Monday, July 6, 2009

Quiz #307 (2009-3-02) Answer


Click picture for a larger view.

Answer by Tyler Bell and Tony Leukering

Ah, where IS the bird? Or birds? There it is, on the right side of the trunk. While there are very few bird species that habitually cling to tree trunks, even fewer of them are as black and streaky as our quiz bird.

Peter Burke provided an amusing answer:
"I guess the quiz this week has two challenges: 1) find the bird and 2) spelling. As I type this, a third challenge occurs to me: check to be SURE that there is only one bird!"

As did Mark Dettling:
"As far as I can tell it's the only bird in the picture."

And his brother Andy:
"My guess is that you are going to trip people up on with the way the name is written. I copied and pasted the name directly from the ABA Checklist to insure that it is correct!"

And Jane, his wife. Just kidding with the last.

And my old friend Joe Bens:
"If there was something else in that picture, I didn't find it."

Apparently, folks are learning my sneaky tricks. Good for you!

And Tyler Bell provided a not-lengthy, but accurate, answer:
"My first impression with this one was, "What's the catch?" Is there a creeper hidden in there somewhere? A screech-owl?

"Not finding either on close scrutiny, that leaves only the black-and-white warbler [note lack of capitalization!] on the right side of the trunk. That narrows things down, considerably, to Black-throated Gray, Blackpoll, and Black-and-white warblers. The facial markings, particularly the white eye ring, are consistent only with an ID of Black-and-white Warbler. Which leads to the other catch of the quiz of correct punctuation and capitalization!"

Only two responses did not get those aspects correct; a better ratio than I thought might get thrown by the "minefield of hyphens and capitalization." Those answers will not be considered correct for the competition, though the authors' names are noted, below, in the list of correct respondents.

I took this picture of a male Black-and-white Warbler at Cape May Point, Cape May Co., NJ, on 8 May 2009 specifically for this venue.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Black-throated Gray Warbler - 1
Brown Creeper - 1
Carolina Wren - 1

The 29 of 32 providing the correct answer:
Brandon Percival
Aaron Brees
Thomas Hall
Su Snyder
Peter Burke
Bryan Guarente
Mark Dettling
Barbara Deneen
Al Guarente
Lisa Clements
Rick Clements
Victor Germain
Marcel Such
Tyler Bell
Andy Dettling
Bill Rozar
Chuck Carlson
Tucker Lutter
Robert McNab
George Cresswell
Tara Nelson
Peter Wilkinson
Margie Joy
Lori & Mark Conrad
Joe Bens
Nick Moore
Joel Such
Chishun Kwong
Andrea Smith-Guarente

Answer: Black-and-white Warbler