[lmhall2000]

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

[Steven Astley]

Eastern Meadowlark? Here's a picture
http://www.mangoverde.com/birdsound/index.html
Hopefully someone with more experience will help you.

[lmhall2000]

Oooh! Very close! Perfect banding on the eye..but the banding on it's neck didn't dip down like the meadowlark it was more like a curved collar ...their backs didn't seem as spotted as the meadowlark but the body style was very similar...The tails looked darker with that identifying white banding on the end of it...and while they were sitting in the tree it looked as if you could distinguish the white banding along the sides of it's wings...the back color was more of a grey/brownish?

I'll keep looking...love that website you sent!
Tara

[buckskin hawk]

Northern Mockingbirds? or Loggerhead Shrike? Tail color is the same with the white sides and the eye line is present. White patches on the wings are also there.

Were you a rural area-farm land, a park, a residence in a city???

[berniethegreat]

did you consider Cedar Waxwing? not exactly what you describe but they do have a very noticable tailtip and markings on the sides of wings, and eye mask, and they like to flock in tops of trees

[lmhall2000]

I wish it were as beautiful as the Cedar Waxwing...I think that is such a beautiful bird! I definitely ruled out the Mockingbird...those are very common and having been attacked by several I am quite intimate with their whirly ways...the white banding is not a stripe along the side of the tail feathers like the mockingbird it was on the tip of all the tail feathers that made it look like someone painted just the tip of them...while they were perched I couldn't tell if it was white on the top part but definitely white or cream as they flew overhead...I just haven't seen a bird with that marking before.

The horned lark is the closest I've come to, I just can't tell from photos if it's tail has that white banding on the underside. And when it was perched it really looked as if it had some white on the top of it's wings...which the horned lark does not seem to have. But in looking at it at certain angles it's head seemed similar to a blue jay but others looked flat so I think I may have been seeing the horned part. I'm going to go find a horned lark sound and see if it sounds similar. The shrike is too small and lacks the black band on its neck under the beak area.

Still working on this one...but horned lark is closest so far.

Any more ideas?
Tara