We have a couple of birdfeeders close to the house and yesterday I noticed a bird I’ve never noticed before. I haven’t managed to get a picture, so a description:
Dark grey, kind of a velvety look. Possibly slightly bluish/purplish. The light has been somewhat bad and my eyes are worse. Black cap. I haven’t seen any white/light coloring.
Bigger than the majority of the birds at the feeder. Body a little shorter than a red bellied woodpecker’s body (they were close to the suet feeder at the same time) but slimmer and with a longer tail. I can’t tell the shape of the tail. Not sure about the beak, but I think it’s black.
I’ve only seen it at the suet feeder rather than the seed feeder.
We’re in the DC suburbs in Maryland. Our deck backs up on an extensive wooded park.
I’ve looked through lots of bird sites and haven’t found one that matches. I thought it might be a female purple martin but I haven’t seen the lighter underside at all, and it’s a deep, even grey on the body with a black cap.
It came back right as I hit send. It has a black beak and black edging along the wings and tail.
It was just sharing the suet feeder with the red bellied woodpecker and the mystery bird is a little smaller than I thought. Still, one of the larger birds we get at the feeder (except for the day a pileated woodpecker decided to come hang on the side of the suet feeder and eat half a block of suet!)
Thank you for making me feel good about my photo ability!
Search for the mewling song - pretty distinctive. Catbirds are pretty darned common, but until you know what they look/sound like, it is easy to not notice them.
