I'm in Palm Desert, CA and I just hadda join birdforum cuz visitors out by the pool (usually Canadians, familiar only with penguins, I guess, and then only if a polar bear happens to be eating one - a penguin not a Canadian) are always asking me, "What kind of bird is THAT, ay?" and I haven't a clue. There's one in particular interest to Josie, my cat, that's abundant and not a dove or roadrunner, that I'd like to identify first because it's usually the one people (Canadians, usually) point to and ask about. And I've been noticing it for about 20 years and feel I should know, by now, what it is. It (or they - the bird not the Canadians) frequents a small orange tree less than six feet from the window where Josie looks out each morning. It's bigger than a sparrow and smaller than a jay - about six inches tall and about 10 inches, beak to tail-tip. Overall it looks gray but with numerous black, crescent shaped markings like a child's drawing of feathers on a bird and its main features are very distinct, single white bands mid-wing that are only visible during flight. It has a smallish "cone shaped beak" (the only bonafied birding term I know fromn the site I visited just before this one), not stout or needle like and a little longer than the width of the head. The bird is a fast and nimble flier. It spends a lot of time darting in and out of the shrubbery around the swimming pool.
Is there such a thing as an Ident-a-kit for birds?
And can anyone recommend free birding software that I would find useful in the Southern California desert?
Thanks and I'm looking forward to getting to know some of your and the rest: Eh!
Is there such a thing as an Ident-a-kit for birds?
And can anyone recommend free birding software that I would find useful in the Southern California desert?
Thanks and I'm looking forward to getting to know some of your and the rest: Eh!
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