This morning I saw a bird in a pine park near my house and I couldn’t identify the species. It was alone in a pine tree and it resembled an Oregon Junco (dark head, grayish back, off white undersides, and a pale bill.) However it was too small to be a junco; it was closer in size to a kinglet or bushtit (about 4 to 4.5 inches.) Neither kinglets nor bushtits have dark heads and I’m fairly certain it was not a chickadee or a nuthatch because they have white on their faces and also because it didn’t act like one of those. It hopped about in the tree making a high pitched chirp, then flew off to another tree where I lost sight of it. I think it’s been in the area for several days but this is the first time I’ve gotten a decent look at it.
As I can’t find it in the birds of North America field guide I’ve considered the possibility that it might be an escaped exotic. Any help would be appreciated.