, I really wish I would have tried to catch it now

Originally posted by SkyWay

Birds appear different at various stages of growth. Nestlings look very different from adult birds.

I didn't know that.

I just started 2 years ago bird watching and putting food out for the birds in the neighborhood and watching them.

The first image I posted of this bird shows that it has a mask looking face. Is there any species out there that has a mask looking face?