Bird ID help wanted. South Carolina Low Country.

[alphafemale]

It's a smallish /medium bird. Smaller than a robin but bigger than a sparrow. Purple/Blueish head and neck. Orange oval spot on the wing. Bright yellow beak.

I googled and didn't find anything.

[petronius]

1. Are you sure it wasn't a robin? The orange could have been the side of the breast

rather than the wing...

Maybe a blue grosbeak? (but wrong bill color)

Golden-winged warbler? (but too small)

Escaped pet from somewhere else?

[alphafemale]

3. Definitely not a Robin.

Not that big. I know what a Robin looks like.

This is a bird smaller than that. Purple to blueish head and chest. Yellow seed eater beak. An oval orange spot on the wing.

This has me baffled because I can not find anything resembling it. No where near the size of a Purple Martin.

[csziggy]

2. Does it look like this?

That is a brambling - an "accidental" or "escapee" as listed in Petersens - my most recent copy claims there have been "Several sightings in the East."

[alphafemale]

4. No. Not at all really. This bird is more slender. Purple/Blue head. small orange oval on wing.nt

[petronius]

5. The bill color is still wrong, but perhaps an American redstart?

http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/558/overview/American_Redstart.aspx

[csziggy]

6. The other bird that came to mind was a painted bunting

But they are so brightly colored they are hard to mistake and their bills are not really yellow. The males can have an orange smudge on the wing, not an oval.

[XemaSab]

7. Blue Grosbeak?

[GoCubsGo]

8. That would be my guess, too.

Except for the yellow beak... Don't know what else it could be, except maybe an indigo bunting that got into some orange paint.

[XemaSab]

9. I'm guessing a hatch-year bird

They sometimes have yellow or pink around the bills to tell mom where teh fud goes.

[alphafemale]

10. No. That's not it either.

Though the wing mark is very similar to that. Not quite as bright orange though, and a very definite blue/purple tone to the top of the body. Also very sleek in feather.

[petronius]

11. How about a somewhat immature male red-wing blackbird?

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/red-winged-blackbird

[XemaSab]

12. I don't think they would ever look glossy like that

:shrug: