This week I thought I’d keep the mystery object nice and simple. Any idea what this bird might be?
It’s probably a bit too easy for some of you, so please keep your answers cryptic and perhaps with a musical theme?
Have fun!
Zygoma
Adventures in natural history collections
Zygoma 
The familiy this bird belongs to is what Dutch sailors in the past called “Biesensteert”. However, the species is more tricky. The bill is yellow, but in old mounts a red bill is often faded to yellow so that is not reliable. The amount of black spots on the crown indicate it is a sub-adult. Red-billed with so much spots should have a darker bill, and red-billed should have an eye-stripe which continues behind the eye. Therefore I think it is a subadult White-tailed “Biesensteert”
The first time I mentioned red-billed I meant red-tailed
Impressive!
i think wouter is spot on!
but for the record google did not recognize “Biesensteert”
Google did not exist yet in the 17th century 😉
A beautiful bird. Maybe named for the night sky. I’ve never seen one like her at my backyard bird feeder. She looks like she might be the same size as a magpie or jay.
You could get some night sky from the name, but the day might be more appropriate (if terminal). About twice the size of a Magpie!
Could this bird be a national symbol and beloved harbinger of spring in Bermuda? I’m stumped by the blue eyes, I must admit – but wonder if it wasn’t a fantasy by the taxidermist?
Very good! The eye is definitely incongruous – I think the taxidermist was on a flight of fancy with this one!
I do see on the Auduban plates that one of the birds has beautiful pale gray eyes, while the other has golden eyes – is it a male/female trait?
It ain’t an owl. Percher?