There are little basketball birds in my yard!

[Rose Siding]

Almost completely round, basketball orange with black wings and heads. At first I thought, What obese robins! But it's too early for them.

Who knows birds? Could they be orioles? I'm in Wa State.

[commander bunnypants]

1. dont know

but they sound kinda of cute


DDQm

[Whitacre D_WI]

2. They sound like orioles...

...but I'm not really up on birds of the West.


If you were out East, I'd say they were orioles ;)

[pmbryant]

3. Sure they're not robins?

I just looked at some distribution maps (here, look at the CBC map, which presumably is based on Christmas Bird Count results) and it looks far more likely to be robins in WA state now than orioles.

But perhaps it is neither.

:shrug:

How big are these birds?

--Peter

[Rose Siding]

10. 4-5 inches across

about, so big like robins. But they are truly orange, although, I wouldn't rule out pregnancy.

[ZenLefty]

4. Whatever you do, don't dribble them

And absolutely do not try to slam dunk them. :o

[Rose Siding]

11. I want to put little jerseys on them

It's COLD today

[slappypan]

5. Evening Grosbeaks?

They come to the U.S. in winter sometimes.

mug shots here

[omshanti]

6. Do they look like this photo?

Also, could they be round because they are puffed up against the cold?

[Rose Siding]

12. No orange shows above/behind the wings on my bb birds

I don't think they could puff this much

[Faygo Kid]

7. What, Larry is there?

The only basketball Bird I know of.

[catzies]

9. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....you beat me to it.

Here's a photo for identification if you see him in your yard...

[jimbo fett]

8. What do they taste like?

[Rose Siding]

13. GASP

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. Maybe one of these?

Towhees are common at this time of year in the Mid-Atlantic region. They're only slightly smaller than robins, and easily distinguished by their behavior, as they like to forage among dry leaves.

Also, it might not be "too early" for robins. I've often been surprised by their appearance here in January during mild winters. In fact, I read this past year in the Washington Post, that robins were spotted in Northern Canada, where the indigenous people had no name for them.