A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 Thorny-New Bird

I saw a brown bird I've never seen before, in the parking lot at the mall.
I wonder if you know what it is.
It was brown with a darker brown ring around the eye. A long pointed tail. A long beak like a hummingbird's, but thicker of course, as the bird is bigger than a hummer.
The bird's size is bigger than a starling but smaller than a pigeon, and a slim body like a mockingbird.
This is the best description I can do.

Ya got me, Deborah. It sounds like it is probably one of the Western Thrashers or Thrushes that we do not have in the East. It could also be one of the Western Wrens or perhaps even a Dove of some kind. (Did it look VERY masculine? )

Go to WhatBird.com. They have an online database that can help you identify over 900 species of birds in the U.S. and Canada. You just enter each pertinent feature of the bird you want to identify until it narrows your choices down from 900, to 4 or 5 species. I used your description to narrow it down to several species of Western Wrens and one species of Cowbird, none of which was a close match to your bird.

OK, thanks, Thorny. I'll look.
It was different from the California thrasher you identified for me.
Bigger and chocolate brown rather than the gray-ish mockingbird color of the California thrasher.
So, I'm assuming you mean there's a whole group of various thrashers?

lots of thrashers.
curve billed??

No, straight beak like a hummer.

An immature Starling perhaps?

No, it was bigger than a starling.
Imagine a chocolate brown California thrasher but bigger, with a cocoa brown ring around the eye and a long, straight, dark beak.
Bigger than a parakeet, smaller than a cockatiel.
It was hanging out with starlings in the mall, but it wasn't a starling.

Deborah, Try Googling a Wrentit. that MIGHT be your bird.

I looked-the wrentit in the photos look smaller, plumper and have some gray.
The bird I saw was long, sleek-to-slim, and chocolate brown.
The pictured wrentit is close, but I'll Google a few more to look for a match.
Actually, I "Dogpile"-love that search engine ! It's the only one I use.

I saw the bird again, actually several of them in the WalMart parking lot.
I stopped to look and watch.
The bird is the shape and build of a crow, but about 1/4 the size of a crow.
Yellow eyes.
It is definitely brown, no gray, and has the cocoa ring around the eye.
It makes a sound (over and over and over) like a shrill peacock's cry, but the cry is shorter.
What in the world is this bird???

I have no idea... but you do a great job describing him!!!!

Try Cowbird or Grackle. Yelloweyes and screechy call sounds like a Grackle. Or perhaps a Rusty Blackbird.

Or Brewers Blackbird!

Nope-I looked up all of them.

I'm stumped. See if you can get a picture and poast it.

MMMMM-MMM! "Poasted" pictures! My favorite treat. Especially with toasted marshmallows and melted chocolate!

I really wish I could identify this bird.
It's a charming and attractive one.
Like a small brown crow with pretty eyes and an enchanting call.

Thanks, Jane-I try !

Deborah, I went to WhatBird.com and entered all the info you gave me about your bird and it narrowed the species down from 999 species to ONE Single Species that could fit your bird......the cactus WREN. Try that and see if it could be it.

Not it. Not even close to this mystery bird.
I appreciate your efforts though !
It's basically a little brown crow with yellow eyes. No white anywhere.

Is this your bird, Deborah?

Wow....thats pretty!!!!

YES !!!!!!!!!!!
Thorny, I could kiss you !!!!!!!!
What is it and how did you find it??????
Can't wait to hear !!!!!!!!!

Your bird is a FEMALE Great-Tailed Grackle. I knew that the only crowlike birds with yellow eyes were Grackles so I looked up the Grackles in your area and saw that the only kind you have in Southern Cali are the Great Tailed Grackles. In many members of the Grackle/Blackbird family, ONLY the males are black. The Females are a duller gray or brown, so I Google Image Searched Great_Tailed Grackles and looked for a picture of a female and BINGO! There was the EXACT bird you had described to me. WE have the Common Grackles in Tennessee, but NOT the Great-Tailed Grackle.

Thorny, you're my hero !!!!!!!
That's it !!!! I looked at WhatBird and saw her.
Thanks sooooooooo much !!!!!!
It will be fun seeing the birds again and knowing now what they are !!!!!!!