What kind of bird?

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Anyone know what kind of bird this is? There is a flock of them in our neighborhood--the first of this type I've seen. They are about half the size of a Robin. They seldom make any noise. This one apparently flew into our picture window--found it on the ground nearby. I've lived in this area my entire life and it's the first time I've seen this type of bird.

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Answered my own question: It's a Cedar Waxwing

[scott]

Wayne,

We see them here in the fall and spring, as they are passing through central and eastern Texas. I did see some as recently as a week ago, but but those must have been the stragglers, as the spring is already turning into summer by May down here (San Antonio-- south Texas). The ones you saw might have been the ones in our neighborhood a few weeks ago!


Usually I hear them before I see them, and their call can't be confused with that of any other bird, in these parts anyway. It is a kind of long and very, very high-pitched squeak.

Another distinctive characteristic they have is that they like to stay in a very tight flock. You'll never see just 3 or 4 of them. When it's time to stop, then you see a hundred or so, all in the same tree. And when it's time to leave, then they all leave together!

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They say their call is so low key it's often drowned out by surrounding noise. I don't rcall hearing a call when they were here. One description said = windows in houses are a real danger for the waxwing and that's exactly what did this one in.

According to the info they pass through this region every year. That's weird because I have lived here 65 years and this is the first year I have seen them. They don't seem terribly timid. A flock of at least 100 landed in a flowing pear tree in our back yard and I got up within probably 25 feet and they focused on eating.

One description said that if there is several pieces of food on the end of a branch where only one bird at a time can reach it, they sometimes will line up on the branch and pass the fruit down--beak-to-beak so everyone in the line gets some. Pretty remarkable.

[SidW]

We only have one waxwing species in Europe, nesting in northern Sweden, Finland and Siberia, migrating locally autumn, winter and back in spring, i.e. they eat their way southwards bush by bush until it's time to turn round and go back. So you can never tell exactly when they're due, and they'll eat their way past you in ten minutes. You need to be out and about a lot in order to be around when they pass by. You have it in the USA too, and call it the Bohemian Waxwing, darker and slightly larger than the Cedar W that Wayne found. The Bohemian W rarely migrates to Arizona-Texas, the Cedar W will go as far as Panama.

[mickeyobe]

We get an occasional lone pair of cedar waxwings at my house here in Toronto. I have never seen a flock of them. Although their colouring is not brilliant I think it is extraordinarily beautiful and tasteful.

In body shape and size, including the crest, they appear to be identical to the cardinal.

The male cardinal is a brilliant over all red. His mate is a subdued olive with occasional touches of dull red.

Their several calls are quite distinctive often ending in ch, ch, ch which will sometimes elicit a response when I try to imitate it.

I think cardinals are clever birds staying a good distance from the human species as they do. They seem to like perching near the very top of high trees.

This picture was shot at 300mm.


Mickey

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Mickey. I think the Cardinal has a much longer tail. The Cedar Waxwing's tail is short--like a Starling. We don't have Cardinals here. I wish the Waxwings stayed around. They are interesting birds.

Wayne

[mickeyobe]

Wayne,

I am neither an ornithologist nor a bird watcher, merely an untrained observer.
I have never had a chance to make comparisons but I can see from your photo that what you say is, indeed, so.

I used to have the occasional bird fly into the living room window.
Somebody told me to paste anything on the window to enable them to recognize that something is there.
She also said that sometimes they attack their own reflection thinking it is a competitor or territorial intruder.
It seems to have worked.

Should I capitalize the names of birds?

Mickey

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In our case, our house is built around a patio and if the curtains are open on both sides of the family room, a bird can see through to the patio and probably thinks it's a short cut. The window has claimed a number of birds, almostr always when the curtains on both side of the room are open. One day I was standing outside by the widow when a hummingbird smacked it and dropped to the ground. After a few seconds it woke up and flew up and hovered in front of my face as if to say "you really need to do something about that window."