August Photo Quiz – Backyard Birds Answers
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Aug 11, 2009 | by Adrian Binns
Well, it was not that bad was it? Actually all four birds are commonly found throughout the United States.
Image #1
The first job is to identify which part of the body that we are looking at. We do see an outline of the body but do not see any feather tracts or obvious parts of the body, such as a wing. This leaves us with the belly, breast and neck. We can see a patch of iridescent bronze sheen on a pale bird. One family of birds that shows an iridescent sheen on the neck are the pigeons and doves. used in display when they inflate their necks. Of those White-crowned, Band-tailed and Rock Pigeon have dark feathering with a green iridescent patch, and White-tipped Dove has a lighter gray coloration with rose iridescence. Other than the ubiquitous Rock Pigeon, none of the others are found throughout the United States. This leaves us with only one remaining choice and that is the Mourning Dove. It isn’t until a bird reaches adulthood that it gets the iridescent neck patch.
Image #2
Grayish-brown head and body, light colored throat, sharp bill, spiked hair-do…this bird is obviously wet! And, wait-a-minute, is that a couple of dark feathers on the lower right side of the image? Could one of those have a white spot at the tip, or is that a water droplet? How many birds fit that description? Not many. Brown-headed Cowbird has a light colored contrasting throat but its bill is stout, not pointed as in the photo. Juvenile and female Red-winged Blackbird have a light throat as well as a pointed bill, but they are streaked on the breast and have head markings, which the photo does not show. Female Boat-tailed Grackles are evenly colored with a light throat but show a dark cheek patch and a bit of a contrasting supercilium. The race along the Atlantic coast shows a yellow eye, whereas along the Gulf Coast and in Florida that race has a dark eye. If that is a dark feather with a white spot on it that would eliminate grackles. So what has white spots on dark breast feathers? Only one that I can think of. This is a juvenile European Starling in the process of molting from juvenile to winter adult plumage. For a brief time in the summer they retain the juvenile grayish-brown head color while the remainder of the body has changed. Starlings only have the white spots in non-breeding plumage.
Image #3
This image has not been ‘flipped’. This is exactly how I saw the bird! So what is it doing? Is it alive? Is it playing ‘possum’? We see an overall tan bird with a large pointed bill, stretched out, on its side, looking up with its mouth open. For marking we notice black on the head and black spots on the breast. If we begin with the black breast spots, which tannish backyard birds with long bills show that marking? Cactus Wren, Northern Flicker, juvenile American Robin, Wood Thrush, Swainson’s Thrush, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Hermit Thrush and Brown Thrasher. Starting with the thrushes, we can eliminate them as they has a contrasting light throat, with mostly heavier dark markings on the breast, throat (in the case of the Wood Thrush) and shorter bills. The overall color and breast pattern is not right for a juvenile American Robin. The bill looks good for a Cactus Wren but the breast color and lack of concentrated dark markings on the bird in the photo are not right for the wren. The black that we see on the head is the malar (mustache) stripe of a male Northern Flicker. Females do not have a malar stripe.
Image #4
The photo is of the underwing. From the image we can not get an idea as to the size of the bird but do see a contrast between the grayish flight feathers (primaries and secondaries) and rich cinnamon underwing covert coloration. Once again, what backyard birds shows this color? Raptors, such as Red-shouldered, Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawk do to a degree, but we would see a pattern to the feather tracts, whereas our bird show a pretty even color. Common Ground Dove has a rich rufous underwing but it is not restricted to the coverts as in our photo. This looks excellent for a female Ringed Kingfisher, until we realize that it is only found in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and not a backyard bird for most people! It also should show contrasting blue-gray bands on the flight feathers. The even smooth pattern fits Red-breasted Nuthatch, but the color is far too dark. The deep rufous color does not match those of grosbeaks, cardinals, tanagers or most orioles. This leaves us the possibility that our bird is either an Orchard Oriole or an American Robin, both of whom have an underwing color that matches their body color. To get the correct answer we have to go by color. A male Orchard Oriole has a dark chestnut color whereas a male American Robin has a rich rufous color. Females are lighter.
If we study and understand our common birds, it will make it far easier to correctly identify a bird that is slightly different. I hope that you all enjoyed the challenge and learning process, and thank you for participating in this quiz.