lmhall2000
Well-known member
This morning I heard a caucophony (sp?) of "screeeeep"....there were about 10 birds perching in the tops of some tall oak trees. They were flying back and forth between two trees and I realized a red-tailed hawk was perched by them and one of these birds was trying to attack the hawk..
As they flew over head they kind of soared (and if you saw the spread of their wings they really had fingertip wings like eagles) they almost didn't flap their wings...but weren't bomb flyers like the nuthatches I usually see...from the underside their belly looked kind of copperish/golden and there was a white banding running at the tip of their tail horizontally. When I got my binoculars I got a good look at their head...their beaks looked black and 2cm long...their neck had a black banding or collar running under the chin and almost complete from ear to ear. The eyes had a black streak running across the eye like someone had just drawn a black line towards the back of the head and from what I could tell the tops of their heads looked black.
I'm in Alabama and I've not seen this bird before, although I can't confirm it's not a native I've just somehow missed these 30 years Does anyone have a clue as to where to look for perching bird id's? I tried our Audubon Eastern Region and it's not in there...so I'm thinking it's a migrant...any northerners have any ideas?
Thanks!
Tara
As they flew over head they kind of soared (and if you saw the spread of their wings they really had fingertip wings like eagles) they almost didn't flap their wings...but weren't bomb flyers like the nuthatches I usually see...from the underside their belly looked kind of copperish/golden and there was a white banding running at the tip of their tail horizontally. When I got my binoculars I got a good look at their head...their beaks looked black and 2cm long...their neck had a black banding or collar running under the chin and almost complete from ear to ear. The eyes had a black streak running across the eye like someone had just drawn a black line towards the back of the head and from what I could tell the tops of their heads looked black.
I'm in Alabama and I've not seen this bird before, although I can't confirm it's not a native I've just somehow missed these 30 years Does anyone have a clue as to where to look for perching bird id's? I tried our Audubon Eastern Region and it's not in there...so I'm thinking it's a migrant...any northerners have any ideas?
Thanks!
Tara