Expert: Julia Booth - 6/28/2008

Question
QUESTION: There is a bird near my workplace that I have never seen before. It is dark brown with a large white circular patch ( about 2" in diameter) on the bottom of each wing and a white patch near the tail.It perches on the top of telephone poles and sings an incredibly varied song composed of shrill notes and cackles then switches to a very melodious and soft song.All the while it is singing,it performs a hopping,wing-flapping dance, then flies to the next telephone pole where it does the whole song and dance again. Can you tell me what it is?

ANSWER: Okay this isn't setting off any immediate bells. I can think of things that meet one of your criteria, but not the others. So, I'm going to try to get some more info from you to help me narrow it down.

1. Where do you live? The county should be enough, but if you're willing to give me the city, that would be helpful.

2. How large was the bird? Sparrow sized, Robin sized, Crow sized?

3. What kind of beak did it have? Was it curved at all? Was it long or short, sharp or dull?

4. What kind of tail did it have? Was it long or short? Was it wide and fanned out or narrow and pointy? Did the tail aim downwards or stick up from the bird's body?

The more questions you can answer, the more likely I can give you an accurate ID.

Julia

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: 1.Toronto,ON, Canada
2.About Robin sized, but with larger, more rounded wings.It has a slow gliding flight.
3.It's beak is straight, about one inch long. I can't tell if it's sharp or dull, it doesn't come close enough.
4.The tail is straight and square on the end and about three to four inches long.It sticks downward from the body. In flight it opens to a fan shape.
I'll bring binoculars to work next week.

Answer
Okay, I'm at a loss here. I've gone over all of those things and they don't match up to any one bird. So I'm thinking that something is probably getting lost between your description and my perception. Only you know what you saw.

Try this search engine. It will let you imput all of the criteria -includes descriptive images to guide you- and then it will give you a comprehensive list of the species that fit them. Location can be included in the search.

http://identify.whatbird.com/mwg/_/0/attrs.aspx