Whatbird.com

Alright guys, here's Quiz 5!

Georgia in September (hmmm, that sounds like migration....)

Alright guys, here's the next one! Don't you hate it when they hide like that!

California... that's all you get!

Alright here's Quiz 7!

This photo was given to me to use by joshc, thanks Josh!

Taken in Montana...

Alright here we go, looks like we had several people give more complete answers this time, I love it, it makes it a little easier when it comes time for me to write the answer.

 Here's a quote from BillK to get us started:                                                                                                                           "Looks like a small chunky bird with a very short tail which basically leaves Wrens and Nuthatches.
All of our Wrens have brown with barring on the upper tail. So that leaves Nuthatches."

Alright guys here's the next one. Probably a bit tougher (I hope), looking forward to your answers!

No location for this one, make it a little tougher...

Oh just to take a little bit off your shoulders, the white bird is not any type of swan....

Wow, this quiz was definitely tougher than any of the previous quizzes, maybe a bit too tough, nobody got it totally right. It seems that the past ones were slightly too easy and this one was too hard, I'm trying to find an in between point...

This quiz had 2 birds in it, one large white bird, and one slightly smaller brown-gray one, both birds in the water. The secret to this quiz is to look at the birds in the context of each other. For instance if one bird is a Bald Eagle, then obviously the second bird is not a Song Sparrow since the size difference isn't that dramatic.

 Let's start with the solid white one since there aren't too many birds like that. Just at a glance it may appear to be a gull, but other than Ivory Gull, there is not a single species of North American gull that is solid white (with no contrast between the wings and body). We can rule out Ivory by the presence of a fairly thick (long-ish) neck. Great Egret also comes to mind, but I have never seen a member of the Egret/Heron family go all the way into the water and stick it's head TOTALLY under water with only the base of the neck visible. Plus, the base of the neck seems quite thick for a egret. Snow Goose also comes to mind, but there is no black visible on the primaries (not always visible, but it is usually visible) and the neck looks a bit longer than that of a Snow Goose. What about American White Pelican, everything seems to line up right, the overall jizz (general impression of size and shape) seems to fit also. But we have to remember, context is of key importance in this quiz. If the bird is a Great Egret, then the other bird looks like possibly a Little Blue Heron, but note that in a Great Egret and Little Blue Heron, the size difference would be a bit more dramatic than what we see in this quiz. If it is a Snow Goose, then I really can't think of what the other bird would be, other then a Blue Snow or Ross's, but the Ross's would be smaller in comparison then in the quiz, and a Blue Snow should be the same size, but we can see that it is slightly smaller.

Well then, by process of elimination, we can say that the white bird is an American White Pelican, but what would the other bird be? Canada Goose may come to mind, the size difference seems to fit pretty well, but there is now white rump contrasting with a black tail. Also a juvenile species of gull seems to fit well with the plumage, but wait a minute, American White Pelicans are gigantic compared to any species of north American gull, even Great Black-backed are tiny compared to American White Pelican. The bird has a dark nape, which seems to fit very nicely with Brown Pelican. Compare the two sizes and everything fits just perfectly!

I know this quiz was very tough, and I'm going to try to make the next one easier, but not too easy as I've had some complaints about that...

This American White Pelican  and Brown Pelican was photographed near Aransas, Texas, in March 2005.

Alrighty, here's the next one!

Only extra you get here is that it was taken in the East...

Here's the next one!

Take in, once again... Georgia!

I couldn't delete after a reply had been made so I just edited it.  Hope I didn't mess things up too badly