Posted by Lynne Cohen on December 05, 2003 at 11:37:51:
This morning I woke up to a racket of birds. I could identify the cardinals and orioles, but there was something else outside. I went to look and in the avocado tree was a flock of something.
They were slightly larger than blue jay sized. They were black with white shoulder patches and a prominent white eye line. They had bright orange beaks, which were shaped like a jay's beak: not stubby like a cardinal, not thick like an ani and nowhere near as long as a kingfisher's. I think they may have had orange or yellow legs.
I searched my Audubon guide and nothing even looked remotely like them. I'm stumped. They were not starlings, cowbirds, red-winged blackbirds, anis, or crows.
I live near Baptist hospital and had just overflowed the koi pond, so the yard was wet. The pond is under screen, so I don't think they were after the koi.