Bird4Nichols.JPG (76505 bytes) Looking at Photos 2 & 3, it was obvious that my first guess was wrong.  In particular, the black spot above the head which I took as a shadow in the background of Photo 1 is actually a tuft of feathers. Secondly, the size of the bird is much smaller than I first thought (from the first photo I didn't know the bird was resting on a hat). Thirdly, since the bird has his bill parted on each of the photos I now recognize that it is a reaction to the shock of the collision, not a natural pose.

Up until about a year ago, the bird in the picture would have been called a Tufted Titmouse. But now Tufted Titmouse has been split into two species: Tufted Titmouse and Black-crested Titmouse.  Where Dan lives they are almost all Black-crested Titmouse. The pictures clearly show the tufted crest and that it is black. The bird usually keeps its mouth closed, so the pictures have a way of making the bill seem longer than usual. Black-crested Titmouse have rusty orange sides that are not evident on the photos except when I take Photo 1 and blow it up using PhotoShop.

Unlike my first guess about the bird's identity, Black-crested Titmouse is a common year-round bird in Kempner, Texas, where this was photographed.

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