Wild bird identification challenge (in Tennessee)

[BirdBrain]

This morning I saw two birds I could not identify sitting together on a powerline alongside the road as I bicycled past down a country road. When I got home I looked them up on he Interwebs, but the details I remember don't fit any of the common Tennessee birds. In fact, the most likely possibility would be so uncommon in Tennessee, I'm not even going to prejudice your analysis by mentioning it (at least until later). And if you come to the same conclusion, we can't attribute it to confirmation bias.

They appeared to be solid white. Not gray, white. I noted no markings of any other color but can't completely rule them out. And a rather soft white, not a brilliant sheen.

They had square shoulders and a long, slim, tapering body. Reminded me of a stretched-out dove, which I suppose also is like the shape of a swallow. But the tail seemed unusually long compared to the body and wings, and it definitely was either notched or forked. They were folded so I could not tell which, but it definitely was one or the other. I think it probably was forked, but I couldn't say for sure.

I failed to take note of the shape of the head or beak. That could have been because I was so surprised by the forked tail, or it could be the head and beak were unremarkable. Which means more or less dove-shaped, because that's what I would have expected to see on a dove-shaped bird.

My guess at length is eight to ten inches.


Does this sound like anything you birders recognize?

[DornCounty]

tough to say on the description.. but sounds like a flycatcher based upon being perched on a wire and your shape descriptions. I suppose it could be a scissor tail flycatcher or one of the two kingbirds.

But based upon your description in total I don't think an ID is possible.

[Matt F.]

Oooo - I love these!
I'll throw out the second guess - adult, White-tailed Kites.
The adults are almost all white, and when perched, it's easy to not even notice the darker colors on the wings.
http://www.houstonaudubon.org/default.a ... irding.htm
Even though Tennessee is not considered within their "normal" range, they are reported to have been expanding into more and more areas, and there are reports of them in Tennessee:
http://www.tnbirds.org/TBRC/TBRC_ReviewList.html

[Debby Pearsall]

How about something really strange, like an escaped white cockatiel. I understand some southern states have fairly large populations of feral pet birds.

[BirdBrain]

I'm afraid none of your guesses look enough like what I saw to put me off my original guess, the white tern:



The white-tailed kite was close but it has more of a raptor's head, and I can't get past the impression that what I saw looked exactly a long, skinny pure white dove. This image exactly matches what I remember, but I gather this is a coastal bird, and there ain't no coastline around here.

[Matt F.]

Here's another guess.
Eurasian Collared-Doves usually have a very light chalky beige color.
However, there are more and more sightings of lighter-than-average specimens, that are almost all white.
See the first photo on the following Cornell Project FeederWatch page:
http://projectfeederwatch.wordpress.com ... g-america/