Quiz #380 (2011-1-01) Solution

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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

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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