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Gray bird, short tail (1 Viewer)

Tero

Retired
United States
I have managed to ID most suburban birds in our suburban St. Louis MO. This one has me stumped.

Nearly all gray bird, black sharp nearly straight bill, not as short a bill as Tufted Titmouse. Short tail, but otherwise Cardinal size. But plumper. No bars stripes or other marks. No yellow or white underneath, just gray.
 
Hi Tero,

Could be - loss of the tail feathers is a fairly common accident, with pouncing cats the most likely cause. A Catbird would of course have a black cap on the head.

Michael
 
Hi Tammie, yes, the same Tero.

I actually put out some bird seed for the first time in the upcoming fall period. I feed spring fall and sporadically (Sat and Sun) in winter. All are hanging feeders.
 
I have these bigger critters at home that distract from seeing what goes on outside the house on week days. Once it starts getting dark by 6PM I pretty much do birds sat and sun only. If I go for walks from work, a new attempt, might see winter birds.

So I keep track of the seed on weekends only...
 
I see the most birds at the feeders in winter. Around here, they really need the help more at that time of year as it gets so cold and we tend to get so much snow. I find winter is the most important time of year to feed. Hope you see lots of winter birds on your walks!
 
Gray Bird without tail

Hi, I was researching the internet for a Bird, gray, black head, no tail and plump. I found the message from Tero in Mo. from last year, but couldn't resist writing and asking if this was the same kind of bird. I took a picture of this bird and altho it is not the best photo being Digital, I would like to know if anyone can identify??
This is my first visit to the Birdforum and I'd like to extend a warm Hello to all.
 
Flufficloud said:
Hi, I was researching the internet for a Bird, gray, black head, no tail and plump. I found the message from Tero in Mo. from last year, but couldn't resist writing and asking if this was the same kind of bird. I took a picture of this bird and altho it is not the best photo being Digital, I would like to know if anyone can identify??
This is my first visit to the Birdforum and I'd like to extend a warm Hello to all.


Fluffy,

Where's the pic?
 
Fluffy,
In case you're wondering - to attach an image in the thread you have to post a reply and hit the button "go advanced" then to hit "manage attachments" browse to your file on you HDD and hit OK then hit "upload" and then close the dialog box and then send the reply. It's kind of like attaching a photo to an e-mail.
 
Gray Bird

Sorry about not attaching the picture of the bird, but i did need instructions.
Thanks to Steve and Jason. Here is the picture of the Gray Bird.
 

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Sorry, fluffi, still no pic. When you're in "manage attachments" and hit the "upload" button, wait until you see the "close this window" button appear before continuing.
 
Rufous under-tail coverts - that means if you look under where the base of its tail would be if it had one (a part of the bird not visible in your pic), you would see a rufous patch there. I found it very hard to see this rufous patch on the Gray Catbirds I've seen - you basically had to wait for it to lift its tail up to do a poop.

Michael
 
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