Quiz #386 (2011-1-07) Solution

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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

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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