Quiz #355 (2010-2-13) Solution

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

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