Quiz #474 (2012-4-06) Solution

 

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Solution by Margie Joy and Tony Leukering

A pile of swallows perched on wires, this is obviously a quiz photo that demands careful scrutiny. When we study such birds, many know to look at tail shape, among other features. However, many birders do not particularly notice that the various ABA-area species of swallows are of differing size, such that in congregations as this, one can often note a smaller or larger species among a horde of other swallows. Though I intended to write a lengthy piece, Margie Joy provided a succinct solution, so I'll start there.

"The perched birds appear to be Purple Martins in various plumages. I see several all-dark adult males, gray adult females, pale-bellied juveniles, and heavily spotted first-summer males. All seem the same size and most show the forked tail of Purple Martin.

"I first thought that the smaller, flying bird was behind the martins but, on looking closer, is actually in front. It shows the long, narrow, curved wings and bullet-shaped body of a swift. My best guess is Chimney Swift because of the mostly dark color and narrow wings. It's difficult to see marks on this bird but the throat appears to be a bit paler than the top of the head, but not as contrasty as Vaux's or White-throated swifts, and it doesn't seem as dark overall as Black Swift would be."

Indeed, Margie has dealt with this one nicely. While there are a couple of birds that look smaller or that sport a pale forehead, none of the perched birds are actually smaller, and all for which we can see the tail shape have the deeply-notched tails of Purple Martin. I have included, below, a cut-out of the swift for your ogling pleasure. I took this picture of massing Purple Martins and a flying Chimney Swift from my roof in Villas, Cape May Co., NJ, on 13 August 2011.

It is interesting that the names of all three of the correct respondents have a 'j' in them; the first two are the only respondents with perfect 6-for-6 scores in the current quarterly competition.

Twelve respondents provided answers that included no incorrect species but just one correct species, Purple Martin.

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

Congratulations to the 3 of 18 getting the quiz correct:
Margie Joy
Richard Jeffers
Joe Bens

Answer: Chimney Swift, Purple Martin

Quiz #473 (2012-4-05) Solution

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Solution by William von Herff and Tony Leukering

William von Herff provided a good solution, so I'll start with that.

"Well, here we have a bird clinging parallel to the trunk of a tree. We can see the tail, therefore we can assume that the bird is facing up. The only two families of ABA-area birds that cling vertically to trees are the creepers and woodpeckers. Brown creeper can be eliminated because it has a mottled brownish back, while this bird has a distinctly unpatterned black back, so it is a woodpecker. Now, it's time to start dissecting the field marks!

"First of all, the underside of this bird is mostly off-white. That eliminates most ABA-area woodpeckers; in fact, all except Red-headed, Golden-fronted, Red-bellied, Gila, Hairy, and Downy. Now, there is the black back with a big patch of white. The "solid black" part eliminates all of the options except Red-headed. But does that match up with the white patch? Well, Red-headed has a big white patch on the secondaries, so that matches."

Thanks, William. I will just add a few confirmatory points and discuss the bird's age. This quiz photo is an excellent illustration of the importance of using as many features in a bird's ID as one can manage. While sapsuckers also sport large white wing patches, they do not have mostly whitish underparts. As noted by William, the large white wing patch is composed of secondaries; the white wing patches on other woodpeckers are of different placement: those of sapsuckers are composed of secondary coverts, while those of the 'Centurus' ladder-backed species and Acorn and White-headed woodpeckers are composed of primary coverts and/or bases of primaries. Also, looking closely at the near edge of this white patch, we can discern two short, parallel black bars (indicated by arrows on inset, below), which is all we need to determine the bird's age as a first-cycle bird. Those faint bars on the bird's side adjacent to the white wing patch provides a feature confirming the bird's age.

I have also provided, below, the picture that I took of this individual before the one used as the quiz photo at Cox Hall Creek Wildlife Management Area, Cape May Co., NJ, on 8 January 2012. Note that those black bars in the wing patch are longer with the wing open. Also note, and this is very important when dealing with wing features, how the placement and shape of the white patch change from open wing to closed.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 3
Williamson's Sapsucker - 1

Congratulations to the 16 of 20 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Bryan Guarente
Joshua Little
Ben Coulter
Kirk Huffstater
Robert McNab
Richard Jeffers
Gary Koehn
Donald Jones
William von Herff
Logan Kahle
Patty McKelvey
Su Snyder
Margie Joy
Casey Ryan
Joe Bens

Answer: Red-headed Woodpecker