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Singing Birds - Badly photographed! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter dacol
- Start date
They're beyond me, but I'll give people something to shoot down.
1. Great Crested Flycatcher (based on the amount of yellow on the underparts, the rufous tail and the rather big, crested head)
2. Orange-crowned Warbler (coz of the lack of field marks!)
3. Wood Thrush (breast spots look round and well marked)
4. Louisiana Waterthrush (unspotted white throat)
1. Great Crested Flycatcher (based on the amount of yellow on the underparts, the rufous tail and the rather big, crested head)
2. Orange-crowned Warbler (coz of the lack of field marks!)
3. Wood Thrush (breast spots look round and well marked)
4. Louisiana Waterthrush (unspotted white throat)
Tricky quiz Dacol. I'll try and come back with some reasons (such as they are) later:
1. Great-crested Flycatcher
2. Warbling Vireo
3. Hermit Thrush
4. Louisiana Waterthrush
1. Great-crested Flycatcher
2. Warbling Vireo
3. Hermit Thrush
4. Louisiana Waterthrush
Jane Turner
Well-known member
Looks like its all sorted.. No idea on the Flycatcher... I can't remember the features... I also think its Warblering Vireo, Hermit Thrush and Louisiana Waterthrush.
Okay some vague reasons:
First of all one of the assumptions I made (unless the evidence was heavily stacked against) was that all of these were taken in the eastern US.
1. GC Fly - was a bit thrown by this at first but the comination of yellow bellow, grey throat, rufous undertail and double wing bar seems to point to this.
2. Warbling Vireo - the upper mandible looks a bit hooked so I thought vireo. It's fairly plain and warblerish (old world warblerish anyway) with a nice supercillium so I reckoned either Warbling or Philadelphia. The choice was largely made on range!
3. Hermit Thrush - I'm fairly unsure about this. It certainly looks like a Catharus and is quite extensively spotted underneath with an impression of warmish brown or perhaps rufous upperparts. This meant either Hermit or Wood Thrush. In favour of Hermit is that the spots look fairly small and it seems to have a relatively long tail. In favour of Wood Thrush is that the background colour of the underparts appears a fairly clean white. I went on structure and said Hermit Thrush.
4. Louisiana Waterthrush - pretty sure it's either one or the other but went with the unmarked throat.
First of all one of the assumptions I made (unless the evidence was heavily stacked against) was that all of these were taken in the eastern US.
1. GC Fly - was a bit thrown by this at first but the comination of yellow bellow, grey throat, rufous undertail and double wing bar seems to point to this.
2. Warbling Vireo - the upper mandible looks a bit hooked so I thought vireo. It's fairly plain and warblerish (old world warblerish anyway) with a nice supercillium so I reckoned either Warbling or Philadelphia. The choice was largely made on range!
3. Hermit Thrush - I'm fairly unsure about this. It certainly looks like a Catharus and is quite extensively spotted underneath with an impression of warmish brown or perhaps rufous upperparts. This meant either Hermit or Wood Thrush. In favour of Hermit is that the spots look fairly small and it seems to have a relatively long tail. In favour of Wood Thrush is that the background colour of the underparts appears a fairly clean white. I went on structure and said Hermit Thrush.
4. Louisiana Waterthrush - pretty sure it's either one or the other but went with the unmarked throat.
I went for Wood Thrush only because the spots were clearly defined and round. However I was a bit worried that they didn't look big enough and there were too many of them for Wood Thrush. I've only seen Hermit Thrush in autumn and don't remember the spots being that bold, but Sibley backs you up, so I think you're right.
Sibley was pretty much my sole backup on all of them Jason! 
Warbler
Warbler Watcher
1. Great-creasted Flycatcher
only flycatcher with those three bold colors (gray, yellow, rufous)
2. Red-eyed Vireo
I'm still not totally convinced, first thought Philadelphia because Red-eyes have a
pure white breast/belly and this bird seems to have too much of a yellowish
wash, the bill seems too long for a Philadelphia (though that could just be the
angle)
3. Hermit Thrush
spots don't seem large enough for a Wood Thrush
4. Louisian Waterthrush
as others have said: white throat
only flycatcher with those three bold colors (gray, yellow, rufous)
2. Red-eyed Vireo
I'm still not totally convinced, first thought Philadelphia because Red-eyes have a
pure white breast/belly and this bird seems to have too much of a yellowish
wash, the bill seems too long for a Philadelphia (though that could just be the
angle)
3. Hermit Thrush
spots don't seem large enough for a Wood Thrush
4. Louisian Waterthrush
as others have said: white throat
dacol
Well-known member
Since we already have one reply that correctly identify the 4 birds I will
reveal the correct IDs.
Dave ["Godwit"] identified all four correctly.
Bird 1: Great-crested Flycatcher - as it was pointed out the bright colors of this individual, the strongly grey head and rufous tail are strong indicators of its identity.
Bird 2: Red-eyed Vireo - the hooked bill and the pattern on side of head indicate vireo. It also has a rather long bill. It has a dark line through the eye and a whitish, but well-defined superciliary line which seems to barely touch the cumen at the base of the bill. As a first guess Warbling, Red-eyed and Philadelphia are pretty good. The long bill points towards Red-eyed, the well defined facial marks point away from Warbling but are not strong enough for Philadelphia. Also Philadelphia has the white superciliaries joining on top of the base of the bill with a strong black droplet over the eye giving a spectacled look.
Bird 3: Wood Thrush - the colors are a bit washed out in the photo but a bit of rusted brown is visible on the shoulder of the bird. The dark dots are fairly round and the bird sports spotted flanks also characteristic for Wood Thrush.
The side of the head is more or less visible in the photo showing a strong white eye-ring and a somewhat grayish area underneath the eye. In a Hermit Thrush this area would be about the same color as the nape and back which is an olive brown instead of the chocolate brown with rusty tones of the Wood Thrush. The white eye-ring in Hermit Thrush is narrower and not as bold as that of the Wood Thrush, note specially the upper part of the ring (above the eye) which is very thick in the Wood Thrush and can be seen in the photo.
Bird 4: Louisiana Waterthrush - the fine bill points out to a bird in the New World wood warbler family, the drab colors point out to one of the water thrushes and the clear white throat and fairly long bill clinch it as Louisiana Waterthrush.
I photographed those birds on 4/24/04 and 4/25/04 along the towpath of the old C&O Canal that follows the north bank of the Potomac, a few miles from my house. They are common breeders in the deciduous wood lands of this area in the Mid-Atlantic coast of the USA.
Thanks for everybody that participated and I hope you had some fun doing some vicarious, arm-chair, birding!
Dalcio
reveal the correct IDs.
Dave ["Godwit"] identified all four correctly.
Bird 1: Great-crested Flycatcher - as it was pointed out the bright colors of this individual, the strongly grey head and rufous tail are strong indicators of its identity.
Bird 2: Red-eyed Vireo - the hooked bill and the pattern on side of head indicate vireo. It also has a rather long bill. It has a dark line through the eye and a whitish, but well-defined superciliary line which seems to barely touch the cumen at the base of the bill. As a first guess Warbling, Red-eyed and Philadelphia are pretty good. The long bill points towards Red-eyed, the well defined facial marks point away from Warbling but are not strong enough for Philadelphia. Also Philadelphia has the white superciliaries joining on top of the base of the bill with a strong black droplet over the eye giving a spectacled look.
Bird 3: Wood Thrush - the colors are a bit washed out in the photo but a bit of rusted brown is visible on the shoulder of the bird. The dark dots are fairly round and the bird sports spotted flanks also characteristic for Wood Thrush.
The side of the head is more or less visible in the photo showing a strong white eye-ring and a somewhat grayish area underneath the eye. In a Hermit Thrush this area would be about the same color as the nape and back which is an olive brown instead of the chocolate brown with rusty tones of the Wood Thrush. The white eye-ring in Hermit Thrush is narrower and not as bold as that of the Wood Thrush, note specially the upper part of the ring (above the eye) which is very thick in the Wood Thrush and can be seen in the photo.
Bird 4: Louisiana Waterthrush - the fine bill points out to a bird in the New World wood warbler family, the drab colors point out to one of the water thrushes and the clear white throat and fairly long bill clinch it as Louisiana Waterthrush.
I photographed those birds on 4/24/04 and 4/25/04 along the towpath of the old C&O Canal that follows the north bank of the Potomac, a few miles from my house. They are common breeders in the deciduous wood lands of this area in the Mid-Atlantic coast of the USA.
Thanks for everybody that participated and I hope you had some fun doing some vicarious, arm-chair, birding!
Dalcio
Thanks, Dalcio. That was fun. Please can I ask you to clarify one of your statements for me?
I only know Warbling and Philadelphia Vireos from photographs and field guides (so could be entirely wrong), but I'm pretty sure Red-eyed has the most striking head pattern of these three. So, if the facial marks aren't strong enough for Philadelphia, that would seem to argue against Red-eyed as well. Which marks did you have in mind here?dacol said:
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dacol
Well-known member
Bluetail said:
Jason, I meant that the dark line through the eye was too strong (in color) for Warbling Vireo but not strong enough for Philadelphia. Philadelphia has a small tear shaped black spot over the eyes as the dark line that goes through the eye is darker and is enlarged around the eye and the white superciliary meets on the top of the bill giving the bird an spectacled appearance. Thus, for simplicity, the black line through the bird's eye was too thin to be Philadelphia. On the other hand you are correct in pointing out that the facial markings are striking in Red-eyed Vireo since the lines are longer but the black over the eyes of typical Philadelphia is darker than on the Red-eyed Vireo and gives the impression that the bird is wearing dark glasses because this spot is a bit almond shaped around the eye.
As I said before, I think calling the bird in the photo Red-eyed, Warbling or Philadelphia was certainly a good call. I believe there were some details that could lead to the correct identification but since I knew what the bird was it was much easier for me to lock on those details than for somebody that had just that photo as a clue. For example, of those three the REV has the longest bill, although this is a relative characteristic, the bird in the photo did look rather long-billed, even a bit warblerish, no?
I was expecting the vireo to be the more difficult of the 4. I was surprised that the thrush was also a bit of a problem. I think that in this case the poor quality of the photo is responsible as the colors came out quite washed out, almost without any of the rufous (rust) tinge that would have being a good clue for that bird.
Dalcio
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BlueTiercel
Member
I have some Great Crested Flycatchers nesting at my parents, where i put up boxes since i live in an apartment and can't do it here. Awesome birds.
