There is very little difference in some of these birds and unless you have them all together side by side you will never know for sure. I just think it is fun to see which ones we have in each location.
Linda, the only difference is of course the size, and without one of each to compare, who can prove that? But you can see each has a white breast and on either side of the breast is the other difference. The Black Capped has the orangeish feathers on either side which is the flank (at least I thiink that is what they call it). the little Carolina has grey in that area. You could be in the area where there are both. And, remember, they said there are some hybrids on the bordering ranges. So, you may be one of the lucky people who have both.
I was a breeder of tropical birds for years. I bred and sold small and medium parrots for about 10 years until I decided to retire and sell my bird farm. I know nothing about identifying backyard birds except for what the books say. So, you can not consider me an authority. Wish I was.
Ann, I have the Audubon Society Master Guide to Birding as well as my Stokes I mentioned before, plus the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds.
They too sometimes send conflicting messages.
Or I may be reading it that way.
I came on here to see if anyone was having any changes in the bird population since the hurricane Irene. I found my birds went missing during the storm and some have still not returned, including my finches, chickadees (carolina) , the cardinals and all the birds I usually enjoy all summer and especially in the winter months when it usually is much colder.
I am concerned. Thought maybe we had more hawks than usual, because I saw signs of doves being killed by hawks. The crows are around and usually crows and hawks are not both around at the same time. I have this mystery going on in my backyard and that is really what I was wanting to discuss with someone who may have any ideas of what happened. I have not found a bird group. I wonder is they are still over on cubits. I did not look there.
I could always go to DG but I wanted to try here first.
I would appreciate any ideas or leads to where I could find my answers. Thanks again for being so nice.
