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Citizen complaint of the day: Downtown bird too pretty to be wild
By adamg on Mon, 11/05/2018 - 11:04am
![Pretty bird in downtown Boston](https://www.universalhub.com/files/styles/main_image/public/new/prettybird.jpg?itok=Apjh-FRD)
A concerned citizen filed a 311 report from School and Tremont streets this morning:
Found bird that looks like someone's pet
Ad:
Comments
Not a pet
Looks like an American goldfinch to me.
Female, in Almost-Winter Plumage
The angle of the photo does make her look somewhat warbler-esque as well, but the white and black wing markings give her away as a goldfinch. And most definitely not a woodcock.
seconded
That is indeed a goldfinch.
Too pretty?
Maybe everyone is so used to anything small being a house sparrow.
This looks like a Kinglet - they're all over town as they migrate...
Crown
Don't kinglets have crowns?
No
Crownlets
only boys
Female ruby crowned kinglets do not have crowns...
They don't have orange beaks
either. And they are really tiny, the size of a chickadee or smaller.
A goldfinch
.
Not a pet
My money's on pine warbler, but definitely a wild bird, not an escaped pet.
Quite the neg on the local
Quite the neg on the local birds.
Concerned citizen
Must think that's how you pick up birds.
When it comes to picking up
When it comes to picking up birds I think Peacocking is a better strategy than Negging.
Goldfinches have duller
Goldfinches have duller plumage this time of year so my money is on pine warbler or possibly, though unlikely, blackpoll warbler.
"Yoo-hoo...
...Mrs. Goldfinch"
It probably flew into a glass
It probably flew into a glass window and became stunned. This is very common. They eventually fly away after a few moments. With the increased number of glass windows with all the construction in the city we'll be seeing more of this.
Put it down, health hazard
n/t
Put it down, health hazard
n/t
that bird
simply has a 5lb coconut to transport and is waiting for his or her partner to arrive with the strand of creeper.
I was the concerned citizen!
I was the person who filed the 311 report--I'm so glad I found this post and that this looks like a wild bird. She was sitting very still, right outside the Walgreens on Washington Street downtown. Her bright colors and the fact that she seemed so calm made me think she might be a lost pet.
Animal control folks called me after and said they went by and she had flown off.
Thank You For Your Concern
Looks like the story had a happy ending. The best kind of 311 call. Being conscientious enough to make the effort to notice a possible situation and to make the effort to actually do something positive about it, matters. Most of us would have just whatever-ed. Thanks for that.