Hi Brenda , the mystery bird could be about 8-9 inches but in a slim way not a chunky way. It really gave my bluebirds a working over too! LOL...It seems to have taken a liking to a particular part of my chainlink fence that happens to be close to the nestbox so this upsets the bluebirds. It wouldn't give in to the blues either it kept its ground. Which usually the blues run other birds away from their box but this pretty bird wont go. The way it twitters i thought maybe a swallow but it just doesnt look right and it does look like a king bird shape. You may be right about it being a kingbird because i looked at some pics of kingbirds to see if it could be and i really think you are right. But it says the kingbird we should have has a white belly and this one has a yellow belly. It also puffs its head feathers up when it gets upset so it looks like it has a fuzzy hat on. Its really cute and holds itself very straight and perches on the fence to see insects in the grass. Do you think it could be a western kingbird that got lost? I saw it flying with the group of sparrows that are here migrating so maybe it flew here with them. I didn't see it here all summer, just this past week when all the little different sparrows started showing up. What if it got with the wrong group of migrants? I think they go to south America dont they? Maybe mine can go to Florida and keep warm. I haven't seen it today but there has been a big gray hawk hanging around all day so i haven't seen many birds at all today. I dont blame them, its a big gray hawk that i thought was an owl at first but then i seen it was a hawk. So i guess that was my bird sighting today! LOL.... Thanks Brenda Bonnie

black phoebe is mostly found in the south west usa but has expanded north and east so has been seen in most states west of the rockies. if you google eastern Phoebe you will see the eastern version which is similar but not quite as black. the phoebes are mostly insect eaters and are most often found around water, either streams or ponds or lake shores. there have been a few instances of phoebes at feeders and they will eat small seeds if insects are not available.

Yes, indeed, poor thing. We had taken out the screens in that window but put them back up so that if a bird hits the bottom part, they have a bit of a 'cushion.' Trouble is the screens are only at the bottom, there's plain glass up above. I do think, however, that most of hits we've had have been on the bottom. Swainson's thrush...hmm, my bird book shows it to be brown. Size is probably right. We're tried various decals for the windows esp. that window since it's not too far from a feeder and right now there are several dogwood trees heavy with berries. But nothing seems to work. Ideas? One thing...I saw the bird hit and it did not hit straight on but came in from the side almost as if it was seeing its shadow and attacking. Thanks for your help. I think I saw another bird of the same type and have my outdoor camera set up to try to catch a picture of it. Linda...

Hi Rachel, Sorry - I live in eastern Massachusetts, 7 miles north of Boston and I live in a suburb with a little wooded area bordering my backyard, and a wildlife reservation and ponds about 1/2 a mile away (I am very fortunate!). It has been very cold here the last few days and we got our first dusting of snow yesterday. I have seen different kinds of birds here within a mile of the house - woodpeckers, hawks, swans, geese, the common feeder birds, we even have a heron who flies back and forth over our neighborhood every day - so we do get a variety of birds. We definitely do have house sparrows, but these little guys I saw yesterday were not those. They were just about a solid brown from where I could see. No striping or definitive marks. They just hopped around eating stray sunflower seeds. I've gone through photos of species, both genders and juvenile appearances, on the internet and in my books, and I am not sure what this bird was. The only even remote possibilities I could come up with were: field sparrow; junco; and female indigo bunting. If you have thoughts on this I would be most appreciative. Thanks, Donna P.S. Your last set of photos was, as always, astounding. Congrats on your new lifer!