I was enjoying breakfast with my mom when we noticed some really small birds in her lilac bush. Then there were more... and more... and then it got ridiculous. A flash mob of tiny birds.
Very social... lots of noise. There, and then gone, as quickly as they appeared. (Actually, they moved briefly to my mom's giant butterfly bush before they went away.)
We watched them as long as they were around and then dove into the field guide.
They were bushtits. Described as "drab" and "nondescript," they're gray-ish. And small... very small.
This doodle looks like it's a "Black-eared" bushtit, and thus not a sample of what I saw in Portland - they live in the southern US.
Doodle based on this photo.
