Quiz #464 (2012-3-09) Solution

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The picture was taken in February.

Solution by Tony Leukering


White geese and not-so-white geese, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the field to suffer the slings and arrows of the lack of Ross's Goose from ones state/province/county/yard list or to take pen in hand and tick it off, and by so marking, end them.

With apologies to The Bard, we begin this week's attempt to avoid the slings and arrows of the CFO Photo Quiz by choosing yea or nay on the presence of Ross's Goose in this field (and it was truly a field) of Snow Geese. The very first thing to recall is that juvenile Snow Geese are easy, as long as one has ruled out hybrid geese and youngster Greater White-fronteds. That is because juvenile Ross's Geese are nearly all white, with just some darker smudgy bits here and there. The bird so comically looking into the camera is a first-year Snow Goose with most of its juvenal plumage intact -- it is basically brownish-gray (or grayish-brown, if you prefer), with those fancy, long, black-bordered, white scapulars hanging down. Most of the other geese in the picture are also first-cycle Snows in various states of transition from juvenal to adult-like colors. We can even see the large grin patch (the dark flattened oval at the meeting of mandible and maxilla) on the beak on the head sticking into the bottom of the frame, which is a key feature in differentiating Snow and Ross's geese. Since all but one of the truly white geese are completely facing away and out of focus -- and are, thus, unreliably identified, we should probably concentrate our hopes and dreams for our state/province/county/yard list on the adult white goose in the right of the frame. It is only mostly facing away, but, perhaps, something might be done with the bird's bill to give us a clue; it certainly looks at least somewhat smaller than the young Snow Geese between it and us. The angle, though, may preclude any confidence in assigning a name to the beast, as it is really impossible to be certain of the bird's bill's shape, though it does look a bit long and slender to be the bill of a Ross's Goose. In the end, unless provided a better view, we are better off leaving it as unidentified, even if we assume that it is a Snow Goose.

Had all of us known that the field in question is in the Skagit, Washington, area, in February, we could be fairly certain that our assumption that all geese in the picture are Snow Geese would be correct, because this area supports all (or virtually all) of the Siberian-breeding Snow Geese during winter. Because Ross's Goose does not breed in Siberia, instead would arrive locally from a somewhat mirror direction, records of the species in the area are exceedingly few. I took this picture of a mass of Siberian Snow Geese on 5 February 2006. There were at least 3 Siberian neck collars on geese close to the road; who knows how many more there were amongst the masses. Thanks to Cameron Cox for escorting me here and explaining about these geese.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Snow x Ross's Goose - 1
Ross's Goose - 1

Congratulations to the 14 of 16 getting the quiz correct:
Ben Coulter
Margaret Smith
Patty McKelvey
Robert McNab
Nick Komar
Margie Joy
Pam Myers
Jim Nowjack
Richard Jeffers
Kirk Huffstater
Peter Wilkinson
Bryan Guarente
Sean Walters
Logan Kahle

Answer: Snow Goose

Quiz #463 (2012-3-08) Solution

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Solution by Tony Leukering

Ah, a nice, bright, red bird, well-lit and in focus. While we could certainly wish that that bird's head would be turned just a bit more our way, there really is no doubt that this is a male Northern Cardinal. End of story. For that bird, at least. There is a second bird in the picture that requires a bit more work and care. Much of that bird is hidden behind the male Northern Cardinal -- and the red bird looks roughly similar in size, perhaps a bit smaller, but we can see that the entire upperparts are a medium gray, that the tertials have white tips or fringes, and that the tail is long and blackish. Unfortunately, most of our ABA-area options with such upperparts and tertials sport white on the tail, which just does not appear in our quiz picture. Well, this iteration of the CFO Photo Quiz is all about structure and posture. So, let's get on with it.

Species that we might consider include both gray shrikes (although, why is the Northern Cardinal right next to something that would be more than happy to eat it?!), Townsend's Solitaire, Northern Mockingbird, Phainopepla, and Pine Grosbeak. First, recall the placement of the individual tail feathers when the tail is folded. From the topside on a completely folded tail, we can see only the two central rectrices (r1 on each side), while from underneath, most of what we can see is the pair of outermost rectrices (r6 on each side). So, since we're looking at the bird from above, as it were, even if it had extensive white on the outer rectrices, we would probably not see it on this tightly folded tail. So, that tail neither rules out the array of species with white on the tail, nor rules in Phainopepla or Pine Grosbeak.

We are not left with much to go on, but the primary reason for using this picture is all about leg length. You see, of the six options, only one of them has long legs, Northern Mockingbird. In the below image cut out from the quiz photo, I have arrows pointing to various legs in the picture (NOCA=Northern Cardinal, NOMO=Northern Mockingbird); note that the gray bird's left leg is mostly hidden behind the red bird's right leg.

In such a picture of any of the other candidate species, we would see nowhere near as much leg and, in fact, Townsend's Solitaires often show almost no leg at all, their legs are so short. Finally, I have inserted, below, another picture taken of this duo just seconds later; the image is not much different, but does provide more evidence for an ID of Northern Mockingbird that was present along the shores of Lily Lake, Cape May Point, Cape May Co., NJ, on 16 April 2012.

Note: I could swear that when I first looked at responses early last week that one respondent had noted leg length as a major ID point, and I was going to congratulate that person. However, I cannot find such now. Ah, well, it's heck getting old!

Three respondents provided answers with only one species, all Northern Cardinal.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Plumbeous Vireo - 1
Townsend's Solitaire - 1

Congratulations to the 17 of 22 respondents getting the quiz correct:
Tyler Bell
Jeff Witters
Robert McNab
Ben Coulter
Christian Nunes
Nick Komar
Richard Jeffers
Margie Joy
Logan Kahle
Al Guarente
Margaret Smith
Su Snyder
Peter Wilkinson
Bryan Guarente
Kirk Huffstater
Joe Bens
Sean Walters

Answer: Northern Mockingbird, Northern Cardinal