The 10,000 Birds Clinic
We’re very fortunate here at 10,000 Birds that our blog attracts a good number of visitors - in 2008 we’d had over 100,000 by mid-April - and very grateful too (no-one likes to get really excited about a project only to find that no-one else gives a damn of course). We’re also fortunate that an increasing number of visitors think that it’s worth asking us to help out with, for example, identification queries, what do with a “baby bird” they’ve just found, or which field-guide they should use on a visit to eg the UK. It seems to us that at the very least it means that our enthusiasm and genuine love for birds is recognised, and - even - that some people out there in the blogosphere feel we might actually be pretty good at what we do!
We’ve been answering readers’ emails on pretty much an ad hoc basis for many months - a question comes in to one of us, we pass it around and one of us answers if we can, and one of us apologises if we can’t. That, though, seems to be missing a good opportunity to do what we really enjoy: spreading bird-related information, involving our visitors, and building an online community (aim for the sky eh?).
Why not instead, we thought, create a more open way of doing things, and actually promote the fact that, hey, we love to help and we’re proud that you think we can? While we’re doing that why not also ask a couple of colleagues if they’d like to join an informal “panel” and really ensure that our knowledge base is spread as wide as possible? Now we’re talking…
The 10,000 Birds Clinic:
What we’ve decided to do then is this:
- Set up what we’re calling the “10,000 Birds Clinic” and use the by-line “Got a question about bird ID, birding best practices, or hotspots across six continents? Ask 10,000 Birds!“
- It doesn’t stop there. We’ve also asked Nial Moores (my brother, but also the founder of conservation organisation Birds Korea and an expert in East Asian birds) and Jochen Roeder (well-known for his quirky Bell Tower Birding blog, but also an extremely knowledgeable and well-travelled birder) to join Mike, Corey, and myself on the firing line.
- On top of that we’re going to post all the questions and answers online where - hopefully - they may be of use to our present and future readers.
- And if our ‘panel’ can’t answer the question (and we’re not so arrogant or stupid that we think we know everything by any means) - well, it’ll be online and we can open it up to the greatest knowledge-base I know of: our readers - and has a more genuinely insightful, friendly, helpful, experienced bunch of birders and naturalists ever been available for the general good before?
Okay, I’m exaggerating a little, but I’m serious too, so please consider this an open invitation to join in.
So, there you go. Send in your queries, we’ll do our very best to give you the benefit of our combined experience, and if we’re not certain we can give you the best and most accurate information you could wish for we’ll open your question up to everyone who drops into 10,000 Birds to see if they can help. Oh, and while the cost of gas is going through the roof, house-prices teeter on the edge, and utility bills dig ever deeper into what’s left of your savings are we going to start charging for this service: of course we’re not.
Getting a question to us:
So, how do you get your question/query/inquiry/problem et al in to the 10,000 Birds Clinic?
It couldn’t be easier. You can either use the “Share your Thoughts” boxes below, but if you’d prefer you can mail me, Charlie, at charlie10000birds - AT - gmail.com and I’ll paste your question under my own email address.
It would be a great help if you could tell us roughly where you live (we don’t need an address, but it helps us to know if you’re in the US, UK, or Asia for example).
Identifying Photographs:
We’re more than happy to try to ID a photo for you, but as this isn’t set up as a forum (we don’t have time to act as moderators unfortunately as we all have full-time jobs too) if you’ve taken a photo of a bird you’d like us to identify you need to email it to me at charlie10000birds - AT - gmail.com. It doesn’t really matter what size it is, but if you can please try to ’shrink’ the file size down to a reasonable size before sending it.
You’ve mailed us…now what?:
The rest of the process will then kick smoothly into action, and your answer will be delivered - gift-wrapped and tied with a bow - within a day or two. Okay perhaps not, but we’ll do our best anyway and that’s a promise…please bear in mind though we’re birders trying to help other birders, not professionals doing this full-time - thanks!
Getting involved:
And where might you go if you want to browse the questions, answers, or combined “Don’t Knows” of the Clinic? Simply go to the top of the sidebar, click on “Pages” and scroll down to “10,000 Birds Clinic”, or click on the “10,000 Birds Clinic” link in the sidebar. We’d love this page to become more interactive - so please don’t think we wouldn’t welcome your expertise and help as well as your questions because we most definitely would!
So how does that all sound eh? Not too shabby if you ask me (which, come to think of it, some of you may be doing anytime soon…)
Like to meet the Panel before you trust them to answer your questions?
Of course you would…
Mike Bergin: Mike lives in New York and is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but what he really aspires to be is a naturalist. Besides founding 10,000 Birds and I and the Bird, Mike is an enthusiastic ‘coder’, designing our current incarnation - and has also created a number of other entertaining sites and resources such as Nature Blog Network and Best Birding Tours.
Charlie Moores: Charlie lives in the UK, works for an airline, and has birded all over the world for more than twenty years. He wants to be a writer, and thinks no-one would believe his life could be so charmed if he didn’t take photos of as many of the birds he sees as possible. Blogging with 10,000 Birds fits his aims, needs, and insecurities perfectly. Really - do birders get much more fortunate than this?
Corey Finger: Corey is a lifelong upstate New Yorker who recently took the plunge and moved to the city. He’s only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list and broke the magical 300 barrier in New York State in 2007 by birding whenever he wasn’t working as a union representative. He lives near Forest Park in Queens with Daisy and their two indoor cats, Hunter and B.B.
Jochen Roeder: Despite currently birding mostly from behind a newborn’s stroller, Jochen still remembers what a lot of birds look like as he has covered almost all of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, Namibia and South Africa. He has lived in the US (twice) but is now back in Germany, from where he says he’s happy to join the panel and “cause even more confusion by adding the little knowledge I can muster”.
Nial Moores: Director of conservation organisation Birds Korea, Nial has lived and worked in both Japan and (currently) South Korea, is a renowned tour-leader and is an acknowledged expert on the region’s birds (especially its endangered shorebirds which he is particularly passionate about). He also knows a lot about Radiohead - which may or may not come in useful…
A Little bit of House-keeping:
Quite obviously if we kept all the questions and answers in the “Share your Thoughts” fields below we’d end up (hopefully) with a page stretching from one end of the blogosphere to the next. What we’ll do, therefore, is clear the comments every month, re-post them in a “round-up Post”, and create a dated link to them. We can keep this simple process going until the sands of time run out (or until someone else develops a software programme way more sophisticated that everyone uses instead - whichever is sooner!).
So, if you’d like to know what’s been asked and answered over the weeks and months, check the list below and follow the links to avian enlightenment…
- Round-up #1: April 2008:
US backyard birds ID? - Capacity of Mallard’s night vision? - Middle-east bird ID? - Unidentified feeder birds - Sparrow facing eviction
- Round-up #2: May 2008:
What happens to eggshells? - Have I just seen a Partridge? - Websites for birding trip to Peru? - Please ID raptor on YouTube video - ID two Brazilian birds? - ID Papago Park, AZ bird - Book on Yellow-billed Magpie? - ID of seed-eating bird (USA) - ID Bird coming to feeder Valparaiso, IN (USA) - Is this a House Sparrow? - Mystery bird, Louisiana - Sanctuaries in Garret Mt Reservation? - Is this a Mourning Dove? (USA) - Orange-coloured feeder bird? (USA) - Which banding agency? (USA) - Help needed for single Canada Goose - Rogue Eagles? (USA) - IDs please, Brazil - Hummingbird ID please (USA) - Mystery bird on Kauai, Hawaii - Farmland bird ID (USA) - Odd hooting sound (USA)
- Round-up #3: June 2008: Which pipit is this? (India) - ‘Scissor-tailed’ bird nesting in porch (USA) - Crested bird at Barton Creek (USA) - Odd Duck with ‘pink tissue’ (USA) - Unusual bird carving (USA) - Brown headed bird ID? (USA) - Is this a Mockingbird? (USA) - Is this a Bullock’s Oriole? (USA) - Is this a Bell’s Vireo? (USA) - Juvenile cowbird? (USA) - What owl is this? (Brazil) - What bird is this? (west USA) - What bird is this? (east USA) - What bird is this? (east USA) - Hovering bird ID? (Bahamas) - What bird sings all night? (USA) - What bird have I just seen? (USA) - How can I help a baby bird? (USA) - What baby bird is this? (France) - What bird have I just seen? (USA) - What ducks are these? (USA) - Birds in Istanbul ID help please? (India)
- Round-up #4: July 2008:
Unidentified bird (USA) - “Speckled” bird ID (USA) - Dark gray bird ID (USA) - Unidentified bird (USA) - Sparrow-like bird ID (USA) - Bird tattoo question (Australia) - Aggressive yardbirds (USA) - Unidentified birds (USA) - Unidentified duck (USA) - Juvenile Cliff Swallows (USA) - Hybrid duck? (USA) - Black ‘parrots’? (Brazil) - Unidentified birds on thistle feeder (USA) - Feeding a ‘baby flycatcher’? (USA) - Bird ID needed (USA) - Costa Rican bird ID please (USA) - Nesting birds in chimney flue (USA) - Texas raptor ID (USA) - Strange Duck (USA) - Mallard hybrid? (USA) - Birding guide needed in Nairobi (UK) - Unusual garden bird (UK)
- Round-up #5: August/September 2008:
Dead Bird ID (New Brunswick) - Is this a myna? (UK) - Is it worth taking binoculars to France? (USA) - Mystery quail in Utah (USA) - ID please (Canada) - Mystery Bird (USA) - Strange ‘crested’ duck (USA) - Gull ID (USA) - ‘Turquoise’ bird ID (Kuwait) - Flock of birds (USA)
I have a two-part question regarding Canada Geese; these wonderful birds fly over my house every evening at 6:30 P.M…..in fact, I could set my clocks by their arrival. I hear them calling before I actually see them. My first question is..do these birds have some “internal clock” that would cause them to make the same flight at the same time each day? The second question is..the calling sounds they make are quite loud and sound like squawks…are they signaling to each other? What is the purpose of all of the honking? They must be communicating in some way. I have followed their flight and they head for a ponding basin each night. Other birds gather there as well… many, many ducks, and not certain if they are cranes or egrets (again, San Joaquin Valley, Central California) but they are large, entirely white with thin-stick legs. Looking forward to your response. Thank You.
@Pamela: When I still lived in upstate New York I would have the same experience in Saratoga in the evenings when the geese would fly from their daytime feeding spots to Saratoga Lake where they would spend the night. I imagine that is what is happening with your geese too (flying from food to shelter that is, not flying to Saratoga Lake!). I’m pretty sure the decision to go to their roosting spot is made by the amount of daylight left.
The honking is communication and allows the geese to “stay in touch.” Typically, the large flocks are made up of individual family groups that stay together until spring when nesting season starts.
And the large white birds you are seeing are most likely Great Egrets (yellow bills and black legs and feet?). If they have yellow feet and black bills they are Snowy Egrets.
Enjoy those geese and, if you really want to appreciate them (and the other birds you are seeing) get a cheap pair of binoculars and a field guide! You’ll be amazed at how much you can see with some magnification!
There are two Mockingbirds in my yard and they do this little ritual every afternoon around the same time of the afternoon. Facing each other they jum across from each other running back and forth facing each other. Why is this and what makes them do this?
@Wayne: It seems you may have a territorial boundary line in your yard…assuming the ritual takes place in roughly the same spot, it is likely that the two birds are each making sure that the other knows better than to step across that line. Mockingbirds are known to be extremely territorial and will defend their territories against not only other mockers but also cats, dogs, and even people!
My comment to Wayne is in regard to Mockingbirds: I have many Mockingbirds and Blue Jays in my yard and both are territorial and aggressive. They often attack each other and will chase any other birds from the feeders. They often dive at my dog and they will peck other animals on the head. One other comment/question that I have is the signaling of the hummingbirds before they come to the feeders…. they make a very distinct chirping noise before coming down from the trees. I have seen where hummingbirds will eat together, but never do they do that in my yard…they signal with the chirp; then they come to the feeder and if another hummingbird comes while they are feeding, the fight is on! They chase each other and will fight the other bird off. This is confusing to me, as I saw a woman in Missouri actually hand-feed several hummingbirds who landed on her arm a hand as she held nectar for them. My hummingbirds would never eat with another bird. The hummingbirds are not afraid of people, however and they fly down directly hovering in front of my face at not more than 10 or 12-inches away and we have what I call the stare-down. I like this little visitation from the Hummingbirds….it is really something to hear the vibration of their wings.
Summer is still very much with us in the San Joaquin Valley of California. I spent a day outside enjoying this great weather and watching several Common Ravens (sometimes called Northern Ravens)….they are the larger cousin of the crow. They are bigger than crows and twice as loud! They spend a great deal of time flying to the many trees surrounding my house; pines, eucalyptus and palm trees….most trees being 30-60 feet tall. They are in large numbers and fun to observe. I did read that ravens and crows are more susceptible to Bird Flu than other birds and I wondered if you can comment on this. I read that if they contract this disease, they often die in a week. I have noticed dead ravens as I go for my walks and not certain, of course, of the cause of death. Because of their size, I would think that having a collision with a car could hurt the car as well! haha Anyway, I wondered if, when I see a dead raven, should I report it to anyone such as the County Health Department or perhaps someone at Fresno State University? Thank you for any comments you may have.
Have just come back from Corsica, France. I think we saw two kites. Large dark coloured birds with ‘eagle’ type heads very wide wing span. Not red kites - more like pictures of black kites. The road was very narrow and in mountainous terrain so my husband didn’t want to stop to take a picture.
Is it possible that this was a kite and if not what are the likeliest
alternatives?
Also there were a great many birds which we couldn’t - (can’t) identify
dark grey to black backs, slightly ‘untidy’ wings. Lighter grey on breast and legs. They were about the size of largish pidgeons. They were on sandy coast line, not on beaches. Seemed to be interested in the lawns, prickly pears - quite shy.
Also of interest (to us) was the lack of any gulls, wading birds etc. The beach where we were had no bird life at all other than these birds described above in the stream estuaries where the stream entered the sea, where they were just drinking and cleaning themselves. Difficult to get very near.
If your raptor was a kite, it’s most likely to be a Red Kite as far as
I can tell, though they are generally more common in the lowland,
wooded areas than in mountains. Another option might perhaps be a
migrating Honey Buzzard, which is roughly the same size. There are
Griffon Vultures on Corsica as far as I know, which are huge (like a
very large eagle) with enormous wings - so if your bird was obviously
massive they could have been Griffons?
Your birds with “dark grey to black backs, slightly ‘untidy’ wings”
are puzzling. Apologies if I’m under-estimating your birding skills,
but the most likely answer are large, immature gulls. Yellow-legged
Gulls are common in the region, and non-breeding/moulting/juvenile
birds would be very like you’re describing and doing just what you’re
describing. Any chance they were immature gulls?
There are few shorebirds on the beaches at Corsica as most are only
migrants in the Mediterranean, and by September/October many will have
either gone through or flown straight over. The Med can be a hit and
miss for migrating shorebirds, and if the skies are clear the islands
do generally tend to miss out.
I’m not sure I’ve really been able to help, but if you have any more
details or anymore questions please feel free to mail me back and
I’ll try again.
The raptor was a dark bird - definitely not Griffon Vulture (too much white and the head and neck are all wrong) Much more like a falcon around the head. I’ve been on a site called Hawk Conservation Trust and the picture on the top left hand side looks a lot like the bird we saw but the birds we saw were not red, rusty, beige or brown but dark grey (not mottled) to black.
The large pigeon sized birds are prolific - there are thousands of the things all over the island. Light grey chests, legs with dark grey wing tops and backs. Could be a crow but lighter than an English Crow.
We are by no means experts but live in Guernsey, have a boat and watch out for gulls of all kinds, have seen puffins, lots of comorants, shags etc. heron gulls, common gulls, arctic etc. etc. no they were’nt adolescents. We ain’t experts just interested amateurs.
Thanks for your help Rosie
Hi Rosie
Okay, I’m with you now - the grey pigeon-sized birds you saw were
Hooded Crows - much like Carrion Crows but just as you describe. It
was the reference to the shoreline that threw me first time round…
The raptors could well be Black Kites: some trip reports mention them
and some don’t so perhaps they’re migrants. Have you seen the images
on the blog at http://10000birds.com/black-kites-southern-india.htm
(Indian birds may well be more ‘bleached’ but the shape and general
colouration will be the same).
I think we’re getting closer anyway!
Hi,
I’m a NYC birder and new-ish bird photographer and have been enjoying your blog
for over a year now. Your posts about birding in the area have been a great
help to me in finding new places to take pictures (Oceanside Nature Preserve was
one of the biggies). Now that we’re heading toward winter, I’m looking forward
to taking pictures of ducks and I was wondering if you had any suggestions for
good photography sites. I went to that pond next to the church that you had
written about last year; it was great for a variety of ducks but not great for
pictures because of the fence. Any better places for picture-taking?
Thanks very much!
Beth in NYC
Beth, we’re very glad to hear you find 10,000 Birds a valuable resource in finding birding hotspots throughout the NYC area. We’re definitely headed into waterfowl season. If you’re looking for decent locales to take pics of birds, we put our collective heads together and came up with the following suggestions.
I like the Piermont pier in winter for canvasback, ruddies, etc.
The blind on the East Pond at Jamaica Bay can be good in the afternoon/evening when the sun is behind it, that is, if the ducks cooperate.
Both the Jones Beach Coast Guard station and Point Lookout might be the best spot to potentially get lucky with Long-tailed Duck, grebes, eiders, loons, harlequins, etc.
The lake (or whatever it is called) at Prospect Park is great, especially when it ices up a bit and the ducks are forced in close at the southern end…but the variety isn’t so great usually. Still, you can get awesome coot shots there!
Last but not least, we still agree that St. John’s Church is one of the best spots for duck photos - the diversity alone is unmatched at most locations.
On the other hand, if you really want great photos of waterfowl, visit the West Coast. California ducks seem a lot more tame than our eastern birds!
Hello, again, from the San Joaquin Valley in California. I wondered if you might review my letter dated October 22nd. I kept waiting for a reply to my question in that letter, but did not receive one and maybe it was overlooked, or perhaps I ask an inappropriate question for The 10,000 Birds Clinic. I am just not sure if I asked something that I shouldn’t have asked. Also, today I heard a bird in a eucalyptus tree (but could not see the bird at all) and I have never heard this sound before but it sounded like castanets. Any idea what type of bird I was listening to. It was very distinct. Thank you.
Hi Pamela
Firstly can I point out that - as we say at the top of this page - we are three bloggers with full-time jobs and (two of us) have families and children. We offer the Clinic because we like to try to help when we can - and we don’t always have time to answer everything and write the blog and have lives too. We do our best, but sometimes we just have to take some time out as well.
As far as Bird Flu (or Poultry Flu as it’s better known) goes there has never been a substantiated case in a wild bird anywhere in North America. Your Ravens will NOT have died of the H5N1 virus which causes Poultry Flu. Corvids are very susceptible to the West Nile Virus though, and to many other diseases. If you feel that there have been an unusual number of deaths then I would suggest that you do get in touch with the relevant authorities.
Lastly, your unusual sounding bird. I’m afraid I haven’t a clue! Could you give us a more rounded description (eg tone of the sound, duration) and whether your certain it couldn’t be an insect of some sort…
Charlie
Can you identify this bird found in Iowa City, Iowa while raking leaves. Never saw one like this before.
Hi there
This lovely bird is a Cedar Waxwing. Quite beautiful isn’t it?
I posted a page with a little bit of info on the blog about Cedar Waxwings at http://10000birds.com/cedar-waxwings-in-central-park.htm
Cheers
Charlie
Hi Charlie!
Can you help me id this bird?
The picture was taken in the NY Hudson Valley (my front yard in Salt Point, to be exact).
It was the beginning of October. The habitat is a small, somewhat dry swamp. It was a warm day. It was around 3pm.
Thank you - 10000 birds is the best!
Liz Martens
Salt Point, NY
Hi Liz
My feeling is that this has to be a female Common Yellowthroat: the unmarked yellow underparts, sturdy pinkish legs/feet, faint complete eye-ring, distinctly partitioned grey face/yellow underparts, and bi-coloured bill all point to a yellowthroat - as is the habitat (yellowthroats are typically found in wetland areas). Maybe my esteemed colleagues Mike and Corey (who see loads more Yellowthroats than I do) may make another suggestion, but hopefully they’ll agree with me
@Liz, Charlie: Undoubtedly a Common Yellowthroat. To see more pics of one check out this juvenile preening.
Can you please ID this bird from Dubai?
Hi Dave
This little beauty is a White-cheeked Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogenys). They breed along that part of the Gulf coast quite commonly. I’ve always understood that there’s some debate about whether they were partly introduced via escaped birds in the past but I’d have no hesitation at all in putting it on my life-list though, as the vast majority (if not all) are wild birds as far as I know.
Hi Charlie,
although I live and work in the UK, I was recently in Taba Heights in Egypt for a holiday (if you call being part of a group taking 44 teenage boys on a scuba diving trip, a holiday…….). While there I managed to get some reasonable photos of some of the local birds, one of which I’ve been told is an African Blackbird, but I’ve been completely unable to verify this. I’ve attached a couple of photos of the bird (hope they’re not too big), and would be really grateful if you could help identify them.
Thanks in advance
Hi Roger
Glad to help. There’s actually no such bird as an ‘African Blackbird’ per se - which will have made things very confusing indeed I suspect - and the species in your photos is actually Pycnonotus xanthopygos - called in many books Yellow-vented Bulbul, but more accurately (to avoid confusion with a similarly-named bird in east asia) now better called the White-spectacled Bulbul. It’s a Middle Eastern species, and quite common out there, but rather lovely in a subtle way I think.
Charlie,
I discovered an intricate bird nest while cutting back mountain laurel that was growing alongside a small spring-fed creek (and not far from the larger creek that it flows into). It was found probably 3 - 4 feet from the ground. This is in northeast Georgia, USA, in shady, wooded area with over 50 acres of raw land.
It is cup-shaped and built in the “V” of 3 branches which are about 4 mm in diameter. The attachment is very loose and just one “strap” of the long grass goes around each branch. The outside is horizontal bands of the flat side of long grasses or reeds.
The outside of the nest is about 80 mm diameter. The inside is about 60 mm. The broad ribbons of “grass” wrap the outside, then the grasses or plant material gets progressively thinner and finer as it approaches the interior of the nest. The inside is then lined with dark “hair” - nested at the bottom, but lined up the vertical interior wall on one side. I’m guessing that is deer hair.
Thanks for any help you can give.
Hello Charlie,
In Israel, in the desert south of Jerusalem, I spotted this bird. Back at home I am wondering what bird it is. I searched with Google, but no luck. Then I found the 10,000 Birds Clinic and now I am wondering if anyone of you can help me.
Thanks in advance,
Ger Hemmes
Hi Ger
Thanks for the mail.
This is Tristram’s Starling/Grackle Onychognatus tristramii, a Middle East speciality closely related to the much more widespread Red-winged Starling Onychognathus morio which is found throughout much of eastern sub-Saharan Africa. I’ve never actually seen a Tristram’s yet but I know the Red-winged really well from Kenya and South Africa and it’s very similar-looking.
There are some great photos of Tristram’s Starling at
http://www.birdsoman.com/Birds/164-Starlings/TristramsGrackle/TristramsGrackle.htm
All the best
Charlie
Perfect, fantastic service, thanks very much!!!
Ger Hemmes
Hi
I saw this black bird today and am having trouble identifying it. Would you please help? Is it some sort of genetic anomaly?
Thanks and Regards,
Charleen
Hi Charleen
Yes, this is a genetic anomaly and is a result of lack
of colour pigment (ie albinism) in some feathers. It’s actually quite
common in crows for some reason (and your bird is an American Crow - though, depending on where you live it could conceivably be one of the other very closely-related species?) - though it may be that it shows upmore in crows just because it’s easier to see white feathers against
the usually dark ones. I’ve seen plenty of mottled thrushes too, and a
Fox Sparrow in Vancouver that looked like it had been snowed on, and I
posted a series of photos of a Cactus Wren with white patches all over
it on the blog at http://10000birds.com/cactus-wrens.htm (scroll down
the page a little). It does make the bird look like something ‘new’,
but I’m afraid it’s not!
All the best
Charlie
Charlie
We found this baby bird in the summer (it’s long gone now) but never knew what it was. Any ideas?
Thanks
Jacqueline
Hi there. Yes I can. This rather scruffy bundle of feathers will (hopefully) grow up to be a beautiful adult European Goldfinch - the yellow and black in the wing is diagnostic, the streaked underparts typical of a juvenile finch (excellent photo by the way). Cheers.
My sister lives in W Palm beach, fl, and last night a bird came right up to her door. the bird stood the way penquins do — the bird had a white under belly and gray body — the one thing we noticed was it had 2 white long (what i can best describe as white strings) coming down from both sides of head — about near where the ears are. We have never seen anything like this bird — any thoughts?
Hi Mary - I wonder if what you saw was an adult Black-crowned Night-heron. They’re whitish below and look grey above, and have long white feathers trailing back from their crowns. Here’s a photo of one I saw recently - anything like your bird at all?
Regards
Charlie
My mother saw a male stonechat today in Lyle, Washington, along the Columbia River Gorge. Are they common there? She described it to me, I looked for a similar bird in Peterson’s guide, and found the stonechat. She looked at photos and said yes, that was what she was looking at out her window.
Hi Jenny
Thanks for your mail. As far as I’m aware Stonechats have never been recorded in Washington - and I think I’m right in saying that only the Siberian Stonechat Saxicola maura has ever been recorded in North America (as a vagrant in Alaska).
I’m not saying that you’re mother DIDN’T see a Stonechat - stranger things have happened! - but it does seem very unlikely. If you could give me a description, an idea of what the bird was doing, and what sort of vegetation it was in (eg Stonechats are open habitat birds that typically perch out in the open flicking along fence-lines or flying low over the ground from one thistle head to another) I may be able to come up with another alternative.
Cheers
Charlie
A group of birds have shown up (4-12) in my cousins ranch in south central Texas, the birds description: black crown and beak, green
back of neck and all the back and wings, light green breast and belly
with light yellow visiable from under the tail feathers. These birds
are about the size of a blue jay only that they are a beautiful green
not seen before. They have been around about a month that we know of.
Could you enlighten us as to what possible type of birds these could
be. Thanks.
Frank, it sounds like you’re describing Green Jays, one of the most beautiful birds a person could ever hope to see. Green Jays are rather common along the southern Texas border. Here is a photo of a beauty I recently saw in the Rio Grande Valley:
Hi! What a wonderful website I’ve stumbled upon! I am a new birder and I need help identifying a bird that has been visiting my pond in the winters. He has an unusual head. He has a black crest that looks like a thick mohawk hairstyle. His face is black and he has a long, black dagger bill. He has a white ring around his neck, his back and wings are a dark grey/black with a hint of dark slate blue. His chest is white and his underbelly goes from white to white and brown. When he flew away I saw that he had white under his wings. He’s not small, I would say about the size of a raven or small sea gull almost, he’s chunky, not slim. He always perches on a branch at the very top of the tree over-looking the pond and will sit there for long periods of time. I’ve tried several different birding books and can’t identify him. I live in Richmond, Virginia. Can you tell me what kind of bird it is? Thank you!
Thanks, Michele. I believe the bird you so aptly describe is a Belted Kingfisher. These beauties are common on the East Coast and love nothing more than staking out a pond for a snack.
Mike,
Thanks for your speedy response! You’re absolutely right. I just looked up photos of the Belted Kingfisher and he is the one that has been visiting my pond. Thank you for identifying him for me.
Michele