identification help

[tom fellegy]

i saw a small flock of birds, 8 to 10 of them, that i have never seen before. they were mostly gray, with some black and brown on the wings. what i think was the male, had a chesnut color patch on the top of the head. the size was about the same as a robin, maybe a little smaller. this was in some willows along the shore of lake mille lacs in central minnesota. any ideas????

[brushwolf]

Hi, look at the photo in the Young grosbeak entry on this page and see if it resembles what you saw..might be female pine grosbeaks...

[tom fellegy]

that be the bird i saw. thanks for the help

[Jim Almquist]

Tom they are all around the northland this year and way earlier than normal and seem to be farther south as well.

[LeeKen]

I saw my first Pine Grosbeak yesterday morning. Three landed in the yard and I happened to have a camera ready.

Now if a male grosbeak would be so cooperative....

[tom fellegy]

i saw the birds again today, got a little closer to them. they are colored like a pine grosbeak ,but the ones i saw today had a crest like a cardnal and white tipped tail feathers

[LeeKen]

The only crested birds that I can think of that are close to that description are cedar and bohemian waxwings. They have yellow tipped tail feathers.

Here is a Cedar Waxwing that I shot in August. I think they have the same plumage year round.

[tom fellegy]

i will try to get a photo and post it in the next few days

[Dbl]

Boy it does sound like a waxwing. I believe the underside of the tail is white but as LeeKen's photo shows the band is yellow at the top. What was the bill shape?

[eyeguy 54]

hmmmm, white tipped? Can't think of anything. Thinking waxwing also if not white.

[LeeKen]

An interesting thing, relating to this post, happened to a Pine Grosbeak while I was trying to get a shot of it. This not so great picture shows the wind could certainly give the birds a crest.

[minrod]

I think it may have been a horned lark