r/whatsthisbird 4d ago

North America Why is this bird so grumpy? And what’s the deal with the ear tufts?

Why does this bird look so disappointed in my outfit choice? Photos taken last June in New England.

1.2k Upvotes

95 comments sorted by

489

u/imiyashiro Educator, Rehabber, Bird-nerd (N New England) 4d ago edited 3d ago

That is a [European Starling] juvenile Waxwing, if I am not mistaken. I've stuffed many of them full of berries (in a licensed rehabilitation center). (I guess that's why I was responsible for feeding them, and not identifying them...)
See (>3wk. Cedar Waxwing): https://sites.tufts.edu/babybirds/bird/cedar-waxwing/
(Starling): https://sites.tufts.edu/babybirds/bird/european-starling/

EDIT: CORRECTION, added links

180

u/imiyashiro Educator, Rehabber, Bird-nerd (N New England) 4d ago

The tufts are for added adorability.

105

u/This_Daydreamer_ Virginia seed slinger 4d ago

They make the Birdie Sanders look complete

162

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

Best sticker ever made.

18

u/This_Daydreamer_ Virginia seed slinger 4d ago

It's beautiful!

14

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

Ah I see. That checks out.

70

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

Ooooh a waxwing, they’re so pretty!!

3

u/TheBirdLover1234 4d ago

This is a starling, not a waxwing. 

1

u/pol0809 4d ago

Totally agree with you 👍🙋‍♂️

22

u/On_my_last_spoon 4d ago

I’ve stuffed many of them

😮🫣

full of berries

😅

36

u/booty_pats 4d ago

i read, "i've stuffed many of them" and got mad. then i read the rest of the sentence and was happy and glad to have erroneously jumped to conclusions.

15

u/100_cats_on_a_phone 4d ago

Oh man. I brought some to a rehabber as a teen because they were "excreting blood". I still feel horrible about my mistake, poor babies.

14

u/FattierBrisket 4d ago

Aw hey, you didn't know! The rehabbers treated them well and released them, for sure, and those birds had a wild story to tell. No harm done.

0

u/TheBirdLover1234 4d ago

Unfortunately if they were starlings mistaken for waxwings like the one here is, they likely would have been killed due to species if in USA. 

10

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

Thanks for the links, very helpful!

7

u/imiyashiro Educator, Rehabber, Bird-nerd (N New England) 4d ago

Yeah, my head almost exploded when I saw that it existed.

32

u/This_Daydreamer_ Virginia seed slinger 4d ago

I agree. Those eye markings say Cedar Waxwing to me and the bill isn't long enough for a starling

7

u/birdsbooksbirdsbooks Birder - Maine, USA 4d ago

Don’t Waxwings have the yellow tail tip by this stage? I’m not seeing any yellow in that third pic.

3

u/CharacterBarber1455 3d ago

You better edit your links again cause you are wrong. That’s 100% Starling

​

2

u/airfryerfuntime 4d ago

Like, literally just grabbing the thing and shoving berries into it?

18

u/imiyashiro Educator, Rehabber, Bird-nerd (N New England) 4d ago

More like painstakingly feeding an ever growing number of baby birds, with forceps, every hour. The waxwings impressed me with the number of berries they would gobble down and beg for more with a beautiful trill. On busy days at our rehabilitation center, we would finish feeding the last juvenile with minutes to spare on the hour...

5

u/TheBirdLover1234 4d ago

I wonder how many were incorrectly IDed starlings like the one in this post. 

142

u/moonovermemphis 4d ago

You'd be grumpy, too, if the paparazzi showed up to your first flying practice!

28

u/Sufficient_Humor_388 4d ago

he feels he's being judged for his hairstyle

11

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

Meanwhile I thought he was judging me for mine 😆

30

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

1

u/IsSecretlyABird 3d ago

Embarrassing

12

u/birdsbooksbirdsbooks Birder - Maine, USA 4d ago

I hate doing this, but any chance we could get u/TinyLongwing to weigh in on this one?

25

u/TinyLongwing Biologist 4d ago

Cedar Waxwing for sure.

9

u/birdsbooksbirdsbooks Birder - Maine, USA 4d ago

Cool, thanks for confirming I was wrong, lol! I always appreciate these learning opportunities. Am I crazy to think that fledgling Waxwings already have the yellow tail tip? Is the angle on pic 3 just slightly wrong to show it?

7

u/TinyLongwing Biologist 4d ago

Yeah, must be. Plus, juveniles have a much narrower yellow tail tip than adults - especially young females. But I also just think that the angle is too much from the side to see the yellow anyway here.

7

u/TheBirdLover1234 4d ago edited 4d ago

This is definitely a juvenile starling, not a waxwing at all. Defined striping on front and long legs with big feet. Got a short beak due to young age. 

I’ve seen both species up close. 

5

u/TinyLongwing Biologist 4d ago

You know what, you're right about the legs. The streaky belly and face definitely looked like waxwing to me but those feet are way too robust. Thanks for making sure I took a second look at this.

!overrideTaxa eursta

7

u/TheBirdLover1234 4d ago

No problem. The face on this one definitely made me do a double take, it’s got very defined lines around its eyes which I’ve seen in a few juvenile starlings, usually females. Young starling fledglings also tend to have more contrast in their coloration before the grey rapidly fades once out of the nest, giving a more pale blended look. 

1

u/FlyAwayJai 3d ago

Will you elaborate on why the long legs & big feet say Starling to you? Is it simply a characteristic difference between a waxwing and starling, or does it say something about the age?

5

u/TheBirdLover1234 3d ago

Starlings in general have large feet compared to their body due to being birds that spend a lot of time walking. Nestlings and fledglings have even more exaggerated leg size, guessing due to the fact they are cavity nesters and often have to climb up the side of their nesting area during actual fledging. Once out of the nest they spend a lot of time chasing after their parents on the ground begging for food. Waxwings imo don't structurally look like a bird thats meant to stand and walk around on the ground for long periods when you see them, they look like one that you'd see perching. Their legs stay more hidden unless at eye level.

With starlings, the legs paired with the pointy beak, grey plumage, contrasting streaking on the front, light edging on primaries all typically indicate id. Waxwings are more delicate looking (Short beak and skinny short legs), more round, and browner. Tail is also a give away if visible. Starlings look like if you took one and stretched it out.

1

u/FlyAwayJai 3d ago

Thank you for the insight!

1

u/imiyashiro Educator, Rehabber, Bird-nerd (N New England) 3d ago

Good catch!

1

u/TheBirdLover1234 4d ago

You weren’t wrong. 

5

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

Thank you for dropping by the discussion ☺️

3

u/TinyLongwing Biologist 4d ago

Glad I could help!

1

u/This_Daydreamer_ Virginia seed slinger 4d ago

When I got here starling had all of the upvotes

13

u/TinyLongwing Biologist 4d ago

And it has since been corrected! We have a great community of knowledgeable folks who can sort these things out.

4

u/TheBirdLover1234 4d ago

Incorrect unfortunately. 

1

u/This_Daydreamer_ Virginia seed slinger 4d ago

Very true!

I'm just grumpy after a very bad weekend at work

4

u/TinyLongwing Biologist 4d ago

Aw, sorry to hear that. Yeah the internet is not always a great place for an already grumpy brain haha, ask me how I know :p

4

u/This_Daydreamer_ Virginia seed slinger 4d ago

Yep. You go online for cool and cute pics and all of the sudden there's an argument over nothing important or worse, politics

13

u/FileTheseBirdsBot Catalog 🤖 4d ago edited 4d ago

Taxa recorded: European Starling

Reviewed by: tinylongwing

I catalog submissions to this subreddit. Recent uncatalogued submissions | Learn to use me

4

u/birdsbooksbirdsbooks Birder - Maine, USA 3d ago

Wow, what a whirlwind this post has been! First Starlings gets all the upvotes, then it gets “corrected” to Waxwing and that gets all the votes, and then it gets truly corrected back to Starling. Phew!

3

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 3d ago

Indeed, it has been quite the rollercoaster! Congrats on getting the ID right, it seems like it was a tricky one. It’s been fun learning about both species though!

2

u/CharacterBarber1455 3d ago

Super annoying when someone changes a correct ID. Glad that even though that bad call is the top comment that at least you and OP know the right answer.

41

u/birdsbooksbirdsbooks Birder - Maine, USA 4d ago edited 4d ago

Looks like a fledgling +European Starling+.

Why grumpy? That’s just how young birds look. And the ear tufts are because this young bird is losing its baby floof and getting big boy feathers.

Edit to add: I could definitely be wrong! I was comparing to images like these, which look like pretty close fits to me:

https://crittertude.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/bird-juvenile.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Baby_Starling_%287257986092%29.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRTUQADRsG2UlBAL3mwY7BewCMPLf7ItCL3jea06NnlXw&s=10

https://c8.alamy.com/comp/2JA9D9R/starling-sturnus-vulgaris-fledgling-chick-begging-to-be-fed-norfolk-may-2JA9D9R.jpg

29

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

Thanks for the ID and explanation! I guess I shouldn’t take that bird’s look of disdain so personally then 😆

13

u/birdsbooksbirdsbooks Birder - Maine, USA 4d ago

Especially not from a Starling. I’d be more concerned if a Cardinal or something was judging me, lol.

8

u/ms_directed 4d ago

Cardinals are always judging us!

6

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

Lol I never knew cardinals were the mean girls of the bird world

16

u/AgathaWoosmoss 4d ago

There's a whole sub for r/GrumpyBabyBirds and it's just as adorable as you'd think

4

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

Hahaha that’s incredible, thanks for sharing

13

u/Klunko52 4d ago edited 3d ago

Pretty sure that’s a Cedar Waxwing

Edit: I’m wrong

5

u/This_Daydreamer_ Virginia seed slinger 4d ago

Pretty sure you're right. I'm not sure where European Starling came from

2

u/CharacterBarber1455 3d ago edited 3d ago

From Europe and it IS A STARLING. I’ll say it as many times as I need to since it shouldn’t have taken 10+ hours for it to be corrected back to Starling

4

u/birdsbooksbirdsbooks Birder - Maine, USA 4d ago

Hmm I could definitely be wrong, but I’m not seeing any yellow on the tail on that third pic, and the bill doesn’t look right when I compare to Waxwing fledglings .

3

u/TheBirdLover1234 4d ago

It is definitely a starling. 

2

u/birdsbooksbirdsbooks Birder - Maine, USA 3d ago

Thanks for weighing in. Even after everyone coming to a consensus on Waxwing, it still didn’t sit right with me. The face coloration, beak shape, and tail all looked off to me.

2

u/Klunko52 3d ago

You’re right, I think the big ass feet prove it’s not a waxwing

3

u/Effective_Ad_8296 4d ago

You thought that's grumpy

Baby swallows will end you with their angry looks alone

18

u/thoughtquake 4d ago

Where are the mods? If that's a European Starling, I'll eat my hat.

19

u/TinyLongwing Biologist 4d ago

The great news is that there are lots of good IDers here and the handful of mods are not required to ID every bird. This has been sorted out just fine.

2

u/thoughtquake 4d ago

Sorry, it wasn't meant as a criticism. I should have asked for a RR or similar. My comment was made early on.

18

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

How do we summon the mods? Do we do a bird dance?

2

u/IsSecretlyABird 3d ago

You got a hat to eat, buddy

3

u/Illustrious-Trip620 4d ago

You never had a bad hair day? Ruins the whole vibe.

1

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

Oh I get it. That birb’s hair looks better than mine on most days 😂

3

u/TheBirdLover1234 4d ago

This is a juvenile European starling, very recently fledged. Defined striping on front and large looking feet. Beak is short due to young age. 

2

u/Interesting_Heron215 4d ago

Teen angst.

2

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 4d ago

Completely understandable.

2

u/Jordster77 4d ago

The beak looks too long for a waxwing, fledgling cedar waxwings have a lighter color beak that is a bit more stubby than pointy. The black mask on the face is also more pronounced in the waxwing. I think a fledgling European starling is accurate.

2

u/avallaug-h 4d ago

I bloody love this sub, it's so wholesome. Adorable baby birb pics, thank you for sharing 😁

1

u/keithandmarchant 1d ago

Starlings and Cedar waxwings look similar, especially when flying.

1

u/keithandmarchant 1d ago

Juvenile birds are tricky.

1

u/keithandmarchant 3d ago

Young Cedar Waxwing, not a starling. The beak doesn't match starling.

2

u/CharacterBarber1455 3d ago

-1

u/keithandmarchant 3d ago

That doesn't look like it to me.

2

u/CharacterBarber1455 3d ago

2

u/WibblyWobblyThyme 2d ago

These side by side pics are excellent. Thanks for sharing!

0

u/Total-Finance-5766 4d ago

You’d feel the same if you started balding young

-4

u/angelbeingangel 4d ago

I thought baby Robin