Need help identifying white-spotted mousy brown, very young bird..
by Christina
(Box Canyon, CA, USA)
For the past three nights in a row, there has been a baby or very young bird sleeping up in the top of my front doorway outside. It's only there in the dark, gone by sunrise. The head is always tucked, so I can't describe that, but the body is a fluffy 2 1/2" ball of small mousy brown feathers with white spots. The tiny wing and tail feathers are mousy brown, the tail has tiny black horizontal stripes. I don't want to snap a picture because I'm afraid the flash and noise might disturb it. I only saw it because of my motion detecting light outside my door. I tried doing a search for pictures online, and at first thought it might be a wren, but none of the wrens have white spots. I then thought it might be a baby hawk, because of the tail feathers. Whatever it is, I'm honored it feels safe here, and I hope it stays. I would just love to know exactly what it is. Thanks in advance for any help!