Museum Specimen ID 11-15 (1 Viewer)

[ACO]

Here are another 5 specimens (3 left of 18 total) that need to be confirmed. My day unexpectedly got very busy and I have not had time to review previous comments, but I will later or tomorrow, and answer any questions that I can (most of these do not have any data) and also reply as to color or size questions due to poor photos or condition of the mounts (mostly 90 years-old + and poorly stored until now).

Thanks.

 

[csanchez7]

King Bird-of-Paradise for #13. Pretty distinctive coloration, although tail seems a bit long.

Carlos

 

[birdboybowley]

13 is an Amethyst Starling (or Violet-backed)

 

[birdboybowley]

14 looks like a Baya Weaver

 

[csanchez7]

13 is an Amethyst Starling (or Violet-backed)

Well, that would explain the tail. Thanks birdboybowley.

Carlos

 

[birdboybowley]

No worries!

 

[Jacana]

i agree with Baya Weaver for 14, although i'm unfamiliar with any African lookalikes.

15 might well go unidentified, it appears to be a Hippolais/Acrocephalus warbler, which can be hard enough to id when they're alive

 

[ACO]

Museum ID- one left

OK,
Last try for #12

Bird #12 looks familar to me, but can not figure it out and nobody tried previously.

Any suggestions?

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

#12 looks like a flycatcher of some sort to me. Don't know if the white in the wings makes it a scruffy empidonax, or if it's a female of one of the Asian flycatcher genuses (geni?).

#11 strikes me as a woodswallow with that large bill. Don't know them well enough to guess as to species.

 

[Motmot]

#12 looks a NA warbler to me, I'd say Blackpoll could be a good candidate but not sure.

 

[David FG]

#12 looks like a flycatcher of some sort to me. Don't know if the white in the wings makes it a scruffy empidonax, or if it's a female of one of the Asian flycatcher genuses (geni?).

#11 strikes me as a woodswallow with that large bill. Don't know them well enough to guess as to species.

*Pedantry alert*

Genera.

 

[Jim M.]

15 might well go unidentified, it appears to be a Hippolais/Acrocephalus warbler, which can be hard enough to id when they're alive

Think the long, fairly thick, hooked bill rules out those genera. I'd lean towards a vireo species of some sort.

Best,
Jim

 

[birdboybowley]

15 not a vireo, much more likely one of the original suggestions

 

[Jim M.]

15 not a vireo, much more likely one of the original suggestions

Can't find photos of members of the originally suggested genera showing strongly hooked beaks, but I'll admit I have limited experience with them. Not sure why you are eliminating vireo sp. since you offer no reasons for your contrary opinion.

 

[birdboybowley]

Purely coz the bird is an Old World warbler sp. JM. The hooked beak is something I've noticed on hundreds of museum specimens of passerines that, as you say, don't show the feature in the field. But everything from the colour of the plumage, length of the bill to the weak super all point to a warbler

 

[ACO]

#12 looks a NA warbler to me, I'd say Blackpoll could be a good candidate but not sure.

Yes, that seems to fit nicely. Thanks! Sometimes being too close clouds the truth and I was for some reason overlooking the obvious.

 

[Bonsaibirder]

Could 11 be a Summer Tanager?

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

*Pedantry alert*

Genera.

Pedantry permitted. I knew both of the terms I used were wrong, but couldn;t for the life of me remember the correct one. Thanks.

 

[ACO]

Could 11 be a Summer Tanager?

Steve,
Yes, a tanager, but a Scarlet Tanager that is in really poor condition.

Thanks,

Peter

 

[jaco]

[Blackpoll Warbler] seems to fit nicely. Thanks! Sometimes being too close clouds the truth and I was for some reason overlooking the obvious.

I'm not so sure about this being a Blackpoll.

Just curious, what is gained by actually assigning names to these things?

These disheveled mounts are essentially useless as an educational or research tool, and even more useless with guessed/consensus species names assigned to them. Without data, they're not specimens. They're just dead birds.

Just curious.