Quiz 23: Wing patterns

With thanks to the online wing collection of the Slater Museum of Natural History, University of Puget Sound for allowing the use of their wing photos.

With thanks, again, to Brian E. Small for providing the beautiful photos. You can see lots more at his website, and clicking any of his photos links there as well.



White wing patches 3

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Your answers are highlighted below.
Question 1
The species is:
A
Black-billed Magpie
B
Yellow-headed Blackbird
C
Audubon's Oriole
D
Lesser Goldfinch
Question 1 Explanation: 
Question 2
The white markings on the wing are on the:
A
Primary coverts
B
Secondaries
C
Greater secondary coverts
D
Primaries
Question 2 Explanation: 
White is all on the "hand", and only on the smaller feathers covering the base of the primaries - the primary coverts. The black feathers that lie across these white primary coverts are the alula, which is analogous to our thumb, and rarely as conspicuous as it is in this species. Technically, it is not just the primary coverts that are white. A couple of the outermost greater and median secondary coverts are also white, and can be distinguished by their width and angle.
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There are 2 questions to complete.

2 thoughts on “Quiz 23: Wing patterns”

  1. I really like these quizzes. I’ve learned quite a bit by taking them.reviewing from time to time. They seem to be a good teaching tool because instead of interpreting a labeled drawing to field identification, they express field identification in terms of the drawing. For me this makes the lesson more clear and more easily retained. Thank you.

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