Beautiful bird sighting, need help to ID

Nature Talk
1

Hey everyone!

This morning I saw an incredible bird. It was sitting on the gate in the my front yard. The weather was crazy (it’s been raining a lot!) and I saw this little yellow bird sitting outside like it was sunny and warm. I carefully crept closer to it, getting so close I could nearly touch it. But then it flew away. When I was close, I had been able to see it in full detail. It was a striking gold-yellow, about the size of a house sparrow but a longer tail, and a beautiful call.

I knew that it surely couldn’t be any Australian bird, at least definitely not from my area. It looked like it could be a tropic bird, but I’m not sure. I wondered if maybe it was someone’s escaped pet or perhaps even a migratory bird that had been blown off course which is no surprise considering this weather we’ve been having.

Can anyone help me to identify what it could’ve been? What should I do if I see it again, and what should I do now, because I might not see it again? I’m sorry but I don’t have any photos which is quite annoying!

2

If you have the Merlin app, you could describe the bird on the app, and it might be able to help with the ID.

1 Like
3

Next time you see a bird you’re not sure of, take a photo. Even a bad photo can be used to ID, as bird experts can narrow down the sighting based on size, shape, behavior, etc.

4

Location is absolutely necessary in a request like this. Narrowed by more than just Australia.

5

if you think it might not have been native or a pet, have you considered domestic breeds of canary finch? They are roughly sparrow sized, have longer tails and are sort of famous for their song and can be very yellow (but there are many breeds)

6

I don’t have the Merlin app

7

Yes, I’m hoping to be able to see it again and take a photo. I didn’t have any cameras on or near me, otherwise I would’ve gotten a photo!

8

South Australia, Barossa Valley

9

I did, but I wasn’t sure because it seemed more tropical, but I could be completely wrong!

10

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=-34.27267936660622&nelng=139.25735339357811&subview=map&swlat=-34.7389316075154&swlng=138.73138293459374&view=species&iconic_taxa=Aves

Here are some bird species from the general area, are any familiar?

11

Was it like, fully golden yellow or did it have any sort of pattern on it? This bird is quite common where I live, in India. It is found down till Indonesia but there is no observation of it in Australia.

Also, what did the call sound like?

12

Unfortunately, no.

I don’t really remember.
But. I was looking through this, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?iconic_taxa=Aves&subview=map&view=species, when one bird caught my eye. The saffron finch. So I quickly looked it up and listened to the call. It sounded very familiar. So I think it potentially was a Saffron finch, which would be pretty cool as it is native to parts of South America. So maybe it was a pet?

13

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.