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Odd Bird Sighting In Editor’s Backyard

Posted on July 2nd, 2008 10:06am by Adam McGill
Filed under Nature

What makes it even more odd: It wasn’t Nancy who saw it. It was me. I ask her and her fellow feather fans to help me identify the fowl seen at left. I admit the picture doesn’t make it very easy. But maybe this helps: the thing walked like a rooster, seemed to be flightless, and had a yellow head and yellow feathers on its back (though not quite yellow tailfeathers). Followup question: Is it edible?

(Larger, uncropped photos here and here.)

25 Comments to “Odd Bird Sighting In Editor’s Backyard”

Tinman @ July 2nd, 2008 at 10:16 am

Aren’t all birds edible? Just depends how hungry you are……
monkey god @ July 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 am

It’s hard to tell from the picture,but it could be a young male Golden Pheasant.
monkey god @ July 2nd, 2008 at 10:22 am

I could do a better job with a good picture.
John Charles McKee @ July 2nd, 2008 at 10:34 am

It’s a cat.
Me! @ July 2nd, 2008 at 10:45 am

Yardbird
superkaty @ July 2nd, 2008 at 10:52 am

ugh. birds are rats with wings.
Bethany @ July 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 am

Apparently, it could be dinner.
monkey god @ July 2nd, 2008 at 11:01 am

After viewing the uncropped photos,I’m sure it’s a Golden Pheasant.Someone in the hood probably raises birds and this one escaped.The males usually have nice tail feathers about 3 feet long but a cat or dog may have torn this birds out.
Nancy Nichols @ July 2nd, 2008 at 11:09 am

Yum, get out the butter and sage.
Tim W. @ July 2nd, 2008 at 11:10 am

I second monkey god. And, it could indeed be supper if you play your cards right, Adam.
amandacobra @ July 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 am

I third and fourth anyone who says birds are terrifying disease carriers. They call it the “Bird Flu” for a reason.

Official diagnosis: If it is indeed as flightless as you say, you have a the making of a small lunch taco platter.
IFB @ July 2nd, 2008 at 11:16 am

Oh boy Adam, you better start watching Channel 5 news every day. That is no regular bird, it is exotic python or boa game food. For some reason, someone in your neighborhood turned them lose. You know, foreclosure Tuesday was yesterday and the sad truth is that losing your house effects everyone, including pets.
amandacobra @ July 2nd, 2008 at 11:18 am

you have a the making of a small lunch taco platter.

Sorry guys, sometimes I let Father Guido Sarducci have a crack at transcribing my comments for me. I’ve learned my lesson and will now take off my headphones and turn off my Rosetta Stone tapes and concentrate on typing. Mea culpa.
monkey god @ July 2nd, 2008 at 11:21 am

Thank God it isn’t a elephant.You wouldn’t want 250 comments on which sanctuary you need to send it to.
Peterk @ July 2nd, 2008 at 11:45 am

yup looks like a golden pheasant without the tail feathers
http://www.meyerhatchery.com/g.....t-pair.htm
mm @ July 2nd, 2008 at 1:30 pm

Props to Amanda for the Father Guido Sarducci reference.
jane @ July 2nd, 2008 at 1:54 pm

…goes well with fava beans and a nice chianti.
publicnewssense @ July 2nd, 2008 at 5:21 pm

That is a Crimean Woodcock, first imported into the United States in 1993 by the Lone Star Avia-Agri Foundation as part of an experiment to control fire ants. Do you have fire ants in your yard? These birds are the only known natural predators to fire ants and it is said that a Crimean Woodcock can eat a teeming gallon of fireants in an hour and will not stop until it reaches the queen.
The only drawback has been that the CW breeds slowly, laying but one egg per clutch and hatching only every six months. The toxicity in fire ants affects the reproductive system. The “peck” of the Crimean Woodcock is not harmful to humans.
monkey god @ July 2nd, 2008 at 9:28 pm

publicnewsense
Your gonna have people looking all over their yards for these birds along with Big Foot.Texas A&M did introduce a decaptating fly to Texas that is the fire ant’s natural enemy.There is a virus that kills them also.
publicnewssense @ July 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 pm

Monkey God, Yes, that is the same virus that weakens the integrity of the albumin in the Crimean Woodcock’s eggs, hence the difficulty in breeding. Often you can hear the cry of the lonely, frustrated Crimean Woodcock in the underbrush of city creeks and in greenbelts. The bird, however, eschews well-lighted areas and the EPA and the National Wildlife/Predatory Bird Fund are said to be looking into the effect of the Katy Trail Lights on the Crimean Woodcock habitat and food supply. So far, no one on the Katy Trail has fallen victim to fire ants — at least it hasn’t been revealed if that has occurred.
monkey god @ July 3rd, 2008 at 8:24 am

publicnewssense, You keep writing this way and your going to have NBC 5 giving us a news flash on the Katy Trail.”Danger what you need to know,live at 10″.It would be funny when Jane or Mike said Crimean Woodcock.
publicnewssense @ July 3rd, 2008 at 10:04 am

Never happen, Monkey God. There’s not a commercial link for NBC5’s News to pimp.
Still, it is well-known throughout the birding community that the recent salmonella scare was crippling to Crimean Woodcock breeders since the tomato is the bird’s key non-fire ant food. Something in the tomato neutralizes the venom of the fire ants. In fact, in Crimea, natives often carry tomatoes in case of a fire ant bite and slice open the tomato and rub the pulp on the bite to reduce the stinging sensation.
Farmers, caught in a swarm of fire ants, have long been known to save themselves by stripping and hurling their naked bodies into tomato patches and rolling around unti they are covered with tomato juice and pulp.
In Crimea, the tomato is known among farmers as “The Red Globe of Sweet Relief.”
monkey god @ July 3rd, 2008 at 10:26 am

publicnewssense,Is this Benny Hinn? I hope your not the parent of small children.If so,their gonna need to be medicated when they become adults.
publicnewssense @ July 3rd, 2008 at 6:05 pm

I was once the father of small children and, yes, they did grow up to become medicated.
Amy S @ July 7th, 2008 at 9:32 am

Brendan Higgins is the only one who would have the huevos to say Crimean Woodcock on air.