To birders - could be upsetting to some

[ChickMagic]

I found 2 birds that killed themselves smashing into
the overhead walkway, and I have no idea what they are.
If you can help me identify them, I would greatly
appreciate it.










If anyone knows what they are, or can provide resources so I
can figure it out, thank you in advance. I made the images
pretty large for detail.

[TZ]

1. First one is a mockingbird

Not sure but the second one could be a female house sparrow.
Poor birdies.

[ChickMagic]

5. I don't think the first one is a mockingbird

They are grey - we have them all over the place. This is Dallas, but I think these are migratory birds.
Those are the ones that tend to slam into the windows. The cedar waxwing massacre just finished. The second one is a russet color and has a crest.

[TZ]

7. huh..that white bar on the wing of the first one looks a lot like a mockingbird

The second one has a crest? I don't know what that is.

[ChickMagic]

11. I know

It hurts my heart to see them. No matter how much I beg, the school will
not let me put up anything to scare them away.

[MajorChode]

21. Mockingbirds are the state bird of Texas

They are quite common in the DFW metroplex. I'm almost 100% sure the 1st one is a Mockingbird. The white stripe on the wing, the shape of the head, the size, and the shape of the beak all are consistent with a Mockingbird.

[sixmile]

2. Either Sparrows or Mockingbirds

What part of the country?

[ChickMagic]

6. I'm in Dallas

and I'm pretty sure that both of these are migratory. Our mockingbirds are grey and this one is brown. The little bitty is russet colored with dark tips on the wings and a small crest.

[Bertha Venation]

3. agree with TZ and sixmile

Mockingbird (although it seems a little small . . . XemaSab?) and some kind of sparrow. I don't think it's a female house sparrow, though.

RIP birdies. Saturday a cowbird slammed into our sliding glass door. I'm certain he was dead before he hit the deck. His neck was broken. Pobrecita.

[RebelOne]

4. They are sort of small to be mockingbirds.

Because I lived in South Florida most of my life, I have seen many of them and they are bigger.

[ChickMagic]

9. Ooh. I hate that.

We have a cedar waxwing massacre every year hear in late march/early april. Just passing through. If I hear them going blam, blam, blam I can gather them up and most of them are just stunned. If not, they are in the street and get run over before they can wake up. Ugh.

It is too small to be a mockingbird and the wrong color. The russet colored one has a crest.

[XemaSab]

8. The first one is definitely a mockingbird

The second one is some kind of really cool sparrow.

I have a couple questions about the second bird:

Is there any white in the corners of the tail?

Does the streaking on the chest extend down the sides to below the wings?

Based on these pictures, I'm guessing that it's a Lincoln's Sparrow, but that's depending on your answers to the above questions.

Is there a museum or university nearby? They might want it.

[ChickMagic]

10. Seems small and dark for a Mockingbird, but I defer to you

Is there any white in the corners of the tail? Yes, a bit

Does the streaking on the chest extend down the sides to below the wings? Yes, it does

Based on these pictures, I'm guessing that it's a Lincoln's Sparrow, but that's depending on your answers to the above questions.

It also has a small crest.

We get lots of migratory birds through here - I recently picked up a dead yellow rumped warbler. Are Lindon's Sparrows rare? Should I stuff it? I used to do that in school in my zoology classes.

[XemaSab]

12. You could stuff it

Or if you took it to a museum they could stuff it and keep it in the collection. If you're going to do that, it needs to go in a plastic bag in the freezer.

Lincoln's Sparrows may be less rare there, but they're somewhat rare here.

[ChickMagic]

13. I have it in the freezer now

I've never seen one of these critters before -I was afraid it was rare. I suppose the Natural History Museum would the the optimal choice?

[XemaSab]

14. The Natural History Museum would be the optimal choice, yes

Before you take it over there, you should write up a slip of paper with your name, the date it was found, how it died, and the location it was found.

:patriot:

[ChickMagic]

16. Good idea

I was going to take them to the Rogers Bird Sanctuary - they get migratory mishaps all the time. The Natural History Museum would be better, I think. Especially if you think the little one may be rare.

[Arugula Latte]

15. Norwegian Blue ... pining for the fjords ...

Sorry for the sarcasm -- my inner jerk came out ... Cute little birdies ... I hate it when they die like that. :(

[ChickMagic]

17. I know - it's just so unseemly

I even pick up worms from the sidewalk and put them back in the
dirt. If they get eaten by a bird, so be it. But dying on a
slab of concrete? Not on my watch.

Look! He moved!

[applegrove]

18. Poor birds.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. 2nd one looks like Lincolns Sparrow...

I'm not sure about the other...maybe a flycatcher? It's too small to be a mockingbird.

[Muttocracy]

26. interesting - I was thinking Song Sparrow but not quite right

hadn't heard of Lincoln's, but I think you're right.

[MajorChode]

20. The second one is definitely a female House Sparrow

AKA English Sparrow.

Which is not really a sparrow at all, but is actually a finch. They are quite common all over the DFW metroplex. It's actually good news it died because they are a non-native nuisance species (some idiot imported them from England around 1850). They take over the habitat of Bluebirds and will often evict Bluebird pairs from their nesting sites eggs and all. I routinely terminate them when I find them in my Bluebird house because that's the only way to eradicate them and make the nesting box safe for Bluebirds.

[Kali]

22. nah - it looks more like the pic Goddess of Guinness posted than yours

I don't know my sparrows very well but the pictures are pretty clear, to me anyway.

[MajorChode]

23. There are a number of birds that have similar markings

Female House Sparrows (especially young ones) are sometimes hard to identify because they have varied markings. It could be a Lincoln Sparrow as those are in the process of migrating north and it may have gotten confused, but House Sparrows are much more common around here.

[Kali]

24. the beak and the mention of crest as well as the markings

but yeah young and females of lots of species are pretty confusing - that I do know!

[csziggy]

25. I'd suspect the first bird is a vireo or flycatcher

I'm not sure about the vireo since most vireos with wing bars have eye rings. Maybe a Bell's Vireo, 4-5" long.


The Willow Flycatcher might match. It is 5-7" long. Flycatchers do have a little crest and that bird seems to have one. Plus flycatchers have longer tails than vireos and your little bird seems to have a pretty long tail.



Mockingbirds are 9-11 inches long and the pictures you have do not seem to be anywhere near that large.



The second bird does look like a Lincoln Sparrow. For comparison, they are 5-6" long.



http://www.whatbird.com/ and http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/ are good places to go for bird IDs.

[Muttocracy]

27. big bird database to check:

http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/list_taxonomically

I had a bird die from hitting the glass sliding door of my apartment before I could get the curtains up - so sad. :(