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Bird IDs

9 years ago

I have been seeing some pretty strange visitors lately, none of which are in my bird books.Two days ago I saw 4 birds the approximate size of a small Waxwing, Long, lean, gray on top, buff on the bottom. No wing bars and a black mask somewhat resembling a Common Yellowthroat. They landed on my weeping cherry tree and jump around the branches. Each would fly off but soon return to the same bare branch, then start hoping around again. There was a thin, high zi-zi sound occasionally.

Today there were 4 little round, fat birds about the size and build of a Junco. Two were totally soot gray - even the beak and feet. One had a suggestion of a brown head similar to a brown headed cow bird and one had a thin reddish/brown wing patch that went from wing base to tip of wing feathers horizontally. Everything else on these 2 were soot gray as well.

I'm totally stuck. I can't get my camera to work or I'd send pictures. Any thoughts?

Comments (5)

birding_nut
9 years ago
The first ones definitely sound like Cedar Waxwings to me. Not sure on the second one. Giving the state where you live might help.

BN
cjsans
Original Author
9 years ago
Zone 6 - south central Pa. No crest, no yellow or brown feathers. Size wise I'd say 6 - 6 1/2 in. Waxwing is 7 in., hence the "small" part. Sorry for any confusion. It was a size reference only. The mask was wider also. I was thinking "juvenile" something, but gray and buff with a mask just doesn't exist.

The little gray birds looked exactly like slate-colored male and female juncos, but all 4 had no white feathers on body or tail, and the beaks and legs appeared gray. They had to be some kind of uniquely colored junco.
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BINGO!! We just found it in the bird book. I'd never heard of it before. How did you find it so fast? https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Creeper/id
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As whwo said: Yellow-rumped Warbler is a good guess. The winter plumage of the males is much more muted - check the adult female on the bottom of the All About Birds link. Claire
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Whitelacey.......this is so funny! I looked out my kitchen window, and on the ground under my suet feeder was a bird that looked just like what you described. Very black head and back with white stripes on the wings, and very white chest and abdomen. Of course, just as I turned to get my camera, it flew off. I should have stayed and observed more instead! As it flew off, it had pretty obvious white wing stripes. My first inclination was a juvenile male towhee.....since we have lots of towhees around. I saw no brown. I'll keep my eye out and my camera close-by........but I immediately thought of you and wondered if, now, I will be driven crazy too. hahaha What caught my eye as it was flying up to a tree was the white on it's wings, which made me think of a red-headed woodpecker. I looked up juvenile redheaded woodpecker and some of the pics looked like it, except mostly in the pics, their heads were grayish. Oh well.....hopefully I'll see it again!
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Wow, you are Right! I didnt realize the females looked like this but i just looked it up! Thank you so much! We have alot of brown headed cowbirds so this makes sense.
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birding_nut
9 years ago
The first bird does sound like a juvenile Cedar Waxwing. I have attached a link to a pic below. They would be smaller than an adult, have no yellow breast, lack of a prominent crest, black face mask, and they definitely are gray and buff.

BN

Here is a link that might be useful: juvenile Cedar Waxwing
cjsans
Original Author
9 years ago
Yes, that is very probable. I just didn't see the yellow on the tail tip, but there was a lot of light behind them, making color details difficult. We have seen the adults this summer but never saw a young one before. We've had lots of various juveniles this year. ID is often difficult when going by just pictures in a bird book. Heck, even adults are tough.
Right now we're getting all the visitors that are going south. Why do they always pick a bare branch with sky for background, making fine details next to impossible?

My camera is 10-15+ years old and not worth fixing. I'm looking into something ideal for back yard bird watching but haven't found it yet. This forum is wonderful but only as good as my descriptions and observation skills. A good picture would speak volumes, not to mention putting it on my computer and enlarging it so I can see it close up. My binoculars are 10-42 and work pretty well, but once they fly, well.....opportunity is lost. Plus, the 10 is tough to find and track bouncing birds.
cjsans
Original Author
9 years ago
Any suggestions for a bird watcher's camera? So many wonderful pics posted on this site.

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