posted May 23rd, 2012; last edited May 23rd, 2012 –– David Sibley

Quiz 37: Bird topography

Concord, MA. 29 Apr 2009. Copyright David Sibley.

Test your knowledge of bird feather topography with the questions below.
….Continue reading Quiz 37: Bird topography →

May 23rd, 2012 | One comment
posted May 22nd, 2012; last edited May 22nd, 2012 –– David Sibley

An unusual Cattle Egret in Florida 

In late April 2012, Roy Halpin found and photographed an entirely buff-colored Cattle Egret in Saint Augustine, Florida. This is a particularly interesting bird because it provides an opportunity to consider the unusual nature of Cattle Egret coloration, as well as the identification of Cattle Egret subspecies.

Buff-colored Cattle Egret, photographed at the Gator Farm in Saint Augustine Florida, 27 April 2012, copyright Roy Halpin.

Coloration in Cattle Egrets

To understand this bird’s coloration, it’s important to understand the unusual source of the buff color in Cattle Egrets. Evidence suggests that the buff color of Cattle Egrets is essentially a stain, coming from pigmented oil from specialized powder-down feathers (Delhey et al, 2007). When a Cattle Egret molts in late summer the new feathers are all-white, and they slowly turn buff in winter and spring without molting.
….Continue reading An unusual Cattle Egret in Florida  →

May 22nd, 2012 | Leave a comment
posted May 18th, 2012; last edited May 18th, 2012 –– David Sibley

Bird Song ID series continues – Eastern Trills

Chipping Sparrow. original gouache painting copyright David Sibley.

The next part of my introduction to learning bird songs is now up (click here).

Birds can hear a lot “faster” than we can, however, and consequently can extract a lot more information from the very rapid series of notes. The differences are there, and a Chipping Sparrow does not get confused by the songs of Pine Warblers or Dark-eyed Juncos. The key for the birder trying to identify these songs is to practice hearing the finer details. In most cases we can’t really hear the details of the individual notes, but we can hear the resulting “gestalt” differences in the overall tonal quality of the sound.
—>Read more…
May 18th, 2012 | Leave a comment
posted May 14th, 2012; last edited May 14th, 2012 –– David Sibley

Bird songs Part 5: Describing Quality

Part 5 of my introduction to learning bird songs is now up (click here).

Many of the words that we use to describe the quality of a bird song also carry information about pitch and tempo. For example, only sounds in a certain pitch range can be described as whistled, and we tend to call lower-pitched whistles “rich” or “full”, and higher-pitched whistles ”thin” or “squeaky”. Similarly, certain descriptive words tell us about the tempo of the song. Words like relaxed and lethargic describe a slow tempo, and a buzz is just like a trill, only faster.
—>Read more…

Singing Prothonotary Warbler. Pencil sketch from the field in Arkansas, May 2005, copyright David Sibley.
May 14th, 2012 | Leave a comment
posted May 11th, 2012; last edited May 11th, 2012 –– David Sibley

Trees in their spring colors

I’ve been neglecting trees in my posts recently, but here in Massachusetts spring is the best time of year for tree-watching, and today the sun was out offering some good photo opportunities.

Five species of trees in Concord, MA, click to enlarge, and read below for identification; 11 May 2012. photo copyright David Sibley.

….Continue reading Trees in their spring colors →

May 11th, 2012 | Leave a comment
posted May 11th, 2012; last edited May 11th, 2012 –– David Sibley

Part 4: Understanding Quality in bird song

Part 4 of my introduction to learning bird songs is now up (click here).

In the narrowest sense, the quality of a bird’s voice would refer strictly to the tonal quality of the sound. Musicians call this “timbre”, and it allows us to distinguish a trumpet from a violin from a flute, even when all are playing the same note, and even though we cannot describe the differences in words. There are such differences in bird’s voices, but when birders refer to the “quality” of a bird song, we are almost always using it in a broader sense to mean our overall impression of the song (including the timbre of the voice along with everything else)….
—>Read more…

Black-capped Chickadee
May 11th, 2012 | Leave a comment
posted May 10th, 2012; last edited May 10th, 2012 –– David Sibley

Quiz 36: More Warblers

Today’s quiz features a bonus

And we have a winner! Congratulations to Laramie, and thanks to everyone who entered!

There will be another quiz giveaway next week – stay tuned.

Everyone who submits a perfect score by 9 PM Eastern Time on Thursday May 10th, will be entered in a drawing to win a prize.

The prize this week is a signed copy of my poster “Waterfowl of North America” Or take your pick of any of my other posters – Trees, Hummingbirds, Raptors, Owls, etc.) Of course, even if you don’t win, you can still order the posters from Scott & Nix.

After you get all five questions correct, just be sure to click the “Get Results” button at the end of the quiz and then submit your results.

There is no limit to how many times you can attempt the quiz, so feel free to keep trying until you get all five questions right.1

Scroll down to take the quiz, and good luck!

As in the last quiz this one shows warblers as they are so often seen in the field – with just the underside of the body visible. Clues such as tail shape, overall size, behavior and other subtleties can be very helpful with experience. In this quiz I focus on the more objective features of plumage.

When all you can see is the belly, flanks, and tail of a warbler, you will have to rely on tail pattern, any streaking, and the overall pattern of dark/light and bright/drab. Leg color can also be helpful. You should be able to identify most species by matching those patterns to the pictures in the guide, and with practice you will recognize more and more warblers from these small clues.

With thanks, again, to Brian E. Small for providing the beautiful photos. You can see lots more at his website.

….Continue reading Quiz 36: More Warblers →

  1. Some more rules: This contest is open to anyone, however, the prize must be deliverable by the United States Post Office to an address in the United States or Canada only. No shipments outside of this area will be made.
    The winner will be notified by email.
    Entering your email address means that you might receive occasional emails from me in the future about Sibley Guides news and events, but I will never give your email address to anyone else. [↩]
May 10th, 2012 | 3 comments
posted May 8th, 2012; last edited May 8th, 2012 –– David Sibley

Tempo, and bird song identification

Part 3 of my introduction to learning bird songs is now up (click here).

In this discussion, tempo refers to the overall “pace” of the song, the number of notes or phrases per second. We describe this as fast or slow, and over the course of the whole song the tempo can be steady or variable. To be exact, tempo depends on the duration of notes, the duration of pauses between notes, the duration of different sections of the song, etc. For now, though, we will just be listening to the overall sound….
—>Read more…
May 8th, 2012 | Leave a comment
posted May 7th, 2012; last edited May 7th, 2012 –– David Sibley

Quiz 35 – More warblers from below

Like a previous quiz this one shows warblers as they are so often seen in the field – with just the underside of the body visible. Clues such as tail shape, overall size, behavior and other subtleties can be very helpful with experience. In this quiz I focus on the more objective features of plumage.

When all you can see is the belly, flanks, and tail of a warbler, take note of tail pattern, any streaking, and the overall pattern of dark/light and bright/drab. You should be able to identify most species by matching those patterns to the pictures in the guide, and with practice you will recognize more and more warblers from these small clues.

With thanks, again, to Brian E. Small for providing the beautiful photos. You can see lots more at his website.

….Continue reading Quiz 35 – More warblers from below →

May 7th, 2012 | Leave a comment
posted May 4th, 2012; last edited May 4th, 2012 –– David Sibley

Pitch, and bird song identification

Pitch is simply our perception of the frequency (or wavelength) of a sound, which we describe as high to low. Birds’ range of hearing is similar to our own, and bird song covers the full range to the limits of human hearing, from the lowest hooting sounds of Great Gray Owl or Spruce Grouse to the highest songs of Blackburnian Warbler or Golden-crowned Kinglet.

Most bird vocalizations are complex, and cover a wide range of frequencies, and there is often considerable variation in pitch within a species, making it hard to use pitch alone as an identification clue. Even so, the actual pitch of a bird sound is useful for getting into the right “ballpark” for identification.

—>>Continue reading Pitch, and bird song identification

May 4th, 2012 | Leave a comment
 
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