Name that wild bird - found in my house! (birds, wildlife, look)

[mrs1885]

I didn't take a picture since I was afraid I'd stress it holding it for a second longer than I did, but I was on the computer and heard wings fluttering behind me. Turned around to find a small dark grey bird with a small slightly hooked beak clinging to the curtains in the dining room.

The entire body was dark grey. The wings were very long and pointed. Beak was black, short but very slightly hooked at the end. Made me think of a mix between a canary beak - how it's so small and pointy and a cockatiel beak how it's curved like a raptor's would be.

The closest thing I can find on line that looks like it is pictures of a juvenile Mississippi Kite. However, if I do a search for a juvi Kite the other pictures that come up show a bird with mottled coloring and this one didn't have any other colors at all. The head shape does look right though.

Also, it's saying the Kite is a medium size raptor. This was a very small bird, like canary size, maybe four inches long. It easily fit in one hand. I do have a nest of birds in my fireplace and they are there every year. I can't tell you if it's the same pair of birds, let alone the same species, but there is a nest there. I'm sure that's where this one came from.

Anyone have any idea what kind of bird it could have been? I'm in middle Tennessee. The Mississippi Kite map is showing they don't come this far north, but then again they say there aren't any mountain lions here either and I saw one in the back pasture, so I know odd things can happen.

I attached the photo of the bird the one in the house looks similar to. The one I caught didn't have that black mask though. The chest may have been a slightly lighter shade of grey.

[3DogNight]

Fireplace birds might be swallows or swifts. I think you may be looking at a Chimney Swift? Soft feathery wings or sharp, shaped wings?

[foxywench]

some "grey" small birds of tn that come to mind that would fit tin the "canary sized" family

grey catbird
northern mocking bird
bluegrey gnat catcher
junco
barn swallow
great crested fly catcher
nighthawk
chimney swift



the only bird of prey that would be even close to that size would be an eamerican kestrel, they are relitivly tiny as far as birds of prey go, but quite distinct looking...

good resource
Tennessee Watchable Wildlife | Birds

[jimboburnsy]

Could that be a loggerheaded shrike, a.k.a. butcher bird?

They look very similar to mockingbirds, a little stockier and shorter with a more powerful head.

They are called butcher birds because they will often kill more food than they can eat and preserve it by impaling lizards, crickets, grasshoppers, etc. etc. on barbwire fences or in thornbushes. We had one that always kept a stash of green lizards in a bois d'arc tree when I was a boy.

Loggerhead Shrike

[SouthernBelleInUtah]

Originally Posted by jimboburnsy

................................ We had one that always kept a stash of green lizards in a bois d'arc tree when I was a boy.

Loggerhead Shrike

I haven't heard that tree mentioned since I left Miss. 10 yrs ago! I used to go to the "Bodock" festival in Tupelo and ahve some carved wodden items I bought there.

Mrs., it well could have been a baby and so not fitting the description as far as size goes.

[subject2change]

I think Jimbo got it. None of the other birds named have a hooked beak like a hawks, not many small birds do. A juvenile bird old enough to fly is as large as an adults but its coloring may be completely different.

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by SouthernBelleInUtah

I haven't heard that tree mentioned since I left Miss. 10 yrs ago! I used to go to the "Bodock" festival in Tupelo and ahve some carved wodden items I bought there.

Mrs., it well could have been a baby and so not fitting the description as far as size goes.

I had more of a fusion of Southeast Texas, East Texas and West Louisiana when I learned to pronounce Bowed Ark. It's really tricky to spell the pronunciation of that little fumble that Coastal Texans put where the apostrophe goes... Doesn't really matter, if you learned to drawl before you learned to spell you probably pronounce Bois D'Arc incorrectly. We just kinda make a token effort at "Bois D'" and emphasize "Arc" and usually people know what you're talking about until you get into bona fide okefenoke. OR you can always just say "Osage Orange".

[subject2change]

I got my field guide to show my husband a bird I saw today. While I had it out, I looked up loggerhead shrike and it's 9" long. I finally found a bird 6" long that sounds like it could be the one. Both are rare in Tennessee but they're there
.female and juvenile red crossbill | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/aullori/2539655934 - broken link)

[mrs1885]

The site I'd found to help you name wild birds had the shrike too. The head and beak look right but the coloring was wrong. Then again, if it was a juvi the coloring very well may be different which would explain it.

Not sure what it was but I keep hoping another will fly in so I can get a picture of it this time! Taking my company's little boy to the state park tomorrow while hubby takes her to a court hearing for her ex husband. Fingers crossed. We'll stop at the park rangers and see if they know if the juvi has the darker solid color. Maybe they'll have some baby wildlife he can see too!