Need help identifying wild bird please

[breezy]

Hi
I am not sure this is the best location for this post but here goes. I was in Cheyenne Wyoming today about 2 pm and saw a very unusual bird I havent been able to id. The bird was larger than a robin but not by much. Its tail was longer than a robins as well. It was rust colored on its back sides and tail and either buff or light grey on its underside. The rusty coloring was similar to the rust color that some pines turn when they die. It was foraging on the ground like a robin but hopped into a shrub and moved up a twig like a chickadee which was weird given its size and shape. I couldnt see its head clearly. It was foraging in prairie grass that had pine trees and shrubs planted as a windbreak. There was also a pond and a marsh near by so I am not sure what habitat it prefers. If there are any birders in Cheyenne who want to know where it was spotted to go look for it email me and I will give you the location. I am pretty sure this bird was a wayward stray since Im pretty familiar with the wild birds of Montana Wyoming and Colorado and I have never seen a rusty bird like this in 30 years of bird watching. Any help identifying this bird would be greatly appreciated.

edited for spelling

 

[chicken_china_mom]

I wish you had gotten a chance to take a picture of it. Given it's size it sounds like it's the size of an Oriole, but maybe someone more familiar with Wyoming's avian wildlife would know for sure. I love bird watching and I've done it for years. I know that when I was in the Army my absolute favorite thing to do in the morning when we were exercising was to watch the bluebirds. Before I had been to Missouri, I had never seen one, and I haven't seen one since. They were the best part of each day. I lived in the Chicago area at that time. Now I live in West Central Indiana and I discovered Indigo Buntings. They are my favorite little birds ever! So tiny and soooo cute! I love watching all the different birds flittering around my yard. We get about 7 different varieties of sparrows, buntings, goldfinches, orioles, cardinals, robins, cowbirds, martins, and many more. Oh, and the hummingbirds are divine!!! I bought hummingbird vines this year to attract more of them. They are fearless little birds and come flittering at my living room windows like tiny peeping toms, it's cute! One landed for a second on my daughter last summer too. They are brave! I have to say though, if the coloring was dull on the bird you saw, then it was most likely female. Males are almost always ornately colored whereas the females are colored quite dull. Kinda like in the chicken world. If you get a chance to see another one, snap a few pictures!

 

[chicken_china_mom]

I wish you had gotten a chance to take a picture of it. Given it's size it sounds like it's the size of an Oriole, but maybe someone more familiar with Wyoming's avian wildlife would know for sure. I love bird watching and I've done it for years. I know that when I was in the Army my absolute favorite thing to do in the morning when we were exercising was to watch the bluebirds. Before I had been to Missouri, I had never seen one, and I haven't seen one since. They were the best part of each day. I lived in the Chicago area at that time. Now I live in West Central Indiana and I discovered Indigo Buntings. They are my favorite little birds ever! So tiny and soooo cute! I love watching all the different birds flittering around my yard. We get about 7 different varieties of sparrows, buntings, goldfinches, orioles, cardinals, robins, cowbirds, martins, and many more. Oh, and the hummingbirds are divine!!! I bought hummingbird vines this year to attract more of them. They are fearless little birds and come flittering at my living room windows like tiny peeping toms, it's cute! One landed for a second on my daughter last summer too. They are brave! I have to say though, if the coloring was dull on the bird you saw, then it was most likely female. Males are almost always ornately colored whereas the females are colored quite dull. Kinda like in the chicken world. If you get a chance to see another one, snap a few pictures!

 

[SillyChicken]

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/NATSCI/NIMAGES/ORNITH/GALLERY/THRSBRN.JPG

A brown trasher maybe?

 

[breezy]

4 bird books, 2 forums, and an hours worth of research later it turns out that it is a brown thrasher. They seem to photograph brown but in the sun they are a very bright rusty red. Cheyenne is at the very western edge of its range in Wyoming. Thanks for the help. I love adding new birds to my list