Orange-Breasted Fruiteater

On March 18, 2022 I visited the Mashpi Amagusa Reserve outside Mindo, Ecuador and had an extraordinary morning of birding, probably the most amazing of my life. One of the more bizarre birds I encountered was the orange-breasted fruiteater. I recorded it on iNaturalist as a green and black fruiteater. But the top identifier of orange-breasted fruiteaters on iNaturalist, Isueza, who has 107 identifications of it compared to the next highest identifier at 47, disagreed and identified it as an orange-breasted fruiteater. I checked it out and determined that he was right, it is a female orange-breasted frutieater.

Males have a glossy black head and bib, an orange throat and yellow belly with green mottling. The female has green upper parts and green and yellow streaked underparts. Both have yellow eyes, an orange bill and gray-green legs. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

It is found on the slopes and foothills of the western side of the Anders in Colombia and Ecuador in the dense, wet, mossy forests. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Great Thrush

I saw a great thrush on March 17, 2023 in the La Candelaria neighborhood of Bogota, Colombia, near the house of Simon Bolivar, after we'd taken a funicular to the top of Monserrate Hill to see the Monserrate Sanctuary, a Catholic Shrine. 

The great thrush is considered the largest thrush in South America. Males can be identified by the orange-red beak and legs and yellow or orange eyering. Females and juveniles lack the orange eyering. The plumage is black-brown, darker on the wings and tail and pale on the belly. Subspecies have differences in coloration. There are seven subspecies, four of which are found in Colombia. I believe I saw ssp. gigas, found in the Andes mountains of Venezuela and Colombia. 

Illustration of a ssp. ockendeni, a female, found in southeastern Peru. There is no illustration of gigas and I wanted to show the difference between the eyering of a male and female. This female lacks a yellow eyering.

Illustration of ssp. ockendeni, a male, showing a yellow eyering. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Eurasian Blackbird aka Common Blackbird

The Eurasian blackbird, as it is known particularly in North America to distinguish it from the unrelated New World blackbirds, such is in Birds of the World and iNaturalist, is often referred to as the common blackbird or blackbird elsewhere, such as in Wikipedia, which follows English spelling rules and the usage where the topic is found. In fact, I was a little surprised that I couldn't find it in Wikipedia until I used the scientific name Turdus merula. 

The adult male, found throughout most of Europe, is all black except for a yellow eye-ring and bill. The adult female and juvenile have dark brown plumage. The nominate subspecies, merula, which is what I have seen, is found throughout much of Europe . 

This Eurasian blackbird male was seen on the grounds of Kilkenny Castle in Kilkenny, Ireland, on July 5, 2024. Photo was taken with a cellphone.

This female Eurasian blackbird was seen near Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland, on July 14, 2025. Photo was taken with a cellphone.  

This adult male was seen in Neubulach, Germany, on May 20, 2025, while I was staying with Judy and her family in an Airbnb, while visiting the area where her mother was born.  

This adult male was seen in downtown Pforzheim, Germany, on May 22, 2025. Phorzheim is where Judy's mother grew up. It was in a church yard next to the Enz River singing a beautiful song. Photo was taken with a cellphone.  

This adult male was also seen on the outskirts of Neubulach, Germany. The photo was taken with a cellphone. 

This is an illustration of ssp. merula, a female, identified as variant A, which I could not find a discussion of. 

This is also an illustration from Birds of the World identified as a ssp. merula, female, variant B. This looks more like the female I saw near Newgrange, above. 

Illustration of male, ssp. merula, from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Eastern Bluebird and Comparison to Western and Mountain Bluebirds

The eastern bluebird is dimorphic. Males have a bright blue head, back and wings. The breast is brownish red. Females are lighter with gray on the head and back  and some blue on the wings and tail. The female's breast is usually light and more orange than the male's. There are seven subspecies. I've seen the nominate ssp. sialis, found in southern and southeastern Canada, eastern and central U.S. and northeastern Mexico. We have western bluebirds where I live which I see quite frequently. 

I saw this when I was with my sons, Sam and Andrew, on the Patsy Pond Nature Trail in eastern North Carolina on May 13, 2024. The photo below is just a cropped version of this one.  

This and the next photo were taken in Shawnee Mission Park, Kansas, on November 1, 2024. 

Illustration of of a female, ssp. sialis, from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of male, ssp. sialis, from Birds of the World.

The difference between the western and eastern bluebird is male western bluebirds have blue (male) or gray (female) throats, while eastern bluebirds have an orange throat. The mountain bluebird lacks orange anywhere on its body.  

This and the next photo of western bluebirds were taken near the Chilao Visitor Center in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles on June 18, 2025. They are the ssp. occidentalis which are found throughout Southern California. 

Western bluebird female illustration from Birds of the World. 

Western bluebird male illustration from Birds of the World. 

Mountain bluebird, female, near Kenton, Oklahoma on October 19, 2020. 

Mountain bluebird, female, illustration from Birds of the World.

Mountain bluebird, male, illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range maps for each of the three species of bluebirds, from Birds of the World. 

Eastern bluebird

Western bluebird

Mountain bluebird

At our home in Redlands, Southern California, we get western bluebirds in the spring and mountain bluebirds (much more rare) in the winter. 

Brown-Headed Cowbird

The adult male brown-headed cowbird is iridescent black with a brown head. The adult female is slightly smaller and dull gray with a pale throat and fine streaking on the underparts. The juvenile is brown with a scaly looking back and streaked underparts. 

The first one I saw was a female on a hike on August 13, 2011 to the summit of Mt. Sherman, a 14,000+ foot peak in Colorado. It was pretty high up on the mountain.  

Two males on May 5, 2023 at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Utah.

This, and the next two photos, were taken at Fish Springs NWR in Juab County, Utah. 

A juvenile with an adult male.

An adult male.

An adult female at Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR nr. the visitor center.

The name "cowbird" comes from it often being seen near cattle. There are three subspecies and these are all the nominate ssp., artemisiae, found in western Canada and the western U.S. It is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of other small perching birds. At least 220 bird host species have been documented, including hummingbirds and raptors. The young cowbird is fed by the host parents at the expense of their own young. A female can lay up to 40 eggs in a season.  

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. 

Brewer's Blackbird

Brewer's blackbird is named after the ornithologist Thomas Mayo Brewer, not after any other iteration of the name "brewer". Males have black plumage with an iridescent purple head and neck and glossy bluish-green highlights on the rest of the body. The feet and legs are black and the eye is bright yellow. The female is brown-gray with hints of the male's iridescence. The eyes are dark brown. 

Male at Lake Silverwood in San Bernardino County, California on March 12, 2022.

Female at Lake Silverwood on March 12, 2022.

Male at San Simeon, San Luis Obispo County, California on November 21, 2023.

Illustration of female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of male from Birds of the World. 

It is a year-round resident of our area and most of California. 

Range from Birds of the World.