Regardless of what you call them – submoustachial, malar, jaw stripe, mandibular stripe – the feathers along the side of the lower jaw are important for identification. Being able to distinguish this group of feathers, and confidently describe their color, is one of the trickiest and most useful skills in understanding head feathers.
Hopefully this short quiz will help.
With thanks, again, to Brian E. Small for providing the beautiful photos. You can see lots more at his website, and clicking any photo links there as well.
[mtouchquiz 16]
Isn’t the explanation for question 2 backwards? Tropical Parula has yellow color extending down onto the side of the lower jaw, below the mouth, while the Northern has only gray feathers there.
You’re right! Sorry, I must have reversed the names as I tried different ways of explaining it in editing, and never caught the error. It’s fixed now.