Quiz #369 (2010-4-02) Solution

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Answer by Tony Leukering

We've got an obviously small bird (compare to leaf sizes) with a lot of distinct field marks, what with flank streaks, wing bars, tail spots, back streaking, interesting crown pattern, yellow superciliary, and, of course, braces. Despite this, interestingly, even many of the correct respondents seemed to have trouble with the quiz subject. As I've mentioned many times in this and other venues, I believe that one-field-mark identifications are anathema. However, the experienced and skilled birders often use single field marks to ID birds, that is, once they've got them assigned to some smaller group.

With the plethora of the specific field marks exhibited by our quiz bird, we really have no reason to find ourselves anywhere but among the warblers; ah, the New World warblers. We can eliminate all the non-blackish-streaked and/or non-wing-barred species, leaving us with a manageable handful: Magnolia, Cape May, Yellow-rumped, Kirtland's, Prairie, Yellow-throated, Blackburnian, Cerulean, Golden-cheeked, Black-throated Green, Black-throated Gray, Golden-cheeked, and Townsend's. Our bird's strong yellowish super eliminates most of the lot, leaving the final seven from that list. At this point, that single superb field mark comes into play, the braces.

For those that don't know the term, 'braces,' it is a British term for contrastingly pale (usually whitish) streaks on the sides of the back. Our quiz bird sports them, the other six remaining candidates lack them. In fact, we could have short-stopped the process once we knew we were among the warblers, as this species is the only ABA-area parulid that exhibits braces. However, by using the crown pattern and distinctly dark back, we could have gotten to the same place.

I took this picture of an immature Blackburnian Warbler at Cape May Point, Cape May Co., NJ, on 10 September 2010.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Cape May Warbler - 1
Townsend's Warbler - 2
American Goldfinch - 1
Blackpoll Warbler - 1

Congratulations to the 21 of 26 getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Su Snyder
Robert McNab
George Cresswell
Margaret Smith
JoAnn Andrews
Chuck Carlson
Thomas Hall
Richard Jeffers
Margie Joy
Brandon Percival
Al Guarente
Nick Komar
Peter Wilkinson
Pam Myers
Tom Takano
Adrian Hinkle
Ben Coulter
Joel Such
Marcel Such
Chishun Kwong

Answer: Blackburnian Warbler

Quiz #368 (2010-4-01) Solution

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Answer by Marcel Such and Tony Leukering

Marcel Such provided a good answer, so I will start this solution with his words.

"For this quiz, we have a proportionately large bird in flight, heading directly toward the camera. It has fairly long, broad wings; a well-built body; and long, black legs. One thing that I’ll use to narrow our possibilities down a bit is the neck . . . a long one, which is being carried in a characteristic curved, or S-shaped, posture. Of the birds in the long-necked-and-long-legged category – families Ardeidae, Ciconiidae, and Gruidae, or herons, ibis, and cranes, respectively – only the herons hold their necks in such a way; all of the others fly with necks held out straight.

"From here, it is an easy jump to the correct species by looking at the distinctly bicolored wings (white on the leading edge, black on the trailing edge) and body (rust red on the front end, and pure white on the back end). This leaves us with only one possibility, a juvenile Tricolored Heron (adults have a slate blue-purple head and neck). But, there is a problem on this bird, the legs. Our quiz bird has black legs, not the expected bright yellow ones. I’m going to stick with my conclusion of a Tricolor, believing that the odd coloration is due to a weird trick of the light, or that the legs are covered in mud or some other dark substance. Or something completely different."

I also liked Robert McNab's answer: "Since Pterodactyls are extinct (and not birds), I'll have to go with Tricolored Heron."

I was gratified to receive no answers that included a hyphen in the quiz species' name; this is a common mistake made by birders.

Marcel was correct in thinking that one of the options for the apparently dark legs was photographic effect. This bird's legs are yellow, the color is just not apparent in the quiz picture, though is in the supplementary picture that I provide below. I took both pictures of the same bird at the Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge, Cape May Co., NJ, on 21 August 2010, the same date and place as the previous Mr. Bill quiz photo.


With most of the fourth quarter to go, there's a tight race for the annual competition title, with Joel Such (34 correct), Al Guarente (33), and Peter Wilkinson (32) being the front-runners.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Wood Stork - 1
Whooping Crane - 1
White Ibis - 2
Black Skimmer - 1
Willet - 1

Congratulations to the 16 of 22 getting the quiz correct:
Peter Wilkinson
Al Guarente
Joel Such
Chuck Carlson
Tyler Bell
George Cresswell
Richard Jeffers
Christian Nunes
Pam Myers
Robert McNab
Adrian Hinkle
Margaret Smith
Margie Joy
Marcel Such
Joe Bens
Chishun Kwong
Answer: Tricolored Heron