Quiz #437 (2012-1-07) Solution

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

Many respondents may have considered this quiz pretty simple, though it didn't turn out that way. The picture's focus is on the very large, long-winged bird coming right at us. All respondents got to pelican and most noted the brown wings and pale belly of an immature Brown Pelican. Note also that the innermost remiges (seen on the bird's right wing) are dark, not white. Unfortunately, five respondents quit there; at least, five submitted only one species in their answers. There is another bird in the picture and I here repeat part of Rule #4:

"Should an individual quiz present multiple species, only those persons responding with all correct identifications AND with no incorrect identifications will get credit for a correct answer for purposes of the competition."

Yes, the second bird is not in focus and is quite distant, but it is certainly identifiable. The hint of orange-red on the bill, the brown wing coverts, blackish wingtips, whitish rump, whitish trailing edge to the secondaries, and the all-dark tail are the key features that identify this subadult Heermann's Gull. American Oystercatcher has white in the wing, but it is at the bases of the remiges, not the tips. Additionally, that species has blacker wings, a white-based tail, and a longer bill. I took this picture of youngsters of both Brown Pelican and Heermann's Gull off San Diego, San Diego Co., CA, on 8 October 2011.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
American Oystercatcher - 5
American White Pelican - 1

Congratulations to the 16 of 27 getting the quiz correct:
Thomas Hall
Bill Blackburn
Devich Farbotnik
Christian Nunes
Tyler Bell
Nick Komar
Aaron Brees
Robert McNab
Peter Wilkinson
Logan Kahle
Chris Warren
Su Snyder
Bryan Guarente
Joe Bens
Joel Such
Marcel Such

Answer: Brown Pelican, Heermann's Gull

Quiz #436 (2012-1-06) Solution

Click on picture(s) for a larger view.

Solution by Tony Leukering

Ah, some field marks! The quiz bird, perched in a sage, appears to have a gray head and body -- at least, what we can see of either. It also sports a heavily-striped back; fringed wing coverts; a long, thin tail; and what appear to be dark legs. As noted by many respondents, the only real options from a first-glance perspective seem to be Black-chinned, Sage, Black-throated, and Five-striped sparrows. Black-throated and Five-striped are easily ruled out by our bird's streaked back. While the Pacific-coastal forms of Sage Sparrow lack streaked backs, the interior forms sport them. However, they are not usually this streaky. Additionally, what we can see of the rump/uppertail coverts area is quite gray, rather than the sandy- to medium brown of Sage Sparrow.

That should leave us with just Black-chinned Sparrow, but what about the dark legs? Both The Sibley Guide and the 6th-edition National Geographic guide illustrate the species with fairly bright pink legs, which is a common feature of sparrows. In fact, one of the primary reasons that I might have considered Sage and Black-throated sparrows is because they are two of the few sparrow species with dark legs. Looking through many pictures of Black-chinned Sparrow on Flickr shows that leg color varies in the species from bright pink to nearly blackish. I could not discern any seasonal reason for this, but my searching was fairly brief. Just to be certain, our bird also sports rufous-fringed outer scapulars that, while not unique in sparrows, are almost non-existent in the grayer species.

This adult Black-chinned Sparrow was photographed by Rachel Hopper on 22 April 2011 at Colorado National Monument, Mesa Co., CO. This singing, territorial individual accounted for only the third accepted record for the state, though there had been a previous almost-certainly-valid report of the species from the Monument - of a bird heard singing, but not seen -- that would have been the state's first if accepted.

One respondent's answer omitted capitalization, so was precluded from being correct for the competition. One Arizona respondent's answer arrived some 7.5 hours after the deadline.

Incorrect species provided as answers:
Sage Sparrow - 2

Congratulations to the 29 of 31 getting the quiz correct:
Ben Coulter
Tyler Bell
Robert McNab
Nick Komar
Christian Nunes
Kirk Huffstater
Megan Miller
Jason Beason
Jeff Witters
Margie Joy
Logan Kahle
Peter Wilkinson
Pam Myers
Patty McKelvey
David Elwonger
Su Snyder
Aaron Brees
Sherry Skipper
Chishun Kwong
Gary Koehn
Diane Porter
Marcel Such
Burke Angstman
Joel Such
Bryan Guarente
Joe Bens
Sean Walters
Devich Farbotnik
Bob Archer

Answer: Black-chinned Sparrow