i.d. on hawking bird???

[MARINERMAGNUM]

there has been a small 6" bird hanging around our park. he will sit and wait for bugs,fly out and get one,then return to his perch. light colored chest,black crest,black on wing,small "bb" like eyes set low and forward. if there was a site online with pictures of birds in the midwest,i could maybe i.d. him. does a site like this exist??/ any ideas on this little bugger??? thanks.

['eyesmaster89]

Perhaps it was a Merlin. I don't know for sure. Or maybe an American Kestrel. Try and go to a search engine and type in these to names and see if the any of the pics resemble what you saw. Anybody else have any suggestions.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

no,not a sparrow hawk. it was about the size of a junco,but the tail was longer. doesnt look like a flycatcher or a towhee.

[Surface Tension]

Nice discription on the behavior. Its a Kingbird

[Steve Foss]

And an eastern kingbird, at that.

[GoodToGo]

Sounds like a phoebe. Does it flick it's tail while on the perch? If it has the white band on tail then definitely kingbird, but that wasn't mentioned, and juncos are smaller than kingbirds I believe.

[Hastings gal]

I think phobe also, I usually see them when mowing the lawn - they dive very fast and close to you.

[Steve Foss]

Phoebe's a good guess, if the size estimate is right. A junco's a full size or two smaller than a kingbird, and almost exactly the same size as a phoebe. And the phoebe's call says its name, which, along with the bobbing tail from perched birds, could seal it. A rasping FEE bee, FEE bee, with the second note lower in pitch than the first, and the second note sometimes sounding less raspy and more of a trill.

Simply going to the library and thumbing through a bird guide or picking one up at the store could settle it. The description of the behavior was helpful, and more informative than of the report on the markings of the bird, and there's not enough on the markings to do more than make a decent guess. My first thoughts on the initial description were phoebe, kingbird or shrike, with shrike being the least likely but still possible.

But if you can't get to a bird guide but are online, here's one to try. It was one of the first ones on the list when I did quick and simple Web search. It's a link unauthorized by FM, so it may not show up, but here's a go. Go to www.enature.com and then click on "birds." Then click on "perching birds." Then, when the next screen comes up, set the sorting feature to "common name" and the filter to "Great Lakes (as far west as Wisconsin) or "Plains" (includes Minnesota and Dakotas and points south).

Using the "Great Lakes" filter gets you pictures and info on 154 perching species, of which your mystery bird almost certainly is one.

Good luck.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

it looked like the kingbird and the phoebe. it was one of those 2 for certain. he sat on a chain between 2 posts for 3-5 minutes,but did not "flick" his tail in that time. does that rule out the phoebe? nice site! thanks for the link! i will try to get a dig. pic. of him [or her]. i am just starting to be a "birder". you know,it's a special feeling for me when i see a bird fly by that i know is something different. the size,color,or the way it flys tells me its not the usual robin,sparrow,cardinal,etc. is that the way it is with you folks? i'm hoping i'm off to a good start by recognizing a different species immediately by the way it acts,before i can get close enough to see its color. it sure does catch my attention when a not so common bird is in the area. thanks so much for the responses!!

[MARINERMAGNUM]

if i do get a decent picture how do you upload it on this page??/ thanks.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

wow! i got lucky and got some decent pics of him tonight. how can i post them. still havent been able to i.d. him.

[buzzsaw]

you can e-mail them to me and I'll upload them if you want.

Here are a few pictures of the bird MARINERMAGNUM took guys.

[Steve Foss]

Marinermagnum:

Nope, not a phoebe. They don't have wing bars, they tend to be darker — and I've never watched a phoebe that didn't bob its tail when it perched.

I'm going with eastern wood pewee. Size and markings are right, and pewees have no white eye ring. Hard to see, really, in that picture, if there's an eye ring, but if there is, it's very faint. I don't think it's an eye ring. Might just be the slightly paler lining around the pupil, and it doesn't go all the way around. The Sibley guide indicates pewees can have a very weak eye ring. Sounds about right.

If it IS a full whitish eye ring, you could have a willow flycatcher or a least flycatcher, too. They are two species out of five in the empidonax group of flycatchers that all look very much alike. The five tend to be in different environments and have different calls, and the only two likely to be in or around Austin, Minn., at this time of year are the willow and the least.

The phoebe, willow and least all will perch, fly out for insects on the wing, sometimes completing surprising acrocatics to catch the morsel, then return to the perch.

All three can be found in meadows and yards, though the pewee and least are the more common birds in a wider variety of environments. The willow prefers brushy, wet places. The least is probably the most commonly seen and identified flycatcher of its class in the eastern United States.

Calls/songs can help you tell them apart. The pewee's song is a rich plaintive pee-uh-wee, pee-o, with the pee and wee about the same whistled note but a drop in pitch of the uh. So the call starts on a whistled note, slurs downward and the second and returns almost to the first pitch again. The pee-o second call sometimes is there, sometimes not, but the call pattern is about the same. The willow makes a "sneezy" fitz-bew song. The least makes a repeated sharp che-bek, with the second syllable accented.

If you want to learn bird calls (some have the ear, some do not), the Peterson series has a CD available of eastern bird calls. It's not that expensive and it's a darn good learning tool. When I started birding, the simplest way to connect song and bird was to listen to a bird singing, find the bird, identify the bird using one of the field guide books and then, presto, you have the call and bird together by association.

And yes, the thrill never dies when I see a new bird. Doesn't happen often anymore, because I rarely travel out of the Midwest, and my life list is pretty swell with the Midwestern birds, but now and then, now and then . . .

[MARINERMAGNUM]

Post deleted by MARINERMAGNUM

[Dotch]

Looks like a more definitive eye-ring in you latest photo(s). I'd vote least flycatcher.

[Steve Foss]

Could be. Least certainly is more common in most of the range than pewee.

But least has a prominent white eye-ring that is hard to miss, and I don't see that in this bird. Even the juvenile leasts, from the time in July on into winter they reach maturity, have a bright ring.

Surely, it could go either way. I'm still leaning toward pewee, but SURE wouild like to hear a song. That'd settle it for sure. Also, a pewee is bigger than a least. Pewee is 6.25 inches on average, least 5.25 inches, according to Sibley. How long is each link of chain on that chain? With an inch difference between each species, knowing the link length could be enough to narrow that down.

If each link is an inch long, I'd say you have a smaller bird, like the least. If the links are shorter, say 3/4 inch, it's harder to say.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

i will measure the chain tomorrow. i never hear him make a sound,he's too busy eating bugs.[fun to watch] you must need special permission to post photos? i listed some at an online site,and copied the url address but it just shows the address,not the picture? is there a secret,or do i need to send the webmaster a gift?

[M.T. Bucket]

I'd like to play

I think the bird is too light, too small (judging from the chain), shows an eyering, and appears to be in unlikely habitat for an Eastern Wood-pewee.

I'd say that the most likely ID on this bird is a Least Flycatcher. They are more common, have a lighter breast (like this bird), and are somewhat more likely to make an appearance in the habitat shown in the background than an Alder or Willow Flycatcher. You'd have to hear it to make a DEFINITE identification.

I birded for a few hours today and found ~70 species, including Alder, Great-crested, and Least Flycatchers, Eastern Wood-pewee, Eastern Phoebe, and Eastern Kingbird. About 2 weeks ago I found 6 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers and an Olive-sided Flycatcher in Koochiching County while doing boreal bird surveys, so it's been a pretty good year for finding flycatchers (lots of food for them right now!)

On a side note, my target bird today was a Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow reported not far from me this week. No luck there, but found about every other sparrow possible in the area. Got my 200th species of 2005 today--Black-billed Cuckoo in Cass County.

Did I mention the boreal bird survey in Koochiching County? 10 Connecticut Warblers, 2 Spruce Grouse w/2 chicks, and 5 Boreal Chickadees were a few of the highlights of that weekend--oh yeah, the mosquitos in those tamarack/spruce bogs were the worst I have EVER EVER EVER had to deal with.

Next week I will be doing some Common Loon surveys by canoe so I should have something new to report.

Oh yeah , I think your bird's a Least Flycatcher!

[Steve Foss]

We're all here to play!

Even as I made my last post, I started talking myself out of pewee and toward least. Still don't think there's much of an eye ring there, and individuals within each species can vary somewhat in plumage colors, but in the end it was those chain links — they just look too big in comparison to the bird. Sure is more fun with a picture than without one.

[Surface Tension]

Well it sure aint a Kingbird.

Having 3 shots to look at and no white eye ring that I can tell, its inconclusive to me especially with the green undercarriage.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

i am very sorry to surface tension,it was my 1st description that fouled him up. my memory is not what it used to be. anyway,the chain links are exactly 2" long each. a new problem arose tonight,as we found what we are 99% sure to be cougar tracks on our property near a river. we are going to have the dnr examine them,although there is almost no doubt. the thing that shook us the most was the fact that last weekend we saw a brown critter run out of the treeline,then dart back in. our vision was impaired by leaves,my wife said it must of been a small deer. i have bow&gun hunted deer for 30 years and seen them from every angle. i said "that was NOT a deer" i shrugged it off as a large brown dog. it was very low to the ground,and very long. one thing i am 100% sure of,was the "fluid like" movement of the critter,which i have never seen in a local animal of that size. when we found the tracks tonight,i got a cold shiver [and it was HOT today!] when i remembered what we saw last week. i will take some dig. pics. of the tracks and maybe someone will post them for me here? anyone peg the bird yet?????

[Steve Foss]

Marinermagnum:

Have I lost my mind, or did your location on your profile just change from Austin, Minn., to Iowa?

With the new info, I'm leaning again toward pewee. It looks to my eye like it would take three of those links or a bit more to reach the length of the bird, and that makes it longer than six inches, which is about an inch longer than the least flycather. I also don't see the distinct eye ring that some others see when looking at that bird, and that would mark it more closely as a least. I pulled the jpegs out and opened them in Photoshop CS, and no matter how I magnify and manipulate them, I'm not getting much of an eye ring.

There are slight variations in plumage among individual birds in any species. The Peterson's and National Geographic guides show a pewee darker than the bird in your picture, while the Golden guide is intermediate and the Sibley guide, which I consider the best guide I've ever used, shows a pewee about smack on with the color/darkness of the bird in your shots.

I wouldn't expect the bird to sing from an exposed perch in the open like that. Pewees generally sing in the woods, though they sometimes work in the open. Leasts, which are seen in the open more often, also more often call in the open when feeding, in my experience. Either way, the bird is more likely to be calling/singing in the first hour around sunrise than in the middle of the day/evening, especially since the mate-attracting stage is over. I have, however, heard pewees vocalizing in the evenings before.

At any rate, the ID process sure has been an adventure, and there's still fair room for doubt. Ahhhh, birds . . . .

As for the possible mountain lion tracks, I'd suggest you lay a ruler or some other item of a fixed size right next to the tracks when you shoot them (probably you already planned to do that anyway), and measure the exact width and length of each print, as well as the length between prints if there are several — and the length between groups of prints. If the animal was loping or running, as a deer hunter you'd know the prints may be in clusters separated by several feet. That's the kind of info the DNR or any expert would want to know to help ID the tracks.

If it's a mountain lion and wild, that would be something remarkable, given where you live. If it's a mountain lion and was raised as a pet and then released by owners getting scared by its size and attitude, that's a lot more likely. If you can confirm it with the DNR, that's also a story the local papers likely would be interested in, though it's an even bet whether the story would be overly sensationalistic or not. Something about those big cats excites the imagination, eh?

[Surface Tension]

MM, my feathers didn't get ruffled. I'm enjoying and learning from the identification process.

The Cat sighting is believable. The way you described its fast movements a fluid makes the sighting even more believable. It was probably stalking you for some time then fled. Big Cats are notorious for giving its prey a glimpse of them selves only to ambush from a different direction. You think you know their next move and all a sudden they are on you, silently and fast. Of coarse watching true animal behavior in the wild is best but I had the rare opportunity to watch an active Snow Leopard at the Zoo on a day where there was little or no visitors. Its pen had rocks, tall grass and trees for him to hide in and outside we had(myself and my 2 kids)had a couple rocks to hide behind.

We played a game where we were the prey and the Leopard played along. His attacks were never direct so you never knew what direction he'd come from. Each time we were caught by surprise and it was the kids he'd target. Truly a cunning animal and we felt lucky to have "played with him". If you have kids you might not want them to venture to far for a while.

This reminds me of a time when my daughter was having a small tantrum. We were outside and I ignored the behavior and let her figure it out for herself that her crying game wasn't going to work with me. She'd go 100' from the house and sit by a tree and let it all out. Although I acted as I wasn't concerned I kept an eye on her. Then the thought came to me "what a way to call in a big cat or wolf". We do have wolves and theres been cat sightings here as well. Anyway I ended the fit she was having. Next morning a Lynx walked through the yard.

Back to the tracks you found. Take a pic like STF said then make a plaster cast of the track. Put a ring of cardboard around the track then pour in some plaster of paris. You'll have a neat keepsake.

[Dotch]

One question about the links on the chain to clarify their size MM, when you say 2" links, are you referring to it as a "link" to where the wire is twisted or are you referring to it as a "link" where the two ends meet the next link? (I know, what is "is"?) It looks like the same size chain as the training chain we use on our border collies. There the "links" including the twists are 2". While not a "professional" birder, I do spend a fair amount of time afield looking at identifying characteristics of flora and fauna. Around the back of the eye, it appears to have a ring. Around the front of the eye, it's iffy. Not surprising and not surprising that the bird doesn't look exactly like any of the books. Wish I had a dollar for every plant or insect someone brought me that didn't look like the reference books, only to send it in for verification and turn out to be exactly what we thought, just another twist in color, shape or size the books or CD's didn't show. Like in the case of some of the species we deal with, maybe it's a hybrid: a wood or a least pee catcher...lol! At any rate, it's still fun.

As far as the tracks, that's scary but not totally unusual for your location in NE IA. There have been several anecdotal sightings in SE MN and even as close here as Mankato. As more people keep moving into the woods, sightings are likely to increase. Would be cool to have a plaster cast of the print for verification.

[MARINERMAGNUM]

to stf: we moved to ne iowa a few months back,i had forgot to update my profile,sorry about that. the links are 2" from 1 end to the outer edge of the twisted area. the bird is there every day,like clockwork. as for the tracks,i met with a dnr official this afternoon. as we walked toward the area i told him the story with confidence and excitement-until we reached the riverbank................i couldn't believe it it looked like there had been a motocross race. i remembered meeting 6-8 atvs on the gravel as we left,but didn't give it another thought. they must have spun 75 donuts in that area,holeshots,slides,you name it. every inch of ground was obliterated. the officer saw my dissappointment. we still looked around,and picked up beer cans. he did say this was a prime area where a cat would likely be,if in the area. he did take notice of a small tree that was scraped raw. he said,"hmmmm..a little early for deer rubbing velvet off. sharpening post??" there is always,and i mean always deer down there. for the last 20 years,you couldn't go down there without kicking up at least 3-6 deer,sometimes as many as 25. but in the last few weeks not a single deer have we seen,only a very few tracks. well,if a cats there,he should make more tracks. ENOUGH, this is a bird site and i will stick to that. sorry i veered off course! i just got some bird i.d. books in the mail today,my 1st ones. can't wait to look thru them!!![hope i bought the right ones!!]