Whatbird.com

Sorry, I forgot! 

Hi everyone, featherbrain asked me to write the answer to Quiz 10.  Sorry I'm a bit late in getting it posted. I had written a very lengthy, detailed answer out, then forgot to send it to my home computer.  So, I had to write a new, more improvised version here at home.  Argh!

First of all, we can see that this bird is clearly a Passerine, or perching bird.  It has an obvious large white eyering, clean white underparts/undertail coverts, dark crisp streaks on the flank, and is plain brown above.  It brings to mind thrushes, Mimids (catbirds, mockingbirds, and thrashers), maybe pipits, wood-warblers, and some sparrows. 

Going through this methodically, we'll start with thrushes (Turdidae).  The only North American thrushes that show contrasting dark markings on the flank are Fieldfare and Wood Thrush.  Fieldfare is a very rare visitor from Eurasia, and lacks the prominent eyering shown on the quiz bird, not to mention that Fieldfare doesn't even resemble the quiz bird, plumage-wise.  Wood Thrush is a good guess, but they clearly have individualized spots on their flanks.  The quiz bird has long streaks, unlike a Wood Thrush.

The quiz bird's tail is simply too short to be any species in the Mimidae family, that's for sure.  And any pipit (Motacillidae) would show at least weak wingbars, which are obviously non-existent in the quiz bird.  Plus, pipits aren't likely to be found perching in a tree as such.

As we all know, warblers (Parulidae) are a large, complex and sometimes frustrating group, but thankfully, there are only a few North American species that have the combination of dark flank streaks, no wingbars, and no yellow coloring like the quiz bird.  They are the Seiurus trio, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, and Louisiana Waterthrush.  The waterthrushes can be eliminated by the fact that the quiz bird has no white supercillium. Ovenbird matches the quiz bird very well, in fact, there is basically nothing that points away from it being an Ovenbird.

Fortunately, the only sparrow with an eyering like that is the Vesper Sparrow.  Vesper Sparrows show a much more complex wing and head pattern, and their flank streaks aren't as strong as on the quiz bird. 

So, we can confidentally say it is not a thrush, Mimid, pipit, or sparrow, and the only warbler that shows the combination of markings shown by the quiz bird is Ovenbird.  If you disagree with this analysis, feel free to discuss.

featherbrain photographed this Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus)...somewhere!

Tallies of incorrect guesses

Wood Thrush - 2

Louisiana Waterthrush - 1 

Congratulations to these users who answered correctly!

tim.birdboy (I guessed before I was told to write this up, honest!)

Whidden

Raptor

BillK

Ephily

The next quiz photo will be posted Tuesday, when featherbrain returns from his trip.

Thanks!

Actually, Featherbrain asked me to post the new photo quiz.

Here is the next quiz photo.... 

Can you post a version that can be enlarged?

And do we get to know where/when this was taken?

oops, sorry.  March, in Montana.

The site wouldn't let me upload a larger version, but I will try other stuff.
 

Hi Guys!

Thanks to josh and tim for taking over while I was gone. I am back and was going through my (hundreds, literally) of emails and found that nsteika sent me a personal message with the correct answer, so congratulations also to nsteika!

joshc:

oops, sorry.  March, in Montana.

The site wouldn't let me upload a larger version, but I will try other stuff.

Maybe try uploading the large version onto http://www.photobucket.com, and then copy the direct link and post it here. 

Sorry folks, but I am having real troubles with the picture files, and uploading/dowloading of pictures on my computer.

I guess the new quiz will be when Featherbrain gets back!  Sorry..... 

joshc:

I guess the new quiz will be when Featherbrain gets back!  Sorry..... 

And just to give you a time frame of when that will be, he may be back this weekend, but that isn't confirmed.  He will definitely be back the weekend after, though.  So, hang tight...maybe I will post it.  Thanks!

Okay, finally here's the next quiz.  No location given!

Unfortunately, you only have the rest of today, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning to answer.  I hope that doesn't cause any problems.  Please email your answer and Whatbird username to featherbrain1@gmail.com.

Thanks, and good luck!

Well, either this one was super difficult, super easy, or there wasn't enough time to answer, but in any case, only 3 people replied.    Sorry about the delay in getting the photo posted, and sorry for the delay in getting this answer posted!  I had an unusually busy Sunday.

To kick things off, we'll swipe out Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Yellow Warblers, Common and Gray-crowned Yellowthroats, the Oporornis quartet, and Wilson's Warbler with that distinct white undertail shown on the quiz bird.  There are minor details that can be picked out in each of those species, but I wanted to save space and time.   If you are easily confused like me, I'll inform you that that leaves us with Prothonotary and Hooded Warblers.  Prothonotary does have a partially white tail, but also a contrasting white belly, lacking in the quiz bird.  A Prothonotary would also have a much, much more chunky build and a shorter tail.  Last we have Hooded Warbler, which, not surprisingly, has a white undertail!  The olive "hood" also matches perfectly, as does the plain yellow-and-green overall color. 

I know we already eliminated Wilson's Warbler by the undertail, but I thought I'd go more indepth.  I find that the easiest and "safest" way to tell the similar Hooded apart from Wilson's is the auricular patch, the feathers that cover the ear just "behind," or caudal to the eye.  In a typical Hooded Warbler, these feathers are the same bright yellow as the rest of the face, as shown here.  In a Wilson's Warbler, the auriculars are olive-green colored, like the nape, mantle, and wings, as shown here (pay no attention to the black cap, we're talking about young and female birds, not easy-to-ID males ).

Alright guys, sorry for the major delay, I've been traveling alot lately, and am getting ready to go again!

A big thanks to tim.birdboy and joshc for taking over!

Here's Quiz 13! I'm thinking that we should start a scoring system to get things more competitive here, we won't start on this one because I'm still coming up with ideas, any suggestions welcome. Once I do start the scoring system I will post a reminder in the Help me ID a bird area since everybody browses that area constantly (it seems).

Good Luck!

Don't we get to know where the pic was taken? My answer depends on where...