Howdy folks, hope you are feeling a little more rested than I am at the moment. We are closing in on this year’s haunted trail event and time is becoming a precious commodity. My brother Ron was able to come down last weekend and help get the trail season jumpstarted. We build/fix/buy props year round here at Intrigued, but there are always projects that are lagging for one reason or another – primarily due to nonstop rain lately. With the added help we can hopefully get those over the finish line before we transition into grooming the trail and preparing props for the haul down into the valley (fingers crossed it dries out from all the flooding). The event is the last weekend in September which is the earliest I think we have ever held the haunt. Something tells me I am going to wish I had that extra week from the previous years…also going to wish I didn’t have injuries on my left hand – middle finger knuckle has been “obliterated” and today I decided to see how much pain I can endure by absolutely smashing the tip of my pinky on the same hand – eh, “The show must go on” as they say ha. Just as a heads up, I will be “sparse” from this point on due to the extra time required for the trail..oh, and I still have that little ultra thingy to do in October, so any spare time will be pounding long miles out. Fortunately, I like the challenge…which brings us to today’s featured feathered friend.
I generally consider myself fairly decent in the field when it comes to these feathered creatures…yet this particular specimen..technically specimens had me stumped. Go ahead and take a quick guess at what you think this particular species is and I’ll see you on the other side of the jump.
Guessing there are a few of you out there that are currently laughing at my ineptitude. Maybe there are some of you that are confused as I was when I spotted this bird from our Colorado trip back in 2024.
I know, I know, that was a while ago and my backlog is well lamented. Unlike most of the time, this lag is more intentional than a post-effect of an overly aggressive shutter finger. In fact it was actually processed last year while grounded recovering from ankle surgery. Note, it is becoming apparent that this has been a rough couple of years on the medical front – aging Bumbles apparently do not “bounce” as much.
When this series came up in the digital darkroom, I distinctly recalled the encounter. Linda and I were camping at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood Colorado (link here). That September, we were heading to the Teacup Dog Agility Nationals near Loveland and Linda planned out a way for us to get a quick birding outing at Red Rocks Ampitheatre – one of my favorite places to bird in the US. Bear Creek is right near there and she booked a campsite there without knowing much about it. Summary – A FANTASTIC PARK!! Exceptional birding trails and if you are an ultra runner, the Mt Carbon Loop is a good test to see what condition you “think” you are in.
I happened to be walking the trail that follows the actual Bear Creek when the sight of this specimen caught my eye. Rifled through my mental Bird ID Quicksort (a shout out to you career IT readers out there ha), and found myself cycling between different paths. The straight brown head first steered me to a female Asshat (link here), yet that bill was way out of place for that species. Climbed back up the sort tree and came up with a female Red-Winged Blackbird with those sharp feather edges on the back and a slightly more fitting bill. No buffy line above the eye or yellowish wash around the bill…not to mention they tend to have a more mottled look to them. This sort isn’t going so well, pop a few nodes off that path and then I found myself down the spotted look branch that eventually dropped me into the European Starling option – I knew the Starling males and females look similar and the ones I was familiar with tend to be more iridescent in their wings, darker (blackish) overall tone with some degree of green/purple highlights and a yellow bill. At least the bill shape looked dead on beyond that, a head scratcher for me.
Now before you start hurling your Monty Python taunts at me (link here), there is one more bit of behavior that caught me off guard. This specimen flew down to a Western Meadowlark that was perched on a log working the creek waters. Oh, and not just the one specimen, another one flew in from a previously hidden spot in the same tree. Now I have two of these bizarre creatures next to a species I did know…and I also knew that those plain brown heads and spotted chests were NOT typical of the Meadowlark young.
Now I was captivated. For the next 20 minutes or so I watched as these three birds essentially “played” together. They would grab various objects out of the water (guessing some insect) and basically pass it back and forth between them like a hot potato. Was the Meadowlark trying to teach it how to hunt, was it really an ASSHAT and they were unfortunate united…. I even looked around for a potential local birder that might have the answer to my confusion without luck.
Eventually the two spotted specimens left together and then a young Western Meadowlark came down and joined the first Meadowlark.
After spending extra time once the series was processed, I came to the following conclusion. Note, if you have other thoughts please let me know in the comments and we can learn together! The specimens in question are likely juvenile European Starlings. This was the very first time I had ever seen these youngsters in the wild. After staring at Cornell’s reference picks which has multiple iterations of juveniles – none of which looks exactly like these specimens – thinking they are nearing their transition to adult plumage and thus the tan head paired with the buffer spots on the back and the more defined spots throughout the chest. A quick look confirmed the European Starlings are NOT a predation species so the forced union options is likely out.
There is the possibility of hybrids in which case I tend to slap my money on the counter and declare “I’m out” unless its “Smudge” (link here), the hybrid at the National Butterfly Center that I am very familiar with. Quite the learning experience and a new sort order path for my internal ID process – a great day in the field!
Time to get back to the haunt lab. Linda is also probably tired of me wincing and cursing every time I have to spell a word with an A, Q, Z, C D or E in it. Thanks for dropping in.
Wildlife Intrigued 
Looks a bit like a starling, only not as dark.
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Good observation Anneli – that lack of dark coloring and the normal fantastically colored feather tips was really driving me nuts on the ID. Absolutely shocked it has been this long in my birding hobby/addiction and had never come across the juvenile Starling before. so much still to learn!! Take care and have yourself a wonderful bird filled weekend.
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Here too, I never have come across juvenile starlings. They always seem to move in when the fruit is ripe in the fall, so I guess they’re all grown up by then.
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Well as a European and familiar with Starlings in all plumages, guess what?…… YES you are correct.
No I’m not going to take the mick. Many years ago a juv Starling had me confused when it was out of context and not fully visable.
If any of your warblers ever crossed my path I would not have a clue, especially if they were juvs.
Carry on whacking your hand with a hammer.
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Good news – figured you would be able to set me straight. I am also willing to ship a couple million of those Starlings back to you for your continued research ha! If you ever need help on the New World Warbler front, just let me know although a few of those non-breeding females can be right tough if they are not hanging with their male counterparts. Mentioned this to another commenter, but I cannot believe I have never come across a juvenile Starling before this encounter – possibly due to their similarity to those Asshat Cowbirds in which case I might have lumped the young Starling with them and gave them my standard cold shoulder. You would also think all these years of smashing my fingers I would learn to keep my hands out of harms way…some people just never learn hehehehe. Thanks for dropping in B! … and I am serious about sending you back some of our Starlings.
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Birdies mixing it up to throw you off? I saw lots of starlings and big rats in Paris, France.
I think you have stolen all the rain from the Super El Niño, that has only spit 7 hundredth of an inch of rain on us low-life desert dwellers so far this month. The cottonwoods are really suffering. Send your rain my way, so your trail will dry out.
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Damn birds are evil I tell ya!!! I can tolerate the infestation of Starlings over here, but Paris can keep those Rats. I am dealing with a few mice that got into my Halloween storage shed and those bastards have thoroughly pissed me off – the downside of living in the country, the varmints think they own the place sigh. The are in the process of putting up our new gutters on the house (we just had all the siding replaced as well so it has been quiet the chaos around here as of late) so guessing the rains will move back to the southwest and get those Cottonwoods a good drink. As for now, the trail is still “squishy” and time is ticking away for me to get all the prep work done before we dive into building the haunt. I thought the stress was supposed to be reduced when you left the grind!?!
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We would sit on benches in the park behind Notre Dame with strangers, and the rats would run under our feet. We all would laugh and laugh as we picked up our feet so the rats could run under them.
There were a lot of European Magpies, also. The Magpies were clowns.
We have lots of mice and squirrels besides the raccoons, skunks, and bunnies.
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That’s a lot of rats if you can see them out and about, makes you wonder how many there are in the shadows. You have quite the wildlife there – we scared most of our troublesome critters off with our recent residing of our house. Apparently they do not like all that banging around when they are up to no good ha.
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We could see the rats hanging out under bushes in the parks in Paris. Lots of rats in the shadows.
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See, this is why I really do not have a big interest in international travel – I leave that up to Brad and Jan.
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Rats and things add to the adventure.
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Yep, the almost completely flat forehead and bill had me leaning toward Starling… but I thought they had a shorter tail, so I couldn’t commit till you revealed the answer.
Starlings are one of the species that do a “wear molt”. They grow new feathers in the fall, all tipped with little white stars. The white stars wear off by spring, leaving them with glossy irridescent black plumage. Surprise!
Thanks for the tip on a whole new Denver-area park to bird in! It is a bit north of the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield Farms, where I have birded.
My dad used to describe getting “smart bumps” – you beat your body against the obstacles in your path, and you get bruises that hurt… and maybe you get smarter and avoid the obstacles the next time. He never imagined that someone would make a life’s work out of getting smarter in that way 🙂
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That was my problem.. it was close enough to get me leaning, but still had reservations before I was able to commit – that and I didn’t want to embarrass myself with all the good birders like yourself that read my blog. As much as I complain about the Starlings being introduced here (damn you Shakespeare) they are a rather beautiful bird when they are in their new digs each year. As you noted, they eventually fall back into the drab as the days go on. Definitely give that place a look if you are out there, I really enjoyed it and if you are up for a run well that trail will give you a good introduction to trail running ha. Truth be told, there were more birds at Bear Creek than Red Rocks, but that ampitheatre is just a wonderful place for a walk…or run if you haven’t been there before. I have an entry on my life list to see a concert there – all our visits there have either been on off days or an act I didn’t really want to pay to see. Based on that adage, I reckon I should be an outright genius by now hehehe. My father would always look at me in wonderment whenever I “smart bumped” (like that label) myself and ask me if it finally hurt enough that I learned not to do it again… and then simply proclaim “nope” when I did it again a minutes later. My martial arts instructor used to tell me “If it doesn’t kill you.. it’s going to hurt a LOT” (that stronger crap is for the birds ha). Just realized my smashed pinky has the same purple hues as a newly feathered Starling, how apropos. Take care Sam and hope your Arizona trip processing is going smoothly.
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It’s good that these little guys can still give you a challenge! Best of luck with the haunt lab! 🙂
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Thanks Lisa, it is like a santa’s workshop at the moment with bustling activity…with its fair share of cussing and band-aids ha.
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Polka-dot Brownie is my guess. It is more likely your ID is correct! It seems to me that you might be accident-prone. I’m very curious about this haunting trail that is so engaging most of your energy. Is it a private trail that you decorate for Halloween and open it to the public? I’m hoping that you will take lots of photos of it. September is quickly approaching.
I lived 12 years in the Denver area, in a variety of suburbs actually. I’m very familiar with attending lots of outdoor concerts at Red Rock Amphitheater. I had no idea of nature trails there. Wonderful place indeed. So many nature trails all over Colorado! Never lacking of a great place to play!!
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Polka-dot brownie – love it! I am not sure I would classify myself as accident “prone” which implies a high frequency of attempt to injury. I simply tend to attempt a very high number of activities which does result in a injury, but at a lower frequency because of the number of attempts – collectively it just looks like a lot ha. We have been putting on our haunted trail event for some 18 years now. It is a private event in the sense we do not publicly advertise (for reasons I will not get into here). However, we encourage (more like demand) our guests bring additional friends with them and then those friends are expected to bring more of the friends the next year … and on and on. It is amazing how many people we end up getting during our two nights of the shows knowing our advertisement budget is zero. We do cover the event on our Intrigued mother ship site (example here, here and here) and we build a promo video each year for our guests after the event to remember it by…and use to convince their friends to come next year! Some of those can be found on our Intrigued Haunt Department YouTube channel (link here).
I have to say, I am extremely jealous you got to see concerts at Red Rocks!!
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Your Haunt Department is lots of fun! At first I was a bit afraid to click on all the links because I don’t enjoy nightmares! This really gives me a good understanding about the haunted trail that you seem to be consumed. I can’t imagine when you sleep.
I consider myself very lucky to have had so many wonderful opportunities to enjoy the Colorado area.
Thanks again!
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Fortunately, the recap videos are unable to capture the true creepy ambiance of the night. It gets very dark in the woods with the canopy blocking out most of the natural moonlight, add in our scene lighting, haunting sounds and stuff moving in the night – it gets a wee bit creepy!! It all does come at a cost, mostly of sleep tokens (mine and all the helpers that help put this extravaganza on), but seeing the fun all our guests have makes it all worth it. We get out to CO from time to time, but not nearly as much as I would like to – comes down to choices I guess and so far Texas and Arizona keep winning out. Glad you enjoyed the links Teri, now you will understand all my references in my posts!
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Young Starlings and female Red-winged Blackbirds. “Brown Birds”.
I like Sam’s Dad’s “smart bumps”. Except, I have zero evidence I ever became smarter, just bumpier.
Good luck with brown birds and scary trail construction. Buy more band-aids.
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A twist on the old adage Little Brown Jobbers, these entries at least qualify for Medium Brown Jobbers ha! I remember to this day being asked by my father if I learned anything from one of my injuries and responding begrudgingly “yes” followed by him asking are you going to let that happen again and responding begrudgingly “likely” to be sent off with “That’s my boy”. I think fathers must come to know at some point when their kids become entrenched in their ways. The haunted trail is slowly coming together, had some unplanned house maintenance I wasn’t expected, but finally got that under control so now full bore to the event at the end of September. We buy our bandages in large bulk sizes. Take care Wally and say hi to Gini for us.
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Probably a little late to weight in at this point, but internet access was woefully slow from during our latest birding assignment. I, too, would have selected Starling. BTW, Bear Creek Lake Park is a great place to spot birds, however we didn’t see any bears at all.
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Welcome back Brad! Come to think about it, I also didn’t see any Bears there..wait, I think there was one, but that might have just been a hallucination while running their beast of a trail.
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Not only can starlings look confusing, they are also vocal mimics. At one of my regular birding destinations they manage a perfect impersonation of a killdeer.
The “play” between the starlings and meadowlark sounds so intriguing. How much fun it must have been to be able to observe it.
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Impressive, I wonder if they hang in the trees and entertain themselves by drive those Killdeers crazy with their calls. I probably would have been less stumped if I had not witnessed that interaction with the Meadowlark – odd interspecies behavior for sure! Thanks for dropping in Tanja. I am woefully behind on my post reading and hoping to get caught up once things settle down around here.
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