posted
I saw a brown bird I've never seen before, in the parking lot at the mall. I wonder if you know what it is. It was brown with a darker brown ring around the eye. A long pointed tail. A long beak like a hummingbird's, but thicker of course, as the bird is bigger than a hummer. The bird's size is bigger than a starling but smaller than a pigeon, and a slim body like a mockingbird. This is the best description I can do.
* * * * Plants: 1772 | From: Southern California, USA | Registered: Feb 2006
| Seeded: 207.200.116.7
posted
Ya got me, Deborah. It sounds like it is probably one of the Western Thrashers or Thrushes that we do not have in the East. It could also be one of the Western Wrens or perhaps even a Dove of some kind. (Did it look VERY masculine? )
Go to WhatBird.com. They have an online database that can help you identify over 900 species of birds in the U.S. and Canada. You just enter each pertinent feature of the bird you want to identify until it narrows your choices down from 900, to 4 or 5 species. I used your description to narrow it down to several species of Western Wrens and one species of Cowbird, none of which was a close match to your bird.
* * * * A bird in the hand......can sometimes be a mess. Plants: 2894 | From: Nashville, TN | Registered: May 2005
| Seeded: 74.249.202.239
posted
OK, thanks, Thorny. I'll look. It was different from the California thrasher you identified for me. Bigger and chocolate brown rather than the gray-ish mockingbird color of the California thrasher. So, I'm assuming you mean there's a whole group of various thrashers?
* * * * Plants: 1772 | From: Southern California, USA | Registered: Feb 2006
| Seeded: 207.200.116.7
posted
No, it was bigger than a starling. Imagine a chocolate brown California thrasher but bigger, with a cocoa brown ring around the eye and a long, straight, dark beak. Bigger than a parakeet, smaller than a cockatiel. It was hanging out with starlings in the mall, but it wasn't a starling.
* * * * Plants: 1772 | From: Southern California, USA | Registered: Feb 2006
| Seeded: 207.200.116.7
posted
I looked-the wrentit in the photos look smaller, plumper and have some gray. The bird I saw was long, sleek-to-slim, and chocolate brown. The pictured wrentit is close, but I'll Google a few more to look for a match. Actually, I "Dogpile"-love that search engine ! It's the only one I use.
* * * * Plants: 1772 | From: Southern California, USA | Registered: Feb 2006
| Seeded: 207.200.116.7
posted
I saw the bird again, actually several of them in the WalMart parking lot. I stopped to look and watch. The bird is the shape and build of a crow, but about 1/4 the size of a crow. Yellow eyes. It is definitely brown, no gray, and has the cocoa ring around the eye. It makes a sound (over and over and over) like a shrill peacock's cry, but the cry is shorter. What in the world is this bird???
* * * * Plants: 1772 | From: Southern California, USA | Registered: Feb 2006
| Seeded: 207.200.116.7
GonetotheBirds
guest
posted
I have no idea... but you do a great job describing him!!!!
Seeded: 69.137.32.10
posted
Deborah, I went to WhatBird.com and entered all the info you gave me about your bird and it narrowed the species down from 999 species to ONE Single Species that could fit your bird......the CACTUS WREN. Try that and see if it could be it.
* * * * A bird in the hand......can sometimes be a mess. Plants: 2894 | From: Nashville, TN | Registered: May 2005
| Seeded: 74.249.203.196
posted
Not it. Not even close to this mystery bird. I appreciate your efforts though ! It's basically a little brown crow with yellow eyes. No white anywhere.
* * * * Plants: 1772 | From: Southern California, USA | Registered: Feb 2006
| Seeded: 207.200.116.7
posted
Your bird is a FEMALE Great-Tailed Grackle. I knew that the only crowlike birds with yellow eyes were Grackles so I looked up the Grackles in your area and saw that the only kind you have in Southern Cali are the Great Tailed Grackles. In many members of the Grackle/Blackbird family, ONLY the males are black. The Females are a duller gray or brown, so I Google Image Searched Great_Tailed Grackles and looked for a picture of a female and BINGO! There was the EXACT bird you had described to me. WE have the Common Grackles in Tennessee, but NOT the Great-Tailed Grackle.
* * * * A bird in the hand......can sometimes be a mess. Plants: 2894 | From: Nashville, TN | Registered: May 2005
| Seeded: 74.249.203.196
posted
Thorny, you're my hero !!!!!!! That's it !!!! I looked at WhatBird and saw her. Thanks sooooooooo much !!!!!! It will be fun seeing the birds again and knowing now what they are !!!!!!!
* * * * Plants: 1772 | From: Southern California, USA | Registered: Feb 2006
| Seeded: 207.200.116.7
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