Colorado Field Ornithologists Photo Quiz

Current CFO Photo Quiz #434 (2012-1-04)

2012-01-23T01:00:00.001-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.
Answers are due by midnight MST on 29 January 2012.

Quiz #433 (2012-1-03) Solution

2012-01-16T01:00:00.005-07:00

[Click on picture(s) for a larger view.]

Solution by Tony Leukering

The quiz bird this week is an obvious shrike, but the ID is not particularly obvious. Despite many believing that shrike ID is simple, the extensive variation in appearance among the various subspecies of Loggerhead Shrike and individual variation in both species makes for the odd bird that is not immediately identifiable. As our bird lacks any brown tones to the plumage, we are looking at a non-juvenile shrike, that is, not in juvenal plumage. Because Loggerhead Shrike is such an early breeder, young-of-the-year birds can look quite adult-like as early as August. Without knowing when the quiz picture was taken, we cannot be certain of the age of the bird, because the wing features critical for ageing are not visible, being covered by the scapulars.

While rump and uppertail coverts color (white in Northern vs. gray in some Loggerheads) can be of use in separating the two breeding ABA-area shrike species, most of the critical field characters are on the head.

1) Forehead color: Both species have at least a narrow row of black feathers at the top edge of the bill. In Northern, this can be difficult or impossible to discern in the field; in Loggerhead, the character is variable, but many have extensive black foreheads; such birds are identifiable on that feature, alone. The more important aspect of forehead coloration in the two is that Northern tends toward extensive white separating the black edge (and bill) from the gray crown; in Loggerhead, there is little or no white between black and gray.

2) Distinctness of superciliary: While this feature is variable in both species, nearly all Northerns have much more obvious superciliaries that tend to run uninterrupted from the forehead to the back edge of the auriculars. In Loggerhead, the superciliaries tend to be very thin (though usually well defined) and restricted to in front of the eyes.

3) Width of mask: The mask of Northern Shrike is about the height of the visible portion of the eye, extending below the eye about the same distance at which the eye extends above the mask (see 4, below). Loggerhead masks are distinctly wider than the eye, creeping just over the eye, but still extending well below the eye.

4) Relationship of eye to top edge of mask: The mask of Northern Shrike usually does not include the top of the eye, while that of Loggerhead does. This produces the general impression of the mask of Northern with a bubble of black at the eye, unlike in Loggerhead, in which the top edge of the mask tends to continue straight back.

5) Color of base of mandible: Northern Shrike usually has a more-or-less distinct patch of pale (usually yellowish) at the base of the mandible, while, usually, the entire bill of Loggerhead is black.

6) Length of bill: The bill of Northern is sometimes obviously large and some Loggerheads have seemingly obviously small bills, but the feature is variable and assessing this difference really requires extensive study of both species. That is because the absolute difference in size is quite minimal: 13.0-14.3 mm in Northern; 10.5-12.6 mm in Loggerhead, an "average" difference of only about 2.0 mm (less than 1/12th of an inch)! However, Northern tends to have a relatively smaller head, which accentuates the large bill size, while in Loggerhead, the reverse is true. Generally.

Now, let me tell you about excubitorides, the subspecies of Loggerhead Shrike breeding in the Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, and western Great Plains. The definition of excubitorides is "like excubitor." The scientific name of Northern Shrike is Lanius excubitor. As indicated by the subspecies epithet in both the scientific and common names (the subspecies has been called 'White-rumped Shrike'), this form is more like Northern Shrike than are any of the other subspecies of Loggerhead Shrike; it is even paler than other subspecies. In fact, I feel that most individual shrikes in Colorado that cause confusion in identification are probably Loggerhead Shrikes at the more-Northern end of the variation in this subspecies.

Of course, had I provided the month and location of the photograph, I doubt anyone would have missed it. Steve Mlodinow took this picture of an excubitorides Loggerhead Shrike at Crow Valley campground, Pawnee National Grassland, Weld Co., CO, on 20 August 2011, which is about 1.5 months before the earliest of migrant/wintering Northern Shrikes arrive. Though tricky, this bird still exhibits the typical forehead of extensive gray and the wide, eye-including mask of other forms of Loggerhead Shrike, which are the two most-reliable features separating the two shrike species. Steve circulated this picture specifically to point out that some Loggerheads have a pale base to the mandible, though that paleness is even more vague and never well-defined as it often is in Northern Shrike.

One otherwise correct response lacked capitalization, so was precluded from being correct for the competition.

With the devastation of the leader board caused by this quiz, Ben Coulter, Su Snyder, and Peter Wilkinson emerged as the only players with perfect 3-of-3 scores for the quarterly competition.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Northern Shrike - 23

Congratulations to the 9 of 32 getting the quiz correct:
Patty McKelvey
Ben Coulter
Josh Yoder
George Cresswell
Su Snyder
Nicole Teel
Robert McNab
Bob Archer
Peter Wilkinson

Answer: Loggerhead Shrike

Quiz #432 (2012-1-02) Solution

2012-01-09T01:00:00.004-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

In this week's quiz picture, we can see parts of seven birds, all obviously or assumingly ducks. The bird whose body just extends down into the top-left of the image is identifiable as a scoter, but nothing in this view allows specific ID. Enough of the heads of only three of the birds is visible to use that feature as an identification point, and all three of those are adult male Black Scoters, with their bills sporting large orange basal knobs. [Recall that the Old World form is now considered by the A.O.U. to be a separate species, Common Scoter, and that it can be identified in adult males by its knob being smaller and black and with a yellow saddle to the maxilla.] The leftmost bird , if a scoter, is a juvenile, as discerned by the whitish belly patch, which all juvenile scoters sport, but which is generally not seen on swimming birds (due to placement). Despite the illustrations in The Sibley Guide that show juvenile White-winged and Surf scoters with more yellow-gray legs, the range of variation in leg color for all three species (which is probably temporal) includes gray, so I believe that this bird is unidentifiable from this image (but note below).

That leaves the two pink-footed birds in the middle, neither of whose heads can we see. Among scoters, Black Scoter is unique in many ways, with foot color being one of the more obvious, at least for birds in flight. The other two ABA-area species [Common Scoter has not been accepted as occurring on this side of The Pond, yet, but should certainly be looked for on the East Coast] both sport pink or orangish-pink legs, with White-winged tending toward the more-orange end of the spectrum of leg color in the two species. So, does the dark pink leg color indicate that these two birds are Surf Scoters? The color may be suggestive, but we should endeavor to confirm that suggestion. Of course, without any heads to ogle, we aren't left with many ways to do so, other than the obvious: White-winged Scoters have white secondaries. In the below version of the quiz picture, I have labeled the two pink-footed scoters as PFS1 and PFS2 and also pointed out one of the wings on each of the two birds.

On PFS1, only one wing is visible, the other wing being hidden behind the body; on PFS2, both wings are visible, though only one is pointed out. Of the pink-footed birds, on only one of the three visible wings can we see any secondaries -- the one pointed out by 'PFS2 wing.' On this wing, the primaries are curled down from their meeting with the secondaries, the outer two or so of which we can see well enough to call them black, rather than white. This bird, then, is an adult male Surf Scoter. What the other one is, however, is not definitively knowable from this part of the larger picture, which I include, below. In this version, which shows all the birds that are in the original picture, the pink arrow points to the head of the bird that, for the quiz, we need leave unidentified. Obviously, the bird is an adult male Surf Scoter. The head of the Surf Scoter in front of this one is the head of the unidentified juvenile scoter in the quiz image; it is also a Surf Scoter.

Eight responses included only one species, all omitting Surf Scoter. Additionally, one response had one too many 'o's in "Scoter" in both correct species ("scooter"), so was precluded from being correct for the competition.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
White-winged Scoter - 3

Congratulations to the 19 of 30 getting the quiz correct:
Kirk Huffstater
Thomas Hall
Aaron Brees
Ben Coulter
Pam Myers
Nick Komar
Megan Miller
Logan Kahle
Devich Farbotnik
Chris Warren
Su Snyder
Peter Wilkinson
Joe Bens
Ben Griffith
Bryan Guarente
Tyler Bell
Sean Walters
Diane Porter
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Surf Scoter, Black Scoter

Quiz #431 (2012-1-01) Solution

2012-01-02T01:00:00.008-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

This quiz saw a fairly high response rate -- keep it up! Also, welcome to the four new players that responded this week.

Our quiz bird is flying over our heads and the camera caught it with its wings closed (par for the course). The bill looks thin and short and the bird gives the feel of a small bird. The underparts pattern rules out most options, but I wanted to tackle the tail first -- one of my favorites field marks on which to harp. Recall that from underneath on a folded tail, most of what we see is presented by the outermost rectrix on each side (the r6s). Those feathers are obviously extensively white, but with distinct black corners and with the bases black, but with most -- but not all -- of that black hidden by the undertail coverts. That general pattern fits a fair few species of warblers and little, if anything, else. McCown's Longspur does have a black chest contrasting with white throat and belly in worn basic plumage. However, that species shows an extensive black tip to the tail, the corners of the tail are white, and black does not show at the base of the tail.

The extensive black on the chest and the little bit of yellow on the upper side at the shoulder should take us directly to Yellow-rumped Warbler without passing 'Go' nor collecting $200. While here, we should probably attempt subspecific identification, as the species very well could be split back into Audubon's and Myrtle warblers in the near future (call notes and songs differ, as does migration timing in the two forms). The extensively white throat with the white extending up behind the auriculars is an excellent indicator of Myrtle Warbler. While some Audubon's Warblers lack yellow on the throat, those are usually immature females in fall and winter, rather than what we have here, which is an adult male in high plumage. We should probably also check for hybrid characters, with the single best being a mix of color in the throat, but the extension of our bird's white behind the auriculars (the "ear surround") is another character that Audubon's does not sport. I took this picture of an adult male "Myrtle" Yellow-rumped Warbler at Cape May Point, Cape May Co., NJ, in late April 2011.

Two responses were considered incorrect for the competition due to nomenclatural issues; one included "Myrtle" directly in the species name ("Yellow-rumped Myrtle Warbler") and one capitalized "rumped" (see the rules).

Incorrect species provided as answers:
McCown's Longspur - 2

Congratulations to the 29 of 31 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Robert McNab
Margaret Smith
Josh Parks
Pam Myers
Thomas Hall
Laura Osborn
Megan Miller
Aaron Brees
Jeff Witters
Marcel Such
Kirk Huffstater
Rudi Nuissl
Rob Fowler
Bruce Mast
Peter Wilkinson
Jim Kopitzke
Su Snyder
George Cresswell
Christopher Hinkle
Ben Coulter
Diane Porter
Margie Joy
Ben Griffith
Joel Such
Sean Walters
Devich Farbotnik
Bryan Guarente
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Yellow-rumped Warbler

Quiz #430 (2011-4-12) Solution

2011-12-19T01:00:00.006-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

Happy New Year! The 2011 year saw 1214 responses to the CFO Photo Quiz from 96 individuals. The CFO webmaster tells me, however, that the quiz received much, much more traffic than suggested by the number of responses. So, all you lurkers out there, consider sending in an answer or two this year.

The best-laid plans of mice and men! This quiz was intended, primarily, as a nomenclatural quiz, though I thought that at least a few might have difficulty with the identification aspect. I'll get into the ID aspect first, then come back to the nomenclatural problem presented by the quiz picture.

Our quiz bird is in the process of diving, or is tipping up to feed. Either way, the primary feature that we need notice is the feet, particularly the incredibly long toes. The only real possibilities for such long toes in the ABA area are species with scientific names of Gallinula americana, Porphyrio martinica, and Jacana spinosa. The last of these is not known for diving, foraging on floating vegetation. That species also has gray legs, unlike our bird's yellow legs with orange-red basal rings, nor does it have a mix of black and white on the undertail coverts. The middle of these three species has yellow legs, but lacks the quiz bird's basal rings and sports more white in the undertail coverts than does our bird. American Coot (Fulica americana) is ruled out both by the non-lobed toes of our quiz bird and by those orange-red basal rings, that are often visible on swimming birds.

Now, back to the nomenclatural problem, which was succinctly expressed by Aaron Brees in his submission:

"The second problem is a matter of rule interpretation. CFO Photo Quiz rule #4, states:

All answers, to be considered correct for the purposes of the competition, MUST be presented in the form of a full species name (no forms, no subspecies, etc.) and in the exact current nomenclature (including hyphens and spacing) delineated by the American Ornithologists' Union and as presented by the American Birding Association (ABA).

"The AOU has accepted the split of Gallinula chloropus and changed the name of the New World representative to Common Gallinule (Gallinula americana). The ABA checklist, including the most current published supplement, still lists this bird as 'Common Moorhen.' So, the AOU has 'delineated' the name as Common Gallinule, but how has the ABA 'presented' the new name if it hasn't published a supplement since the split? What, exactly, does 'presented' mean in this context. It seems like 'adopted' would be a more appropriate term, but I digress.

"Hopefully, the answer to this seeming contradiction created by quiz rule #4 is this statement at the bottom of the ABA Checklist Committee Bylaws:

English names: The ABA-CLC will cease to 'pre-approve' AOU decisions but instead will automatically adopt any such decisions.

"I interpret 'automatically adopt any such decisions' to mean that no vote or publication is necessary. When the AOU published the name change, it instantly became the official ABA name as well. So I'll stick with 'Common Gallinule' for my answer."

Thanks, Aaron, for a thorough, and novel, approach to the problem that I encountered upon finding that as of late December, the ABA had still not incorporated any of the AOU's 2011 changes in nomenclature and taxonomy into the online version of the ABA checklist, which is what I use as the final arbiter of such for the CFO Photo Quiz. The quiz was intended to note whether respondents were keeping up with nomenclatural changes, such that answers of 'Common Moorhen' would have been precluded from being correct for the competition, as that name should not have been present on the ABA checklist. [As an important aside, Aaron also noted that the AOU has not acted on a recent Alaska record of the Old World species and Peter Wilkinson noted that, given the view in the quiz photo, the two species are not separable.] So, despite the publication in the ABA's flagship print publication, Birding, of the ABA's changes to the checklist (in November 2011), these were not incorporated into the online version until too late to do me any good. And, I had delayed the use of this picture to the very end of the year, specifically because I was informed that those changes would be made in November. Again, "the best-laid plans of mice and men!"

I was forced to make a decision about acceptability of the two types of potentially correct answers received, and chose to accept them both as correct for the competition, as any other decision would have penalized participants for a problem not of their making. However, one respondent's submission neglected the capitalization of the species' second name; that answer was precluded from being correct for the competition.

It is time to award two prizes, one each for winner of the quarterly and annual competitions. In the quarterly competition, the award of a year's membership in the Colorado Field Ornithologists (and receipt of its excellent quarterly journal, Colorado Birds), goes to one of the three respondents scoring 11 of 12 quizzes correct: Bryan Guarente, Thomas Hall, and Peter Wilkinson. As they all had the same number of incorrect responses and of bonus points, I had to go through the random-selection process to come up with the quarter's winner. Congratulations, Thomas!

For the annual competition, two Californians tied with 39 correct responses in 2011, Robert McNab and Pam Myers. Pam is a fairly new player at the CFO Photo Quiz and won the first quarterly competition of 2011, while Robert is always amongst the leaders, but has yet to break through to win either a quarterly or annual competition. The first tie-breaker, incorrect responses, was a wash, moving them to the second tie-breaker, bonus points. At 11 bonus points to nine bonus points, Pam Myer wins the 2011 annual CFO Photo Quiz competition! Congratulations, Pam, and I hope to see you at the 2012 CFO convention in Trinidad, Colorado, as your prize for winning is free registration to the convention!

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Northern Jacana - 1

Congratulations to the 26 of 27 getting the quiz correct. Particular congratulations to those (indicated by *) that noted that the AOU had split Common Moorhen and that they knew that the new name (actually, a return to an old name) for the New World representative is now Common Gallinule:
Tyler Bell*
George Cresswell
Peter Wilkinson
Pam Myers*
Robert McNab*
Christian Nunes*
Patty McKelvey
Jeff Thompson
Thomas Hall*
Brenda Beatty
Bob Archer
Megan Miller
Nick Komar
Su Snyder
Aaron Brees*
Kirk Huffstater*
Bryan Guarente*
Josh Parks
Margie Joy
Joe Bens*
Marcel Such*
Joel Such*
Sean Walters*
Margaret Smith
Diane Porter*

Answer: Common Gallinule

Quiz #429 (2011-4-11) Solution

2011-12-12T01:00:00.002-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

This one was a toughie. Had I not known that previously, the diversity of species in answers this week would have driven the point home, as seven species of four families were submitted in response to the quiz. All species provided as answers share the quiz bird's general features of brown with dark-centered feathers on the wing and streaks on the flanks; most also sport white outer webs to the outermost rectrices.

Our quiz bird's tail rules out a couple of the submitted options: Sky Lark's tail has the middle feathers on each side blackish contrasting with paler central tail feathers and Le Conte's Sparrow's tail is shorter, spikier, and lacks pale outer webs to the r6s. Savannah Sparrow is quite similar to the appearance of our quiz bird, but has buff or cream sides to the tail, not white.

The bird's right wing provides most of the best clues as to its identity. It lacks rufous lesser coverts, a distinctive feature of Vesper Sparrow. Le Conte's and Savannah sparrows both have a darker, more-even-colored wing, which results in the median and greater coverts not providing such strong contrast, and Le Conte's lacks our bird's distinct wing bars created by extensive buff tips to the black-centered greater and median coverts. Lapland Longspur has even darker wings, such that the rufous greater coverts contrast paler. Sky Lark's wings are an even-colored grayish-brown lacking in any obvious contrast. Red-throated Pipit has white wing bars on a relatively non-contrasting dark wing and with the greater coverts, if anything, paler than the rest of the wing.

The quiz bird's back provides the final clue: there are wide, buffy braces (long, contrastingly pale streaks) that are a feature of fairly few bird species. All of the above features, in combination, rule out all but the correct answer. Another picture of the same individual is provided below to prove the point. Tom Johnson took these pictures of a Baird's Sparrow flying away at Willcox, Cochise Co., AZ, on 4 May 2011.

One of the incorrect answers, even if correct, would have been precluded from being correct for the competition due to nomenclatural issues.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Vesper Sparrow - 5
Lapland Longspur - 4
Red-throated Pipit - 1
Savannah Sparrow - 2
"Eurasian Skylark" - 1
Le Conte's Sparrow - 1

Congratulations to the 4 of 18 getting the quiz correct:
Josh Parks
Bryan Guarente
Devich Farbotnik
Thomas Hall

Answer: Baird's Sparrow

Quiz #428 (2011-4-10) Solution

2011-12-05T01:00:00.003-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Bryan Guarente and Tony Leukering

Bryan Guarente provided an interesting and enlightening tack to the correct answer, so this solution will start with his words.

"We have a duck. There are only four ABA-area duck species that have black breast and vent with a white mid-body: Canvasback, Tufted Duck, Greater Scaup, and Lesser Scaup. I think we will see that a hybrid is not indicated because of the purity of the features on this bird. There is little that would indicate any other genes in the pool. The vermiculated back rules out Tufted Duck and Canvasback, leaving us with the conundrum of the scaup/scaups (sp?).

"Let's start at the front of the bird and move to the middle to determine what this bird is. The nail of the bill is small and black with no apparent stretching of the black in the horizontal along the edge of the beak (score: Lesser 1 :: Greater 0). The head color is purplish not greenish. It is hard to score lots of points for that because lighting can be especially tricky with anything iridescent (score: Lesser 1.5 :: Greater 0). The eye sits relatively far from the top of the head (score: Lesser 2.5 :: Greater 0). The highest point on the top of the head is well behind the eye and even shows a bit of a crest. Occasionally, Lesser can show a rounded head like Greater, but that usually occurs in actively diving birds, and Greater never seems to show a crest; the change typically goes the other way, where Lesser seems to have more of a rounded crown (score: Lesser 3.5 :: Greater 0). Only when you have good to great close-up views of scaup can you see the difference in the vermiculation density and extent. I can't say that I am confident in writing about the vermiculation on the back, but supposedly, Lesser shows fewer bars that are heavier than on Greater Scaup. More important to me, Lesser has vermiculation that extends beyond just the back, as the sides have vermiculation on them near where they meet the back. This only occurs in Lesser and is usually only visible in great specimens without much wear and usually manifests as a slightly dirty-looking side for Lesser versus Greater (score: Lesser 4.5 :: Greater 0). [Beware of over-exposure of photos like in the back of the white sides of this bird where the sensor is saturated; dirtiness disappears very quickly.]

"I don't see anything that would point to hybrid. We are sitting in a close battle (HA!) with Lesser Scaup way ahead. There is nothing Greater here that I see. I'm going with Lesser Scaup."

Indeed, Bryan covered most of the points, but I will expand on a couple. Head shape in the two scaup species is different in many more ways than simply the shape of the crown. As Tyler Bell noted, I wrote one of my In The Scope articles for Colorado Birds a while back on this very topic. Greaters have blockier heads that tend to look longer (deeper; forehead to nape) than tall with the high point in front of the eye and with very noticeable jowls in a head-on view. Lesser Scaup has a smaller head that usually appears taller than long with the peak behind the eye and with minimal jowls (unfortunately, not visible, here).

The big difference between the two in crown shape is that Lesser either typically holds its crown feathers more erect or they are simply longer. Or both. Thus, there is more head above the eye in Lesser than in Greater, with the eye just about centered top to bottom on Lesser and placed noticeably closer to the crown than the chin in Greater. As Bryan noted, this feature goes out the window with actively foraging Lessers, as they depress their head feathers before diving and may not re-erect them upon surfacing if they are going to immediately head back under the surface. I cannot tell you how many times that I have thought myself looking at a distant Greater Scaup, only to have it cease diving and turn into a Lesser.

Bryan and others also noted that our quiz bird's flanks are overexposed, a feature that I hoped to take advantage of in this picture, because Greaters do tend toward whiter sides/flanks. However, this feature can be tricky, because immature male Greater Scaup can take quite a while to completely replace brownish side and flank feathers in their preformative molt, which can extend into March. Additionally, as obliquely referred to by Bryan, worn male Lesser Scaup may have no apparent vermiculations on the sides, presenting a bright white appearance. So, in late fall and early winter, a male scaup showing bright white sides/flanks is almost certainly a Greater, while such birds in March and beyond could be either.

Finally, while many Greater Scaup have the black of the bill nail extending onto the bill proper in a trapezoidal shape, many have the black restricted to the nail, as in Lesser Scaup. I took this picture of an adult male Lesser Scaup on 2 March 2009 in the Palo Alto Baylands, Santa Clara Co., CA.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Greater Scaup - 2

Congratulations to the 20 of 22 getting the quiz correct:
Kirk Huffstater
Tyler Bell
Robert McNab
Pam Myers
Margaret Smith
George Cresswell
Patty McKelvey
Peter Wilkinson
Christian Nunes
Nick Komar
Josh Parks
Claire Mix
Margie Joy
Jennifer Courtemanche
Thomas Hall
Bryan Guarente
Joel Such
Marcel Such
Sean Walters
Devich Farbotnik

Answer: Lesser Scaup

Quiz #427 (2011-4-09) Solution

2011-11-28T01:00:00.001-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Margie Joy and Tony Leukering

Margie Joy submitted a detailed answer that covers most of the bases, so we'll start with that.

"This week's quiz bird is a diving bird: grebe, loon, or duck. Since I can only see the bird's back and sides, I'm using the pattern on the back (very dark with crisp, randomly-arranged white speckles) to collect possibilities for the ID. Some grebes and diving ducks show an indistinct scaly pattern, but it's usually gray on gray, never the sparkly effect shown in the photo; I'm going right to loons.

"Several ABA-area loons show similar patterns to that of the quiz bird. Common and Yellow-billed loons in breeding plumage show bold black-and-white spots that are arranged in a tight checkered pattern. Non-breeders and juveniles of these two species show more indistinct patterns. Arctic and Pacific loons in breeding plumage show larger white patches in a barred pattern. Non-breeders of these two species show very indistinct patterns, while juveniles show small pale areas arranged in a distinctive scalloped pattern. That leaves Red-throated Loon. Non-breeding adults have the same sparkly pattern of white on dark gray or black that's shown on the quiz bird, so I'm guessing that this bird is a Red-throated Loon. To confirm my guess, I have found other marks that are good for Red-throated: white sides and speckled rump."

Thanks, Margie. To round out this solution, I have some disparate comments. All loons have black primaries and all have long wings such that they sport fairly extensive primary projection. Unfortunately, The Sibley Guide illustrates Red-throated with the wingtips obvious, but with those of the other loons not. Juveniles of all loons other than Red-throated have pale fringes to the scapulars and coverts forming a scalloped pattern to the upperparts on swimming birds. Red-throated Loon shows such in no plumage, with the pale marks on these feathers being restricted to well-defined spots or short bars on the interior of the feathers, not on the edge. Thus, the species, as Margie described it, looks sparkly. Like stars, which may be the cause of the species' specific epithet being stellata (meaning "starry").

Peter Wilkinson noted that he "hadn't realised how hard it can be to
distinguish from juv Northern Gannet." Indeed, the patterns on the scaps and coverts are remarkably similar. However, a Northern Gannet with that pattern on the wings would not have bright white sides. Finally, as noted by multiple respondents, the bird's legs are set well back on the body, unlike that for Northern Gannet.

I took this picture of a diving adult Red-throated Loon in basic plumage at the Cape May ferry terminal jetty, Cape May Co., NJ, on 18 February 2011.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Common Loon - 1
Arctic Loon - 2

Congratulations to the 14 of 21 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Tyler Bell
Jeff Jones
Nick Komar
Pam Myers
Christian Nunes
Kirk Huffstater
Thomas Hall
Bryan Guarente
Josh Parks
Patty McKelvey
Margie Joy
Al Guarente
Liston Rice
Marcel Such
Joel Such
Margaret Smith
Sean Walters
Peter Wilkinson
Devich Farbotnik

Answer: Red-throated Loon

Quiz #426 (2011-4-08) Solution

2011-11-21T01:00:00.001-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

As noted by Robert McNab, using only a single field mark, this bird would be impossible to separate from Nutting's Flycatcher! Yes, the quiz bird and Nutting's Flycatcher share the character of orange mouth linings, but I don't think that anyone actually thought that this bird could be a flycatcher!

We don't have a lot to go on to winnow the possibilities, but the generally white coloration with, apparently, gray wings, webbed feet, and dark eyes and legs might plop us into the Laridae, home of the gulls and terns. Dark legs are not common in gulls, but relatively so in terns, so let's start there. With the foreshortening of the bill due to the picture angle, determining bill length is problematic. However, bill color is accurately gauged: yellow with a dark tip. That greatly whittles the possibilities among the tern species recorded within the ABA area, as only Least Tern sports such a bill pattern, though Large-billed might at times. However, neither of those species sports black legs, so into the gulls we go.

ABA-area dark-legged gull species include Ivory, Franklin's, Laughing, and Heermann's gulls and, of course, Black-legged Kittiwake. The gray wings of our quiz bird rule out Ivory Gull and the white body does the same for Heermann's Gull. The paleness of the wings and the bill color rule out Franklin's and Laughing gulls. However, it should be noted that even ignoring the black legs, the unmarked white underparts on an immature gull (note the black on the tail) actually rule out nearly all options. Steve Mlodinow took this picture of a 1st-cycle Black-legged Kittiwake -- one of an amazing two present -- at Windsor Lake, Windsor, Weld Co., CO, on 5 May 2011. One of the birds had been present since early April!

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Ring-billed Gull - 2
Mew Gull - 1

Congratulations to the 18 of 21 getting the quiz correct:
Thomas Hall
Pam Myers
George Cresswell
Peter Wilkinson
Patty McKelvey
Robert McNab
Jennier Courtemanche
Christian Nunes
Ira Sanders
Tammy Sanders
Josh Parks
Margie Joy
Su Snyder
Devich Farbotnik
Nick Komar
Al Guarente
Kirk Huffstater
Bryan Guarente

Answer: Black-legged Kittiwake

Quiz #425 (2011-4-07) Solution

2011-11-14T01:00:00.003-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

This week's quiz bird resulted in answers citing six species of blackbird. In blackbirds, eye color is useful, so we'll start there. Our bird's dark eye should rule out most Boat-tailed and Great-tailed grackles (except for females of some Gulf of Mexico populations of the former) and adult Common Grackles and Bronzed Cowbirds. Granted, that leaves a lot still in the possible solution set, but we can narrow things down from here. Knowing our bird's age would help tremendously, but ageing many blackbird species in the field is quite difficult, if not impossible, as they generally conduct extensive preformative molts, thus immatures are very similar in most respects to adults.

The streaky blackbirds (Red-winged, Tawny-shouldered, and Tricolored) are eliminated by the lack of streaks; any individual of the two species that isn't obviously blackish would have streaks. Common Grackle never shows such pale head and underparts, particularly the former, and because of the latter, it does not show the contrasting dark feather centers of the underparts of our quiz bird. Brown-headed Cowbird can be ruled out by our bird's lack of contrastingly pale throat bordered by dark lateral throat stripes. Female Shiny Cowbird is never this cold-colored gray-brown and the bird is not a juvenile Shiny because it lacks streaks and wingbars. Our quiz bird is not a Bronzed Cowbird, as that species never shows even this prominent of a pale superciliary, particularly in front of the eye. Additionally, that species has a deeper and shorter bill than sported by the quiz bird. The large-tailed grackle species are just that, large-tailed, which our quiz bird is not.

That leaves us with the Euphagus problem. Though field guides may make Rusty and Brewer's blackbirds seem relatively simple to separate, the two are often quite similar, with some individuals probably best left unidentified. However, this bird is not one of those. Even the dullest and youngest of Rusty Blackbirds would show a much more obvious superciliary, while only the very youngest would still show a dark eye, but should not upon completion of its preformative molt (which is true of this bird). Additionally, female Rusty Blackbirds show auriculars more sharply-defined as a patch by rear and lower borders that our bird lacks. Finally, the bill's depth is a good indicator of Brewer's Blackbird, but, perhaps, not definitive. However, something not shown in field guides is the distinctive upright-and-head back strutting of Brewer's Blackbird that I find very useful in identifying the species, even separating it from Rusty Blackbird. Our quiz bird illustrates that behavior as well as any static picture can.

Peter Wilkinson tops the leader board with a perfect 7-for-7 score in this quarter's competition, with Al Guarente and Thomas Hall being one correct answer behind. As for the yearly competition, two Californians -- Robert McNab and Pam Myers -- lead with 35 correct responses, with Marcel Such and Peter Wilkinson right on their heels with 34 correct, and Bryan Guarente two back at 33.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Bronzed Cowbird - 1
Shiny Cowbird - 2
Common Grackle - 1
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
Rusty Blackbird - 2

Congratulations to the 14 of 21 getting the quiz correct:
Thomas Hall
Robert McNab
Al Guarente
Patty McKelvey
Richard Jeffers
Christian Nunes
Margie Joy
Peter Wilkinson
Josh Parks
Margaret Smith
Bryan Guarente
Nick Komar
Sean Walters
Devich Farbotnik

Answer: Brewer's Blackbird

Quiz #424 (2011-4-06) Solution

2011-11-07T01:00:00.002-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering and Peter Wilkinson

As noted by Christian Nunes, one of the best clues to this week's quiz bird's identity was provided by the substrate. The smooth bark with the yellowy-green cast makes the tree identifiable as an aspen. From there, we'll go to some of Peter Wilkinson's thoughts on the bird:

"Those flank feathers reduce it to an Otus owl pretty quickly, so we have Flammulated and the three screech-owls, Whiskered, Eastern, and Western" [though the A.O.U. now considers the screech-owls to belong to Megascops, while Flammulated still resides in Otus].

I agree with the above and note that all ABA-area nightjars can be eliminated by the fact that the wingtip that we can see well extends well past the tail tip and because of that flank-feather pattern (with a strong black shaft streak crossed by weaker blackish bars). Back to Peter.

"I think that you can eliminate Whiskered as it apparently doesn't have a rufous morph and this bird clearly has at least a little rufous in the wings."

Again, I agree. The hint of rufous can be see in the primary coverts of the left wing. Peter.

"After that I haven't a clue. I've gone for Flammulated as:
- apparently even gray ones still show traces of rufous in the wings;
- the morphs of the others, while intergrading, don't seem to be as contrasty as this bird; and
- that way, I don't have to worry about hyphenation and capitalisation of screech-owl (though, come to think about it, that's probably why you set this one).

Only one respondent (Josh Parks) noted the key feature in separating Flammulated Owl from the screech-owls and it has to do with migration. The three screech-owls are residents, with individuals dispersing short distances, but undertaking no regular migration. Flammulated Owl is a fairly long-distant migrant, with the species emptying out of the ABA area to winter south of the border from central Mexico to Guatemala. In most groups of related birds with differing migration strategies, with all else being equal, the migrant species/subspecies will have relatively longer wings than will the resident forms (and, extending the argument a bit, longer-distance migrants will have relatively longer wings than will shorter-distance migrants within the species). Flammulated Owl sports relatively longer wings than do its resident congeners, except that Whiskered Screech-Owl also has relatively long wings. On Flammulated and Whiskered, the wingtips extend well beyond the tail tip, while on Eastern and Western, the wingtips typically fall short of the tail tip, though with some having them extend just beyond the tail tip.

As far as the three screech-owl species, all are relatively low-elevation species, with Whiskered associated most often with oaks, while Western and Eastern screech-owls are typically species of riparian habitats or other habitats with broad-leaved tree species. Yes, both species are found in other habitats, but, in general, they are most widespread and common in the habitats that I've noted; aspen is found higher than are the habitats that most Eastern and Western screech-owls utilize in either or both of elevation and latitude. Flammulated Owl is considered by some to be an inhabitant of older seral stages of conifer forest, particularly Ponderosa Pine. However, in my experience, the species is most closely associated with aspen. That is because most woodpecker species within the breeding range of Flammulated Owl seem to be associated with aspen when nesting. That is because it is easier on woodpeckers to construct cavities in aspens than in any other species of tree in their ranges. Flammulated Owls use woodpecker cavities for nesting, so....

Tree species and relative wing length prove the case for this Flammulated Owl photographed near San Isabel, Custer Co., CO, 11 June 2011 by Brandon Percival.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Western Screech-Owl - 3
Eastern Screech-Owl - 3
Common Poorwill - 3
Whiskered Screech-Owl - 2

Congratulations to the 8 of 19 getting the quiz correct:
Thomas Hall
Kirk Huffstater
Christian Nunes
Josh Parks
Sean Walters
Peter Wilkinson
Bryan Guarente
Joel Such

Answer: Flammulated Owl

Quiz #423 (2011-4-05) Solution

2011-10-31T08:33:00.005-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

Yes, it's an oddity and was a nice learning experience for me! It was obvious to respondents that the quiz bird is a member of one of the Centurus woodpecker species. (Quick note: Centurus used to house all of the zebra-backed woodpeckers, and was the genus I learned when I started birding, until that genus was lumped into Melanerpes, though the term is still quite useful in separating the zebra-backed species from the other members of that genus, all ABA-area members of which are quite different: Lewis's, Acorn, and Red-headed woodpeckers.) However, the quiz bird's odd head pattern, in combination with our inability to see the bird's rump provided much cause for consternation.

First off, as with many birds, we might be best served by ageing the thing at the outset. While the primaries look paler than black, I would be leery of going out on that limb to support the contention that the bird is a youngster, due to questions of lighting and the fact that we can see them all that well. However, we don't have to go there, because the head provides all we need to age the bird. None of the Centurus woodpecker species sport any black on the crown in anything but juvenal (=first basic) plumage, and that black is rare enough even in that plumage.

Because this bird is sporting odd head coloration and pattern, we should really check out the other useful bits to see if they'll be helpful. Of course, at this point, we can really bemoan the lack of view of the rump, as the three ABA-area Centurus species are readily differentiated on the strength of just that one feature. However, we only need to look a bit lower down to find a very useful feature: the tail rules out Golden-fronted Woodpecker. Or, at least, rules out the form of Golden-fronted that occurs in the ABA area (some subspecies in Mexico have banded middle rectrices). Hmm, then why is there yellow on the bird's nape and red on the crown? But if it were a Golden-fronted, why aren't the nasal tufts yellow? Could this be a hybrid?

Recall that some juveniles -- of both sexes -- of other species of woodpeckers (particularly Downy and Hairy woodpeckers) sport red on the crown, despite the lack of such in older plumages. So, the seemingly-anomalous red on the crown may not be anomalous in juveniles, even in Centurus woodpeckers. Yes, that might bring Golden-fronted back into play, but recall the tail pattern. What we can see of the underparts coloration -- that single bit by the right leg -- looks white, not tan as in Gila.

Now, let's make a more-careful scrutiny of the various barring on this bird, as that is a useful, though subtle, feature in separating the possibilities. The back barring looks as if the black bars are too wide for Gila, possibly even for Golden-fronted. However, the central rectrices have white bands noticeably wider than the black bands, which is good for Red-bellied and wrong for Gila.

In fact, this is a juvenile Red-bellied Woodpecker, photographed 4 Aug 2007 in Lamar, Prowers Co., CO, by Dave Leatherman, to whom I give thanks for recognizing the oddity of the plumage and sending me the picture for possible use here. This individual combines three odd head-plumage traits -- yellow nape, black on crown, red on crown -- that are found singly in a smallish percentage of juveniles of the species. A picture that I found on Flickr shows another juvenal-plumaged Red-bellied with black -- and just a bit of red -- on the crown. The take-home message is once again, pay attention to more field marks, even on readily-ID'ed birds. Knowing the common species cold is the best route to becoming an excellent birder.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Gila Woodpecker - 4
Golden-fronted x Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Golden-fronted Woodpecker - 2

Congratulations to the 17 of 22 getting the quiz correct:
Nick Komar
Margaret Smith
Rudi Nuissl
Devich Farbotnik
Kirk Huffstater
Christian Nunes
Pam Myers
Robert McNab
Margie Joy
Patty McKelvey
Al Guarente
Su Snyder
Thomas Hall
Liston Rice
Peter Wilkinson
Diane Porter
Bryan Guarente
Sean Walters

Answer: Red-bellied Woodpecker

Quiz #422 (2011-4-04) Solution

2011-10-24T01:00:00.017-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

Usually, when the quiz picture is a difficult one or when there's a gull involved, the number of responses for the week is relatively low. So, one can imagine my surprise at the good number of responses to this week's quiz when not only is there a gull involved, but it's quite difficult! Though it's quite difficult, nearly any ABA-area gull addict would have gotten it correct. But, that is because the important characters are ones that lariphiles know and most birders don't.

We'll start with the individual in the picture that caused very little consternation, the bird of which the image was intended, until the gull flew in front of the camera at Goleta, Santa Barbara Co., CA, 28 February 2010. The seasonality of the picture may very well be determinable from the subjects. The cormorant is in high condition, what with its bright orange supraloral and gular patches. The apparent four-year gull is not molting, at least, not apparently so. Both features are consistent with early spring. And that will come into play with the gull.

As noted by those respondents submitting rationales for their ID decisions, the head pattern on the cormorant is definitive for Double-crested. Neotropic, which can show orange in the supraloral region, never has so extensive a gular patch (it extends past the chin onto the upper throat on our quiz bird). The separation of the bright color by a dark loral line (and the extensive gular patch) rule out Red-faced Cormorant. All the rest of the cormorants have dark bills.

Features that at least some of the respondents used to ID the gull included tail color, bill pattern, darkness of the greater coverts, and (for one) the pale trailing edge to the secondaries. While the bill has an extensive pale base, it is not nearly pale enough nor demarcated enough for a nearly one-year old California Gull. Any Cal Gull with that little pale would be much younger and exhibit extensive juvenal (=first basic) plumage on the upperparts, which our quiz gull does not. Additionally, the greater coverts appear a bit too pale, relative to the darkness of the secondaries and to the median coverts for our bird to be a Cal Gull, which sport greater coverts closer to the color of the secondaries, rather than the median coverts, not the more-intermediate color expressed by the quiz bird. Yes, California Gulls of this age sport a pale trailing edge to the secondaries, but so do a couple other options.

Herring Gull was the overwhelming choice for the ID of the gull, perhaps due to its large range and relative familiarity to most ABA-area birders have with the species. Additionally, the vague dark-and-pale bill pattern is practically perfect for Smithsonian Gulls (the New World form of Herring Gull) of this age. Unfortunately, formative-plumaged Smithsonian Gulls have pale greater coverts that contrast not at all with the median coverts, and very strongly with the secondaries. They also have a pale wing panel, created by the paler inner primaries that are not exhibited by our quiz bird. Finally, they do not sport such a pale trailing edge to the secondaries; at least, not so wide, not so white, and not so obvious.

Thayer's Gulls of this age have nearly entirely black bills and sport secondaries with dark outer webs and pale inner webs, unlike the apparently all-dark secondaries of the quiz bird. Additionally, many Thayer's Gulls of this age are still sporting at least some juvenal feathers among the scapulars; our bird seems not to have any such scaps.

So, as far as big, dark gulls go, we have only two remaining options. Yellow-footed Gull is, despite its size, a three-year gull, thus at this bird's age, it would have a gray saddle. By process of elimination, then, we are left with the correct answer: Western Gull. But, what about the bill pattern? All the field guides show first-winter Western Gulls as having all-dark bills. Well, if you're talking about "regular" field guides, the ones that treat all of the species of a given region, then yes. However, those guides don't have anywhere near enough space to show much of the variation in appearance inherent in any species, nor the various intermediate stages between the appearances that they do illustrate. "Second-winter" Western Gulls are depicted in those guides as having strongly bi-colored bills, and those bills don't just suddenly become that way. As in smithsonianus Herring Gulls, Western Gull bills transition, slowly, from all dark to bi-colored, and this week's quiz gull is somewhere in the middle of that process. And that pale trailing edge? That is what creates the skirt in Pacific-rim gull species.

Gull ID is relatively straightforward (ignoring, for now, hybrids), however it is a more complex game using features that are not part of the ID process for most other taxa (such as wing panels and the obvious pale trailing edge of Cal, Yellow-footed, and Western gulls) and requires a lot of practice and being able to focus on more than just one or two features. I note that one of only two respondents getting this week's quiz correct lives in coastal California, where Western Gull is the gull. The other is a Brit, and we always expect better things out of them!

One response provided only one species, taking a pass on the gull.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
California Gull - 3
Herring Gull - 19
Red-faced Cormorant - 1
Thayer's Gull - 1

Congratulations to the 2 of 26 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Peter Wilkinson

Answer: Double-crested Cormorant, Western Gull

Quiz #421 (2011-4-03) Solution

2011-10-17T01:00:00.007-06:00

Solution by Tony Leukering

Bryan Guarente started off his response with an appropriate exclamation:

"Holy primary length, Batman!"

Indeed, that feature was the primary (forgive the pun) reason for using this photo and I'd guess that the one respondent heading off in the wrong direction overlooked it. As suggested by Bryan, with primary projection that long and considering the habitat, longspurs and larks are the best bets to fill out the potential solution set; any other options in this habitat with this general color pattern would have considerably shorter wings. The dark nape and strong back pattern rule out Horned Lark and the darkish legs and strong rufous panel in the wing eliminate Sky Lark from consideration, leaving us with the world's four species of longspurs.

A quick nomenclatural and taxonomic aside: As noted by Peter Wilkinson, one of the four longspur species is of widespread occurrence in the Old World and, in fact, was described from there and has been called Lapland Bunting in English (sensu stricto) for a long time. When the British colonized the New World -- obviously, none of the serious birders of the day were amongst the colonizers, they willy-nilly applied names that they knew to species present on this side of the Pond, most of which were unrelated to the source species of those names (e.g., blackbird, robin, warbler, flycatcher). Interestingly, we kept the first name of Lapland Bunting, but decided that a new second name was in order, for whatever reason, and longspurs have been known as such here for quite a while. The longspurs have been housed among the Emberizidae for as long as that family has existed, but recent genetic evidence encouraged the American Ornithologists' Union to separate them in their own family, the Calcariidae. More interestingly, they moved the longspurs away from the Emberizidae, placing the family immediately before the warblers!

Now, I return you to our regularly scheduled program.

Once among the longspurs, primary projection quickly divides our options into two groups, the arctic breeders and the prairie breeders, and excises the latter from our potential solution set. As noted by Tyler Bell, the spacing of primaries in the wingtip (wing formula) easily separates the two arctic breeders, with Lapland showing regular spacing and Smith's showing a large gap or two (see illustration in The Sibley Guide). So, other than general coloration and habitat, we didn't need to look at much else on our quiz bird other than the primaries in order to arrive at the correct ID. Of course, one-features IDs are not to be trusted, but various and sundry other field marks visible in the quiz pic support that ID. I took this picture of a Lapland Longspur at Cape May Point S.P., Cape May Co., NJ, on 7 November 2010.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Savannah Sparrow - 1

Congratulations to the 28 of 29 getting the quiz correct:
Al Guarente
Jennifer Courtemanche
Joel Such
Christian Nunes
Thomas Hall
Pam Myers
Devich Farbotnik
Peter Wilkinson
Robert McNab
Ann Reichhardt
Margaret Smith
Josh Parks
Patty McKelvey
Kirk Huffstater
Su Snyder
Donna Nespoli
Sean Walters
Liston Rice
Tyler Bell
Rudi Nuissl
Richard Jeffers
Adrian Hinkle
Margie Joy
Diane Porter
Marcel Such
Bryan Guarente
Chishun Kwong
Joe Bens

Answer: Lapland Longspur

Quiz #420 (2011-4-02) Solution

2011-10-10T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

All of this week's respondents arrowed to the correct genus, with the lion's share of those selecting the correct species. The genus Chordeiles is a small one (only three species), all of which occur in the ABA area, but with most of that area being visited by only one. Or none. Identification of nighthawks is quite difficult, particularly for perched birds. In fall, accurate ID often requires first ageing the bird in question, as variation in plumage across the broad range of Common Nighthawk can swamp the differences between species, so eliminating some of that variation by determining the bird's age is most useful. With this week's quiz bird, we are in luck, as the bird is not only readily aged, but sexed, too.

As noted by a number of respondents, our quiz bird is an adult male, determined so by the distinct and fairly wide white subterminal band on the tail. So, we don't have to deal with the multiplicity of juvenal plumages. However, in some instances, it might have been better -- or, at least, easier, had the bird been a female, because that wide and bright white primary patch would have eliminated both Lesser and Antillean from consideration. But, alas, because it's a male, all three species are still in the possible solution set.

Returning our gaze to the primaries, that white patch on the primaries looks to be too proximal to be that of the patch of a Lesser Nighthawk, but the angle at which we gaze might make that assessment a bit problematic. However, looking at the other end of the primaries, we can see that the wingtips extend well beyond the tail tip, confirming our excision of Lesser Nighthawk from the solution set; Lesser's wingtips just barely reach past the tail tip, even in adult males (which have longer, more pointed wingtips than do females; juveniles have even shorter wingtips -- in all species). The bright white underparts provide the third and final nail in the coffin of Lesser Nighthawk as a possibility.

Antillean Nighthawk is even more similar to Common than is Lesser; the two were even considered conspecific for a while. The two species share a wide and more-basal primary patch, but Antillean shares the buffy underparts of Lesser and adult males sport a narrower subterminal tail band than shown by our quiz bird. I took this picture of an adult male Common Nighthawk south of Midway, Baca Co., CO, on 30 May 2011.

One respondent's answer neglected capitalization, so was precluded from being correct for the competition.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Antillean Nighthawk - 1
Lesser Nighthawk - 1

Congratulations to the 24 of 26 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Thomas Hall
Su Snyder
Nick Komar
Kirk Huffstater
Pam Myers
Patty McKelvey
Jennifer Courtemanche
Rudi Nuissl
Josh Parks
Margie Joy
Al Guarente
Liston Rice
Devich Farbotnik
Bruce Cyganowski
Diane Porter
Richard Jeffers
Ted Cooper
Peter Wilkinson
Marcel Such
Margaret Smith
Bryan Guarente
Chishun Kwong
Joel Such

Answer: Common Nighthawk

Quiz #419 (2011-4-01) Solution

2011-10-03T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

The incorrect responses this week serve to highlight the importance in the ID process that all of us place, consciously or not, on size. The respondents would certainly not have made these mistakes in the field. However, our bird's very long tail is also matched by long wings. Additionally, the tail's pale tip is complete, that is, each rectrix is tipped buffy-white, which rules out one of the species with pale tail tips provided as an incorrect response.

We can also see some whitish on the upper wing coverts and some pale shaft streaks on scapulars and some seemingly oddly-placed streak of white near the back of the wings. That white is on the long, nearly-wispy lower scapulars. Because the picture is not focused, we might ignore the appearance of pale bars on at least one of the central rectrices, but the other one seems to have at least a suggestion of same, so perhaps we might want to consider what it would mean if that appearance were reality. So, a long-winged, long-tailed blackish bird with white on the upper wing coverts, white shaft streaks on the scapulars, pale bars on the central rectrices, and buffy-white-tips to same leaves us with only one option. The picture that I took of the quiz bird immediately prior to the quiz picture is provided below.

I took these pictures of a male Anhinga at the Viera Wetlands, Brevard Co., FL, on 27 January 2010.

With one quiz down in the final quarter of the year, Marcel Such and Pam Myers are tied for the annual competition with 32 correct responses; Robert McNab is breathing down their necks with 31.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Lark Bunting - 1
Red-winged Blackbird - 1
Eastern Kingbird - 1
Gray Jay - 1

Congratulations to the 13 of 16 getting the quiz correct:
Devich Farbotnik
Tyler Bell
Thomas Hall
Robert McNab
Nick Komar
Bryan Guarente
Al Guarente
Marcel Such
George Cresswell
Margaret Smith
Pam Myers
Peter Wilkinson
Liston Rice
Joel Such
Richard Jeffers
Margie Joy
Joe Bens
Sean Walters
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Anhinga

Quiz #418 (2011-3-13) Solution

2011-09-26T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

Though this week's quiz bird low over the water sent a few respondents into the seabirds for a solution, one managed to get unstuck from that initial assumption to get to the correct answer.

The bird is flying away from us banking hard right. We can see buff-orange wing linings, an orangish belly, and disinct white spots in the rectrices (a large one on each of the middle four tail feathers on each side). For those understanding photographic effect and posture, the long and forked tail were notable. There is only one ABA-area species that sports these features. The very long tail with very large white spots point to the bird being an adult male. I took this picture of an adult male Barn Swallow over Lily Lake, Cape May Point, Cape May Co., NJ, on 22 April 2011.

One respondent included an incorrect assessment of age/plumage directly in the answer, so that person's response was precluded from being correct for the competition. Please read the rules.

With this being the final quiz in the 3rd quarter, it is time to award the prize of a year's membership in the Colorado Field Ornithologists (one perk of which is receipt of the organization's excellent journal, Colorado Birds). Though it was a close-fought battle, Diane Porter pulled it out at the end with 12 correct answers (followed closely by Robert McNab and Marcel Such, each with 11 correct). Congratulations, Diane!

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Sooty Shearwater - 1
Heermann's Gull - 1

Congratulations to the 1 of 15 getting the quiz correct:
Devich Farbotnik
Tyler Bell
Kirk Huffstater
Pam Myers
Su Snyder
Diane Porter
Al Guarente
Ann Reichhardt
Bryan Guarente
George Cresswell
Barn Swallow
Josh Parks
Peter Wilkinson
Bobbie Tilmant
Christopher Hinkle
Thomas Hall
Marcel Such
Nick Komar
Chishun Kwong
Jim Nelson

Answer: Barn Swallow

Quiz #417 (2011-3-12) Solution

2011-09-19T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tyler Bell and Tony Leukering

The fact that this week's quiz bird was a tern was, perhaps, one of the reasons for the light response rate, as many/most birders are uncomfortable with tern ID. I know that it took me a long time to really work things out for the species that I see a lot, and still am very uncomfortable with the ID of a couple species that I've seen, but not really been able to study in numbers. This quiz picture allows me to discuss two aspects of ID, the one of more generality -- tern ID, the other more specific -- molt. Since Tyler Bell worked through the problem in exactly the way that I would have presented the solution (though I would have been much more wordy), we'll start with his response.

"I suppose that the two dark outer primaries are going to throw people off. If you start looking at terns with pale inner primaries and two dark outer primaries, you'll be stumped. But, it looks like the wing is in a transitional state, with P9 and P10 being irrelevant to the "normal" wing pattern depicted in field guides. The color of the bill, orange at the base and dark at the tip, and the black around the eye with the blocky shape toward the nape, are spot on for Forster's Tern."

Thanks, Tyler. Now, more words. We should notice that the two dark outer primaries are longer -- obviously so -- than the adjacent very pale primary, a feature not typical of birds. One feature that can often come into play in bird ID is actively-molting birds. Thus, knowing how many feathers are supposed to be in a particular tract -- especially the primaries -- for a given species can be most helpful in the ID process. If we count inward from the outermost primary, we should only come to nine (two dark, seven pale) before running into the chunk of grayer secondaries. Since all terns have ten primaries, we can discern that one is missing. This fact, in combo with the obvious step in primary length -- which would be partly filled if p8 weren't missing, are excellent clues that the bird is in active wing molt.

In terns, unlike the confamilial gulls, primaries get darker as they wear, rather than paler. This is because terns have a powdery bloom covering blackish primaries that wears off leaving the underlying actual dark coloration of the feathers. So, darker primaries in terns are older than are paler primaries, a very important feature of tern ID. In fact, the distinctive wedge of dark outer primaries in Common Tern is due to the fact that the inner primaries were replaced more recently than were the outer primaries; the same with the smaller wedge of darker feathers on Roseate Tern.

So, as Bryan Guarente and Tyler Bell noted, the head pattern of our quiz bird is just not found on any other ABA-area tern species. I took this picture of a molting Forster's Tern on 26 July 2011 at Cape May Point S.P., Cape May Co., NJ.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Roseate Tern - 1
Gull-billed Tern - 2

Congratulations to the 13 of 16 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Peter Wilkinson
Al Guarente
Kirk Huffstater
Patty McKelvey
George Cresswell
Pam Myers
Margie Joy
Devich Farbotnik
Marcel Such
Bryan Guarente
Diane Porter
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Forster's Tern

Quiz #416 (2011-3-11) Solution

2011-09-12T01:00:00.001-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

Respondents were split with this week's quiz bird between Empidonax flycatchers and vireos, with most opting for the latter, though with four species of vireo submitted as answers. Presumably, the thicker bill with a strong point and no yellow on the mandible and the bluish legs were features that those in the vireo camp used to arrive at that destination. Empidonax tends to black legs, with Least and Gray having decidedly black legs. The strong gray and white tones to the bird encouraged most respondents into the Plumbeous/Gray/Bell's trichotomy (Cassin's always shows yellowy-green flanks, at least), with the majority selecting the correct option. As Thomas Hall noted, "The double broken eye-ring leaves only one choice."

Yes, focusing on the face, we can see that the bird has a white supraloral area -- which all three sport to some extent -- and a very thin dark eyeline splitting the eye ring both in front and behind and creating eye arcs. Plumbeous' eye ring is split only in front and Gray's eye ring is complete. So, two breaks = Bell's; one break = Plumbeous; and zero breaks = Gray.

Steve Mlodinow took this picture of a Least Bell's Vireo near the tip of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Mexico, in March 2011.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Least Flycatcher - 1
Gray Vireo - 5
Plumbeous Vireo - 2
Gray Flycatcher - 1
Cassin's Vireo - 1

Congratulations to the 15 of 25 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Patty McKelvey
Devich Farbotnik
Diane Porter
Pam Myers
George Cresswell
Su Snyder
Josh Parks
Christian Nunes
Jim Nelson
Peter Wilkinson
Thomas Hall
Robert McNab
Marcel Such
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Bell's Vireo

Quiz #415 (2011-3-10) Solution

2011-09-05T01:00:00.001-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Peter Wilkinson and Tony Leukering

While all respondents agreed that this week's quiz bird was a raptor, there was wide disagreement as to exactly which species, which is a common theme of this quiz and of birding. Raptors are not well-known, particularly perched ones. Peter Wilkinson submitted an excellent answer, with which I'll start this solution.

"Ah, a bird of prey (those feet, that bill), but from an unusual angle (to say the least). The basic clues we have are tail shape and pattern, the colour of the underparts, and the pattern of some wing coverts on the left wing, which are, fortunately, enough to go on. The tail is extremely useful. The shape of the individual feathers makes it clear that the bird is a buteo of some sort. Then there is the pattern of a large number of wide pale bars separated by thin dark bars, with no obvious broader dark sub-terminal bar (though one should probably not bet too hard on that). Fortunately, many of the buteos show quite distinctive tail patterns and the only real candidates showing such a pattern are juvenile Swainson's and Red-tailed hawks. Given the colour morphs of both species and the variety of subspecies of Red-tailed the underparts are probably not going to help us much, though it has to be said that what we can see is classic for pale-morph Red-tails. Fortunately, there is a clincher. We can see just enough of some wing coverts on the left wing to make out that they are barred. These are diagnostic of Red-tail, being plain in Swainson's."

Chishun Kwong used an old saw to get to the correct answer -- it's surprising how often it works!

"This week's quiz bird is a Red-tailed Hawk, because every hawk (well, buteo anyway) is a Red-tailed Hawk until proven otherwise, and I can't."

I would like to reiterate a point that Peter made: tail pattern rules out most ABA-area buteos. Additionally, Red-shouldered Hawk never has this pale of a throat, not such white underparts. Juvenile Broad-winged Hawks with breasts this unmarked would also have the rest of the underparts mostly unmarked. Juvenile Swainson's Hawks are exceedingly variable in appearance, but they tend to cream-colored of buffy ground color on the underparts, except when quite worn and bleached, a time at which birds with bright white chests also sport fairly white heads. If one found oneself in the falcon camp (though, as Peter noted, the width of the individual tail feathers rules out that option), Prairie Falcon shows streaks (juveniles) or spots (adults) on the underparts, not broad bars. Finally, the pale throat, distinct belly band, dark auriculars, and nearly unmarked leggings point to the widespread eastern subspecies borealis.

One respondent got the species correct, but proposed an incorrect estimation of form directly in the answer, so was considered incorrect (please read the rules!). Steve Mlodinow took this picture of a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk at Boulder, Boulder Co., CO, in April 2011.

With three quizzes to go in the quarter, the competition leader board is headed by Robert McNab and Diane Porter with 9 correct responses.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Krider's Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Prairie Falcon - 1
Osprey - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 3
Swainson's Hawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1

Congratulations to the 15 of 23 getting the quiz correct:
Nick Komar
Devich Farbotnik
Ira Sanders
Tammy Sanders
Dave Elwonger
Al Guarente
Su Snyder
Diane Porter
Pam Myers
Thomas Hall
Kirk Huffstater
Robert McNab
Peter Wilkinson
Chuck Carlson
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Red-tailed Hawk

Quiz #414 (2011-3-09) Solution

2011-08-29T01:00:00.004-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.
Respondents need identify only the flying birds; an extra bonus point will be given to those with the correct ID of the swimming bird; no penalty is attached to incorrect attempts at that ID.

Solution by Tony Leukering

Though I usually avoid such for this venue, the hidden bird in this week's quiz is right in the middle and not hiding at all. Of course, the posture of the bird does not allow much in the way of showing off ID characters, but there is enough to go on. So, before you read further, go ogle the picture to see if you can find the hidden bird.

Most of the birds in the picture are readily identifiable to a particular species, as they sport the distinct white wedge in the outer wing, black tips to the outer and middle primaries, and pale gray upperparts of Bonaparte's Gulls. Please note that though a bird here and there may seem to exhibit dark on the underwing, that is all an artifact of shading; none of the small gulls are Black-headed Gulls. At least seven of the birds show the black robber's mask, uncontrasting pale wingtip, and/or the narrower-winged look of basic-plumaged Forster's Terns, with all seven of those birds being in the left half of the photo. Note also that all of the terns are smaller and more pointier-winged than are the Bonaparte's Gulls.

Skipping ahead, the caveat with the quiz photo asks for the identity of the one swimming bird, but with no penalty for incorrect responses. That is because the bird is out of focus and large white-headed gulls are hard enough to ID without an out-of-focus and small image. However, I believe that the whitish head on an obviously immature bird in winter, the extensively black and large bill, and the fairly short wingtips all point to Great Black-backed Gull. In fact, I know that is the correct ID, as I took the picture in my back yard in Villas, Cape May Co., NJ, on 1 March 2011.

Now, on to the hidden bird right in the middle. Below, I have cropped and enlarged the middle section of the quiz that includes the swimming bird and the hidden bird. The hidden bird is not all that hidden. I have indicated three Forster's Terns (FOTE) in the left side. Note the bird smack dab in the middle that is small and pale like a Forster's Tern, but with wingtips that are even more rounded than on the Bonaparte's Gulls. Also note that there is no contrasting white wedge in the wingtip, as shown by the Bonaparte's Gulls, and the fairly short tail. This combination of features allows us to identify the beast as an adult Little Gull (LIGU). Ross's Gull is ruled out by the tail length and shape.

This picture points out one of the items that I stressed in the gull-ID workshops that I gave in Colorado: Identify every individual; don't assume that all birds in a flock are of the same species.

Ten respondents provided no incorrect species for the flying birds, but did not provide enough correct answers, with most of those missing the Little Gull. Interestingly enough, one of them missed the Forster's Terns, but I do congratulate that respondent for finding and correctly identifying the Little Gull! Excellent work, there! Five respondents got the extra-credit question correct.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Black-headed Gull - 3
Gull-billed Tern - 1

Congratulations to the 1 of 15 getting the quiz correct:
Devich Farbotnik (who also got all fours species correct)

Answer: Bonaparte's Gull, Little Gull, Forster's Tern with Great Black-backed Gull

Quiz #413 (2011-3-08) Solution

2011-08-22T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Bryan Guarente and Tony Leukering

I am quite pleased with the responses this week, as at least three included mention of the field mark that this quiz photo was attempting to point out. This week's quiz bird, with its extensive black on chin, throat, and upper breast; bright yellow face; and distinct black streaking on the sides should take us straight to the Parulidae. This combo of characters should also tell us that the bird is in alternate plumage and must be a male. From there, I will let Bryan Guarente's words take us down the ID track for a bit.

"The possibilities are Black-throated Green, Townsend's, and Golden-cheeked warblers. Where to go from here? I initially went to the face as lots of birders do and there noted a thin, black eyeline. That feature cuts out Townsend's Warbler, which has a more extensively black face. However, we don't even need to do that, as we can head toward the other end of the bird for our answer. Most warblers can be identified by looking at the tail area. In this case, the vent, the feathers around the part that would vent any gases. (I don't get to use that joke very often, so I had take advantage of the opportunity.) These feathers are tinged yellow, which clinches the ID: Black-throated Green Warbler is the only one of the warblers in our list that sports this characteristic."

Bryan is correct about the yellow vent strap in Black-throated Green Warbler, an excellent field character in all post-juvenal plumages of the species, and one that even many experienced birders don't know. Other characters that rule out the other species of the virens complex species include the bit of yellow below the bib (rules out Golden-cheeked and Hermit warblers), the streaking on the sides is much too extensive for Hermit Warbler, and the lack of dark streaking on the undertail coverts rules out Townsen's Warbler. Note that this individual is readily identified with multiple characters south of the legs.

I took this picture of an adult male Black-throated Green Warbler at the recently renamed Cox Hall Creek WMA (formerly Villas WMA), Cape May Co., NJ, on 1 May 2011.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Golden-cheeked Warbler - 1

Congratulations to the 18 of 19 getting the quiz correct:
Thomas Hall
Dave Elwonger
Chuck Carlson
Kirk Huffstater
George Cresswell
Burke Angstman
Tyler Bell
Margie Joy
Robert McNab
Pam Myers
Al Guarente
Chishun Kwong
Diane Porter
Su Snyder
Christopher Hinkle
Peter Wilkinson
Marcel Such
Bryan Guarente

Answer: Black-throated Green Warbler

Quiz #412 (2011-3-07) Solution

2011-08-15T01:00:00.005-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

Once again I neglected to put in the intended caveat with a quiz picture, so I suspect that one of the five birds present scared some number of people away from responding to the quiz. Four of the birds were apparently thought to be quite easy, as no respondent missed them, what with the obvious black on the bellies and the bright bubble-gum-pink legs. However, three respondents neglected the second hyphen in "Black-bellied Whistling-Duck," so their answers were precluded from being correct for the competition.

I received answers claiming that fifth bird as Gadwall, Mallard, Mottled Duck, Northern Shoveler, Cinnamon Teal, and Blue-winged Teal, though a number of respondents did not even try (or, perhaps, did not think it a different species). However, I had intended to provide the caveat that respondents need not attempt ID of the bird lacking bright pink legs, but that bonus points would be awarded for its correct ID with no penalty for incorrect answers. Though I forgot it, I scored things as if I hadn't, giving one bonus point for the one respondent getting the ID to the wrong one of a tricky species pair (particularly tricky given this view) and two bonus points for the correct answer, because I didn't really see much in the way of definitive features to separate the two species here.

On the tricky bird, the belly is just too pale to be one of the dark Mallard-like dabblers and lacks a white tail, so Mallard and Northern Shoveler are eliminated from consideration. As the bird is noticeably smaller than the whistling-ducks, that, too, would rule out the Mallards and Mallard-like species and provide at least one strike against Gadwall, wigeons, and Northern Pintail. The extensive spotting on the belly provides the other two strikes against the wigeons and another strike each against Gadwall and Northern Pintail. The pattern on the flank feathers sends both Gadwall and Northern Pintail back to the dugout, as both species have more complex patterns there. Just to add insult to striking out, the quiz bird's squarish tail is a fourth strike and the leg color a fifth strike against an ID of Northern Pintail, which has a pointed tail and dark legs.

The bird lacks the distinctive pale wedge on the side of the undertail coverts that is so distinctive of Green-winged Teal, nor does that species have orangish legs. That leaves us, among the common ABA-area dabbling ducks, with that tricky duo, Cinnamon and Blue-winged teal. Though Cinnamon Teal averages warmer-colored and less-distinct markings on the belly and undertail coverts, I'm not convinced that the feature is diagnostic at the colder, more-distinct end of things, but I do know that the bird was not a Cinnamon Teal.

Doug Gochfeld took this picture of four Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks and one Blue-winged Teal at the South Cape May Meadows, Cape May Co., NJ, on 19 September 2010. Particular congratulations to Christian Nunes for getting both species correct, even if it was just "a gut reaction."

Incorrect species provided as answers:
none

Congratulations to the 16 of 16 getting the quiz correct:
Al Guarente
Tyler Bell
Pam Myers
Su Snyder
George Cresswell
Thomas Hall
Kirk Huffstater
Margie Joy
Diane Porter
Peter Wilkinson
Robert McNab
Joe Bens
Christian Nunes
Marcel Such
Chishun Kwong
Bryan Guarente

Answer: Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Blue-winged Teal

Quiz #411 (2011-3-06) Solution

2011-08-08T01:00:00.005-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Bryan Guarente and Tony Leukering

Bryan Guarente supplied a good answer, so I'll start with that.

"In a Birding photo quiz, our CFO quizmaster has gone over what I think is this set of confusing juvenile sparrows. The bird is a sparrow as indicated by the pink legs, longish tail, and generally brownish tones. It is a juvenile as indicated by the streaking on the chest. The crispness of the streaking also lends one to believe this is an early-season bird. The Spizella sparrows (Chipping, Clay-colored, and Brewer's) and Cassin's Sparrow seem to fit the bill, as is mentioned in the solution from Leukering's Birding photo quiz answer.

Cassin's Sparrow would have a rounded tail unlike our bird's notched tail (note the central tail feathers are shorter than the outer tail feathers). It would also sport large dark centers on the scapulars which our quiz bird does not sport. We're down to the three options.

"By habitat, one might expect this to be Chipping Sparrow with a lesser probability of Clay-colored Sparrow. Brewer's seems to choose sagebrush or low willows above treeline depending on the subspecies. This oak microhabitat is at odds with the normal habitat of Brewer's so I may be willing to drop that, but I think there is more to go on. I was hoping I could go farther and find out that the oak in the picture is one of an eastern species, but to my chagrin, I believe it is a Gambel Oak (Quercus gambelli), the only lobed oak native to the southern Rocky Mountains. That didn't seem to help much and put me back in the Brewer's Sparrow and Chipping Sparrow hole, due to range considerations.

"The overall colors on our quiz bird are rather bright. This is not necessarily due to photographic effects since some of the leaves are overexposed which would make one expect the bird to be overexposed as well dulling the colors. Clay-colored and Brewer's both typically show duller colors than our quiz bird which shows bright reddish brown tones, which seems to point again to Chipping Sparrow. The eye stripe is rather dark which is said to be good for Chipping Sparrow, but I am uncomfortable with that since the rest of the facial pattern doesn't seem to show the markings I would expect of a juvenile Chipping Sparrow.

"At this point, I usually have found a solution to the problem and can give a solid answer. This time, I am hopping all over the place. Should I just go with Spizella and leave it at that? Why is it such a struggle to just leave a bird as unidentified?

"I think about what I am doing to identify this bird and find myself weighing the identification characteristics that I have already mentioned. The notched tail, chest streaking, and facial and crown pattern should put this bird squarely in Spizella. After that, I feel like the color of the bird sticks out as the most important factor. The eye stripe is, to a lesser extent, important. The habitat can always be tricky, seeing as Chipping Sparrows are migrating now through the state and can seemingly be anywhere, habitat-wise. I don't have as much experience with Brewer's and Clay-colored on migration, but assume (yeah there is that word) they act similarly, migrating early and working all sorts of different habitats."

Thanks, Bryan, for showing us all that hunches can play a part in correct identifications, but only with experience. The eyeline, however, is one of the key features to get us to the correct ID of Chipping Sparrow, once we've gotten into Spizella, that is. It really does eliminate all congeners. American Tree Sparrow is ruled out by the presence of oak in the picture, as that species molts out of first basic (=juvenal) plumage before migration. Additionally, one would be hard-pressed to find a juvenal-plumaged American Tree Sparrow in a green- and lobe-leaved oak, much less a Gambel Oak. Finally, the quiz subject sports rufous-fringed scaps that similarly-plumaged Vesper Sparrows don't have and even juvenal-plumaged Vesper Sparrows exhibit a more complex facial pattern than shown by our quiz bird. Glenn Walbek took this picture of a juvenal-plumaged Chipping Sparrow in Castle Rock, Douglas Co., CO, in July 2007.

With just about half the quarter gone, Robert McNab, Diane Porter, and Marcel Such are tied at the top of the leader board with perfect 6-for-6 scores.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
White-crowned Sparrow - 1
American Tree Sparrow 2
Vesper Sparrow - 3
Brewer's Sparrow - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 1

Congratulations to the 11 of 19 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Thomas Hall
Ira Sanders
Tammy Sanders
Adrian Hinkle
Christian Nunes
Pam Myers
Christopher Hinkle
Marcel Such
Diane Porter
Bryan Guarente
Answer: Chipping Sparrow

Quiz #410 (2011-3-05) Solution

2011-08-01T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Margie Joy and Tony Leukering

Margie Joy provided a fairly in-depth answer, so we'll start with her words.

"After attempting to sort out the dramatic pose and determining that the bird is upside down, I can see that this quiz bird shows the bold black-and-white underwing pattern of Swallow-tailed Kite (and a few other birds), with some additional clues as to its ID. Those distinctively-patterned wings are pointed and slightly kinked, with a straight trailing edge. The body and undertail coverts are white. The head is in heavy shadow and looks like it is bent back so that I am looking at the throat and the underside of the bill, which could be short and dark if I’m seeing it right. Or, maybe the head is swiveled around so that I am looking at the top of the bill and the eye. I cannot really tell for sure; messing with it in Photoshop doesn’t really help. Either way, I’m going for a white head with a short dark bill. The tail is black with long outer feathers, leading me to think that it’s forked, although I can’t really see enough of it to be certain. The fork doesn’t look as deep as field guide illustrations (all in normal positions) show, but this could be a young bird or maybe it’s just the perspective. The legs are short and gray, with darker feet. These marks fit with my guess of Swallow-tailed Kite, unless I’m missing something really obvious."

Indeed, Margie, you are not missing anything, and your second thought about the tail is correct: it is spread wide in the severe maneuver that the bird is conducting, thus reducing the apparent deepness of the fork. I took this picture of a Swallow-tailed Kite in West Cape May, Cape May Co., NJ, on 29 April 2011.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
none

Congratulations to the 19 of 19 getting the quiz correct:
Peter Wilkinson
Thomas Hall
Kirk Huffstater
Al Guarente
Tyler Bell
Adrian Hinkle
Robert McNab
Christian Nunes
George Cresswell
Chuck Carlson
Pam Myers
Margie Joy
Su Snyder
Bryan Guarente
Christopher Hinkle
Diane Porter
Shane Blodgett
Marcel Such
Joel Such

Answer: Swallow-tailed Kite

Quiz #409 (2011-3-04) Solution

2011-07-25T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

The flock of herons in this week's quiz photo are obviously poorly lit -- perhaps due to the lateness of the day, though the upperparts of various of the individuals are well-lit enough that we might take the apparent dark color as representing reality, particularly the lead bird in the bottom row. There also appears to be little or no difference in structure across the flock, so we might be dealing with only one species. In addition to the overall darkness of the upperparts of various of the birds, the first and last birds of the five in the bottom row show a distinct lack of coverts-remiges contrast, suggesting that our birds are not very poorly-lit Great Blue Herons showing no paleness on the head. That is because that species shows strong contrast between its blackish remiges and medium blue-gray median and lesser coverts, as does Gray Heron. Additionally, the long-necked Ardea herons have a distinct and obvious bulge hanging below the front of the body, which is the coiled neck -- much like that of Great Egret and different from all the medium-sized herons, with Reddish Egret being somewhat intermediate in this respect. However, given the uniformity of size and shape in the flock and the near-lack of any dangling of neck in some of the birds, Reddish Egret is probably also ruled out. The legs are simply too long for these birds to be Green Herons or any species of night-heron.

The above should mean that we have our solution, but let's deal with a few plumage and soft-parts color aspects. Reddish Egret has medium-toned plumage on the head and neck, pale facial skin, and a pale basal half or so to the bill, the last contrasting with a distinctly black bill tip. Our quiz birds show neither the neck/body color-tone contrast, nor the one on the bill. The bellies are obviously not white, nor are the chins, ruling out Tricolored Heron and Western Reef-Heron, respectively. Additionally, there is no underwing contrast that is so typical of Tricolored Heron. Finally, the middle bird of the left column of three and the one immediately behind it both have a strong suggestion of blue on the front of the head, either the facial skin or the base of the bill , and that provides any final clincher that we might need. Rachel Hopper took this picture of 12 adult Little Blue Herons at Tulum, Quintana Roo (keen-tah-nah row-oh), Mexico, on 11 March 2011.

Three respondents provided answers in the plural form: "___ Herons." Since official names of species are not plural (except for things like 'yellowlegs'), the two responses with the correct species were precluded from being correct for the competition; the other response presented an incorrect species.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Green Heron - 1
Great Blue Heron - 2
Reddish Egret - 1

Congratulations to the 16 of 20 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Tyler Bell
Pam Myers
George Cresswell
Al Guarente
Adrian Hinkle
Margie Joy
Thomas Hall
Ali Iyoob
Su Snyder
Kirk Huffstater
Chuck Carlson
Joe Bens
Diane Porter
Marcel Such
Joel Such

Answer: Little Blue Heron

Quiz #408 (2011-3-03) Solution

2011-07-18T01:00:00.005-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

This week's quiz bird has both colors, black and white (apologies to "The Blues Brothers"). While there is a good variety of birds that have black or blackish bodies and black-and-white wings, the precise distribution of the black and the white on the underside of the wing is the critical factor in this quiz.

What we can see of the torso of the quiz bird is entirely black, as is the tail; the wing linings are entirely white. Additionally, no feet are visible. Thus, while not necessarily definitive, California Condor (and its big, pale feet) is probably ruled out. In fact, the only two options with these considerations are the two species most-frequently provided as answers by respondents: Muscovy Duck and Pileated Woodpecker. However, let me point out a feature that one of these two camps did not note: the remiges are only MOSTLY black -- please note the adverb!

The brighter white bits on the bird's right wing are the bases of the inner primaries, which, if we could see such in this picture, would show from above as a basal-primary patch of white. The whiteness is due to the fact that there are no other feathers betweeen that white and the sun, while the wing lining white is duller and grayer because the sun is not shining through that white due to the opacity of the intervening bits (skin, muscle, topside feathers). The brightness of the white on the left wing is due to the fact that it is facing the sun and being directly lit.

So, the upshot is that this basal-primary patch is something that the duck does not sport; nor does California Condor, which shows a basal-secondary patch of white. Steve Mlodinow took this picture of a Pileated Woodpecker in February 2011 in Monroe, Snohomish Co., WA.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Swallow-tailed Kite - 1
Muscovy Duck - 4
California Condor - 1

Congratulations to the 12 of 19 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Christian Nunes
Su Snyder
Adrian Hinkle
Al Guarente
Kirk Huffstater
Robert McNab
Christopher Hinkle
Diane Porter
Nick Komar
Marcel Such
Joel Such

Answer: Pileated Woodpecker

Quiz #407 (2011-3-02) Solution

2011-07-11T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

What an odd-looking bird. The extreme patchiness and irregularity of the white bits suggest an abnomality of plumage in this week's quiz bird -- a good time to rely on our understanding of structure and posture! And, of course, the "good" field marks that we can see.

Before heading down the solution road, I want to state that this bird is not an albino, nor is it a "partial albino," which is an impossibility. For a fuller explanation of those terms and others, one might check out the 5 December 2010 post on the Cape May blog (you will have to scroll down to the date).

The bird is standing on the ground with head held a bit above horizontal. What isn't white on the head is black and the medium-length bill is a bright orange-yellow. The upper chest has some rusty or maroon color, as do the feathers on the upper leg. The non-white bits of the upperparts are all gray and what is not white in the tail looks black. The one leg that we can see is an odd, pasty bluish-white color, but the eye that we can see is dark. The bird has a fairly long primary projection (extension of the wingtip beyond the tip of the longest tertial) and the wingtip falls beyond the tips of the uppertail coverts -- so, a fairly long wing, particularly considering that the tail is not short.

The structure and posture point to a thrush of some sort, and the overall coloration (sans the white bits) sends us to the genus Turdus. While the bill looks orange enough to be that of Rufous-backed Robin, that species does not sport our quiz bird's black head or tail, and, obviously, has a rufous back. (As an aside, why did the AOU exempt only this species and American Robin from the recent change from "Robin" to "Thrush?" Rufous-backed Robin is not even the second-most common Turdus in the ABA area! Clay-colored Thrush is and it breeds in the ABA area!) Fieldfare does have a black tail, but also exhibits a gray head and brown back, and lacks rusty on the leg feathers. Redwing has grayish-brown upperparts (including head and tail) and lacks rusty on both the upper breast and the leg feathers.

So, nothing for it but to go with what was probably the obvious answer to most. Steve Mlodinow took this picture of a piebald American Robin at Drake Lake, Boulder Co., CO, in April 2011. I will leave to the reader to determine which form of leucism is expressed in this interesting bird (see cited blog, above).

One response lacked capitalization of "robin" and another included an incorrect guess as to the condition of the bird directly in the answer; both responses were precluded from being considered correct for the competition.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
none

Congratulations to the 22 of 22 getting the quiz correct:
Su Snyder
Tyler Bell
Thomas Hall
Robert McNab
Al Guarente
Bryan Guarente
Chuck Carlson
Pam Myers
Joel Such
George Cresswell
Marcel Such
Ali Iyoob
Peter Wilkinson
Julie Rouse
Margie Joy
Diane Porter
Margaret Smith
Chishun Kwong
Burke Angstman
jody1310 (Please provide your full name when submitting responses to the quiz)
Kirk Huffstater
Joe Bens

Answer: American Robin

Quiz #406 (2011-3-01) Solution

2011-07-04T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

While the lighting on this week's quiz subject might make for tricky analysis of color, there really is little other than black visible in the bird's plumage. With the strongly-fingered hands, this must be a large and soaring bird. The bird's head appears slightly paler in color than the plumage and much of the bill looks to be paler than the head, in addition to the bill looking fairly thin. Finally, the outer six primaries seem to be a bit paler than the rest of the wing plumage.

While ravens do soar, they never sport the number and length of fingers visible here. While Snail Kites have fairly round wings, they don't sport the very wide and squared-off wings of our quiz bird, nor does the species sport that many fingers. Additionally, if the quiz bird were of that species, the plumage would require the bird to be an adult male, which sports an orange-red bill. Hook-billed Kite does sport very rounded/square wingtips and does come in a dark morph, but the base of the bill is pale (rather than the tip) and it has pale eyes. Juvenile California Condors have nearly entirely dark plumage and paler heads, but the tip of the bill is the darkest part of the bill and the bill is thick.

The angle of light on our quiz bird, as noted above, is tricky, with the underside of the wing being entirely shadowed, with the sun above and to the bird's right and with the right wing nearly edge-on to the sun. This means that the extensively white outer six primaries don't show up as white as they might have had we been looking up at those wingtips with the light coming through them. So, regardless of whether or not there are those that disagree with my assessments in the previous paragraph, the fact that the bird's outer six primaries are noticeably paler than the rest of the wing plumage really leaves us only one ID option. I took this picture of an adult Black Vulture over West Cape May, Cape May Co., NJ, in spring 2011.

One respondent's answer was precluded from being correct for the competition, as a guess on age was included directly in the answer with the species name ("young Black Vulture"). As I can demonstrate with the head being paler than the body plumage and the bill mostly paler than the head that it is an adult.... Another respondent's species answer lacked all capitalization and punctuation, so even if correct, would have been precluded from being correct for the competition. PLEASE READ THE RULES.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
California Condor - 4
Golden Eagle- 1
Zone-tailed Hawk - 1
Turkey Vulture - 1
Common Raven - 1
Snail Kite - 1

Congratulations to the 8 of 17 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Margie Joy
Ali Iyoob
Al Guarente
Robert McNab
Chishun Kwong
Diane Porter
Marcel Such

Answer: Black Vulture

Quiz #405 (2011-2-13) Solution

2011-06-27T01:00:00.004-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

From Chishun Kwong: "This is probably the hardest-to-spell set of names in all the answers I've submitted over the years. ;)"

Perhaps, instead of "The one species of cormorant present is truly pelagic," I should have had the caveat put up with the quiz picture read The sole species of cormorant present is truly pelagic. I apologize for not anticipating my caveat being misunderstood, as it obviously was. That caveat/hint was to serve two purposes, one of which was to let folks know that there was only one species of cormorant in the picture. I did this primarily because at least three of the cormorants are represented only by heads or just a bit more than heads.

This quiz picture also has two bits of birds that I consider unidentifiable: the white blob in the middle of the row of swimming birds (if it's even a bit of a bird) and the brown thing on the right end of that row. While the latter might be a shearwater, it could be something else entirely. Or, rather, some part of something else entirely, and I do not believe that that something else is at all definitively identifiable.

As far as identifiable birds, I'll start with the bird in the front of the picture, in the bottom right. The combination of orange bill, white facial stripes, all-dark wings, rotund body, white belly and vent, and -- oh -- the erect white "horn" between eye and bill leaves only Rhinoceros Auklet as a viable ID option.

While one respondent, from the wording of the response, would obviously quibble with my meaning behind the phrase "truly pelagic," I intended that phrase to mean that it is regularly found very far out at sea, unlike most cormorants, which tend to stick fairly close to land. It is a widespread birding joke on the West Coast that Pelagic Cormorant is the least-pelagic cormorant along the West Coast, typically not venturing far from land -- though that land may be an island fairly far offshore (e.g., Southeast Farallon Island, CA). The "truly pelagic" cormorant that I was hinting at is Brandt's Cormorant, a species that is regularly seen >30 miles from land. The two book-end cormorants show the buff-yellow patch of color at the gular that is so typical of the species and the other bits and bobs of cormorants are all Brandt's -- at least, they were when I took the picture well off Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Co., CA, on 1 March 2009. While a couple of the heads seem to be smaller and/or with smaller bills, I believe that to be illusion, at least partially due to the varying angles of the heads relative to the camera. Also, Pelagic Cormorant always strikes me as odd-looking, because the bill looks like it doesn't belong to the head, it's just been shoved into it. That is, the front part of the head does not taper at all to the bill -- there's a head, then, suddenly, a sticky-out thing poking out of the head. Regardless, while I'm positive that all the cormorants were Brandt's when I took the picture, some may not actually be definitively identifiable given this single view.

The last species present is just about my favorite gull, Heermann's Gull (and there are three of 'em), as evidenced by the orange-red bills, dusky to whitish heads, very dark upperparts plumage, and underparts plumage a variable shade of gray.

Two respondents got no incorrect species, but did not provide enough correct ones.

With this being the last quiz of the quarter, it is time to announce the winner of the quarterly competition. In a stunning come-from-behind victory, Chishun Kwong eked out a win by one bonus point over Christopher Hinkle, both of whom scored 11 correct answers during the quarter. Six others were one correct answer behind. Congratulations to Chishun for winning a year's membership to the Colorado Field Ornithologists!

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Sooty Shearwater - 2
Pelagic Cormorant - 5
Pink-footed Shearwater - 2

Congratulations to the 6 of 15 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Joel Such
Chishun Kwong
Marcel Such
Su Snyder
Bryan Guarente

Answer: Brandt's Cormorant, Heermann's Gull, Rhinoceros Auklet

Quiz #404 (2011-2-12) Solution

2011-06-20T01:00:00.006-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

Of the respondents that provided a second species in their answers, six of 13 got that second species correct. Unfortunately, seven respondents provided only one species in their answers. The obvious species was determined by most to be a falcon, with most respondents using the overall darkness, the relatively rounded wingtip, and the wide dark subterminal tail band to ID it as a Merlin. I have used Merlin as a quiz bird at least five times so far (out of the ~300 quizzes that I've conducted in this venue) and at least once before, the Merlin was carrying a prey item captured at or near Cape May Point State Park, Cape May Co., NJ (this one in fall 2010, but as I'm having trouble with an external hard drive, I cannot get the date right now). The previous example, Quiz #276, was carrying a Tree Swallow that I saw the Merlin catch. This one, however, came in off the water shortly after sunrise carrying the hapless victim and I photographed it primarily to attempt ID of the prey item.

Many respondents thought that the prey item was a swallow, but looking closely should provide all the characters needed to correctly ID it... as long as one correctly determines the position in which the bird is being carried. The bird's upperparts are against the Merlin's belly, so we're looking at the underparts, and that long, black tail below the bright rufous vent is really all we need to see (though the distinct black crown contrasting with gray on most of the rest of the plumage is also helpful) that the prey item is a Gray Catbird. I have provided, below, an enlarged section of the quiz image that illustrates the points noted above.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
American Kestrel (presumably; the 2nd word was missing) - 1
Barn Swallow - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Violet-green Swallow - 2
Cave Swallow - 1
Cliff Swallow - 2

Congratulations to the 6 of 21 getting the quiz correct:
Christopher Hinkle
Adrian Hinkle
Devich Farbotnik
Christian Nunes
Ali Iyoob
Bryan Guarente

Answer: Merlin, Gray Catbird

Quiz #403 (2011-2-11) Solution

2011-06-13T01:00:00.004-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Peter Wilkinson and Tony Leukering

As Peter Wilkinson wrote: "Ah, a small buteo (that is, smaller than Swainson's)." Though raptors, in general, provide lots of angst for birders, perhaps none but the accipiters provide more than the small buteos. This week's selection of responses proved the case, as only 50% of respondents got the correct answer. As Peter Wilkinson provided a fairly thorough answer, we'll start with his words. Remember, he's a Brit and does not get a lot of practical experience with ABA-area small buteos.

"The larger buteos are ruled out by wing/tail ratio and Swainson's itself is ruled out by the wings not being pointed enough. That leaves Gray, Red-shouldered, Broad-winged, and Short-tailed. Gray can be ruled out by the lack of barring on the thighs and Short-tailed has a completely different underwing pattern, leaving us Red-shouldered and Broad-winged. Juveniles of these species can look rather similar. The classic translucent panel on the primaries of Red-shouldered (which this bird appears to show) can be mimicked by the effects of the moult of second-calendar-year Broad-wingeds, and this bird hass clearly started its primary moult. Fortunately, they can be separated by the tail-barring (more in Red-shouldered, less in Broad-winged) and the number of fingers (5 in Red-shouldered, 4 in Broad-winged)."

Thanks, Peter. I'd like to expand upon Peter's words just a bit. Juvenile Swainson's Hawks do not sport a translucent panel, which our quiz bird exhibits, though it has been reduced in breadth by the dropping of four inner primaries on each side and the growth of two adult inner primaries on each side. In fact, those replaced primaries make as good a case as any against Swainson's Hawk as they are not dark enough and are too-obviously banded. They also make a strong case against Gray Hawk, as adult Gray Hawks have a thin subterminal black band, not the wide virtually-terminal band on our quiz bird. Additionally, juvenile Gray Hawks tend not to sport the wrist commas of our quiz bird (created by individual spots on the underside primary coverts) and have rounder wingtips, with the longest primary not all that much longer than the outermost primary. Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawks have generally dark throats; even Florida juvs would show more dark here than does our quiz bird.

The quiz picture of a molting one-year-old Broad-winged Hawk was taken by Debbie Barnes at Fountain Creek Regional Park, El Paso Co., CO, on 28 May 2007.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Gray Hawk - 4
Swainson's Hawk - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2

Congratulations to the 9 of 18 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Thomas Hall
Pam Myers
Margie Joy
Su Snyder
Peter Wilkinson
Robert McNab
Diane Porter
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Broad-winged Hawk)

Quiz #402 (2011-2-10) Solution

2011-06-06T01:00:00.006-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

A large (in relation to vegetation) dark bird with a black head; dark gray upperparts; black tail; wide, white trailing edge to secondaries; and feet trailing past tail tip when in flight can really only be a coot. The ABA-area has records for two species, with one being widespread (American) and the other being exceedingly rare (Eurasian). The key characters to separate these two species are all not visible or not discernable with this view: wing chord (a measure of wing length), bill ring (presence or absence), presence of yellowish or reddish tip to frontal shield, eye color, and color of undertail coverts. Unless I am missing something, providing a definitive solution to this quiz is impossible. However, given that the picture was taken at Everett, Snohomish Co., WA (in February 2011 by Steve Mlodinow), we can guess with fair assuredness that it is an American Coot. However, I would have accepted Eurasian Coot as a correct answer, had it been submitted.

Addendum on 18 July: Peter Wilkinson (one of the regular respondents to the CFP Photo Quiz) has written to tell me that Eurasian Coot can probably be ruled out by the extent of white on the trailing edge of the secondaries -- Eurasian's white is much thinner and less noticeable.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Buller's Shearwater - 1

Congratulations to the 18 of 19 getting the quiz correct:
Su Snyder
Robert McNab
Tyler Bell
George Cresswell
Peter Wilkinson
Pam Myers
Margie Joy
Ali Iyoob
Tom Wilberding
Marcel Such
Joel Such
Devich Farbotnik
Chishun Kwong
Christopher Hinkle
Adrian Hinkle
Joe Bens
Bryan Guarente
Nick Komar

Answer: American Coot

Quiz #401 (2011-2-09) Solution

2011-05-30T01:00:00.005-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

The answer to this week's quiz photo is "delayed plumage maturation." If you are confused, it is because you might not have known that the question was "What is the cause of this apparent intermediate plumage in a male Hooded Merganser?"

As is true for all ABA-area merganser species, Hooded Merganser exhibits delayed plumage maturation: males do not molt into definitive plumage in their first calendar year. As in many species of diving ducks (but very few dabbling ducks), transition in males from juvenal (= first basic) plumage to definitive (adult) plumage is quite variable in speed and timing. Additionally, some changes in hormone levels can cause changes in the appearance of feathers grown during this molt, even in individual tracts of feathers, if hormone levels change during the molt. This can result in more-adult-like feathers to be grown adjacent to less-adult-like feathers produced in the same molt.

How these two variables -- molt timing and hormone levels -- have combined to produce our quiz bird's odd plumage will certainly never be known, but the only other real possibility is a hybrid diving duck; probably one involving Hooded Merganser. Though Hooded Merganser is known or suspected to have hybridized with six other species of ducks (including two species of dabbling ducks; see Pyle, P. 2008. Identification Guide to North American Birds, vol. II, page 151), the most frequent such hybridization known is with Common Goldeneye. Such hybrids are well known and are found with some frequency in Colorado, though that frequency is something less than 1/year. Less well-known, but still of more than extremely rare occurrence, is hybridization with Barrow's Goldeneye and Bufflehead.

The extensive black on the head, neck, and upperparts indicate that our quiz bird is a male, as does the extensive white behind the eye. However, the sides are gray-brown and the tertials are not the long black-and-white feathers that male Hooded Mergansers sport in basic plumage. Though there has been little replacement of underparts feathers, we can see the beginning of the two black vertical stripes on the upper side of the chest of male Hooded Merganser.

If we wish to entertain hybrid options, we need to find some plumage or structure feature that is not present in any male Hooded Merganser. Our bird's bill is thin and longish like that of Hooded Merganser, without any widening and flattening that we might have expected with any Bucephala genes being admixed in the genome. Additionally, our bird's eye is yellow as in Hooded Merganser and the two goldeneye species, but unlike the dark eyes of Bufflehead. The tail is dark gray like that of Hooded Merganser, unlike the paler gray of Bufflehead and the black of the two goldeneye species. Finally, there is no suggestion of iridescence on the head that would be present on all three Bucephala ducks and no white before the eye, as in goldeneyes.

So, with no particularly anomalous features, our quiz bird must be simply an oddly-plumaged Hooded Merganser that was deftly noted and photographed in mid-February 2010 by Mary Keithler at South Platte Park, Jefferson Co., CO.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Ring-necked Duck x Hooded Merganser - 2
Eared Grebe - 1
Bufflehead x Hooded Merganser - 1

Congratulations to the 23 of 27 getting the quiz correct:
Pam Myers
Margie Joy
Tyler Bell
Margaret Smith
Jim Kopitzke
Adrian Hinkle
Christopher Hinkle
Peter Wilkinson
Kirk Huffstater
Christian Nunes
Nick Komar
Diane Porter
George Cresswell
Barbara Deneen
Ali Iyoob
Marcel Such
Matt Bristol
Devich Farbotnik
Donna Nespoli
Joel Such
Bryan Guarente
Chishun Kwong
Burke Angstman

Answer: Hooded Merganser
Answer: Hooded Merganser

Quiz #400 (2011-2-08) Solution

2011-05-23T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

Three individuals this time, with at least two species present: a woodpecker and a thrasher. Or two thrashers. As at least one respondent noted, identifying the "easier" bird -- the woodpecker, may help us ID the thrashers, so let's head down that road. The woodpecker is one of the zebra-striped beasts, but one with an odd tail pattern, a feature that some may have noted as critical. That pattern includes a mix of entirely black feathers and black-barred white feathers. While we might consider female Williamson's Sapsucker, that species doesn't sport quite the regular black-and-white barring exhibited by the quiz woodpecker. Additionally, they usually sport a vague superciliary and always have dark flanks (unlike our bird's paler flank). Additionally, the quiz woodpecker has the central rectrices barred, not solidly black, as in Willy Sap. In fact, that pattern of all-black middle rects on each side but with all other rectrices barred also rules out Golden-fronted Woodpecker, which has an all-black tail except for the barred outermost rectrices. Red-bellied Woodpecker has a similar tail pattern to that of our quiz bird, but that species sports some red or orange on the head in all plumages -- something that our quiz woodpecker lacks.

So, does an ID of Gila Woodpecker help us with the thrashers? In that vein, the various species that might jump out at us as good possibilities all are sympatric with Gila Woodpecker. Ah, well. Both thrashers have longish and obvious curvature to their bills, ruling out Sage Thasher immediately and, with consideration of photographic angle, Bendire's Thrasher. Yes, the left thrasher's bill may look shorter than that of the right thrasher, but, the left one is facing at least somewhat toward us, so its bill is foreshortened. Despite that, we can see the distinct kink in the bill, compared to the short and evenly-curved bill of Bendire's Thrasher.

The really streaked thrashers are right out for both thrashers and the left one cannot be either California or Le Conte's, because it sports a pale eye. Crissal Thrasher is ruled out for that species as well, for a number of reasons, one of which is that the bird lacks distinct and black lateral throat stripes and another is that it lacks an obviously red crissum. The vague grayish-brown spotting heaviest on the chest and with a vaguely paler belly than chest suggest that this bird is referable to palmeri Curve-billed Thrasher (the western form). With those features in mind, glancing back at the right thrasher should point us in the same direction. While we might have considered Crissal for that one (we cannot see either its eye or vent colors), that vague spotting underneath rules that option out, as does the brown aspect to the underparts coloration (rather than the medium gray of Crissal).

One last note about Curve-billed Thrasher: the two ABA-area subspecies are usually separable by plumage and have differing vocalizations and the species is a good candidate for splitting. Thus, it behooves us all -- particularly those looking at out-of-range Curve-bills -- to pay attention to which is which. I took this picture of a female Gila Woodpecker and a pair of Curve-billed Thrashers at the San Xavier Mission, Pima Co., AZ, in January 2007.

One respondent submitted an answer with only one species. Also, one respondent neglected to capitalize the 't' in 'Thrasher.'

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Crissal Thrasher - 1
Bendire's Thrasher - 3
Williamson's Sapsucker - 3

Congratulations to the 17 of 25 getting the quiz correct:
Kirk Huffstater
Christian Nunes
Margie Joy
Pam Myers
Nick Komar
Robert McNab
Peter Wilkinson
Barbara Deneen
David Such
Chishun Kwong
Christopher Hinkle
Diane Porter
Marcel Such
Adrian Hinkle
Joel Such
Bryan Guarente
Burke Angstman

Answer: Gila Woodpecker, Curve-billed Thrasher

Quiz #399 (2011-2-07) Solution

2011-05-16T01:00:00.006-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

This week's quiz bird was considered, without exception, to be a member of the small sparrow genus Melospiza by the week's respondents, who covered all the bases and provided all three species as answers. Of course, unless the bird is a hybrid, only one species can be correct, but the trick is how to tease that correct answer out of the fairly minimal -- though eminently typical -- view of a bird of a fairly retiring genus.

First off, even ignoring the apparently dense habitat in which our quiz bird is perched, we can quickly determine that the species is a denizen of thickly-vegetated habitats by looking at the wingtip visible. It is obviously quite rounded, with the four longest primaries being all nearly the same length. This is a typical feature of species that would prefer not to wear away their primary tips by beating them against the leaves and stems so prevalent in dense habitats. In case we were considering them, that fact can rule out longspurs for us.

If we can prove that the bird is not in juvenal (= first basic) plumage, then we can rule out Swamp Sparrow with its minimal streaking and strongly rufescent flanks. However, the softness of the focus on the quiz bird (the camera obviously considered the alder leaves to be the picture's subject) makes it difficult to discern the structure of the undertail coverts feathers, which would be soft and much more barbless than those of older birds, though I would still lean toward those feathers not being juvenal feathers. However, there is another way to determine the bird's age, even more generally than juvenal plumage vs. all other plumages. In Melospiza, individuals that are less than 14 months old and haven't completed their 2nd prebasic molt have a green cast to the gray on the head. It is weaker or stronger among individuals, but it is always present. Our bird lacks that green cast or tinge; its superciliary and cheek are smoothly gray. Another feature can confirm our decision to eliminate Swamp Sparrow from consideration, and that is the back. On Swamp Sparrow, the black streaking is so wide that it implies a dark back with paler streaking, unlike our bird's palish back with dark streaking.

Now things get really tricky, as much of the plumage often considered critical for separating Song and Lincoln's sparrows is behind those well-focused alder leaves: the malar region and the chest. But, as is often the case in the CFO Photo Quiz, I am very much interested in those features that are not used by most birders to ID birds, but which still provide perfectly useful ID information. And at this point, I want to point out that most of the benefit that I get out of conducting this quiz (I am a volunteer, just as all of CFO's principals are) is when it becomes obvious that I have had an impact on even one birder's understanding and knowledge. This week, Burke Angstman provided that hit of gratification to me with the following:

"Since I'm new to the CFO Photo Quiz I have been reviewing some of the previous quizzes and what I was able to find was an excellent photo of a Lincoln's Sparrow taken by Rachel Hopper and presented by you in Quiz #308. (This was really one of the best photos of a Lincoln 's Sparrow I was able to find.) Your description of the Lincoln's Sparrow included this statement:

'But, the color of the streaking on the undertail coverts (and on the flanks) is black, not the reddish color of morphna or most other races of Song Sparrow.'"

Indeed, Burke hit on the very feature that I planned on using to explain why this week's quiz bird was a Song Sparrow, rather than a Lincoln's Sparrow. The photographer, Terry Gray, reeled off four quick pictures of the subject in Latah Co., Idaho, on 9 October 2010, in the possibility that it was a late Lincoln's Sparrow. This photo, which was really the only useable one, came to me when Terry was searching for assistance in the bird's ID and I immediately recognized the photo-quiz potential of the picture. Because, as the long-time participants of this quiz know, I like to throw in difficult pictures of very common species. That is because, to really excel in identification, one really does need to know the common birds cold! Thanks, Burke!

With the devastation wreaked on the leader board by this quiz photo, Christopher Hinkle emerged as the sole respondent with a perfect score for the quarter.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Lincoln's Sparrow - 13
Swamp Sparrow - 2

Congratulations to the 7 of 22 getting the quiz correct:
Margie Joy
Su Snyder
Burke Angstman
Adrian Hinkle
Christopher Hinkle
Chishun Kwong
Nick Komar

Answer: Song Sparrow

Quiz #398 (2011-2-06) Solution

2011-05-09T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

This week's duck quiz -- and, yes, the color pattern rules out all non-ducks (that is, if we don't consider species that don't regularly swim), is facing straight away from us and some birders might have waited to ID the bird until it turned at least a bit. But, we don't need to wait. Besides, you could wait for quite some time, and the bird in the picture probably won't move. The only colors in the bird's plumage are black, gray, and white, and that rules out most duck options. Dabbling ducks are right out, so we're left with a few diving-duck options: Long-tailed Duck, Bufflehead, and Smew.

One of the reasons that I ran this quiz is that a lot of birders really don't pay attention to the parts of readily identified birds, but particularly in ducks. Adult males of all three species we're considering are immediately identifiable, so why worry about particular bits, because parts is parts. In this quiz, however, rump color actually comes into play, ruling in the correct species (black) and ruling the two incorrect species (both gray). Additionally, those fancy tertials do the same job as does the rump: present on the correct species, absent on the incorrect species. Bufflehead can also be ruled out by our bird's lack of black or dark on the back of the neck. Smew can also be ruled out by the black on the sides of our bird's neck. Finally, though we can only see the bare tip of the bird's long tail feathers against the white of the left flank, we can see most of the reflection of the tail in the water, as noted by a few respondents.

I took this picture of an adult male Long-tailed Duck at Avalon, Cape May Co., NJ, on 10 January 2011.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Smew - 1

Congratulations to the 32 of 33 getting the quiz correct:
Su Snyder
Pam Myers
Tyler Bell
Jim Kopitzke
Robert McNab
Thomas Hall
Ira Sanders
Tammy Sanders
Diane Porter
Al Guarente
Brandon Percival
Ben Coulter
Margaret Smith
Tom Wilberding
Peter Wilkinson
Christian Nunes
Jim Nelson
Kirk Huffstater
Mary Driscoll
Devich Farbotnik
Barbara Deneen
Larry Griffin
Margie Joy
Christopher Hinkle
Bryan Guarente
Matt Bristol
Donna Nespoli
Marcel Such
Adrian Hinkle
Joel Such
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Long-tailed Duck

Quiz #397 (2011-2-05) Solution

2011-05-02T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

This week's quiz birds' white heads, necks, and bellies rule out all but the two species of 'white geese,' once one decides that they are, indeed, geese. The left bird has the dark chest, secondaries, and tail of a dark morph (aka blue morph) that in Snow Goose was once considered a separate species, Blue Goose. However, in this view, Blue Goose should have any white restricted to the chin, wing linings, and vent, so what's up? Though the differences between white morphs and dark morphs in Snow Goose is genetically based and mostly yea or nay, there is obviously some intermediacy in the system, as birds with this appearance are not all that rare. In Ross's Goose, as far as we know -- though dark morphs are quite rare, there is no intermediacy. Dark morph Ross's Geese do sport whitish bellies, but white on the head and neck is more restricted than it is in Snow Geese.

So, where to from here? What is that semi-dark-morph bird? Perhaps, comparison to the white one would help. The white one seems to have a smaller head and a much smaller bill and a shorter neck. Hmm, that sounds like a Ross's Goose. And that's what it is. Ross's Goose always looks to me quite unbalanced, with that tiny head and short neck seeming a last-minute addition in its design once most of the available parts for construction had been used on other projects.

With that ID made, the dark bird suddenly becomes much easier to figure, as its larger overall size, larger head and bill, and longer neck should produce an ID of Snow Goose. These two birds were part of a larger flock of Snow and Ross's geese that flew over my head while I was helping out on the John Martin Reservoir CBC, Bent Co., CO, on 16 December 2008.

Two respondents provided only one species name in their answers, both missing Ross's Goose. Additionally, one of those answers submitted 'Snow Geese,' which is not the species name. Please note that the requirements of the quiz ask for the species' name. Amazingly, no one stumbled on the punctuation of the right bird's species name. 'Correct' English style should omit the apostrophe-following 's' in words ending with 's,' but the American Ornithologists' Union's nomenclature committee decided to include them for some reason.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
none

Congratulations to the 29 of 31 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Thomas Hall
Margaret Smith
Brandon Percival
Robert McNab
Devich Farbotnik
Pam Myers
Su Snyder
Diane Porter
Kirk Huffstater
Ben Coulter
Burke Angstman
Al Guarente
Christian Nunes
Matt Bristol
Brent Daniel
Donna Nespoli
Tom Wilberding
Adrian Hinkle
Christopher Hinkle
Julie Rouse
Peter Wilkinson
Nick Komar
Jim Kopitzke
Ali Iyoob
Joel Such
Marcel Such
Bryan Guarente
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Snow Goose, Ross's Goose

Quiz #396 (2011-2-04) Solution

2011-04-25T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

This week's quiz bird, an Empidonax flycatcher, caused much less consternation than I had expected; at least for the respondents. The extensive yellow on the mandible and the blackish legs rule out various vireo options. The long bill suggests something other than the various short-billed Empies (Least, Yellow-bellied, Hammond's), but the absolute measurements don't really differ all that much and relying on that feature might take us somewhere we don't want to be. The dull coloration, however, can probably help us out a lot.

When identifying Empidonax, it is important to keep molt strategies in the back of your mind. Adults of some species conduct their prebasic molt on the breeding grounds, and some on the winter grounds. Thus, in fall, the state of plumage wear in ADULT empies can rule various species in or out. At that time, age can generally be determined by the color of the wing bars, with those of adults being white, juvs buffy. Additionally, and just to confuse things, juvs of some species conduct their prebasic molts on the summer grounds. Details on timing and location of various molts in these species can be found in Peter Pyle's Identification Guide to North American Birds, part I (1997; Slate Creek Press; Bolinas, CA).

Regardless of all of the above, our bird's wing bars are not only white, they are quite thick, which should tell us that the plumage is fresh (recall that white bits on feathers wear fairly quickly). And, since the bird is in a mesquite, we can suspect that it is a member either of one of the more southwesterly-breeding species and/or is on or near winter grounds. Since the plumage is fresh, the fact that the bird is very dull, with virtually no green and very little yellow evident, we should be able to make a good stab at the bird's ID: Gray Flycatcher. Looking to confirm that tentative ID, we note that the wings are short (there is little in the way of primary projection) and the tail looks at least longish. Finally, the bill appears longish and thin and then there's that extensive yellow that is cut off fairly abruptly near the tip. All of these features are consistent with our tentative ID. Now, we need to be certain that we can rule OUT other species.

In the West, many birders have trouble separating Dusky and Hammond's flycatchers when Dusky vs. Gray is much, much more difficult of an ID problem. That is because Dusky and Hammond's share virtually no shape characters, whereas Dusky and Gray are so similar in those respects. Granted, Gray Flycatcher has a behavioral character that absolutely identifies it (among Empidonax), but that's not so helpful in this quiz. So, while Dusky Flycatchers can approach our bird's plumage appearance (little green or yellow), that only happens when very worn. Finally, though mandible pattern on Dusky Flycatcher is exceedingly variable, they never (ah, that fateful 'never') sport such a strong demarcation between dark and light.

Steve Mlodinow took this picture of a wintering Gray Flycatcher in Santiago, Baja California Sur, Mexico, on 2 November 2010.

One respondent neglected to capitalize the 'f,' so that person's response was precluded from being correct for the competition.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Bell's Vireo - 1
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - 1
Dusky Flycatcher - 2

Congratulations to the 19 of 23 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Pam Myers
Margaret Smith
Devich Farbotnik
Nick Komar
Ben Coulter
Margie Joy
Donna Nespoli
Diane Porter
Matt Bristol
Burke Angstman
Su Snyder
Tyler Bell
Christopher Hinkle
Peter Wilkinson
Al Guarente
Joel Such
Marcel Such
Bryan Guarente

Answer: Gray Flycatcher

Quiz #395 (2011-2-03) Solution

2011-04-18T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

It was apparent to respondents that this week's quiz bird was a raptor and, if it is still alive, I'd bet that it's still a raptor (just a quick play on verb tense). The relatively wide-and-short wings rule out the pointy-winged kites and the falcons, other than caracaras, of course. Though it's obviously not a really pointy-winged raptor, the fact that it only has four fingers -- something typical of pointy-winged raptors -- and barely that, must mean that it's at least somewhat pointy-winged. The wing length:tail length ratio is off for any accipiter (as are the number of fingers) and the bird's proportions just are not right for a vulture, a harrier, Osprey, an eagle, or Crested Caracara. So, we're going to have to delve into the buteos for this one.

Once among the buteos, we can take the long way 'round, working through relative wing lengths and tail lengths, tail pattern, secondary bulge or no, and various other features. Or we can look for a short cut that might eliminate a lot of the work. Of course, this is one of those things that is usually not encouraged by teachers of bird ID, because short cuts can get one in trouble if one doesn't know how
-- or when -- to use them. However, they are one of the things that make the abilities of highly-skilled and -experienced birders look so magical. That short cut is the number of fingers. Among ABA-area buteos, only Broad-winged and some Swainson's hawks share the trait of only four fingers, and most adult Swainson's usually show a fifth (many/most juvenile Swainson's show only four fingers). These two species also share another trait, the very short outermost primary (p10). On these two species, the distance from the wrist to the tip of p10 is only just over half the distance from the wrist to the tip of the longest primary. Hmm, those two are also the longest-distance migrants of New World buteos. Hmm. Coincidence? I think not, particularly as they share that trait with another long-distance ABA-area raptor migrant: Mississippi Kite.

Once we get to this dichotomy, we have a number of routes that we could take to the correct answer, but the simplest one is tail pattern: Swainson's Hawks never have such obvious and wide white tail bands. I took this picture of an adult light-morph Broad-winged Hawk heading north over Dinosaur Ridge, Jefferson Co., CO, on 22 April 2006.

The leader board is stuffed with perfect scores at this point; "stuffed" meaning that 14 respondents share that 3-of-3 distinction. Finally, some readers of the quiz might be under the mistaken impression that only CO-occurring species are covered here. Long-time quiz readers can certainly tell them otherwise, as such far-flung species as Eurasian Oystercatcher, Pechora Pipit, Gray Bunting, and Yellow-throated Grassquit have been quiz subjects (see the rules).

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Gray Hawk - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3

Congratulations to the 27 of 36 getting the quiz correct:
Brandon Percival
Tyler Bell
Nick Komar
Thomas Hall
Peter Wilkinson
Diane Porter
Christian Nunes
Margie Joy
Ben Coulter
Devich Farbotnik
Robert McNab
Chishun Kwong
Margaret Smith
Kirk Huffstater
Matt Bristol
George Cresswell
Joel Such
Marcel Such
Bryan Guarente
Pam Myers
Christopher Hinkle
Joe Bens
Adrian Hinkle

Answer: Broad-winged Hawk

Quiz #394 (2011-2-02) Solution

2011-04-11T01:00:00.004-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Margaret Smith and Tony Leukering

Wow, if shorebirds scare respondents off, it's quite obvious that gulls do an even better job at that. While last week's Monday response total was only nine (compared to 25 the week before), this week it took until Wednesday to get the ninth response and with only 11 responses by Sunday!

Margaret Smith provided a pretty good explanation of her tack to the correct answer, so this week's solution will start with her words.

"My initial jizz ID was "gull," based on long, thin wings and a white tail with a dark end band. The dark band practically forces the gull to be a juvenile. This bird has a relatively uniform-width tail band, unlike Herring Gull or Ring-billed Gull, which have a fatter dark part in the tail center and thinner on the edges. This bird has dark outer halves on the rectrices. Only two species are shown so in Sibley: Laughing Gull and (Common) Mew Gull. Laughing Gull has a broader dark band than does that form of Mew Gull, very much like the quiz bird’s. The quiz bird also has dark feet, good for Laughing Gull and not for Mew Gull. The other dark-legged gulls, Black-legged Kittiwake, Heermann’s Gull, and Franklin’s Gull, look very different from the quiz bird as juveniles. Heermann’s is too dark, Franklin’s has white outer rectrices, and Black-legged Kittiwake has a concave tail tip, not a convex one. However, what’s with the white tip only on the center rectrices? The gull should have white tips on all the dark tail feathers."

Margaret is right, first-cycle Laughing Gulls should have white tips to all of the rectrices, not just the central two. However, there is an easy explanation for that, but it requires more-careful scrutiny of the individual feathers and it is based partly in how worn those rectrices are. They're trashed. Big chunks are missing from every feather, probably a result of some stress factor (illness and poor or insufficient diet being the leading possiblities) when they were being grown. That stress caused fault bars, which then makes the feathers susceptible to breaking at those bars. However, the two central feathers did not escape that fate, they have simply been replaced with new juvenile-like feathers with nice, clean, unfrazzled white tips.

For more explanation, Heermann's Gull was probably provided as an answer because the color of the feathers anterior to the black tail band were construed as gray, rather than white. If that were true, Heermann's would be the only possible candidate. However, note that the pale color, as Margaret implied, extends onto the inner webs of the rectrices, which it never does in Heermann's Gull. Except for thin white tips, that species sports solidly black rects in all plumages. The apparent grayness of the rump and base of the tail is due to the lighting, which is identical to that on the trailing edge of the wing, which is of essentially the same color. And Heermann's Gull never shows a gray trailing edge.

Lesser Black-backed Gull can be remarkably difficult to rule out, given this view, and if we cannot trust the foot color. However, ageing the bird will greatly help us in this regard. The quiz bird appears to have some gray mantle feathers. If that is true, then the bird would have to be in its second plumage cycle if a LessBack. Given that, our bird's very pointed outermost primaries prove the case against LessBack, as second-cycle gulls have wider, more-rounded outer primaries. First-cycle LessBacks have dark barring at the bases of the outer rectrices, which this bird lacks, ruling out that age of the species.

A final couple notes on foot structure and wing formulae, since those topics have come up. Our quiz bird's toes on its left foot are easily discernible: one on each side and one down the middle of the webbing. The totipalms -- or birds with totipalmate feet (all four toes facing forward and all connected by webbing) -- formerly all resided in the order Pelecaniformes, and all members of that order were totipalmate. This odd mishmash of pelicans, cormorants, tropicbirds, and others has been broken up into many different orders recently and the Sulidae -- the family of gannets and boobies -- has come out of that massacre being the type family of the new order Suliformes.

"Wing formula" (plural formulae) is a representation of the relative lengths of the primaries of a bird's wing. This feature is used by many birders -- though many don't know the term -- to identify some birds, like Lesser Nighthawk and Mississippi Kite; both species have their outermost primary relatively shorter than those of similar species. We also use the feature in identifying gulls and golden-plovers, with this feature being important on the folded wing. Most bird species have the outermost primary shorter than, at least, the next outermost. Waterbirds, particularly long-distance-migrant waterbirds and those that spend a lot of time foraging on the wing (such as gulls), buck that trend and have the outermost primary the longest on the wing. Despite the aerial nature of even Peregrine Falcon, there are no raptor species that have the outermost primary being the longest. Our quiz bird has 10 primaries and the longest is p10, the outermost.

I took this picture of a first-cycle Laughing Gull in Villas, Cape May Co., NJ, on 17 August 2010.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Heermann's Gull - 2
Northern Gannet - 1
Rough-legged Hawk - 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1

Congratulations to the 15 of 20 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Devich Farbotnik
Margie Joy
Peter Wilkinson
Margaret Smith
Brandon Percival
Diane Porter
Matt Bristol
Christopher Hinkle
Tyler Bell
Adrian Hinkle
Joel Such
Thomas Hall
Chishun Kwong
Bryan Guarente

Answer: Laughing Gull

Quiz #393 (2011-2-01) Solution

2011-04-04T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

When we birders encounter a bird, we start the ID process with certain assumptions -- no matter our skill and knowledge levels. We may not recognize the fact, but it is true. In my experience with a wide variety of birder skill levels, one of the features that separate the highly-skilled birders from the less-skilled is their recognition of many of these assumptions and the ability to weigh those assumptions, throwing one or more away when they are felt to be unjustified. Granted, the highly-skilled also recognize more birds so that they don't actually have to go through the ID process at all.

Though my rationale for using this week's picture in the CFO Photo Quiz was not to test assumptions, it certainly wound up doing that. The fact that the quiz bird is obviously a shorebird adds another layer (at least) of assumptions -- some of which do not deal directly with the ID of the bird -- onto the problem of identifying it. One such assumption may be one of the causes behind the dramatic reduction in Monday responses to the quiz, compared to last week's: nine Monday this week vs. 25 last week. Shorebirds comprise a group that many birders feel uncomfortable with, and such birders may delay their response to the quiz to allow time for study or, even, not respond at all. This, despite the fact that this week's quiz subject is presented much better and larger -- we can see nearly the whole bird -- than was last week's. The main point of all this jabbering about assumptions, is that if one starts with an incorrect assumption, one can find it difficult getting to the correct answer.

Though I am not picking on those that provided incorrect answers, those answers do provide some insight into the types of assumptions that can be made that can lead one astray. At least one respondent started with the assumption that the quiz bird was a peep, and the short legs and chunky body certainly give that impression. The long wingtip projection then cuts down the list of options to just Baird's and White-rumped sandpipers. Once there, given how gray the bird is, White-rumped Sandpiper seems the best fit.

Though I don't know the assumptions of the respondent providing the answer of Short-billed Dowitcher, I can guess that the bird's chunkiness and grayness may have been two of the factors. Of course, once in the dowitchers, the bird's incredibly short bill must lead to Short-billed. The assumptions at the root of the Willet, Dunlin, and Stilt Sandpiper answers probably lie in the bird's gray coloration.

This is where close scrutiny of one's assumptions come into play, because, as one can see in the enlarged version of part of the quiz picture, the bird has yellow legs, which rules out four of the six incorrect species provided as answers. If one cannot get past one's assumptions that the bird must be of a certain group of species, then one might overlook the fact of the yellow legs. Or that the bird has quite short legs.

This is the point at which I thought my solution would start way back in January when I posted the quiz picture: It is not enough to prove to oneself what the bird is, but one should also prove what it is not. (This is certainly true when trying to convince a records committee of one's identification.) Had the respondents taken that tack, they might have rethought things from the beginning, particularly their assumptions.

Our shorebird has gray upperparts; very short yellow legs; a shortish to medium-length bill; a tail that appears all gray and unmarked (even the outer rectrices); barring on the sides; and a nearly-unique pattern on the scapulars. Yes, some of these features are found on the various incorrect species, but nowhere near all of them. This fact points out how strong our assumptions can be at overpowering our ability to correctly identify unknown birds, because the highest number of the above six characters shared by our quiz bird and the incorrect species is three (for White-rumped Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher). The number declines if we actually consider the age of the bird and the features associated with that age.

Ageing the bird properly might have pointed out the problems with some of those incorrect answers much sooner. The pattern of fringes on those browner feathers should tell us that they're juvenal feathers, with the unmarked gray ones up top being of the next generation of feathers, thus formative plumage. This bird is less than a year old, certainly, and probably well less, considering that those juvenal feathers do not look all that worn.

By noticing those fringed juvenal scaps, one might have reconsidered Willet as an answer, as that species never has fringed feathers such as these. Also by noticing those scaps and the resultant age estimation, the barring on the sides would have ruled out all of the incorrect answers. By truly noticing those scaps, one might have noticed the distinct pattern on them. Once that was noticed, one might have gone back through the basal assumptions and the field guide(s) to find a bird that sports such scaps -- there are only two. This bird is not a Temminck's Stint, which would be browner and with buff fringes to those scaps and would lack our bird's side barring.

Steve Mlodinow took this picture of a 1st-cycle Red Knot on 20 November 2010 at Tokeland, Pacific Co., WA.

One respondent's answer was precluded from being correct for the competition as it included an incorrect plumage assignment directly in the response; please keep any other conjecture about the bird separate from one's species answer.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Stilt Sandpiper - 1
Willet - 2
Short-billed Dowitcher - 1
White-rumped Sandpiper - 3
Baird's Sandpiper - 1
Dunlin - 1

Congratulations to the 27 of 36 getting the quiz correct:
Thomas Hall
Brandon Percival
Ben Coulter
Christian Nunes
Margaret Smith
Al La Sala
Tyler Bell
Devich Farbotnik
Su Snyder
Kara Carragher
Pam Myers
Adrian Hinkle
Peter Wilkinson
Louie Toth
Christopher Hinkle
Nick Komar
Diane Porter
Robert McNab
Richard Jeffers
Margie Joy
Michael McCloy
Buzz Schaumberg
Marcel Such
Matt Bristol
Chishun Kwong
Bryan Guarente
Joel Such

Answer: Red Knot

Quiz #392 (2011-1-13) Solution

2011-03-28T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Monday's intake of 25 responses (including 11 new respondents, either for the year or ever) must have set an all-time first-day-of-new-quiz record. There have been weeks without that many responses!

This week's quiz bird has one really obvious field mark -- white wing patch -- and numerous less-obvious field marks, some of which were probably not taken into consideration by some/many. Included among these field marks are the pale pink legs that rule out both of the incorrect species provided as answers. The olive head and back, the yellow belly, and the very black outer wing and tail encompass the remainder of those field marks visible. The placement of the white wing patch is an imporant aspect of that field mark. The patch encompasses the secondaries and the greater coverts. The wing patches of both Lark Bunting and Bullock's Oriole (and White Wagtail; Magnolia, Audubon's, Cape May, and Blackburnian warblers; and Painted Redstart) encompass only coverts, leaving the secondaries black. This is a case where understanding which feathers one is looking at on a bird -- either flying or perched -- plays a huge role in identification and was the primary reason that I used this picture for the quiz.

There are only two ABA-area passerines sporting white secondaries and our quiz bird is obviously not a Clark's Nutcracker. I took this picture of a male Evening Grosbeak at Allenspark, Boulder Co., CO, on 31 March 2006.

This was the last quiz of the competition quarter, so it's time to award the prize of a year's membership in CFO, which, of course, includes a subscription to the organization's great journal, Colorado Birds. For the second time in as many years, a woman has won a quarterly competition; WAY TO GO! For whatever reasons, women are, unfortunately, not well-represented among the subset of birders that are well-known for their expertise and I'm always happen to see one receive her just acknowledgment. This goes doubly this time, as not only did Pam Myers come out on top, she got a perfect 13-of-13 score! Four others did not submit any incorrect answers but submitted answers for only 12 of the quarter's quizzes: Ben Coulter, Nick Komar, Christian Nunes, and Joel Such. Perhaps this quarter's results will encourage Rachel Hopper, a phenom from previous years of the competition, to start playing again, now that she's no longer on the CFO Board of Directors, thus eligible to win.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Lark Bunting - 1
Bullock's Oriole - 1

Congratulations to the 42 of 42 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Ben Coulter
Su Snyder
Robert McNab
Thomas Hall
Kirk Huffstater
Brandon Percival
Nick Komar
Christian Nunes
Joe Hildreth
Michael Speegle
Michael Porter
Ben Warner
Chip Clouse
Scott Jennex
Richard Jeffers
Pam Myers
Margaret Smith
Ned Keller
Al La Sala
Christopher Hinkle
Kara Carragher
George Cresswell
Devich Farbotnik
Thomas Pollock
Peter Wilkinson
Louie Toth
Margie Joy
Bruce Webb
Ali Iyoob
Matt Bristol
John Kuba
Jim Nelson
Joseph & Rachel Brown
Al Guarente
Michael McCloy
Adrian Hinkle
Bryan Guarente
Chishun Kwong
Marcel Such
Joel Such
Chuck Carlson

Answer: Evening Grosbeak

Quiz #391 (2011-1-12) Solution

2011-03-21T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

I was a bit surprised by the answers this week for two reasons: the species submitted and the species not submitted. With an Eastern Towhee as the quiz subject two weeks ago, I was expecting folks to choose among the two black species of Pipilo towhee. Given that most of the quiz bird is obscured by the Rocky Mountain Juniper in which it is perched (and many respondents correctly identified the genus of the tree), I thought that there would be a division of responses between the two species. And, as I've run the same species twice in succession on a couple of occasions in the Mr. Bill Mystery Quiz, I knew that the regulars would not assume that since the previous quiz bird was an Eastern that this one couldn't be.

First off, as a couple of respondents noted, there just are not many options when trying to identify a red-eyed, black-headed passerine. Bronzed Cowbird is one of those options, but that species has an arched culmen, unlike our bird's straight one. Also, that arched culmen means that there is more bill above the cutting edge than below, opposite that of our quiz bird. Additionally, the species has a sloped forehead that does not create an angle at the junction of the bill, unlike on our quiz bird.

So, like two weeks ago, we are left with the Eastern vs. Spotted bit of trickiness. With only the head, there's no way to choose between the two species, short of eeny-meeny-meiny-mo. But, as is evident in the enlarged bit of the quiz photo presented below, we can see that there is more than just the head to go on.

Now, we can see that the bird does, indeed, have rufous sides and extensive white spotting on the scapulars, the latter being the determining factor in opting for the correct answer. I took this picture of a male Spotted Towhee at the hawkwatch site at Dinosaur Ridge, Jefferson Co., CO, on 16 April 2006.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Bronzed Cowbird - 5

Congratulations to the 24 of 29 getting the quiz correct:
Chris Schoenfelder
Thomas Hall
Ben Coulter
George Cresswell
Devich Farbotnik
Julie Rouse
Jim Nelson
Su Snyder
Michael Speegle
Kirk Huffstater
Robert McNab
Adrian Hinkle
Christopher Hinkle
Pam Myers
Brandon Percival
Margie Joy
Christian Nunes
Nick Komar
Al Guarente
Matt Bristol
Bruce Webb
Chishun Kwong
Marcel Such
Joel Such

Answer: Spotted Towhee

Quiz #390 (2011-1-11) Solution

2011-03-14T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Raise your hand if you immediately identified this week's quiz bird on posture alone. Oh, perhaps you then had second thoughts about other species that might share this bird's posture, but I will bet that for most people looking at the quiz photo, their first thoughts were correct.

The take-home message of this quiz is that structure and posture can enable us to identify a large percentage of the birds we see on any given day, if only we know them intimately, like most of us know this week's quiz bird. Without resorting to field marks. That is, a skulking smallish sparrow with a raised crest is nearly always a Lincoln's Sparrow. A long, low-slung dabbling duck with its big head pulled into its shoulders is probably a Northern Shoveler. A tiny brown ball of fluff with nearly no tail is a Winter Wren. Or, now, a Pacific Wren. A largish passerine standing on the ground with head and back erect, tail slightly cocked, and long wings drooped to below the level of the tail is nearly always an American Robin.

Yes, other species of Turdus and Wood Thrush need to be considered (or the Catharus thrushes if we got the size estimation wrong), but given where birders live and how common American Robin is in the places where most of the ABA-area's birders live, it is quite correct to jump to the conclusion that such a bird is an American Robin. While we cannot see our quiz bird's underparts, we really do not need to see them to confirm our snap ID, but we ought to look at at least a few characters to be certain. The upperparts are dark gray. Check. The rump is the palest part of the upperparts plumage. Check. The tail is black. Check. The wings are plain and dark. Check. The crown is blacker than the nape and/or the back. Check. There are white eye arcs. Check. The bill is yellow. Check. Card-carrying American Robin; no red underparts seen. Nor black-and-white-striped throat. Nor white vent. Nor white tail corners.

Now, the real trick is becoming as familiar with as many of the other species one sees as one is with American Robin (or whatever one's local easy-to-watch, abundant species is). Yes, the clues are much more subtle with some (many?) than they are with American Robin, but they are there. There to be studied and learned.

I took this picture of a (male?) American Robin at the Fort Lupton cemetery, Weld Co., CO, on 6 May 2006.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
none

Congratulations to the 28 of 28 getting the quiz correct:
Devich Farbotnik
Tyler Bell
Thomas Hall
Robert McNab
Su Snyder
Nick Komar
Jim Nelson
Margaret Smith
Christopher Hinkle
Pam Myers
Peter Wilkinson
Julie Rouse
Christian Nunes
Margie Joy
Ben Coulter
Michael Speegle
Barbara Deneen
Adrian Hinkle
Kirk Huffstater
George Cresswell
Tom Wilberding
Matt Bristol
Al Guarente
Marcel Such
Joe Bens
Joel Such
Bryan Guarente
Chishun Kwong

Answer: American Robin

Quiz #389 (2011-1-10) Solution

2011-03-07T01:00:00.005-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Like last week's quiz, our choices quickly devolve to two options. This week, it's the black head and wings, rufous sides, and buffy undertail coverts that do that trick. Now, which is it, Spotted Towhee or Eastern Towhee? I've played with this duo a few times on the Mr. Bill Mystery Quiz, because they can be genuinely difficult and many birders do not fully understand all of the relevant field characters. And, of course, they hybridize in the central Great Plains.

What we can see of the wing coverts -- granted, not much -- reveals no spotting that would be typical of Spotted Towhee. However, recall that there is an unspotted (or mostly so) form of Spotted Towhee. But, I used that form fairly recently; would I do so again so soon? Hmm. Well, we can quickly rule out that little-spotted form of Spotted Towhee, as our quiz bird sports gigantic white tail spots taking up 3/4 of the length of the tail; that northwestern form of Spotted has considerably smaller tail spots. In fact, those extensive tail spots should rule out all Spotted Towhees except for the plains-breeding race, arcticus.

The important aspect of the view we get of this week's quiz bird is the primaries, and I provide an enlarged version of that part of the bird, below. Spotted Towhee has relatively little white in the primaries, with that color being restricted there to the leading edge of the outer primaries, but only the distal 1/5 to 3/4 of the length of individual primaries; that white does not extend to the primary coverts. Eastern Towhee shows at least one primary -- often, a few primaries -- on which the white leading edge extends the visible length of the primary and meeting the large patch of white at the base of the outer primaries adjacent to the primary coverts.

As can be seen on the enlarged inset, above, the white edges of many of the outer primaries extend to the white patch at the base of the primaries, which is indicated by the arrow. The important aspects of "Rufous-sided Towhee" ID is not presence vs. absence of white, they are the extent of white and where, precisely, the white is.

I took this picture of an immature male Eastern Towhee at Chico Basin Ranch, El Paso Co., CO, on 8 April 2006. Mark Peterson and I found this bird on 6 January 2006 while conducting the local Christmas Bird Count. This individual was the cause of the Long-billed Thrasher that wintered at this site being found, as Brandon Percival went there to check out our rare Eastern Towhee and found the thrasher! Below is a picture I took of the same individual on the day that Mark and I found it. In it, one can see that the primaries are noticeably browner than are the wing coverts, indicating its immaturity.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Spotted Towhee - 7

Congratulations to the 18 of 25 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Chuck Carlson
Ben Coulter
Nick Komar
Pam Myers
Christian Nunes
Ali Iyoob
Su Snyder
Gary Koehn
Robert McNab
Peter Wilkinson
Matt Bristol
Joe Bens
Joel Such
Marcel Such
Bryan Guarente
Devich Farbotnik
Thomas Hall

Answer: Eastern Towhee

Quiz #388 (2011-1-09) Solution

2011-02-28T01:00:00.003-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

This week's quiz bird's reddish-orange chest and sides and blue tail and wings with no suggestion of wing bars really leave us only two options. The trick is determining what in the picture allows us to separate male Eastern Bluebird from male Western Bluebird, as it is difficult, if not impossible, to do so via the tone of the blue color. As noted specifically in their responses by Thomas Hall and first-time respondent Julie Rouse, the trick is throat color: red in Eastern, blue or blue-gray in Western.

I took this picture of a male Western Bluebird on 22 March 2006 at Chatfield SP, Jefferson Co., CO.

Just a quick caution repeating previous cautions: Please separate thoughts on sex/age/subspecies/etc. from those of your species answer. Using this week's quiz as an example, should someone have submitted an answer of "Female Western Bluebird," I would have had no choice but to consider it incorrect, as it is a male. Should you wish to provide other such details, put those in parentheses or a separate sentence or... there are lots of ways that folks have done it. Thanks.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Eastern Bluebird - 5
Bay-breasted Warbler - 1

Congratulations to the 23 of 29 getting the quiz correct:
Nick Komar
Christian Nunes
Pam Myers
Ben Coulter
Devich Farbotnik
Julie Rouse
Ira Sanders
Tammy Sanders
Christopher Hinkle
Margie Joy
Thomas Hall
Gary Koehn
Su Snyder
George Cresswell
Kyle Huffstater
Matt Bristol
Marcel Such
Robert McNab
Ali Iyoob
Al Guarente
Joel Such
Adrian Hinkle
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Western Bluebird

Quiz #387 (2011-1-08) Solution

2011-02-21T01:00:00.007-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

We've got four ducks and, as all respondents noted correctly, they are all goldeneyes. The first order of business is a refresher in some aspects of development in goldeneye soft-part colors (bill, eyes). Both species leave the nest as youngsters with all-dark bills and eyes, with both features changing gradually through their first fall/winter, and the rate of change is individually variable -- keep this in mind, as it is very important. Though young males' eye color changes, their bills remain all dark, as adult males of both species sport all-black bills. Adult female goldeneyes have at least some distinct yellow or yellow-orange on their bills, Commons with a sharply-demaracted bright tip to the bill and Barrow's with bills entirely or mostly colorful. (Though I have been told that adult female Barrow's have black bills in summer, I have not seen the species then, so cannot comment on the information's accuracy.) With the aforementioned variable rate of soft-part-color change, one can see immature goldeneyes in one day later in the season that sport muddy-yellow eyes and some with fairly bright yellow eyes. In this case, the brownish eyes are diagnostic for immaturity, but yellow eyes are not diagnostic at all. Finally, note that the change in eye color in all goldeneyes tends to happen sooner/more rapidly than does the change in bill color in females.

So, with that basis, let's ogle our quiz photo. The back bird is the only one present with any distinct yellow or yellow-orange color on the bill, and that bill has a well-demarcated yellow tip, strongly suggesting that this bird is an adult female Common Goldeneye. As with most all things bird-ID-wise, it is best to use more than one character to effect an ID, so we'll check head shape, which is the other really useful character in swimming-goldneye ID. Common Goldeneyes have a nearly triangular shape to the head, caused by the strong peak to the crown at or behind the eyes and with the head sloping down from that peak fairly evenly in both directions and with the meeting of forehead and bill not significantly altering the slope. Looking back at the bird in question: triangular head -- check; angle not appreciably altered at meeting of forehead and bill -- check. One down, three to go.

The right bird in the front row has a demonstrably different head shape than that of our adult female Common Goldeneye in the back, with the peak of the crown between the eye and the bill and with the forehead and bill forming nearly a right angle, very differet from the even slope of the front of a Common Goldeneye's head. Additionally, this bird's bill, though darkish, has an obvious suffusion of orange throughout. Also note that the color of the head plumage is a darker, colder brown than that of the Common Goldeneye in the back. This is an immature female Barrow's Goldeneye. One might also notice that this bird's eye color is not quite the bright lemon-yellow of that of the back bird's eye, a feature that suggests immaturity, but something that might be very difficult to determine on a lone bird.

The middle bird in the front row still has an all-dark bill, so is not an adult female of either species. Though this may cause us some problems with determining what this bird is, right next to the bill is a fuzzy patch of white. That white extends the entire height of the base of the bill and with the top edge in front of the eye. This is an immature male Barrow's Goldeneye with its facial patch coming in; remember that the patch on a male Common Goldeneye does not reach the top of the bill nor the eye and is shaped differently. Granted the head shape is not quite so steep as that of the right bird's, but the bird does sport the shaggy mane of Barrow's Goldeneye (the lower dark feathers on the back of the head are longer and create a bulge there that is lacking in Common Goldeneye). Additionally, this bird's eye is remarkably similar in color to that of the right bird's.

The left bird in the front row has its head turned slightly away from us, making correct assessment of various head- and bill-shape characters difficult. However, it has the same head color as the right bird and its bill, too, is suffused with orange, so this bird, too, is an immature female Barrow's Goldeneye. Note, though, that this bird's eye is a clear bright yellow like that of the Common Goldeneye, rather than like the other two members present of its age cohort.

A final note on bill size in goldeneyes. Though Barrow's Goldeneyes have, on average, smaller bills than do Common Goldeneyes, the actual size is not neccessarily an ID feature, as there is significant overlap in bill length and bill depth in the two species. In Table 10 in Pyle (2008), we can note that the range in bill length (exposed culmen) in Common is 28-41 mm, while that of Barrow's is 29-36 mm and that bill depth is 16.0-23.6 mm in Common and 18.4-24.5 mm in Barrow's. So, in both dimensions, the range of Common Goldeneye entirely covers the range in Barrow's Goldeneye.

[Literature Cited: Pyle, P. 2008. Identification Guide to North American Birds, part II. Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, CA.]

I took this picture at the Silverthorne sewage pond, Summit Co., CO, on 18 November 2006. Two respondents got the location correct, though both omitted the second 'e' in the town's name.

Eight respondents submitted answers with only one species of goldeneye, six going for Common. Two among the correct responses made for a quandary. In the past, answers have been considered correct solely on providing for the correct species in multi-species quizzes, without care as to whether or not the respondents correctly identified the individual birds. For this quiz, though I counted these two answers as correct, I was tempted not to, as the guesses as to which individuals were referable to which species were so tied up with the respondents' official answers, but with half or all of the individuals incorrectly allocated. In future, please separate your individual IDs from your official submission of what species are present, or the answers might be considered incorrect.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
None

Congratulations to the 18 of 26 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Ben Coulter
Pam Myers
Al Guarente
Nick Komar
Margie Joy
Chuck Carlson
Gary Koehn
Kirk Huffstater
Christian Nunes
Margaret Smith
Devich Farbotnik
Su snyder
Tom Wilberding
Adrian Hinkle
Nick Moore
Christopher Hinkle
Bryan Guarente

Answer: Common Goldeneye, Barrow's Goldeneye

Quiz #386 (2011-1-07) Solution

2011-02-14T01:00:00.002-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Tyler Bell
"Ah, my favorite trap, capitalization and hyphenation!"

Peter Wilkinson
"Test of capitalisation and hyphenation or what? As well as ID, of course. Ah well, 1 in 3 chance, I guess."

These responses were similar to that received for a previous multi-hyphen quiz-subject name in the history of the Mr. Bill Mystery Quiz. And, the identification difficulty was not to be undervalued! Colorado residents and members of CFO had a distinct advantage; being able to regularly study rosy-finches in the first place and receiving the journal Colorado Birds in the second. The value of the second lies in the In The Scope column that I wrote on odd Brown-capped Rosy-Finch males a few issues back. Both Black and Gray-crowned rosy-finches have well-demarcated gray crowns contrasting sharply with both the black forehead and the brown face (except in Hepburn's Gray-crowneds in which the face, too, is gray and contrasts sharply with the brown throat). Our quiz bird's extensive pink on the underparts makes for an excellent field mark ruling out the two non-Colorado-breeding species, in addition to the aforementioned crown contrast -- or rather, lack thereof. The odd male Brown-cappeds have grayer crowns than is typical, but they still don't contrast sharply, rather grading into and out of the brown of most of the rest of the head.

Multiple respondents noted that the bird had a black bill, thus was in breeding condition. Granted, some of those noted the condition as in 'breeding plumage.' but since these species lack an alternate plumage, once they molt into adult plumage, they're always in 'breeding plumage;' it's just more or less worn. Because the wings are extensively pink, we can age the quiz bird as an adult and know that it is in basic plumage (rather than juvenal plumage or formative plumage). As I took the picture of this adult male Brown-capped Rosy-Finch on 12 March 2006 (above Estes Park, Larimer Co., CO), it is, indeed, in breeding condition, despite that conditions up there above treeline where they breed won't ameliorate for a few months or so. This individual had been banded by Scott Rashid at his home in Estes Park some 1000 feet or so below the photo location. That photo location is one of the locations at which Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory staff and cooperators are color-banding rosy-finches in order to study their movements and longevity.

Two respondents got caught by the name trap, one capitalizing the first 'c,' the other omitting the second hyphen; both responses were precluded from being correct for the competition. It was gratifying that the number of respondents this week climbed to the 30 level in the first time in quite a while. Finally, the leader board tells me that Adrian Hinkle, Pam Myers, and Joel Such sit atop it with 7-of-7 scores.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Black Rosy-Finch - 3
Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch - 2

Congratulations to the 25 of 30 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Pam Myers
Jim Beatty
Nick Komar
Claire Mix
Ben Coulter
Ira Sanders
Tammy Sanders
Devich Farbotnik
Peter Wilkinson
George Cresswell
Robert McNab
Christian Nunes
Chuck Carlson
Barbara Deneen
Joseph Brown
Margie Joy
Christopher Hinkle
Adrian Hinkle
Christopher Neuman
Marcel Such
Su Snyder
Matt Bristol
Joel Such
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Brown-capped Rosy-Finch

Quiz #385 (2011-1-06) Solution

2011-02-07T01:00:00.005-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Peter Wilkinson and Tony Leukering

As on last week's quiz, one of the regular respondents provided a good rationale for his ID, so we'll start with Peter Wilkinson's words.

"Aha! We have a dark-backed, large white-headed gull (LWHG) with yellow legs. The yellow legs rule out Great Black-backed, Slaty-backed, and the darker Western (wymani) gulls, as all have legs of varying shades of pink. The LWHGs with yellow legs, or at least yellowish legs, on the ABA list are Yellow-footed, Lesser Black-backed, and Kelp gulls, and, perhaps arguably, Yellow-legged Gull, which just about gets to the paler end of Lesser Black-backed but not really as dark as this. This is clearly a heavy-set bird, with a large and deep bill; Lesser Black-backs, though they match the colour of the back (apart from graellsii, which is paler than this), simply don't match the build. Kelp Gull has greenish rather than bright yellow legs.

So, we are left with Yellow-footed, which appears to fill the bill. It is difficult to be sure from the photograph, but the color of the orbital ring appears also to support an ID of Yellow-footed. LWHGs are, of course, a bit of a minefield, where even experts sometimes have to agree to differ, but there does not seem to be any reason not to believe that this individual is identifiable, and no reason to start thinking of hybrid origin."

What Peter didn't specify is the color of the orbital ring on our quiz bird. As this can be a crucial ID feature, it is incumbent upon us to get this right, particularly as it can be a tricky feature to assess correctly in the field, to say nothing of a digital photograph. At least, though, the bird isn't moving its head around making it even more difficult. The picture below is extracted from the quiz picture and shows the bird's yellow orbital ring -- the same color as the bill, which is different from the red of Great Black-backed, the orange of Kelp, and the orange-yellow of western.

The very heavy bill, orbital-ring color, and the obvious skirt (for a refresher on skirts, see Mr. Bill Mystery Quiz #335 one year ago), among other features, rule out Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Of course, had you been standing with me when I took this picture at Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico, on 21 February 2006, you would have been able to be pretty sure of the ID of Yellow-footed Gull just on the location!

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 6
Kelp Gull - 1

Congratulations to the 24 of 31 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Brandon Percival
Nick Komar
Ben Coulter
Devich Farbotnik
Peter Wilkinson
Jim Beatty
Pam Myers
Christian Nunes
George Cresswell
Ali Iyoob
Chuck Carlson
Barbara Deneen
Robert McNab
Joel Such
Al Guarente
Nick Moore
Marcel Such
Christopher Hinkle
Adrian Hinkle
Tucker Lutter
Su Snyder
Joe Bens
Bryan Guarente

Answer: Yellow-footed Gull

Quiz #384 (2011-1-05) Solution

2011-01-31T01:00:00.005-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Bryan Guarente and Tony Leukering

Brian Guarente provided a good response, so we'll start this week's solution with his words.

"Okay, you had me for a second.... I thought it was a Black Tern, but, thankfully, so much looked wrong on initial glance that I didn't submit right away. I needed to spend more time looking and it became obvious that this is not a tern at all. The feet are the best clue to make sure that this isn't a member of the Laridae: No webbing.

"So, where do we go with this? The feet look like that of a perching bird, not that of a wader or swimmer, so to the back half of the book we go. A mostly BLACK bird with a white underside gives us five options: Eastern Kingbird, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, Tree Swallow, and Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco. Eastern Kingbird and Fork-tailed Flycatcher show white in the face, not just on the underside and underwings. Tree Swallow's tail is much shorter than this and the wings are more pointed. Slate-colored Junco is not this black and the bill is all pink, but the rest of the pattern matches very nicely, which I found an interesting similarity. This leaves only Black Phoebe."

Though some might be quite surprised by the two submissions of Brown Jay, one of the correct respondents noted that his first thought upon looking at the picture was Brown Jay. As one of the incorrect respondents noted, juvenile Brown Jays have yellow bills and their plumage pattern is fairly similar to that of our quiz bird. But, that same respondent noted, our bird's bill is actually yellow only on the inside; it is otherwise black. Eastern Phoebe can be ruled out by the darkness of the dark plumage and the extent of white on the outer web of the outermost rectrix (Black shows a nearly entire white outer web, while Eastern generally has only the basal half of that web white. Another consideration is Black x Eastern Phoebe hybrid, a combo that is turning up more and more with Black Phoebe's rapid range expansion in Colorado and New Mexico. Nathan Pieplow, Elaine Coley, and I published a paper in Western Birds on the first confirmed occurrence of this hybrid in Loveland, CO, a couple years back, and more instances have been found in both Colorado and New Mexico since. That combo can be ruled out by the same characters that eliminate Eastern Phoebe from consideration, though with more care being required. A picture of the Loveland bird can be found on my photo site.

Bill Maynard took this spectacular photo of a Black Phoebe along the Arkansas River in Pueblo, Pueblo Co., CO, on 7 January 2011.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Brown Jay - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 1

Congratulations to the 26 of 29 getting the quiz correct:
Pam Myers
Robert McNab
Chuck Carlson
Clare Mix
Ben Coulter
Christopher Hinkle
Brandon Percival
Devich Farbotnik
Bryan Guarente
Al Guarente
Nick Komar
Jim Beatty
Ira Sanders
Tammy Sanders
Buzz Schaumberg
Margie Joy
Adrian Hinkle
Thomas Hall
Margaret Smith
Kirk Huffstater
Matt Bristol
Tucker Lutter
Peter Wilkinson
Chishun Kwong
Joel Such
Marcel Such

Answer: Black Phoebe

Quiz #383 (2011-1-04) Solution

2011-01-24T01:00:00.002-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

This week's quiz photo included a large, well-lit image of an obvious cormorant. What is wrong with me? Actually, despite the high-quality of the cormorant's image, this photo has two ways to trip up respondents, with both of those coming into play this week.

The first tricky bit is determining which species of cormorant of the two possibilities, Neotropic and Double-crested, is represented by our focal bird. You see, it's got something of a mix of characters, sporting both a bright orange supraloral stripe (a typical Double-crested feature) and a white edge to the posterior of the gular area (a typical Neotropic character). I noted in an article in Colorado Birds that some Neotropic Cormorants have some orange in the supraloral area, so the presence of orange there is not a sure indicator of an ID as Double-crested, though it is a very helpful ID feature. Our bird's orange supraloral seems too extensive and too obvious to be that of the odd Neotrop.

As noted in a previous Mr. Bill quiz (#363), young Double-cresteds can show a white rear border to the gular area, but that the shape differs between the two species. Neotropic Cormorant has the rear border of the gular area angled forward both above and below the gape, creating an angle of less than 90 degrees. Double-crested, however, has the border below the gape nearly vertical, creating an angle greater than 90 degrees. This week's cormorant has that larger angle.

Some might be thinking evil 'hybrid' thoughts, but the various size and shape characters apparent on this cormorant all point to an ID of Double-crested: the large (both long and thick) bill, the large head, and the short tail.

Now, for the second tricky bit. Note that when writing (above) about the focal bird of this quiz, that I never called it "the quiz bird." That is because there are two birds -- well, a bird and a half -- in the picture, and both are certainly identifiable. The second bird is that swimming duck, with white tail, black butt, orange legs, gray tertials, white belly, and curled black uppertail coverts -- an obvious male Mallard.

Finally, the age of the cormorant: though some respondents called this bird a juvenile, it is older than that, as evidenced by the mix of blackish and brown feathers on the underparts and the complete lack of any real whitish color there. I suspect that this is a second-cycle bird (about 1.5 years old), but I know that I took the picture at Prospect Lake, Wheatridge Greenbelt, Jefferson Co., CO, on 6 November 2006, a time of year when juvenile Double-crested Cormorants would still sport lots of whitish plumage on the underparts.

Eight respondents provided only one species in their answers, six of those getting the correct species of cormorant, though one of those omitted capitalization of the 'cormorant.' Additionally, one correct respondent neglected to capitalize 'Mallard,' so that answer was precluded from being correct for the competition. Finally, multiple respondents included a guess as to the age of one of the birds directly with the species name; since those age estimations were incorrect, the answers were considered incorrect (though these respondents also provided only one species in their answers) -- PLEASE READ THE RULES.

Seven players are tied with perfect scores (4 of 4) at this point, about a third the way through the quarter's competition.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Neotropic Cormorant - 3

Congratulations to the 18 of 28 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Gary Koehn
Pam Myers
Bryan Guarente
Christopher Hinkle
Nick Komar
Christian Nunes
George Cresswell
Ali Iyoob
Margie Joy
Adrian Hinkle
Matt Bristol
Marcel Such
Joel Such
Peter Wilkinson
Tucker Lutter
Chishun Kwong
Nick Moore

Answer: Mallard, Double-crested Cormorant

Quiz #382 (2011-1-03) Solution

2011-01-17T01:00:00.006-07:00

No ABA code 3 species (or rarer) in picture

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Marcel and Joel Such and Tony Leukering

The brothers Such provided good solutions, so I'm running with 'em. I find the slightly different tacks they took to get the correct solution interesting and beneficial, particularly as they cover slightly different bases and do my job for me, and well. The first responding of them this week was Marcel, so take it away!

"To start off this quiz, we should immediately note that there are nothing but gulls in the photo, and with the hint that 'No ABA code 3 species (or rarer) in picture,' we can directly limit ourselves to just 19 species. As with the last quiz, we’ll check to see how many species are present. All of the birds, minus the bird in the immediate foreground of the photo, all share distinctive black “ear-muffs,” thin black bill, and tiny white tips on their otherwise black primaries, so I feel confident that these are all of one species. The closest bird, however, is obviously different, being distinctly larger, with a dark gray back; partial dark hood; and thick, slightly drooping, dark bill.

"For the species-specific identification, let us start with the smaller, more abundant, gulls. Of the 19 sub-code 3 species, only three species have the obvious dark ear-muffs, Black-legged Kittiwake, Red-legged Kittiwake, and Bonaparte’s Gull. Of these, only one species has a thin, black bill, Bonaparte’s. The kittiwakes all have thicker, shorter bills of a bright yellow hue.

"For the second species, only three options, Franklin’s, Laughing, and Sabine’s, have the distinctive dark partial hood shown by our bird. From here, Sabine’s can be quickly eliminated because of its comparatively shorter, thinner bill, with a distinct yellow tip. Franklin’s can also be eliminated by its thinner, straighter bill and its white nape (our bird’s is gray). This leaves us with Laughing Gull, which matches our bird exactly."

And now for Joel:

"Comparing all the birds in this photo, it looks like there are two species, obviously gulls. There are six small hooded gulls and one medium-sized hooded gull in winter [basic or formative, depending upon age] plumage.

"The small hooded gulls: All the gulls except for the bigger browner gull in front are small hooded gulls. Field marks on these non-breeding-plumaged birds are dark ear spot; thin, black bill; somewhat-light gray back; and dark primaries. They cannot be Little Gulls, due to the lack of a dark cap. Black-headed Gull can be eliminated, as they lack the heavier red or orange bill. Bonaparte’s Gull, on the other hand, is a perfect fit, matching all the other field marks that are present on the six small hooded gulls in the quiz photo. Other considered birds are both Kittiwakes, which don’t have the right bill or the correct head pattern.

"The medium-sized hooded gull: The gull in the front is obviously of a different species than all the others gulls, being either a Franklin’s Gull or a Laughing Gull. The brown wings and gray hindneck with a dull half hood make it a first-winter bird. It’s not a Franklin’s Gull, which has a whitish hindneck and a more distinctive hood, leaving Laughing Gull as our winner, with its rather heavy, long, slightly drooped dark bill; white forehead and throat; dark auriculars and neck; and brownish wings."

Thanks, guys!

Because they weren't quite specific enough about a couple bits, I'll finish things up. Black-legged Kittiwakes as juveniles have black bills, but in that plumage they also sport that whacking big nuchal collar. While Red-legged Kittiwakes lack that collar as juvs, they also have very tiny bills and very large eyes (relative to head size), which our quiz birds lack. I believe that Joel is right and the Laughing Gull is a first-winter (in formative plumage), but the Bonaparte's are a mix of two ages (readily told by the black in the wing coverts), with two adults, three first-winters, and one of undetermined age present.

I took this picture of six Bonaparte's Gulls and one Laughing Gull off Delaware on 23 November 2010. They were part of a HUGE feeding frenzy including some 1500-2000 Bonaparte's Gulls, 300 Laughing Gulls, 30+ Black-legged Kittiwakes, 20+ Great Shearwaters, a few Manx Shearwaters, and 9+ Parasitic Jaegers (with a few big gulls and a smattering of Northern Gannets thrown into the mix, too). The system works like this: It starts with a big school of baitfish (e.g., Sand Eels [Ammodytes sp.] or Anchovies; this time, Sand Eels, I think -- "Rock me, Ammodytes!") and the big schooling predatory fish, in this case Bluefish and Striped Bass, attack them from below, forcing them to the water's surface. At this point, the gulls and shearwaters can get 'em and start gorging. The final bit is the jaegers pirating the gulls' and shearwaters' free lunches from them.

Two of the three respondents providing only one species in their answers got that one species correct (Bonaparte's).

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Sabine's Gull - 1
Franklin's Gull - 2
Black-legged Kittiwake - 2

Congratulations to the 20 of 26 getting the quiz correct:
Brandon Percival
Christian Nunes
Al Guarente
Pam Myers
Ira Sanders
Tammy Sanders
Chuck Carlson
Ben Coulter
Marcel Such
Kirk Huffstater
Joel Such
Nick Komar
Tucker Lutter
Margie Joy
Matt Bristol
Christopher Hinkle
Adrian Hinkle
Joe Bens
Chishun Kwong
Bryan Guarente

Answer: Bonaparte's Gull, Laughing Gull

Quiz #381 (2011-1-02) Solution

2011-01-10T01:00:00.008-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

First off, I gave an extra bonus point to all those providing a correct answer for the white-headed shorebird in the background that was supposed to have been cropped out of the quiz picture; it is a Sanderling, and no one got that species wrong that provided a species name for it (others were not penalized). Secondly, I was expecting that respondents would have trouble with the Pluvialis plovers -- they can be truly difficult, but was a bit surprised by the difficulty that respondents had with the four yellow-legged sandpipers.

With both sets of focal species proving a bit tricky, where to start is critical, as each species can inform on the other, particularly with size comparison. So, as the bird exhibits a very distinctive feature, I'll start with the top right of the four sandpipers. These four are dumpy and have short yellow legs (note the emphasis on the first modifier), a medium-length bill, and little in the way of plumage distinction (being brownish-gray above and whitish below), except for one key feature. That feature is the distinctive pattern to most of that upper right sandpiper's upperparts feathers: solid brown except for a thin white fringe and a dark subterminal band (one does need to enlarge the pic to be sure of the pattern). Only two ABA-area shorebird species sport this pattern, one of them being Temminck's Stint. Though bill length and/or leg length can rule out all the species incorrectly provided by respondents, these distinctive feathers do an even better job of ruling them out, as they are juvenal feathers of Red Knot. Temminck's Stint is ruled out by the birds' size; any Pluvialis would dwarf Temminck's Stint. Once we know that the sandpipers are Red Knots, all the shape features line up quite nicely: both bill and legs are too short for Stilt Sandpiper, the legs are too short for either Pectoral or Sharp-tailed sandpipers, and the birds are too large for Least Sandpiper.

With the plovers, it is key that they are all the same size, or virtually so, suggesting that they are all either Black-bellied Plovers or some combo of golden-plovers, not both. The picture is over-exposed (and I purposefully left it that way), so we might be a little wary of the color of the spangling on the upperparts, as golden spots might have been "blown out" by the overexposure, so the more "golden" species (European and Pacific) are not immediately ruled out by what appear to be whitish spangling. I will start with the front left bird. It is mostly brown with whitish spangling above, but it has a number of black-and-white feathers; these must be remnants of alternate plumage, thus the bird must be an adult. At least four other of the plovers show at least some trace of alternate plumage. Others, however, appear to be sporting at least some juvenal plumage. This combo of ages with the adults nearly out of alternate plumage suggest that the picture was taken later in fall, perhaps October or November. A number of the birds exhibit very long primary projection, while a couple show either shorter projection or are indeterminant. Thus, if these are golden-plovers, they have to be Americans or a mix of American and Pacific. However, Black-bellied, too, has very long primary projection, so that species is still in the hunt.

Bill size and shape is one of the better features allowing separation of Black-bellied from the various golden-plover species, but I find that it's often difficult to use in isolation, that is, with only one species present. To me, the bills look quite long and relatively thick, but I need not rely on that feature, because there are still a couple of very useful plumage bits that are very good species determinants. The bellies on all the plovers on which we can see them appear whitish (American and Pacific golden-plovers are grayish), while the crowns on most of them are pale and do not contrast darker than the rest of the head (as in all golden-plovers), except for the bird in the center holding the most alternate plumage and the bird in the back facing right. That back bird might, indeed, be a good candidate for a golden-plover, as it seems warmer, but that could be the angle in which the bird is standing relative to that of all the others. However, looking at head shape, we can see that it's head appears to be deeper from front to back than it is tall, while golden-plover heads are roughly the same dimensions front to back and top to bottom. Finally, Red Knots are of about the same size as the various golden-plovers, but are noticeably smaller than are Black-bellied Plovers.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Least Sandpiper - 2
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - 1
Pacific Golden-Plover - 4
Pectoral Sandpiper - 3
American Golden-Plover - 5
Stilt Sandpiper - 1
Rock Sandpiper - 1
Ruddy Turnstone - 1
Purple Sandpiper - 1

Congratulations to the 11 of 23 getting the quiz correct:
Ben Coulter
Christian Nunes
Al Guarente
Peter Wilkinson
Adrian Hinkle
Pam Myers
Christopher Hinkle
Tucker Lutter
Matt Bristol
Chishun Kwong
Joel Such

Answer: Black-bellied Plover, Red Knot (and Sanderling)

Quiz #380 (2011-1-01) Solution

2011-01-03T13:00:00.002-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering and a host of special guests

Among warblers, undertail patterns are very useful in identification, and this week's quiz bird has a very distinctive one. If you don't believe me, then how about...

Bryan Guarente: "... all-white tail dipped halfway in black ink...."

or Tyler Bell: "... undertail pattern is pretty unique...."

or Marcel Such: "Well, we can deal with this bird in one swipe by looking at the underside of the tail."

or Margie Joy: "But, the distinctive undertail pattern... is probably all I really need to ID this bird."

or Nick Moore: "Half black and half white...."

or Chishun Kwong: "Once we agree that it is a warbler, just the undertail pattern will take us directly...."

The Peterson Warblers guide presents what I think is one of the very best plates in all bird-bookdom: the plate by Tom Schultz showing just the underside of the tail and the undertail coverts of every ABA-area warbler. A birder that knows those cold will rarely leave a bird unidentified from only a look straight up at the bird overhead. While our quiz subject has a plethora of useful field marks (pale eye ring, wing bars, black streaking on yellow underparts, and contrastingly bright white vent and undertail coverts), as many respondents noted, all we need is that unique tail to get to the correct ID.

I took this picture of an adult male Magnolia Warbler at Cape May Point, Cape May Co., NJ, on 25 September 2010.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Pine Warbler - 1

Congratulations to the 27 of 28 getting the quiz correct:
Pam Myers
Robert McNab
Tucker Lutter
Bryan Guarente
Peter Wilkinson
Chuck Carlson
Christian Nunes
Ben Coulter
Adrian Hinkle
Brandon Percival
Al Guarente
Louie Toth
Tyler Bell
Su Snyder
Marcel Such
George Cresswell
Margie Joy
Nick Komar
Jim Nelson
Matt Bristol
Nick Moore
Jim Beatty
Joel Such
Kirk Huffstater
Chishun Kwong
Joe Bens
Thomas Hall

Answer: Magnolia Warbler

Quiz #379 (2010-4-12) Solution

2010-12-20T13:00:00.002-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

The focal bird of this week's quiz has whitish underparts, gray crown, dark bill, a longish tail with extensive white on the outermost pair of rectrices, and -- if one enlarges the picture and looks closely -- a yellowish eye. This suite of characters is found on very few ABA-area birds, with that last feature ruling out all options but one that would have been included in the solution set had the bird's eye been dark. Those ruled out by that eye color include a couple of gnatcatchers, a wagtail or two, and Townsend's Solitaire. The only ABA-area species exhibiting all of those features is Northern Mockingbird, particularly when one throws in size (one can use the Bayberry leaves for that size assessment).

So, I didn't fool many this week. Some readers may be wondering about what I write, but 15 of the 18 respondents noted that there was a second bird in the picture. That bird sports a yellow-based black bill, white underparts, brown upperparts, and extensive rufous in the primaries. Those features lead us, as above, to only one species: Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

As this quiz was the last of the 4th quarter's competition, there is an annual Colorado Field Ornithologists' membership (which includes receiving CFO's journal, Colorado Birds) to disburse. This quarter, two respondents got 10 of 12 quizzes correct, Tyler Bell and Chisun Kwong. The first tie-breaker is the number of bonus points earned in the quarter (bonus points are awarded primarily in multi-species quizzes, though I occasionally hand out the odd point for other reasons). Tyler's 8 topped Chishun's 4, so Tyler gets the CFO membership! Congratulations to Tyler, who is probably the single person that has responded to the most Mr. Bill Mystery Quizzes during my tenure as Mr. Bill; he's been playing a long time and seemingly knows all of my tricks!

As this quiz was also the last of the 2010 competition year, free registration to a CFO convention also needs awarding. As above, two respondents tied, here with 42 of 51 quizzes correct, Al Guarente and Joel Such. The first tie-breaker in this case is the number of incorrect answers, with the lower number winning out. Joel beat Al by one fewer incorrect answer, so he will be going to the 2011 Grand Junction convention! Congrats, Joel!

I want to take this opportunity to thank the 89 folks that responded to the Mr. Bill Mystery Quiz at least once in 2010; they are what keeps me in the Mr. Bill job. However, that total is the lowest during my tenure and the CFO Board and I will be spending some time this year changing things up a bit in hopes of tempting higher response rates. Stay tuned!

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1

Congratulations to the 15 of 18 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Marcel Such
Tyler Bell
Al Guarente
Hope Batcheller
Ben Coulter
Joseph Brown
Joel Such
Christian Nunes
Tucker Lutter
George cresswell
Chishun Kwong
Bryan Guarente
Gary Koehn
Pam Myers

Answer: Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Northern Mockingbird

Quiz #378 (2010-4-11) Solution

2010-12-13T13:00:00.004-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Mea culpa! I forgot to put a red-text caveat with the original posting of this picture that respondents need not ID the two ducks in the upper right. So, since many attempted ID, I gave those that were correct in identifying them as Northern Shovelers (just two, Christian Nunes and Al Guarente) an extra bonus point and disregarded obvious attempts to ID them that went astray. Though the brown bird is probably not absolutely IDable, the bird with the dark head, white chest, and rufous side is certainly an adult (considering the date of the photo) male Northern Shoveler.

No respondents took a chance and provided me with the tack to her/his answer, so I guess that I'll have to provide the solution unassisted. The place to start might be the big, white things in the back. These were obviously Mute Swans as evidenced by the long and apparently-pointed tails; no respondents got them incorrect. Most respondents also got the front-right ducks correct: male and female American Wigeon. Though the female looks quite warm-colored, her pale inner secondary (visible as a bit of gray along the side) is, well, gray, rather than white and the head looks (on my screen, at least) grayish and not warm brown. None taking a stab at the male missed it, with its obvious white crown blaze and pink sides.

The real quiz subject was, however, the flying duck in the bottom left. I thought that it would give some fits and was right about it. The lack of any wing pattern and the contrastingly pale face should have ruled out all but the dark-winged scoters and Long-tailed and Ruddy ducks. The middle option is easily eliminated from consideration by the bird's dark belly. Surf Scoter can be ruled out by our quiz bird's black feet (Surf Scoters have orange feet, bright in males, dull in females; American Black Ducks all have bright reddish-orange feet). We can rule out Black Scoter by studying both ends of the bird: its face has a dark smudge and its tail is very short and spiky. Most importantly, though, those feet are ungodly big, a rarely-seen but distinctive feature of the species.

I took this picture of a flying female Ruddy Duck at Lighthouse Pond, Cape May Point SP, Cape May Co., NJ, on 31 October 2010.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Black Scoter - 3
Eurasian Wigeon - 1
American Black Duck - 1
Surf Scoter - 1
Bufflehead - 1

Congratulations to the 10 of 17 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Christian Nunes
Al Guarente
Joel Such
Marcel Such
Margaret Smith
Nick Komar
Robert McNab
George Cresswell
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Mute Swan, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Ruddy Duck

Quiz #377 (2010-4-10) Solution

2010-12-06T01:00:00.005-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Bryan Guarente and Tony Leukering

Bryan Guarente provided his tack to IDing this week's quiz bird, so we'll start there.

"We have a small passerine. It's got a dark beak, slightly darker streaking on paler underparts, yellow undertail coverts, a light supercilium and lower eye arc, and a notched tail. With only the yellow undertail coverts compared to the grayish overall body, and knowing the size, we are left with five species: Palm Warbler, Colima Warbler, Virginia's Warbler, Nashville Warbler, and Orange-crowned Warbler. Using the facial patterns, there are only two options left: Palm and Orange-crowned. From here the shape of the facial markings can be the biggest indicator. On our quiz bird, the supercilium goes well past the eye and back down the face. Palm Warbler is the only one of our two left that has this shape, so we have found our answer.

"Now, I am sure that Tony will go to the subspecies level with this bird, but I just don't have enough experience with the two subspecies to be able to do that, so I will let him tell us."

Thanks, Bryan. I want to point out an even stronger clue to separate these two species, but first, a little biogeography. All the folks that provided Orange-crowned as their answer live in the West, where that species is about the third-most-common warbler migrant. In the East, Orange-crowned is amazingly scarce as a migrant on the ground for a species with such a vast breeding range in eastern Canada. Now, one of the best clues for discerning Dendroica warblers from almost all other parulids is the presence of tail spots. Yes, some non-Dendroicas sport them (e.g., the "winged" warblers, Prothonotary, Hooded), but those tail spots are an excellent first decision point. This week's quiz bird sports large whitish tail spots on the outermost rectrices and, in fact, the shape, size, and placement of them would be all we would need to identify our wee beastie to species!

As Bryan guessed, we can go further than the species level with this one. There are two subspecies of Palm Warbler, nominate palmarum (Western) and eastern chryseola (Yellow). In Western Palm Warbler, the undertail coverts contrast (weakly in alternate plumage, strongly in basic plumage) with the color of the chest; in Yellow Palm Warbler, nearly the whole of the underparts are bright yellow. I took this picture of a Western Palm Warbler in 'morning flight' over my house in Villas, Cape May Co., NJ, on 15 September 2010. It was one of some 425 that I counted/estimated going by in just one hour -- the species was the most common bird in/over/past my yard that day!

Here in New Jersey in fall, Western Palm Warbler peaks earlier in the season (about mid-September) than does Yellow Palm Warbler (early to mid-October) and nearly all Palm Warblers occurring before mid-September are Westerns. In Colorado, Western Palm Warbler greatly outnumbers Yellow Palm Warbler (I think that there still might be fewer than 10 CO records of Yellow), as one might expect from comparing the ranges of the two. Interestingly though, virtually all Palm Warblers present in CO in the winter have been Yellows!

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Orange-crowned Warbler - 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 1

Congratulations to the 11 of 15 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Robert McNab
Al Guarente
Ben Coulter
Bryan Guarente
Pam Myers
Christian Nunes
Joel Such
Margaret Smith
Nick Komar
Peter Wilkinson
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Palm Warbler (western subspecies)

Quiz #376 (2010-4-09) Solution

2010-11-29T01:00:00.003-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.
Picture taken in New Jersey

Answer by Tony Leukering

Six birds with no particular distinctive shape aspects at all. Bills not long, short, thick, thin; wings not long, short, pointed, rounded; tail not long, short, forked, wedge-shaped, rounded. You might be surprised at how many species the lack of 'interesting' shape features rules out. Additionally, the birds all seem to be of the same shape and size and they are dark.

The proportions and darkness of the birds suggest some sort of blackbird, with tail length and shape ruling out many (most?) of those. A couple of the birds that we can see well, have dark streaking on paler underparts (seen best on the middle-right bird, but also visible on the upper-right bird). This, then, rules out nearly all the other ABA-area species of blackbird. Brewer's and Rusty blackbirds have longer tails and lack streaking. Except for juveniles, cowbirds lack streaking, but the rest of the plumage does not match that of juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird. Tricolored Blackbird doesn't sport a strongly streaked plumage -- particularly against such obviously paler underparts.

Assuming that the birds are all of the same species (and there doesn't seem to be any good reason why not), the upper-left bird may provide the best clue: reddish-orange lesser coverts. I took this picture of six immature Red-winged Blackbirds flying over the Cape May hawkwatch platform, Cape May Co., NJ, on 26 September 2010.

With two quizzes to go, three participants share the lead with 7 correct: Tyler Bell, Ben Coulter, and Chishun Kwong. Good luck to these and all participants!

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Pine Siskin - 1
Rusty Blackbird - 1
Phainopepla - 1

Congratulations to the 12 of 15 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Hope Batcheller
Al Guarente
Nick Komar
Ben Coulter
Christian Nunes
Pam Myers
Tom Takano
Joel Such
Robert McNab
Marcel Such
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Red-winged Blackbird

Quiz #375 (2010-4-08) Solution

2010-11-22T01:00:00.004-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Ah, well. I was hoping for a respondent's answer that would treat the ID of this week's quiz bird and did not get one, which is actually a rare thing. I guess that I'll have to do it all by myself!

As all respondents noted, this week's subject is a raptor. With its eye color (dark), we can quickly rule out many juvenile buteos, all accipiters, older Bald Eagles, many kites, and older female and most male harriers. Closer scrutiny of the eye region should result in noticing the ill-defined blackish bar running vertically below the eye, a virtually-certain indicator of a falcon. An ID of a falcon would also agree with the apparently narrow and tapered wingtip. The sheer darkness of the bird should narrow our choices to Merlin, Gyrfalcon, and Peregrine Falcon, where the combination of distinct buffy superciliary and indistinct vertical bar below the eye should leave us only the first choice.

I took this picture of a columbarius (Taiga) Merlin at the hawkwatch platform at Cape May Point SP, Cape May Co., NJ, on 20 September 2010. Both Prairie (richardsoni) and Black (suckleyi) Merlins are ruled out by that buffy super.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Rough-legged Hawk - 1

Congratulations to the 14 of 15 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Robert McNab
Thomas Hall
Ben Coulter
Nick Komar
George Cresswell
Pam Myers
Margie Joy
Al Guarente
Peter Wilkinson
Adrian Hinkle
Christopher Hinkle
Joe Bens
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Merlin

Quiz #374 (2010-4-07) Solution

2010-11-15T01:00:00.003-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.
Three views of the same individual

Answer by Tony Leukering

Presumably due to the combination of wing bars, flank streaking, and yellow underparts, all respondents thought that this week's quiz bird was a warbler. The important bits to notice on the wee beastie are:

1) whitish wing bars that are not that prominent (seen best in the right (R) picture, and blown out of proportion in the L picture);
2) blackish flank streaking (L and center (C) pictures);
3) undertail covert color (L);
4) face pattern (C and R); and
5) back color (R).

While leg color might also have been a feature to study, all of the similar species share this species' leg color: black. There aren't that many warbler species that combine yellow underparts with blackish flank streaking, and most of those sport white undertail coverts. Our bird's pale yellow undertail coverts (contrastingly paler than the ground color of the flanks) would be the first and one of the more deadly strikes against Magnolia and Cape May warblers, the former due to the color of the undertail coverts, the latter only partly so. Some Cape Mays have yellow-washed undertail coverts, but those tend to be adult males and those exhibit whitish flanks.

Palm Warblers do have yellow undertail coverts, but they are at least as bright as the flanks (Yellow Palm Warbler) if not brighter (Western Palm Warbler); they are never duller. Additionally, the color of the flank streaking is incorrect for that species. The greenish back helps rule out Kirtland's, which is also ruled out by the yellow undertail coverts, and blackish flank streaking rules out the only non-Dendroica provided as answers by respondents, Orange-crowned Warbler.

Despite all of the above, the back and face are sufficient unto the day to identify our quiz bird. Though very subtle, the bird's back has a hint of reddish streaking. The face, however, is not as subtle. There are large pale areas above and below the eye and a distinctly darker bottom edge to the auriculars and a dark eyeline behind the eye. Those pale areas around the eye are not thin and well-defined, but broad and blurry. The combination of features presented lead to only one solution, with the final two being definitive individually.

I took these pictures of an immature Prairie Warbler from the hawkwatch platorm at Cape May Point SP, Cape May Co., NJ, on 11 September 2010.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Palm Warbler - 2
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Magnolia x Prairie Warbler - 1
Cape May Warbler - 1

Congratulations to the 16 of 21 getting the quiz correct:
Ben Coulter
Chuck Carlson
Jim Mountjoy
Margaret Smith
Marcel Such
Joel Such
Su Snyder
Nick Komar
Brandon Percival
George Cresswell
Margie Joy
Peter Wilkinson
Tyler Bell
Adrian Hinkle
Christopher Hinkle
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Prairie Warbler

Quiz #373 (2010-4-06) Solution

2010-11-08T01:00:00.002-07:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Ah, ducks. Quite the interesting group, ducks. Also, quite the interesting responses birders have to them. Most of the adult males in breeding dress swimming on a pond in close range don't scare folks, but any other situation causes many of us consternation. However, ducks exhibit a plethora of characters useful in field ID, if we just know what bits to ogle.

Here, we have some 36 ducks overhead and turning away -- definitely a view to which many birders would object if we insisted on them IDing the birds. There are darned few really "pretty" ones and we cannot see the upperparts. Underwing patterns are exceedingly useful at identifying ducks in flight, and these ducks are no exception. All of them sport dark leading edges, white centers, and gray trailing edges, with dark wingtips. Amazingly, this single character gets us down to just American Wigeon, the "blue-winged teal" (Blue-winged and Cinnamon teal, Northern Shoveler, and Garganey), and Green-winged Teal. Of the 36 birds, six of them provide a good starting point at IDing the rest, and these are all indicated by white arrows in the below picture.

Though some of these six aren't as clearly depicted as others, the top four present an excellent chance to specifically ID some of these beasties. Their heads are brown with white feathering at the base of the bill, and with black bills. These are Blue-winged Teal. The white on the face helps us rule out Cinnamon and none of them really sport the large, spatulate bills typical of Cinnamon Teal. And if their bills aren't big enough to be those of Cinnamon Teal, they sure aren't big enough to be those of Northern Shovelers. The bill color rules out Green-winged Teal that aren't adult males in breeding colors and the white in the face rules out breeding-condition males.

With that decision made, we can then make the next one: that the ducks are all small ducks, as there really aren't any that look any larger than the Blue-winged Teal. Certainly, some look a bit larger, some a bit smaller, but much of that is due to differing distances from the camera. For the rest of the birds on which we can see the forehead reasonably well, they all seem to sport steep foreheads with a fairly sharp angle from crown to forehead. That should rule out all of the "blue-winged teal," as those species typically show a more sloped forehead, lacking a strong crown-forehead angle (like our four top Blue-winged Teal). And now, we get to the focus of the quiz. The underwing patterns in Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal are similar, certainly, but they also differ in a consistent fashion. The white on Green-winged Teal is thinner and contrasts more strongly with the dark secondaries. Additionally, most Blue-winged Teal have the white extend into the greater primary coverts, where it contrasts with the dark lesser primary coverts; all of a Green-winged Teal's primary coverts are gray. For those keeping count, that makes six Blue-winged Teal and 30 Green-winged Teal in this picture that I took at Cape May Point SP, Cape May Co., NJ, on 17 September 2010.

Two respondents this week submitted no incorrect species, but did not provide enough correct ones. As for the four responses providing American Wigeon as one of the species present, I am guessing that the bird just left of the bottom-right-most bird is the one that was confused. Though it looks a fair bit larger than the bird to its right, I suspect that it's a bit closer to the camera than is that other bird. Additionally, the appearance of that bird -- brown sides, contrasting with white belly -- is matched by other individals present that are not apparently larger.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Redhead - 1
American Wigeon - 4
Cinnamon Teal - 1

Congratulations to the 9 of 17 getting the quiz correct:
Ben Coulter
Al Guarente
George Cresswell
Margie Joy
Peter Wilkinson
Margaret Smith
Su Snyder
Chishun Kwong
Bryan Guarente

Answer: Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal

Quiz #372 (2010-4-05) Solution

2010-11-01T01:00:00.005-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

"It took me two days to even SEE the bird!" -- Chris Warren

As I sit here listening to The Outlaws' "Green Grass & High Tides," after a full week of extra-high tides here in Cape May due to the gigantic low sitting to our north, I note that the critical feature of this week's quiz was not, particularly, identifying the bird, but simply finding it. Even those that provided an incorrect answer that actually found the bird, may not have actually SEEN the bird. One incorrect respondent SAW the bird just one day too late, and to paraphrase his comments, once he SAW it, it was easy.

The picture below is the same picture as the quiz photo, just cropped out of the very top-left corner, where the only bird in the picture resided. Yes, this would normally have been a throw-away, but right before I clicked on the garbage can, I thought, "That will make an excellent photo quiz!"

In this version of the quiz photo, we can readily see the distinctive tail pattern of American Redstart, along with the wing stripe created by the yellow bases of the remiges. I took the picture from the "Dike" at Higbees Beach SWA, Cape May Co., NJ, in early September 2010.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Townsend's Solitaire - 1
European Starling - 1
Bushtit - 1
hummingbird, sp. - 1
Baltimore Oriole - 1

Congratulations to the 15 of 20 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Tyler Bell
Richard Jeffers
Margaret Smith
Ben Coulter
Pam Myers
Tom Takano
Christian Nunes
Jim Nelson
Margie Joy
Chris Warren
Chishun Kwong
Bryan Guarente
Joel Such
Marcel Such

Answer: American Redstart

Quiz #371 (2010-4-04) Solution

2010-10-25T01:00:00.005-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.
No ABA-area rarity is present in this picture.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Though 16 individuals made up this quiz, for most respondents, the only real question was "What is that second shorebird?", and only four respondents got that bird to the correct genus. So, we'll leave that one for last.

The first shorebird is the hefty black-and-white thing with an extensively orangish-red bill, which was ID'ed by all as an American Oystercatcher (the dark tip to the bill lets us know that it's a juvenile). There are three ducks, one of which has a hidden head. However, it is the same size (roughly) as the other two and has a long, low-slung body, whitish tail, orange legs, and rufousy flanks with some internal markings on the individual feathers. These features make it a good match for the two other ducks, which by their overall brownish coloration, massive orange bills, and dark-yellow eyes are known as female Northern Shovelers; the partly-hidden bird is a male Northern Shoveler still in mostly alternate (or eclipse) plumage.

Now, onto the gulls. Do I hear an "Amen!"? There are 11 of 'em and all look about the same size. In the front right corner, there is a nice brown thing that most probably immediately pegged for a juvenile Laughing Gull (though it has started its pre-formative molt, as evidenced by some gray scapulars), as there just aren't any other options sharing the bird's long black wings with little or no white primary tips, white underparts, smooth brown head, and black bill. The young gulls behind this one and the one to the right of the American Oystercatcher are quite similar, though the left of the two does have fairly distinct white primary tips. We might consider Franklin's Gull for that bird, but its back and wings are not nearly scaly enough and the wings are too long for that bird to be a Frankie. Also, there's no suggestion of a Franklin's Gull half-hood.

The adult gulls in the picture all have medium-gray mantles, with most showing either black legs or a black bill; none show a half-hood and the ones on which we can see the head well, there is little in the way of black there. So, these are all Laughing Gulls, too. The two gulls in the back left are both 1st-cycle Laughing Gulls, though the case may be difficult to prove on the left of the two. Regardless, it's not identifiable as any other species, seeing as how they're roughly the same size as all of the other Laughing Gulls.

Now, that second shorebird. The first aspect of it that we ought to note is its size -- in fact, that is a feature that we should almost always judge first, when possible. The bird appears nearly as large as a Laughing Gull. Though the feeding posture appears very dowitcher-like, the size should rule those species out, as does the extensively pink base to the bill. Willet was also promulgated by multiple respondents, but the color of the bill base should eliminate that option, as does the single obviously and distinctly black-and-white lower scapular. This bird's size and bill color should leave us no options other than the godwits and curlews (which, of course, includes Whimbrel), with the latter group ruled out by that same black-and-white scapular. Once among the godwits, Black-tailed is ruled out by the red-text caveat with the picture, because that species is an ABA-area rarity.

At this point, I'm glad that no one provided Bar-tailed Godwit as an answer, as I don't know how to rule that species out with the view that we have. I had meant the caveat to say that there were no NEW JERSEY rarities included, but good intentions being what they are.... Suffice it to say that the bird is not a Bar-tailed Godwit. Marbled Godwit should look larger than a Laughing Gull and lacks our birds strongly white distal half of the underparts.

I took this picture of three Northern Shovelers, one each American Oystercatcher and Hudsonian Godwit, and 11 Laughing Gulls from the hawkwatch platform at Cape May Point SP, Cape May Co., NJ, on 19 September 2010. Ben Coulter gets kudos for being the only person to get the second shorebird right, but also for providing the list of species in his answer in taxonomic order! Below, I provide another picture of the same godwit that I took on the same date to prove the ID.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Long-billed Dowitcher - 1
Short-billed Dowitcher - 3
Willet - 2
Whimbrel - 2
Common Eider - 1
Mallard - 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 1
Marbled Godwit - 3
dowitcher, sp. - 2

Congratulations to the 1 of 15 getting the quiz correct:
Ben Coulter

Answer: Northern Shoveler, American Oystercatcher, Hudsonian Godwit, and Laughing Gull

Quiz #370 (2010-4-03) Solution

2010-10-18T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.
Picture taken in August

Answer by Tony Leukering

Ah, peeps, aren't they grand! Those providing Sanderling as answer (5 of 14 incorrect answers) hopefully just didn't note that our quiz bird has a hind toe on each foot. Another five incorrect respondents did not note that the bird shows partial webbing in that nicely photographed left foot. The four toes/foot and the partial webbing on a peep leaves us only two options: Semipalmated and Western sandpipers.

The above means that 12 of 22 respondents got to the correct set of two species, at which point, the quiz gets really difficult, because we cannot see the bill, which often provides our best ID clue. I provided the month in which the photograph was taken in order to ensure that folks were considering adult peeps in the beginning of pre-basic mnolt, rather than birds nearing the end of pre-alternate molt. Our bird has obviously started its pre-basic molt, and has grown in a smattering of basic scapulars to replace the dark alternate scaps. Taking a critical look at the remaining alternate scaps, I cannot find a single feather with a rufous fringe. Oh, there are some scaps with worn warm brown fringes, but none with rufous fringes, as would be shown by Western Sandpiper. Even more importantly, none show a rufous base, which is even more critical.

Molt timing is of immense assistance in sorting between Western and Semipalmated sandpipers, but age also plays a part in molt timing, so we need to be very careful of using molt timing willy-nilly to ID individuals of this duo. Pyle (2008) states that timing of the pre-basic molt of fully adult (>2 yrs old) Semis is "August-Nov/Jan" while that of 2nd-year birds is "May-Nov in non-breeding birds." O'Brien et al. (2006) depict a molting adult Semipalmated Sandpiper in July (picture 11) that is fairly similar to our quiz bird.

I used this picture in the Mr. Bill Mystery Quiz to drive home one of my most harped-upon messages: "One-character IDs are suspect; check everything that you can." Yes, many aspects of this bird's plumage is similar to that of Sanderling, but that species lacks hind toes. Yes, White-rumped Sandpiper is known to have streaks on the flank, but so do other peeps, and White-rumpeds lack webbing between their toes. Thus, studying this quiz bird's foot right off the bat -- and the posture should nearly force our eyes to at least look at that left foot -- would have gotten us down to two species (assuming that one eliminates Willet and a few other species on size/structure) and bypassed the problems of misconstruing flank streaking and overall appearance.

I took this picture of a molting adult Semipalmated Sandpiper in my back yard in Villas, Cape May Co., NJ, on 17 August 2010. Due to the extreme difficulty of this quiz picture, I have given all those providing 'Western Sandpiper' as an answer a bonus point for getting to the right pair of species, though have counted their answers as incorrect for the competition.

Literature Cited
O'Brien, M., R. Crossley, and K. Karlson. 2006. The Shorebird Guide. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.

Pyle, P. 2008. Identification Guide to North American Birds, part II. Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, CA.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Western Sandpiper - 4
Sanderling - 5
Baird's Sandpiper - 3
White-rumped Sandpiper - 2

Congratulations to the 8 of 22 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
George Cresswell
Al Guarente
Robert McNab
Su Snyder
Margaret Smith
Adrian Hinkle
Christopher Hinkle

Answer: Semipalmated Sandpiper

Quiz #369 (2010-4-02) Solution

2010-10-11T01:00:00.001-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

We've got an obviously small bird (compare to leaf sizes) with a lot of distinct field marks, what with flank streaks, wing bars, tail spots, back streaking, interesting crown pattern, yellow superciliary, and, of course, braces. Despite this, interestingly, even many of the correct respondents seemed to have trouble with the quiz subject. As I've mentioned many times in this and other venues, I believe that one-field-mark identifications are anathema. However, the experienced and skilled birders often use single field marks to ID birds, that is, once they've got them assigned to some smaller group.

With the plethora of the specific field marks exhibited by our quiz bird, we really have no reason to find ourselves anywhere but among the warblers; ah, the New World warblers. We can eliminate all the non-blackish-streaked and/or non-wing-barred species, leaving us with a manageable handful: Magnolia, Cape May, Yellow-rumped, Kirtland's, Prairie, Yellow-throated, Blackburnian, Cerulean, Golden-cheeked, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Gray, Golden-cheeked, and Townsend's. Our bird's strong yellowish super eliminates most of the lot, leaving the final seven from that list. At this point, that single superb field mark comes into play, the braces.

For those that don't know the term, 'braces,' it is a British term for contrastingly pale (usually whitish) streaks on the sides of the back. Our quiz bird sports them, the other six remaining candidates lack them. In fact, we could have short-stopped the process once we knew we were among the warblers, as this species is the only ABA-area parulid that exhibits braces. However, by using the crown pattern and distinctly dark back, we could have gotten to the same place.

I took this picture of an immature Blackburnian Warbler at Cape May Point, Cape May Co., NJ, on 10 September 2010.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Cape May Warbler - 1
Townsend's Warbler - 2
American Goldfinch - 1
Blackpoll Warbler - 1

Congratulations to the 21 of 26 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Su Snyder
Robert McNab
George Cresswell
Margaret Smith
JoAnn Andrews
Chuck Carlson
Thomas Hall
Richard Jeffers
Margie Joy
Brandon Percival
Al Guarente
Nick Komar
Peter Wilkinson
Pam Myers
Tom Takano
Adrian Hinkle
Ben Coulter
Joel Such
Marcel Such
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Blackburnian Warbler

Quiz #368 (2010-4-01) Solution

2010-10-04T01:00:00.006-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Marcel Such and Tony Leukering

Marcel Such provided a good answer, so I will start this solution with his words.

"For this quiz, we have a proportionately large bird in flight, heading directly toward the camera. It has fairly long, broad wings; a well-built body; and long, black legs. One thing that I’ll use to narrow our possibilities down a bit is the neck . . . a long one, which is being carried in a characteristic curved, or S-shaped, posture. Of the birds in the long-necked-and-long-legged category – families Ardeidae, Ciconiidae, and Gruidae, or herons, ibis, and cranes, respectively – only the herons hold their necks in such a way; all of the others fly with necks held out straight.

"From here, it is an easy jump to the correct species by looking at the distinctly bicolored wings (white on the leading edge, black on the trailing edge) and body (rust red on the front end, and pure white on the back end). This leaves us with only one possibility, a juvenile Tricolored Heron (adults have a slate blue-purple head and neck). But, there is a problem on this bird, the legs. Our quiz bird has black legs, not the expected bright yellow ones. I’m going to stick with my conclusion of a Tricolor, believing that the odd coloration is due to a weird trick of the light, or that the legs are covered in mud or some other dark substance. Or something completely different."

I also liked Robert McNab's answer: "Since Pterodactyls are extinct (and not birds), I'll have to go with Tricolored Heron."

I was gratified to receive no answers that included a hyphen in the quiz species' name; this is a common mistake made by birders.

Marcel was correct in thinking that one of the options for the apparently dark legs was photographic effect. This bird's legs are yellow, the color is just not apparent in the quiz picture, though is in the supplementary picture that I provide below. I took both pictures of the same bird at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, Cape May Co., NJ, on 21 August 2010, the same date and place as the previous Mr. Bill quiz photo.

With most of the fourth quarter to go, there's a tight race for the annual competition title, with Joel Such (34 correct), Al Guarente (33), and Peter Wilkinson (32) being the front-runners.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Wood Stork - 1
Whooping Crane - 1
White Ibis - 2
Black Skimmer - 1
Willet - 1

Congratulations to the 16 of 22 getting the quiz correct:
Peter Wilkinson
Al Guarente
Joel Such
Chuck Carlson
Tyler Bell
George Cresswell
Richard Jeffers
Christian Nunes
Pam Myers
Robert McNab
Adrian Hinkle
Margaret Smith
Margie Joy
Marcel Such
Joe Bens
Chishun Kwong
Answer: Tricolored Heron

Quiz #367 (2010-3-12) Solution

2010-09-27T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Since this is not a dragonfly quiz, the subject must be that big white blob in the background. There aren't an awful lot of large white birds that occur in the ABA area, so this ought to be fairly straightforward. The really long neck rules out American White Pelican and the white geese, and the bill color rules out all of the other options but one. Yes, the orange bill with a suggestion of a black base must make our quiz bird a Mute Swan. Juvenile swans of the other ABA-occurring species can have colorful bills, but they would be pink or pinkish, rather than orange and would show more extensive dark bits. (Snow Goose does not sport a nearly unicolored bill.)

I took this picture of a Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens) that just happened to have a Mute Swan in the background at the TNC's Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge (aka South Cape May Meadows), Cape May Co., NJ, on 21 August 2010. The glider can be identified by the combination of yellow body, red eyes, lack of strong black lateral stripe or row of spots/patches, and lack of spot at hindwing base. Wandering Glider is the only odonate found on all six continents on which Odonata occur. Two respondents identified the dragonfly correctly. While no credit was given for that in the competition, I indicated those correct respondents with an asterisk to give them some additional glory.

With this being the last quiz of the quarter, it's time to award the quarterly prize: a year's membership in CFO. Three players (Chuck Carlson, Su Snyder, and Peter Wilkinson) tied with 10 of 12 correct and with no bonus points awarded this quarter, the tie-breaker is a coin toss (rather, a spreadsheet-generated random integer between 1 and 3, inclusive), with the winner being...

Su Snyder! Congratulations!

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Snow Goose - 1
American White Pelican - 2

Congratulations to the 14 of 17 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell *
Su Snyder *
Tom Takano
Nick Komar
Bryan Guarente
Al Guarente
George Cresswell
Robert McNab
Thomas Hall
Margie Joy
Peter Wilkinson
Chuck Carlson
Marcel Such
Joel Such

Answer: Mute Swan

Quiz #366 (2010-3-11) Solution

2010-09-20T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

A flying shorebird with mostly-white underparts and black feet, with the latter feature doing a pretty good job at knocking down the number of possibilities, is this week's quiz bird. The bill is black, somewhat thick, and blunt-tipped. There is a hint of some reddish on the face and throat and the upperside of the wings looks like it sports a fairly wide white wing stripe. With all of the quiz bird's obvious field marks, one that might get overlooked is the color of the bird's wrists -- they're black. Black wrists contrasting with wide white wing stripe in combination with the other characters point to only one species. I took this picture of a molting adult Sanderling at Villas, Cape May Co., NJ, on 20 August 2010.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
none

Congratulations to the 19 of 19 getting the quiz correct:
Chuck Carlson
Richard Jeffers
Peter Wilkinson
Tyler Bell
Robert McNab
Margie Joy
Donna Nespoli
Pam Myers
Margaret Smith
Al Guarente
Nick Komar
George Cresswell
Christian Nunes
Su Snyder
Marcel Such
Joe Bens
Joel Such
Bryan Guarente
Thomas Hall

Answer: Sanderling

Quiz #365 (2010-3-10) Solution

2010-09-13T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Margie Joy, Peter Wilkinson, and Tony Leukering

Margie Joy provided a fairly thorough answer, so the solution will start there.

"This week’s quiz bird, shown from below (so no upper markings) seems to be fairly small. It has a short, dark, somewhat-forked tail; dark head and throat with a fairly well-defined lower border; a pale band or collar that extends at least around the side of the neck; small, pointed bill; pale undersides with some erratic dark streaking extending onto the undertail coverts; and pointed wings. The underwing coverts are fairly dark, contrasting with slightly paler flight feathers. Because the underside of the bird is in shadow, it’s difficult to tell if the flight feathers are really this pale or if bright sunlight from behind makes it seem so. But there is at least some contrast.

"The pointed wings restrict the possibilities to swallows and a few flycatchers. The short tail eliminates the flycatchers, leaving me with the swallows (including martins) to consider. The wings of Cliff and Cave swallows are generally less pointed and the tails more square than those of the other swallows. Underwing coverts are pale, not dark like the quiz bird’s. I looked twice at Cliff Swallow, however, because of the dark head/throat, heavily streaked undertail coverts, and pale collar or neck band, but couldn’t make the other marks fit. Tail shape eliminates Barn Swallow.

"Swallows with white or pale throats in all plumages (Bank, Violet-green, Tree, and Bahama) can be eliminated. Northern Rough-winged Swallow can have a dusky (but not really dark or with a well-defined lower border) throat in some plumages, muted (not dark) streaking on the underparts, and the tail is square. That doesn’t quite fit so it’s out, too.

"That brings me to martins. There are several accidental martins on the ABA list, but none fits the quiz bird’s description, leaving me with Purple Martin. Sibley shows this kind of dark, erratic streaking (incoming dark adult feathers) on underparts on male Purple Martin in first summer plumage. The underwings, as shown in my field guides, are fairly dark overall but do show some contrast between flight feathers and darker coverts. So far, so good. I struggled a bit with the pale collar that I see on the quiz bird; it seems to have more contrast than that shown in field-guide illustrations. I will chalk that up to poor lighting and variability of individuals, and stay with Purple Martin as my answer."

Thanks, Margie!

I had meant to provide a caveat with the picture when I posted it indicating that the picture was taken in New Jersey and was not an ABA-area rarity. Fortunately, no one attempted one of the south-of-the border purple Progne martins, as they can be VERY difficult to separate from Purple. Additionally, Peter Wilkinson (our resident UK resident) provided his thoughts (and correct they were) about ageing and sexing the quiz bird.

"Anything but purple, of course, in this plumage. Interesting mo(u)lt limit, apparently suspended after the two innermost primaries. I haven't managed to track much down on this, but this is presumably a second calendar year male (one reference says adults start with the outermost secondary, which this clearly hasn't) but if this isn't going to finish the remaining primaries until it is back in its winter quarters, they are going to be 15+ months old."

Thanks, Peter!

I took this picture from the roof of my house in Villas, Cape May Co., NJ, on 20 August 2010, a time at which southbound Purple Martin migration has nearly completed at that latitude.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Northern Rough-winged Swallow - 2
Cliff Swallow - 1

Congratulations to the 12 of 15 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Al Guarente
Claire Mix
Peter Wilkinson
Su Snyder
Chuck Carlson
Margaret Smith
Tyler Bell
Bryan Guarente
Joel Such
Marcel Such
Thomas Hall

Answer: Purple Martin

Quiz #364 (2010-3-09) Solution

2010-09-06T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

All respondents got to the correct family -- Tyrannidae -- for this week's quiz bird. However, as indicated somewhat by the short number of respondents (on the more difficult quizzes, response rates tend to decline), this one was, as one respondent noted, "evil." Despite any evilness, a plurality of respondents (including our one
regular Brit) did get it correct, but just barely.

The strong whitish fringes to the tertials and the hints of green in the upperparts rule out Say's Phoebe, which has gray-fringed tertials and browner upperparts. Once one is among the type genus of the family (Tyrannus) -- nothing else really matches our bird, the very dark tail and rump contrasting with a much paler back leave us only the options of Cassin's and Western kingbirds. Once there, we need to look at parts very carefully.

Our quiz bird is facing away, so the throat/face contrast is impossible to assess. While the bird's tail seems to lack white edges (Western), it also seems to lack a tannish-white tip (Cassin's). The upperparts really seem too pale and contrast too much with the bird's black rump and the tail really seems black, not the very dark brown of Cassin's. But, why doesn't the tail show white sides? Recall that on the folded tail, the outer feathers are layered under the inner feathers such that what appears to be the outer edge of the tail is not actually the outer edge. Studying the tail closely, we can see that only one tail feather is visible on the bird's left side; well, except for the very tip of another one. Since the innermost tail feathers lie on top, we are definitely NOT seeing the outermost rectrix, unless that very thin white edge on the basal half of the tail is that outermost feather peeking out. Despite not being able to see the bird's tail's edges, we can definitely see the tips of multiple feathers and none of them sport the obvious wide pale tip typical of Cassin's, though there is one -- and only one -- feather showing something of a pale tip.

Below, I provide another view of this Western Kingbird that I took in Logan Co., CO, on 19 June 2010. Another nail in the coffin for an ID as Cassin's may be detected by examining the wing formula -- the number of primary tips visible and the spacing among them on the folded wing. In Western Kingbird, 4-5 primary tips should be visible beyond the longest tertial; our quiz bird shows 4. On the bird's left wing, one can somewhat discern that the distance between the tip of the longest primary and the next-longest visible primary (gap 1) is just a bit shorter than the distance across the next gap (gap 2) between tips up -- toward the inside of -- the wing. Cassin's sports a fairly short lowest gap (gap 1) with the next gap up (gap 2) being very wide.

After 9 quizzes this quarter, Chuck Carlson, Margie Joy, Su Snyder, and Peter Wilkinson are tied for the lead with 7 correct.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Cassin's Kingbird - 5
Say's Phoebe - 3
Tropical Kingbird - 1

Congratulations to the 6 of 15 getting the quiz correct:
Al Guarente
Peter Wilkinson
Margie Joy
Robert McNab
Su Snyder
Joe Bens

Answer: Western Kingbird

Quiz #363 (2010-3-08) Solution

2010-08-30T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

An obvious cormorant with an orange gular patch with a white border must be a Neotropic! Well, while that feature is one that is consistent with an ID of Neotropic Cormorant, it is also consistent with an ID of Double-crested Cormorant, at least of some youngsters (particularly juvs). So, that is the decision to be made this week, as the other visible features, particularly the pale underparts with neck being as pale as belly, rule out all other ABA-area possibilities. Unfortunately for the difficulty factor, the quiz bird's underparts are just too pale to be those of a Neotropic. Additionally, the rear border of the gular patch is around vertical, unlike the border of Neotropic, which is canted forward (from top to bottom) some 45 degrees.

I photographed this juvenile Double-crested Cormorant at Orange Beach, Baldwin Co., AL, on 9 August 2010.

One answer was considered incorrect for the competition, as it capitalized the first 'c' in the name (see rules) and a second did the same and also neglected to include the hyphen. Another answer included an incorrect assessment of age with the (correct) species answer. Please note the rules and keep any assessment of age/sex/plumage separate from your species answer, e.g., in parentheses, on a separate line. This is because if one responds with something like "male Northern Cardinal" and the quiz bird is a female Northern Cardinal, one's answer cannot be correct. It is considered correct enough for the respondent's name to be listed in the queue of respondents getting the correct species, but is not considered correct for the competition.

Finally, it is heartening to see the response rate to the quiz climb a bit this week, with a number of new players.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Neotropic Cormorant - 8

Congratulations to the 16 of 24 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Chuck Carlson
Donna Nespoli
Kirk Huffstater
Nick Komar
Mike Freiburg
George Cresswell
Robert McNab
Gary Koehn
Margie Joy
Su Snyder
Maureen Blackford
Al Guarente
Peter Wilkinson
Bryan Guarente
Thomas Hall

Answer: Double-crested Cormorant

Quiz #362 (2010-3-07) Solution

2010-08-23T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

The quiz bird flew by me while I was in a boat in Perdido Bay, AL (at Orange Beach), 9 August 2010, while I was working on post-spill efforts -- specifically, monitoring sea-grass beds. I had been photographing Sandwich Terns and grabbed one picture of the bird as it flew by me, never putting a binocular on the bird. When I got the pictures home to NJ, I noticed the bird's bill -- no yellow. Hmm. Then I noticed the depth of the bill. Hmm. That's odd, it almost makes it look like a small gull. Hmm.

Medium-sized tern ID is difficult, and made more difficult for many by the fact that there are very few places where one can see a lot of all of the species. In the interior, one is usually left with only Common and Forster's as regular options. In coastal New England, one adds Arctic and Roseate, but Forster's drops out. In New Jersey, Forster's and Common both breed in large numbers, with Gull-billed in small numbers, but Arctic and Roseate are rare. In the West, Common and Forster's are the only game in town, really. In the far north, Arctic and Common hold a near monopoly except in parts of coastal Alaska, where Aleutian is an option. The Gulf coast sports Gull-billed, Forster's, and Common (at appropriate seasons), but few (if any) of the others. South Florida may have the best medium-sized tern diversity, with four regular species.

All of these species sport black bills at one or more seasons and ageing the bird might help us winnow the possibilities. Typical of first-cycle terns, our bird has something of a secondary bar (the left wing's secondaries are dark-centered; we cannot see the top side of the right wing secondaries, so cannot accurately assess their color) and the tail seems to have dark corners. With an age as a probable juvenile given, the facts that our bird seems to have palish legs and a pale bit in the middle of the bill might be explained (juvenile soft-part colors are often different from those of adults and can change rapidly from that when in the nest). Our bird's apparent face mask sets it apart from Aleutian, Arctic, and Common, all of which sport some black on the crown. The extent of black onto the nape should enable us to eliminate Forster's from consideration at this age -- it can't be molting into or out of a full black crown at that age. Roseate and Arctic don't show so much dark on the underside of the wingtips and also sport rather dainty bills. In fact, we don't really need to look at much else other than the bill, because, by itself, it identifies this Gull-billed Tern.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Common Tern - 4
Forster's Tern - 2

Congratulations to the 9 of 15 getting the quiz correct:
Chuck Carlson
George Cresswell
Su Snyder
Margie Joy
Al Guarente
Kirk Huffstater
Peter Wilkinson
Marcel Such
Robert McNab

Answer: Gull-billed Tern

Quiz #361 (2010-3-06) Solution

2010-08-16T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

All respondents got this week's quiz birds to the right genus, but none got the correct answer; somewhat disappointing. Our birds were obviously Plegadis ibis and those dark eyes and dark legs are key characters pointing to Glossy Ibis, which was the species promulgated by the majority of respondents. However, those characters also match White-faced Ibis, at least at some times.

Both of the birds sport anomalous patches of white on the neck and/or head, a feature at odds with both submitted IDs. At least, of identification of birds older than a few months. Yes, the oddly-patterned bills and the white patches on the necks support the contention by many respondents that these are juvenile ibis. Adding more certainty to that age assumption are the fresh, unworn, and even-aged flight feathers. Even though multiple folks noted this feature in our quiz, the age of our quiz birds seemed not to cause much in the way of caution in respondents. There was something of a geographic bias in responses, with all easterners (those living east of the Mississippi River) going for Glossy Ibis and the only votes for White-faced coming from westerners. Interesting to me, multiple respondents provided both species in their answers.

As noted in most (if not all) field guides to "North American" birds, juvenile dark ibis are indistinguishable. While there may be some characters that may suggest one or the other of the two species, as far as I'm aware (and I've looked at a LOT of juvenile ibis), there are no certain separators of the two, thus the correct answer, and one that I hope would be practiced in the field, is "Plegadis sp."

I took this picture of two juvenile dark ibis in July in some U.S. state in which I've lived at that time of year. Of course, that is a considerable number of places, and includes the following states (listed alphabetically): CA, CO, CT, GA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, and OH. White-faced Ibis breeds in two of those, Glossy in four (CT?), and neither in three. One can see the dilemna. If I took this picture in Michigan or Ohio, where both species are rarities, how would I back up any specific ID to the state's records committee? As I have seen breeding-season individuals of one species in two states in which the other species breeds, but which the first is not known to breed and in which the non-breeding species is a rarity, again, how do I back up any ID? Do I let them go in CO and NJ as simply the locally-breeding species, when I have no solid evidence of such, other than location? Why do that? Finally, how do I rule out the possibility of a hybrid, of which I've seen a fair few in CO, a state just south of Wyoming in which both species have bred or do breed?

Birding is more than simply slapping a label onto any given target. At least, I want it to be. That name should not be the end-all, be-all of birding, but simply a way to organize the chaos that is inherent in all biology. It is incumbent upon all of us, I think, to refrain from identifying something definitively, if there is no reason for that definitiveness. We can learn so much more, if our minds remain open to new things, novel theses, rather than simply slapping a name on an unidentifiable bird and moving on to the next. We should not be afraid to let a bird go unidentified.

Okay, I'm done with the philosophizing, let's check out the next quiz!

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Glossy Ibis - 13
White-faced Ibis - 4

All 14 answers submitted were considered incorrect.

Answer: Plegadis sp.

Quiz #360 (2010-3-05) Solution

2010-08-09T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Steve Mlodinow, Steve's girlfriend (sorry, my old mind has forgotten her name), Larry Semo, and I were birding the very flooded Tamarack Ranch SWA, Logan Co., CO, on 19 June 2010 when Steve's girlfriend noted a high-flying raptor circling overhead. Due to the height, intervening trees, and the plumage state of the bird, we had a bit of trouble identifying it immediately, but we eventually all agreed that it was....

Ah, I get ahead of myself.

Raptors soaring lazily overhead are usually considerably easier to ID than are raptors screaming by partially tucked. But, this week's lazily soaring raptor caused our respondents fits, as illustrated by the fact that the correct answer was not the most frequent answer provided - a rare occurrence in the Mr. Bill Mystery Quiz. Our bird's plumage, well, let's just say that it's seen better days. With the date given, things get a bit easier, as a ragged bird at that time of year is almost certainly a first-cycle bird (right around one year old), but the date was not provided for the quiz, so we'll have to go on without that datum.

The dark flight feathers, white underwings, mostly-white body, and black wrist mark leave few options, with all the best ones provided as answers this week: Osprey, Swainson's Hawk, and Short-tailed Hawk. While Prairie Falcon is variable as to its underwing pattern, but they also show at least dark axillars and it and Gyrfalcon never show a distinct dark patch on the greater primary coverts on the underwing. White-tailed Hawk is somewhat of a match for parts of our bird, but as the outer pair of rectrices on both sides of the tail are complete and there is no sign of the distinct black subterminal band typical of adults of that species, adult White-tailed is eliminated; juveniles would never be so pale.

Our bird's 6th primary (p6; count 5 primaries in from the outermost) is considerably and noticeably shorter than is p7, creating a very pointed look to the wingtip for a buteo, so Short-tailed Hawk is ruled out. Osprey sports a wrist patch, not just a comma, with the length of all the greater primary coverts on the underwing being dark, not sporting a terminal bar. Additionally, Osprey does not exhibit the dark of the face extending down to the shoulder and onto the throat as does our quiz bird. Thus, by the process of elimination, our quiz bird is a Swainson's Hawk. Colorado plays host to, well, hosts of such birds in summer, and birders with little experience with them in the field often believe that they're other species, because they just don't look like the pictures in the books! But, our quiz bird is identifiable as a Swainson's Hawk by the various features presented above: dark remiges contrasting with pale wing linings, wrist comma, no carpal bar, pointed wingtip, dark extending from auriculars to sides of throat, and pale tail with vague darker bands.

This week's quiz picture was the fourth consecutive one from northeast Colorado on 19 June, illustrating quite nicely how easy it is to take quiz pictures! With the wreckage caused by this quiz, Tyler Bell, Chuck Carlson, and Joel Such are the only players remaining with perfect scores after five quizzes.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Short-tailed Hawk - 2
Osprey - 8
Prairie Falcon - 1
White-tailed Hawk - 1

Congratulations to the 6 of 18 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Chuck Carlson
Margaret Smith
Margie Joy
Jim Beatty
Joel Such

Answer: Swainson's Hawk

Quiz #359 (2010-3-04) Solution

2010-08-02T01:00:00.004-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Wow, that rufous shoulder is quite distinct! Of course, that rufous is really near the wrist, but hey, who's keeping score? Oh, I am.

That extensive rufous on the wing on a small bird (note comparison to leaf size) really rules out most ABA-area passerines, leaving a short and eclectic solution set: Great Kiskadee; Canyon Wren; Dusky Thrush; Rufous-backed Robin (Thrush); Brown Thrasher; Bachman's, Rufous-winged, American Tree, Black-chinned, Henslow's, Seaside, Fox, Song, and Swamp sparrows; McCown's and Lapland longspurs; Rustic Bunting; Dickcissel; and Red-winged Blackbird. The long pale superciliary, gray crown and nape, black-streaked back, and brown rump and tail eliminate most of the above. Finally, the placement of the rufous (lesser and median coverts, but not greater coverts or remiges) leaves us only one option.

I took this photo of a territorial male Dickcissel near Jumbo Res., Sedgwick Co., CO, on 19 June 2010. I provide, below, another view of the beastie to confirm the ID for any doubting Thomases (and I'm not cracking wise on Mr. Hall, who got the right ID).

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Dusky Thrush - 1

Congratulations to the 15 of 16 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Chuck Carlson
Kyle Huffstater
Su Snyder
Bryan Guarente
Joel Such
Kirk Huffstater
Al Guarente
Marcel Such
Thomas Hall
Robert McNab
Margie Joy
Peter Wilkinson
Kevin Kerr
Joe Bens

Answer: Dickcissel

Quiz #358 (2010-3-03) Solution

2010-07-26T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

A raptor perched on the ground right next to a railroad track is this week's quiz bird. We cannot see the bird's underparts, which probably threw off all of those getting the incorrect answer. But, we don't really need them, if we pay close attention to the field marks on the upperparts, and one very useful one on the underparts, that we can see.

Peter Wilkinson, who got the correct answer, wondered if I was trying to make quiz takers think of falcons, due to our bird's long wings, which extend beyond the tail tip. My answer is, "not consciously," but that was one feature that I was going to expouse upon. It does have long wings and the visible primaries are quite black, contrasting strongly with the rest of the wing that is visible. With a view from above of this bird in flight, we would see a fairly distinctly bicolored wing, dark hand and browner arm. Also note that the bird has at least two ages of secondaries, thus it is not a juvenile. The age is relevant, as the tail pattern means a bit more since most juvenile raptors that might be confused with our quiz bird have banded tails, but don't as adults.

The large falcons generally have tapered tails inconsistent with the quiz bird's. The deck feathers (yes, Peter, the raptor community on this side of the Pond does use the term) -- the central rectrices -- are broad and rounded on our bird, another feature at least somewhat inconsistent with a falcon ID. The strong pale fringes to all of the upperparts feathers should rule out all of the kites that might be considered.

With the above, we'll probably have to look among the buteos for a solution. With that, the face pattern becomes quite critical. Only two buteos typically show such well demarcated white foreheads and chin/throat: Short-tailed and Swainson's. Our bird is really too patterned above for Short-tailed and, despite the species' namesake, the short wings still don't protrude beyond the tail tip. Additionally, raise your hands all who have actually seen a perched Short-tailed Hawk! I haven't, though, of course, they do partake of that activity. I took this picture of an adult Swainson's Hawk along Hwy 138 in Logan Co., CO, on 19 June 2010.

One respondent neglected the possessive aspect of the species' name, so the answer was precluded from being correct for the competition. Three pictures into the new quarter, there are seven tied at the head of the class with perfect scores.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Short-tailed Hawk - 2
Mississippi Kite - 1
Ferruginous Hawk - 1
Gyrfalcon - 1

Congratulations to the 16 of 21 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Chuck Carlson
Claire Mix
Margaret Smith
Thomas Hall
Robert McNab
Kevin Kerr
Gary Koehn
Kirk Huffstater
Peter Wilkinson
Chris Warren
Joel Such
Su Snyder
Kyle Huffstater
Bryan Guarente
Joe Bens

Answer: Swainson's Hawk

Quiz #357 (2010-3-02) Solution

2010-07-12T01:00:00.006-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Almost all respondents got our quiz bird to the genus Icterus, the orioles. The strongly bicolored (black maxilla, blue mandible) bill is the single best clue to get there, once one rules out the Passerina buntings (including Blue Grosbeak). That bill color also helps us eliminate one oriole option, Altamira, but that species doesn't have a yellowish or greenish plumage at all, so it's out the door, anyway.

The overall impression of the bird's bright coloration is that of a yellow/green/orange, but with a distinctly dark back and two whitish wing bars. These features rule out four of the ten ABA-area orioles, leaving Orchard, Hooded, Streak-backed, Bullock's, Audubon's, Baltimore, and Scott's.

At this point, ageing the wee beastie might assist with identification, so let's tackle that. One of the more notable aspects of the quiz bird's plumage is the wear that is so evident on the head (the crown is mostly gray!) and in the wings: they're really brown and with the wingbars in fairly sad shape. Unless the picture was taken in late summer, this amount of wear would suggest an immature bird in its second calendar year. Looking closely at the greater coverts, we can see that at least some of the outer ones have centers noticeably darker than the paler and browner inner coverts, another good clue to immaturity. Finally, the bird's tail provides a similar clue, as the outermost rectrix on each side is more rounded, grayer, and sports an obvious and unworn white fringe to the tip than are the rest of the rectrices. Checking into Pyle (1997), we find that the pre-formative molt (called therein the first pre-basic; but terminology of these molts changed after the publication of the book, so...) in this species (I won't say, yet, what that species is) is eccentric, with an odd and variable variety of flight feathers replaced. That certainly matches our bird, so we can safely presume that this is a first-cycle female, as a similarly-aged male of the various orioles still in contention would have some male-like aspect (specifically, black on the throat) in late spring/early summer -- and the picture has to have been taken at this time from the plumage's appearance.

Our bird's back can help us to eliminate another few species, Streak-backed, Baltimore, and Scott's, as, if anything, it is barred, not streaked. Studying the face allows us to rule out Bullock's, as the brightest plumage there is behind the auriculars, not in the front of the face as it should be on Bullock's. Another character assists with that elimination: the pale edges of the secondaries. On Bullock's, these edges extend all the way to the greater coverts, whereas our bird's edges do not. There is a gap similar to that that allows quick separation of Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Hutton's Vireo, though not quite as obvious as on the kinglet. Quite fortuitously, this feature also eliminates Hooded Oriole, leaving us with the correct ID.

I took this picture of an immature female Orchard Oriole at Jumbo Res., Logan Co., CO, on 19 June 2010. Though virtually every respondent that got down to the Orchard:Hooded dichotomy got the correct species, few of those told me how they got there, so I don't know what features that most used to get the correct answer. I still think that most birders greatly underappreciate how difficult females of these two species can be to identify. Success in the endeavor requires careful scrutiny of a number of features, some of which can be difficult to assess correctly. Maybe I'll run a string of pictures of the two species for the next few quizzes, just to see how things go! Maybe not.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
"Yellow finch" - 1
Scott's Oriole - 1
Hooded Oriole - 1
Baltimore Oriole - 1
Bay-breasted Warbler - 1

Congratulations to the 18 of 23 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Chuck Carlson
Nick Komar
Louie Toth
Joel Such
Richard Jeffers
Kirk Huffstater
Kyle Huffstater
George Cresswell
Al Guarente
Peter Wilkinson
Chris Warren
Joe Bens
Marcel Such
Margie Joy
Thomas Hall
Margaret Smith
Su Snyder

Answer: Orchard Oriole

Quiz #356 (2010-3-01) Solution

2010-07-05T01:00:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Well, after the first quiz of the third quarter, there are 24 tied for first place! Of course, with a bird with rufous upperparts (with black markings) and blue wings (with white markings), there really aren't a lot of options on the ol' ABA list. But, how would folks have done had I provided the quiz that I first thought to provide -- just the wing?

I went with this version for one main reason (other than the simple ease of not having to crop the picture, etc.): reinforcing one of the main themes behind my tenure as Mr. Bill. That theme is knowing the common birds cold. American Kestrel is, for most North American birders, a common, nearly-every-day species, the kind that we learn to recognize immediately and then pay little overt attention to -- at least as far as the details of plumage.

Yes, the seemingly ever-expanding availability of raptor-ID field guides treat this species quite well but, again, how many of us actually read the accounts of such common and widespread species? How many know that one can sex American Kestrels (from above and below) solely on the color of the subterminal spots on the remiges? How many know that ageing American Kestrels in the field is difficult (for males) to very difficult (for females)?

Males always have blue wings and always have a very wide black subterminal tail band, both characters differing from those of all females. But, had our quiz bird's left wing been just a shade more elevated, we might not have been able to determine the wing's color and our view of the tail is already nearly edge-on, making for some uncertainty in assessing its features. But, those whitish (blue-white to gray-white) subterminal spots on the primaries and secondaries would tell us that our quiz bird is a male, whether we can see the wing color or not, as females have buffy spots.

Immature male American Kestrels usually show more black markings on the back and more black spots on the chest and sides than do adults. However, these features are more-than-variable enough to preclude using them to age any given individual. Our bird's back is suggestive (at least, to me) of a younger bird, but....

I took this picture of a male American Kestrel in Conejos Co., CO, on 17 June 2010.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
none

Congratulations to the 24 of 24 getting the quiz correct:
Louie Toth
Al Guarente
Marcel Such
Robert McNab
Kevin Kerr
Tyler Bell
Chuck Carlson
Margie Joy
Claire Mix
William Velmala
Thomas Hall
Aaron Brees
George Cresswell
Su Snyder
Nick Komar
Gary Koehn
Richard Jeffers
Peter Wilkinson
Barbara Deneen
Brandon Percival
Bryan Guarente
Chris Warren
Joel Such
Joe Bens

Answer: American Kestrel

Quiz #355 (2010-2-13) Solution

2010-06-28T01:01:00.002-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

The first respondent and the final three respondents were the only ones getting this week's tough quiz correct and a lot of folks stayed home. I don't blame 'em, as my first reaction to this picture was also wrong.

The quiz bird presents an odd combination of rufous upperparts and dark gray underparts, and Bewick's Wren seems an eminently reasonable choice for the ID with such coloration. Unfortunately, as I found when I first perused the pic, that reasonable option is not correct, as Bewick's Wrens, especially the strongly rufous forms, sport rufous flanks and, usually, some indication of dark barring on the primaries. With that option eliminated, our bird just about has to be a sparrow of some sort; there just are not a lot of ABA-area options for rufous-and-gray passerines. With gray underparts, we might head to the juncoes, but the richly rufous wings rule out all members of that genus. The lack of streaking underneath eliminates another couple options in the Fox Sparrow group. Black-chinned Sparrow has a streaked back and strongly fringed wing coverts, so that one is ruled out.

We are left with only one option, a species that, as soon as I saw this individual (and I also photographed this individual, so really have no excuse for guessing wrong on the picture), the species supplanted Le Conte's as my favorite sparrow species. Derek Hill photographed this adult Five-striped Sparrow at California Gulch, AZ, in August 2006. I have provided, below, another view of the same bird.

In a most interesting quarter, Joel Such ran away with top honors by being the only respondent to record a perfect score. Congrats, Joel! Joel's brother, Marcel, just edged out Chris Warren for second place, though they both scored 11 of 13 correct.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Bewick's Wren - 5
House Sparrow - 1
Dark-eyed Junco - 2
Yellow-eyed Junco - 1

Congratulations to the 4 of 13 getting the quiz correct:
Thomas Hall
Tyler Bell
Marcel Such
Joel Such

Answer: Five-striped Sparrow

Quiz #354 (2010-2-12) Solution

2010-06-21T01:00:00.005-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Michael O'Brien provided this week's quiz picture from his VENT chicken tour this April; he thought that it might cause some problems. He took the picture near Campo, Baca Co., CO.

Most respondents went with the sparrows, with one waiting and waiting for the bird to turn around, to no avail. The Carpodacus finches can be quickly ruled out by our bird's short primary projection; the finches all have long primary projection with numerous primaries extending beyond the tertials (what primary projection there is is enough to rule out Lark Bunting). Also, as Chuck Carlson noted, the lack of any white in the center of the crown should do the job of eliminating the "grassland" sparrows that might have caused confusion (Savannah, Grasshopper, Baird's). The tail length and individual rectrix shapes also do that job for all and the primary projection rules out Savannah. After all the above, the heavy flank streaking extending onto the lateral undertail coverts leaves us with just three options: Vesper, Song, and Lincoln's sparrows. The last of these is eliminated by that species having blackish flank streaking overlaid on buffy feathers. Since the bird seems to entirely lack white in the tail, the answer should be Song Sparrow.

As I am not a particular fan of ID by elimination, let's check other features. The most noticeable on a bird that is nearly entirely of the same color tone, is that block of dark median coverts with strong white tips. This is not a feature of Song Sparrow, which has strong rufous or warm brown fringes such that the median coverts are of the same color tone as the rest of the wing, with thin whitish tips. Vesper Sparrow, however, matches that characteristic precisely and while our eyes are captivated by that distinct dark panel, we might notice the suggestion of rufous lesser coverts. Though Vesper Sparrow sports such, that feature is not necessary in our ID process, as the median coverts are so distinctive for the species. But, what about the white outer rectrices that are also typical of Vesper Sparrow? Well, as noted by Margie Joy, when the rectrices are stacked like this and as our view is from above, the white outers are hidden by dark inners, though we can see just the very edge of the white on the outermost rectrix on the bird's left side.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Purple Finch - 1
Song Sparrow - 2
Savannah Sparrow - 3
Cassin's Finch - 1
Lincoln's Sparrow - 1

Congratulations to the 8 of 16 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Tyler Bell
Margie Joy
Joel Such
Chuck Carlson
Marcel Such
George Cresswell
Chris Warren

Answer: Vesper Sparrow

Quiz #353 (2010-2-11) Solution

2010-06-14T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.
No ABA-area rarity is present in this picture.

Answer by Tony Leukering

I put this week's quiz picture up to talk about a specific field mark, primary coverts, that provide a great clue in separating a couple of similar species. The best plans of mice and men -- I wasn't counting on most of the incorrect answers being for an altogether different species. And now, I have to revamp the answer that I had written in my head.

All respondents got to the smaller gulls, probably due to the strong pattern of black and white on the upperparts, with the dark coloration in a vague 'W' pattern ('twould have been an 'M' pattern if the bird were heading away from us). With the red-phosphor caveat provided with the quiz picture, we don't have to worry about things like Gray-headed Gull, leaving us with just Bonaparte's and Black-headed gulls and Black-legged Kittiwake.

The field mark I had intended discussing, and still shall, is the color of the greater primary coverts. Though all birds have greater primary coverts (and, by extension, lesser primary coverts), there aren't that many groups for which the lessers are particularly visible in the field, so we tend to shorten things to simply primary coverts (covs). But, gulls are one of those groups that sport obvious lesser primary covs, hence the need for the modifier, 'greater.' This tract of feathers can be quite useful in separating immatures of Bonaparte's and Black-headed gulls, which can otherwise be quite tricky. Bonaparte's Gull sports a mix of black and white in those feathers, with the black much the more abundant on the outers and white more noticeable on the inners. By contrast, Black-headed immatures show nearly all-white greater primary covs.

While a number of respondents selected Black-legged Kittiwake as their answer, juveniles and immatures of that species have the entire leading edge of the hand (the wing from the wrist to tip) black or blackish, rather than the mix of black and white so obvious on our quiz bird. Particularly, note that the quiz bird's lesser primary covs are nearly entirely white, which would be a radical departure for a kittiwake. Also note that our bird's alula and outermost primary (p10) are also a mix of black and white, two feathers that are all black on young Black-legged Kittiwakes.

I photographed this immature Bonaparte's Gull at Villas, Cape May Co., NJ, on 22 April 2010. At this date, even immature Black-headed Gulls ought to be showing at least a hint of the adult bill color.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Black-legged Kittiwake - 4
Black-headed Gull - 1

Congratulations to the 11 of 16 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Al Guarente
Thomas Hall
Kevin Kerr
George Cresswell
Su Snyder
Chris Warren
Peter Wilkinson
Bryan Guarente
Joel Such
Marcel Such

Answer: Bonaparte's Gull

Quiz #352 (2010-2-10) Solution

2010-06-07T01:00:00.004-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.
The picture was taken in New Jersey.

Answer by Tony Leukering

For the second week in a row, we have a poor, misunderstood adult Red-tailed Hawk being mobbed by some annoying, aggressive passerine! Perhaps interesting to you is that the individual hawk may very well be the same bird in the two quizzes! That is because this is one of the resident pair at the Villas WMA, Cape May Co., NJ, (here in early May 2010) and it rarely is able to make a pass over the area without attracting attention from those vicious passerines. Poor thing.

I know that I may have jumped the gun on identifying one of the birds in the quiz, but, hey, that's my prerogative as quizmeister. We can rule out Ferruginous Hawk, many of which can show at least something of a reddish tail, by the fact that our quiz bird lacks any obvious bit of wing panel (window), a feature that Ferruginous always shows and which only juvenile Red-tailed Hawks do.

The black bird may cause more problems. However, this quiz had something of a different focus than most others that I've conducted, as it was intended as a test of retention. That is, I wanted to see whether the regular respondents would remember the details of the solution for the last time that I ran a quiz crow. (Yes, we can rule out Common Raven by the bird's lack of a wedge-shaped tail and by its too-round wings. We can also rule out Northwestern and Tamaulipas crows by the caveat in red, above.)

Back in June 2009, I ran Mr. Bill Mystery Quiz #305. Many of the regulars that provided explanation of how they got to their answer this week noted that previous quiz. Unfortunately, some respondents did not, but most of those still got the this week's quiz correct. After perusing that previous quiz, one can see that this week's crow must be an American Crow, due to the obvious six fingers.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Great Blue Heron - 1
Fish Crow - 3

Congratulations to the 12 of 15 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Robert McNab
Claire Mix
Kevin Kerr
Nick Komar
Al Guarente
Joel Such
Margie Joy
Aaron Brees
Peter Wilkinson
Bryan Guarente
Chris Warren

Answer: Red-tailed Hawk, American Crow

Quiz #351 (2010-2-09) Solution

2010-05-31T01:00:00.007-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Margie Joy and Tony Leukering

In birding, careful scanning often reveals individual birds theretofore overlooked. Margie Joy provided most of this week's answer and proved herself adept at transfering that birding skill to perusal of online photos.

"This week's quiz photo shows two birds, a raptor readily identified as a Red-tailed Hawk and a much smaller bird giving it the Dickens, a common sight hereabouts at this time of year.

"I identified the Red-tailed Hawk by its reddish tail and dark comma/dash underwing marks. This is how I first learned to ID Red-taileds, though it doesn't work for all color morphs and I've since learned several other ways.

"The smaller bird gives fewer clues to its identification. I can see only the back half of the underside of the bird, showing dark/blackish undertail with white tip, dark underwings, and white undertail coverts and vent. However, the obvious clue is behavior. Lots of small birds will mob a raptor, though not many are so aggressive as to get quite this close, and kingbirds come immediately to mind. Looking at ABA-area kingbirds, Eastern is the only one that matches the quiz bird's description. Other kingbirds share some, but not all, of this bird's features. Cassin's has the correct tail marks and wing color but has yellow undertail coverts and vent. Western is similar to Cassin's but shows white on the tail edges, not the tip. Thick-billed has very pale undertail coverts and vent, lacks white on its black tail, and has pale underwings. Undertails and underwings of other kingbirds appear to be much paler than the quiz bird's, and those undertails that could be called blackish in shadow lack white tips.

"Of course, not all birds that mob raptors are kingbirds. So, just to be sure all bases were covered, I looked for generally dark-tailed birds with white undertail coverts and vent. I found Black Phoebe, some of the blue-black swallows, and a gnatcatcher, but could not make any of them fit."

Thanks, Margie. I took this picture of an Eastern Kingbird mobbing an adult Red-tailed Hawk at Villas WMA, Cape May Co., 1 July 2009. Careful scrutiny of the mobbing bird in the expanded view provided below should tell us not only the species, but the sex, as the bird’s outermost primary (visible most easily on the left wing) doesn’t have the distinctive emarginated tip of a male kingbird, thus it’s a female (assuming that it’s an adult, which it is).

Four respondents provided only one species in their answers. One of those neglected to provide appropriate captilization to the one species name submitted.

After nine weeks, Joel Such holds sole possession of first place in the quarter's competition, followed closely by six others with 8 of 9 correct.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Cedar Waxwing - 1
Cassin's Kingbird - 1

Congratulations to the 14 of 21 getting the quiz correct:
Robert McNab
Joel Such
Marcel Such
Bryan Guarente
Nick Komar
Thomas Hall
Liston Rice
Kevin Kerr
Aaron Brees
Al Guarente
Richard Jeffers
Margie Joy
Peter Wilkinson
Joe Bens

Answer: Red-tailed Hawk, Eastern Kingbird

Quiz #350 (2010-2-08) Solution

2010-05-24T01:00:00.005-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Respondents apparently found this week's quiz easy, as none provided an incorrect answer. Those providing details on the tack they took invariably noted the black rear end and lack of white on the flanks, the white in the secondaries (just barely visible on the bird's right wing), and the vermiculated gray sides. However, few noted the gray tertials -- the focal point of the quiz, a feature that is an excellent separator of dabbling ducks, as only Mallard shares the characteristic.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
none

Congratulations to the 14 of 14 getting the quiz correct:
Thomas Hall
John Bissell
Joel Such
Chris Warren
George Cresswell
Su Snyder
Liston Rice
Kevin Kerr
Margie Joy
Aaron Brees
Tim Smart
Peter Wilkinson
Chishun Kwong
Al Guarente

Answer: Gadwall

Quiz #349 (2010-2-07) Solution

2010-05-17T01:00:00.003-06:00

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Almost nothing can challenge the ID capabilities of even skilled birders quite like encoutering a bird in hand, particularly a species that s/he usually sees at some distance. Such birds almost always appear either quite a bit larger or smaller in hand than they do in the field, small birds larger, large birds smaller. Since size is one of the very first clues used in ID, this first incorrect impression of size can start potential identifiers down the wrong road right from the get-go.

This week's quiz bird was apparently obviously a shorebird, and a small one at that. The longish, thin bill rules out the plovers, so the small size should force us to start in that beloved genus, Calidris. Unfortunately, because my hand is in the way, we cannot determine if it has a hind toe or not (Sanderlings lack the thing), so we don't get that easy out. We can see, though, that the legs are dark, enabling us to immediately rule out Least Sandpiper and Long-toed and Temminck's stints and the many yellow-legged larger sandpipers (Pectoral, Sharp-tailed, Buff-breasted, etc.). Such species are also eliminated because they are larger; similar-sized dark-legged species can also be ruled out (e.g., Red Knot and Wilson's Phalarope). Even though we may wish to avoid it, there's simply no option to our quiz bird being one of those small Calidris termed (at least in North America) peeps or a Sanderling. However, Sanderling can be readily eliminated due to our bird's overall color and too-extensive underparts markings.

With the yellow-legged peeps excluded, we need to narrow our choices down from the existing list of such: Semipalmated, Western, White-rumped, Baird's, Spoon-billed, and Broad-billed sandpipers and Little and Red-necked stints. Both Spoon-billed and Broad-billed sandpipers can be quickly eliminated, the former on the bird's bill shape and the latter on the bird's lack of the split supercilium typical of Broad-billed. White-rumped might be considered, as what we can see of the area above the tail certainly appears white. However, all these species have whites sides to the rump. The critical thing is to see the center of the rump, something that we cannot be certain of doing in this view, though that single dark feather behind the bird's left wing could certainly be a central rump feather. With the bird this close, though, we really ought to be able to detect the pale base to the mandible that is so typical of that species, and it is just not present. The similar Baird's Sandpiper would have more of a hooded effect, rather than our bird's whitish chin, throat, and -- possibly -- central breast.

Unfortunately, the above paragraph leaves us with a very difficult set of species, Semipalmated and Western sandpipers and Little and Red-necked Stints. Perhaps we should attempt ageing the bird as the process may assist with ID. Our bird's upperparts feathers don't look all that interesting, being primarily dull brown, but some of the scapulars are somewhat warmer with obvious pale fringes. These fringes, though, are quite narrow, suggesting that our bird is primarily (if not entirely) in juvenal (= first basic) plumage. Because there are fringes, we should be able to rule out either formative (first years) or definitive basic plumages (adults). In that case, the smudgy brown on the sides of the upper chest also suggest immaturity, thus a bird in primarily juvenal plumage. Finally, the lack of strong gray tones to the plumage can also help us rule out non-juvenile peeps of any of these species.

What the above gets us, then, is that our bird cannot be a Western Sandpiper, as even somewhat worn juveniles ought to show at least some rufous-edged scapulars, a feature missing from our bird. This fact also agrees with our bird's bill shape, fairly thick-based and short with only the barest suggestion of a drooped tip, and one that is not particularly finely pointed. Wonderfully, that thick-based and not-pointed shape should also help us rule out the two stints. If that darned photographer would just have given us a view of the toes from above or below, we could quickly decide among Semi or the two stints, as the latter lack the partial webbing from which Semi gets its name. However, one feature unmentioned in any shorebird literature that I've seen, but one that popped out at me in my research for this answer, is the minimal gape apparent on our quiz bird. In the pictures I perused, both Little and Red-necked stints showed rather significant indentations of gape, while both Semipalmated and Western either lacked such or nearly did. I'll have to look into this further (answer posted 26 May 2010).

I took this picture of a juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper at Prewitt Reservoir, Washington Co., CO, on 1 August 2006. I provide, below, another picture of the wee beastie that shows the upperparts to better effect.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Western Sandpiper - 2

Congratulations to the 14 of 16 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Nick Komar
John Bissell
George Cresswell
Tucker Lutter
Marcel Such
Joel Such
Al Guarente
Kevin Kerr
Su Snyder
Chris Warren
Peter Wilkinson
Aaron Brees
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Semipalmated Sandpiper

Quiz #348 (2010-2-06) Solution

2010-05-10T01:00:00.006-06:00

Click the picture for a larger view.

Answer by Kevin Kerr and Tony Leukering

Kevin Kerr provided a fun and fairly complete answer, so this week's solution starts with his response.

"This week's quiz birds look to be of sandpipers of the genus Tringa. Despite the recent expansion of the genus, the bright yellow legs in combination with the white spots on the backs and wings leave us with few species to consider: Lesser and Greater yellowlegs.

"When the birds are mute, I find the bill to be the most reliable feature to separate these two species. The quiz birds feature relatively long bills (particularly compared to the size of their heads), with thick bases that are fairly pale in colour. They are also slightly upturned. All of this is typical of Greaters, whereas Lessers tend to have shorter, blacker, and more needle-shaped bills.

"Since this is a quiz, it is worthwhile to double-check any would-be overlooked species. Since all of the birds are comparable in size, we need only scrutinize the flock for outlying species that could be a good match in size. Really, Common Greenshank is the only contender, but all four birds show bright yellow to almost-orange legs, eliminating the Greenkshank as a possibility.

"As for aging the birds, I would expect adults in alternate plumage to have darker throats, but the the black feathers dotting the scapulars and tertials suggest to me that these birds, at the very least, are molting into their alternate plumage. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the timing of molt in yellowlegs to decide if that is a reasonable conclusion.

"One last scan for grebe heads poking out of the water... nope, none."

Thanks, Kevin.

I found it interesting that multiple respondents used the very same characters to support their contention that the birds were Lesser Yellowlegs, though most providing Lesser Yellowlegs as a species present thought that both species were present. Also interestingly, I specifically took this picture thinking that viewers might get sucked into the optical illusion that the front bird was smaller than the back birds. It was not.

In researching this answer, I was more-than-a-bit disappointed in the various shorebird field guides in their treatment of alternate-plumaged yellowlegs. It's no wonder that folks still have trouble with these two species, as the guides just don't do them justice! While some mention the average differences in underparts pattern -- Greater with more and more extensive marking below, particularly on the belly and flanks -- none mention something that I've noted over the years: Greater's scaps and nearly entire upperparts tend toward gray in spring, while Lesser tends to brown. Both species sport a variable number of black-based alternate feathers in spring, but the retained basic feathers are usually more numerous and their coloration imparts the color differences that I've noted. I also note in the large number of yellowlegs pictures that I perused on Flickr, few photographers take pictures of alternate-plumaged yellowlegs!

To summarize, all birds are nearly the same size and all have bills that are obviously (at least, to me) longer than the head is deep (from bill base to nape). Additionally, the bills have noticeable to extensive pale bases, even the front bird, though due to the glint there, this bird's bill pattern is difficult to assess correctly. However, "embiggening" the picture does show that there is an extension of pale below the cutting edge of the mandible past the glint; Lesser Yellowlegs certainly would not show such. The left bird's underparts are probably too extensively barred to be within the range of variation of Lesser Yellowlegs and the back right bird's legs look quite thick to me -- another feature useful to experienced observers.

I took this picture of four Greater Yellowlegs in North Cape May, Cape May Co., NJ, on 9 April 2010.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Lesser Yellowlegs - 13
Solitary Sandpiper - 1

Congratulations to the 9 of 23 getting the quiz correct:
Kevin Kerr
Al Guarente
Robert McNab
Richard Jeffers
Chris Warren
Marcel Such
Joel Such
Judi Owens
Claire Mix

Answer: Greater Yellowlegs

Quiz #347 (2010-2-05) Solution

2010-05-03T01:00:00.006-06:00

Click the picture(s) for a larger view.

Answer by Tony Leukering

Too many birders focus their identification effort on that perfect field-guide view of the bird in profile with particular attention paid to those oft-critical features of head and wing. Well, those two features are not exactly presented to best advantage in this week's quiz photo. I assure you that this was intended, as I could have "photoshopically" removed both features and not impacted the identifiability of the bird at all! As with many of the quiz photos that I present in this venue, paying attention to other parts of the bird's shape or plumage is the take-home message.

This week's quiz bird is a small one, as its size comparison to the pine's needles should prove to us. While the species of pine -- one of the pinyon pines (short needles in fascicles (bunches) of two) -- is not critical to the bird's ID, it is helpful, as it suggests that the picture was taken in the west.

Our bird has dark legs, white underparts with black flank streaking, white undertail coverts, a tail that appears white underneath and gray above, gray wings with the suggestion of white wingbars, black streaking on the back, gray neck, and an interesting combination of colors on the head. However, I'm going to ignore the head for a while, because this bird is identifiable without it.

Restricting initial efforts to small passerines with the aforementioned color and pattern of the flanks and belly, our list of possibles is restricted to some warblers (Yellow-rumped, Golden-cheeked, some Hermit x Townsend's hybrids, Black-and-white, Black-throated Gray, Yellow-throated, Grace's, Blackpoll, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush) and Lapland Longspur, with the size (just too small) and perch site eliminating the longspur. Leg color eliminates Blackpoll, Ovenbird, and the waterthrush. The unmarked white undertail coverts eliminate Golden-cheeked and Black-and-white. Lack of significant amounts of dark at the base of the underside of the tail rules out Yellow-rumped. These reductions leave us with just four warbler species (and a hybrid), all with a particular defining character: they all share the feature on the folded tail of being nearly all white below.

Now, we will need strong focus on the precise undertail pattern. As our quiz bird lacks any suggestion to dark corners at the tail's base, we can rule out Yellow-throated. The very small amount of dark at the right tip of the tail appears to be restricted to the outer web of the outermost rectrix. On Hermit, Townsend's, and Black-throated Gray, the dark here bleeds across the shaft of the outermost tail feather into the inner web, ruling out those species and any hybrid pairings of them.

Were we to make this ID in the field, we might withhold final judgment based on our interpretation of the undertail pattern for confirmation with other noted features. In our quiz picture, our bird's gray crown with thin, black streaks, strong black lateral crown stripe, bright yellow supraloral stripe/patch, and black back streaking make that confirmation.

I took this picture of a male Grace's Warbler south of Walsenburg, Huerfano Co., CO, on 22 May 2005. I have provided another view of the same bird from the same day, below, one in that classic field-guide view.

Eight players are currently tied atop the leader board with perfect 5-of-5 scores in the quarter's competition.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Black-throated Gray Warbler - 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 1
Verdin - 1

Congratulations to the 23 of 26 getting the quiz correct:
Aaron Brees
Jeff Jones
Nick Komar
Tyler Bell
Liston Rice
Peter Burke
Al Guarente
Dave Elwonger
Kevin Kerr
Kirk Huffstater
George Cresswell
Robert McNab
David Hollie
John Bissell
Thomas Hall
Margaret Smith
Margie Joy
Marcel Such
Joel Such
Peter Wilkinson
Joe Bens
Chishun Kwong
Chris Warren

Answer: Grace's Warbler