Whatbird.com

I wasn't able to get a picture of these birds, nor even see colors, etc. because they were brightly backlit. The birds were perched in a nearby tree and the noise got my attention. Sounded like the rapid chirping of pine siskins & goldfinches fighting over the niger  sock, only different (yes, I know, great discription!). There were about a dozen of the birds and they took off in flight just as I got a glimpse of them. About the size of a large sparrow. The impression I got was of a titmouse, but NE Colorado is quite a distance out of their range. Listening online to the sound of their voice it could be possible if multiplied several times. Any other bird they could possibly be that I should look at?

Thanks for any and all suggestions - Vicki

---

Vicki Conklin

If they were in a small group, noisy, crested, and especially of they were eating some kind of berries or fruit, chances are they were Cedar Waxwings.

Thanks for the reply snowyowl. They were in a black walnut tree that is just starting to leaf out. I had considered the Cedar Waxwing, but the high-pitched (very painful to my ears) whistle definitely wasn't part of the noise. Do the voices vary? Do they have a song or call without the whistle?

---

Vicki Conklin

Not really.  Their sound is pretty high-pitched. But not many birds move in small flocks like waxwings do, and there aren't very many crested birds to begin with.

Somehow I thought that would be your answer!    They probably were waxwings, as you said there aren't very many crested birds. Maybe they'll return and pose for a picture. Thanks again.

---

Vicki Conklin

While editing some pictures taken not long before spotting the small tufted birds I found a small tufted bird! It was a blurry blurb but with some enhancing it looks to me like a Cedar Waxwing. Right again, snowyowl!   

---

Vicki Conklin

Sounds like Cedar Waxwings to me, too.

---

We did not inherit Mother Earth from our ancestors...... we have borrowed Her from our descendants.
Chief Seattle (paraphrased)