Expert: Julia Booth - 11/8/2008

Question
The other day I had a flock of birds around 20  feeding on
some  tiny crab apples in a tree in the backyard.
I thought at first this was a group of cedar waxwings that
have been visiting around this time, however I got a very
clear look with binoculars and they did not resemble the
wax wings. they did not have a crest, or the black ring on
the eye. They were about the same size, but were grayish brown,with white mixed in the wings with a very distinctive reddish brown breast and a very distinctive white ring around the eye. They only hung around for about 20min, and were  gone, I've  checked all my books and the internet, and cannot find any bird that looks like this.
Any ideas? I live in NW Ohio. Joe Roecklein.

Answer
The closest thing to that description that I can think of is a female/juvenile American Robin. I know you're probably saying 'I think I'd know if I saw a Robin' -But understand that most birds have varying plummages and can sometimes appear washed out and different than you're used to seeing.

If that's not it, let me know and we'll go from there,

Julia