I'm sure one of the smart bird people (Jean! :D) will be able to ID that for you soon, Catherine. Sure is a pretty little thing!

Brenda

Looks a lot like a female Dendroica pensylvanica which is a Warbler not a Kinglet. Wonderful bird, lucky you.

Thanks Laura!
How cool to find that bird around here. I'll keep my eyes out for the male. Migration time is so much fun!
Thanks for your help Laura.

I can't help with the ID, but even 1/2 the photo is VERY good. The female RC kinglet in my book has a black beak (for what that's worth).

Thanks Sarah,
I saw another bird yesterday and even though it was a blurry pic of it, when I uploaded it and zoomed it, I could see it was the male chestnut-sided warbler! I'm really excited!

Fantastic shot of a chestnut-sided warbler! Their color variation between breeding and non-breeding is just amazing. I only get to see them in the fall but they are one of the few warblers that tend to stick around for several weeks.

Catherine, what quality setting are you selecting when you save the picture? You could probably cut the size of the file in half by selecting a low or medium setting. Is the picture already cropped?

Hi jeanner,
I unfortunately still haven't learned much about my camera. Too much going on. Anyhow......when you ask about saving the picture, do you mean on Zoombrowser, or do you mean on Photobucket? No, the pic wasn't cropped.
I have dial-up and everything takes so long. I wanted the pic to be big enough for you to be able to see enough to ID.
My smaller camera uploads so much more quickly......but doesn't have the zoom or pixils that this one does.

I don't have a picture (what else is new? LOL), but I need help!

Tiny bird (smaller than a house sparrow, I think), WAY up in a tree, tail pointed up when turning on his perch, FAST movement (going from one perch to another faster than I've seen any bird move), and a constant chattering (only way I know to describe it). The chattering is what actually caught my attention. It was different than the house sparrows' chatter I've heard. Much more irritating. LOL

I don't have any colors to provide as a clue, so I may have to wait until he graces me with his presence up close and personal. :)

Brenda

Some type of wren? I have carolina and house wrens here. Their tails are pointed up and they chatter to beat the band! (especially when they're ticked off).

Tail straight up speaks of wren. Little balls of energy. I find that the house wren keeps it tail up the most. The carolina not so much. Could be a winter wren maybe?

Wrens a good guess - I always think of them as brush birds but they do come out when agitated although I don't think I've ever seen them at the top of the trees. Many birders will mimic the distress call of a wren as it will often bring other birds out of the brush to check out what the fuss about.

I know you didn't note the color but was it brown like a sparrow? My other thought was blue-gray gnatcatcher, they have a funny chirping call too and act the way you described - forage at the tops of the trees, fast moving and pumps tail. They flash white on the tail, supposedly to attract bugs (isn't nature fascinating????)

I hope you get another glimpse, you've got my interest peaked now!

Thanks SO much, ladies! I've narrowed it down to a house wren or a winter wren, since those are the only 2 which would likely be in this area.

There's been a LOT of squawking from the jays lately, and it just feels tense, like a soap opera out there. LOL The chunkmeister starlings were perched on a big ol' dead cottonwood tree limb up there while the wren was chattering, like they were making him nervous. The starlings remind me of plump ripened fruit, ready for harvest. LOL

The wren seemed to be feeding...not sure what makes me think that, other than he was chattering while moving away from the starlings, then he would stop, turn, tail flip, turn, tail flip, off again at the speed of light. I'm just rambling nonsense now, but I REALLY hope I get to see this thing up close!!! Oh, and he was backlit, so color was really impossible to see, but the winter and the house wrens have very similar coloring, it appears. *sigh*

Brenda