SE USA birds

[dinahsmum]

I guess this post is for Dandysmom but I'll put it as a forum post rather than a PM in case anyone else is interested in the birds I've seen.
I've seen and identified a yankee robin (they're not as endearing as european ones) and I looked up and saw a wonderful raptor of some sort hanging way up high but I'm stuck with 2 other species. One is a sweet sounding bird looking something like a smaller version of a collar or mourning dove (but not of the pigeon/dove family, I suspect) I've seen them in ones and twos. The other is a species of hooligans who hang around in flocks of a dozen or so. They are small brown jobs (as birders tend to call birds of that ilk, I believe) with a white flash on their wings, a yellow bar across the end of their tail and wonderful crests which look like badly done Beatle cuts. I thought they might be chickadees but I've looked that up and it's not, so now I'm stuck.
Help? Please.

[calismum]

maybe a cedar bird?

[dinahsmum]

Clever you! That's them
There's a tree outside my window (3rd floor) and I get a really good view of them from the little balcony

[calismum]

They are really sweet - my friend brought home a video of them when she was on hols a few years back.

No idea about the dove type bird tho' I'm sure Dandysmom will have an idea.

[dandysmom]

No, I'm puzzled by the "looks like a dove" bird. I agree the others are probably cedar waxwings, and the soaring raptor is most likely a turkey vulture (often erroneously called buzzard...they're a different family from the Old World buzzards. )

By "sweet sounding" I assume it has a melodious call, which would eliminate any of the doves any

how...all have a variation of the "coo-ah coo, coo, coo" call. It's possible it might be one of the thrushes, very sweet singers, but they're not usually urban birds.

Have been thru my bird guide and can't locate a suspect..how big is it. robin (ours) size, or smaller? What color? On the ground?

This is bugging me ....

[dinahsmum]

Bigger than your robin - but only a little bigger. "Dove" coloured - soft taupe sort of thing. Yes, it could be a thrush type from the song. We saw them on the grass verges as we walked back from the mall (and ignored the incredulous looks of everyone in their cars - people walking - whatever next?)

[dandysmom]

I know ....our crazy car-oriented society!! And people wonder why we have an obesity problem! Oh well, that's another rant!

Back to the bird book.......

This fellow, perhaps? They are ground feeders, but the locale seems wrong for them.....

http://sdakotabirds.com/species_photos/photos/hermit_thrush_1.jpg

[calismum]

What type of bird is that DM?

[dinahsmum]

No, not that.
Now I realise why I'm saying dove - a more delicate shape, smaller head, smaller eyes, maybe slimmer beak - and pale. A nice fan tail.
Sorry - I don't have a photographic memory and I don't think I can come up with better description.

I love the colour of the bird in the pic - a thrush?

[dandysmom]

That's the hermit thrush. Lovely bird, have never seen him but have seen the wood thrush while walking in my nearby woods. Very similar. but with a very spotted breast and a tad bigger. All the thrushes are wonderful singers, the mocklng bird and catbird are in the thrush family.

Here's the wood thrush...

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/PHOTO/LARGE/JRW_040902_00468A_S.jpg

[angieh]

I had to go and look at the cedar waxwing - what a beauty!

DM - if you Google Images "birds of Georgia" you might find your "dove".

[dinahsmum]

Brilliant idea angie .. the sun must be melting my brain! Why didn't I think of that? :roll:
I've looked and I think it might have been as simple as a mockingbird.
Thanks for your help everyone

[dandysmom]

Brilliant idea angie .. the sun must be melting my brain! Why didn't I think of that? :roll:
I've looked and I think it might have been as simple as a mockingbird.
Thanks for your help everyone


Ummm ........ mockers aren't flocking birds at all, they're highly territorial. You rarely ever see anything but a mated pair. They have a distinctive white patch on their wings when they fly. But the song is definitely very melodious, they are our equivalent of the nightingale ....

Here's the mocker:

http://www.google.com/images?q=tbn:nHcOkRZUf2b61M::www.statesymbolsusa.o rg/IMAGES/Tennessee/northern_mockingbird_web.jpg

[dinahsmum]

No DM -it was the cedar birds who were the gang; the mystery bird was on the grass verge with his/her mate. It sang its tune and I tried to respond and it corrected my version. It semed quite unfazed by our proximity - again maybe a function of so few folks on foot?

[dandysmom]

Oh sorry! I was confusing him with the waxwings, which do flock. Must have been the mocker, they're quite fearless around people...the one at Moli's in Houston even came in the room! I'm glad you got to hear his song, lovely, isn't it? They often sing in the night when the moon is full.

[dinahsmum]

We've heard some lovely singing at night/dawn