Michael Butler of Marathon, Ontario sent me the remarkable photo below, showing all four taxa of redpolls (four subspecies, two species) in one view (see more at his blog here: http://northshorenature.blogspot.com/ The Hornemann’s Hoary is the most distinctive – larger than the “typical” birds and very pale, also looking exceptionally fluffy and “well-padded” which is […]
Four redpoll taxa in one photo Read More »
Maybe, it depends how sure you want to be. Update July 2011 – See my new post on Back color of Moorhens for an additional clue to identification
Can Eurasian Common Moorhen be identified by sight? Read More »
A few years ago I was alerted to a subtle difference in the head patterns of Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers when I read a short note by Mark Szantyr with a nod to Julian Hough in the journal The Connecticut Warbler. He pointed out that Downy Woodpecker has a larger white patch on the sides of
A new clue for identifying Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers Read More »
I was recently studying and sketching the three species of American scoters in Revere, Massachusetts, and I was struck by the differences in head and body shapes. I thought those differences deserved to be highlighted in some new sketches, which are shown below. If you enjoy quizzes, you can try to identify the three species,
Identifying scoters by shape Read More »
In a recent comment on the Art Gallery page, Rawlings asked about my use of scratchboard as a medium. I’ve done a lot of work in ink on scratchboard, and it’s one of my favorite media for drawing. Most art supply stores sell scratchboard that is “pre-inked”. The surface is all black and you use
Ink on scratchboard technique Read More »
In two previous posts (The two faces of Downy Woodpecker and More false faces in birds) I’ve talked about the false faces created by feather patterns on birds. In the months since those posts I have seen and photographed more examples of these patterns, and I present some of them here.
Still more examples of false faces in birds Read More »
The benefit auction concluded in Feb 2011 (more information in a post here) is all about protecting salt pans in Thailand that are critical wintering habitat for many species of shorebirds including Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Protecting wintering habitat is particularly important for shorebirds, because many of them spend eight or nine months of each year there.
Salt pans and sandpipers Read More »
This post accompanies: Is the Brown Creeper more than one species? The songs of Brown Creepers do vary regionally, but the variation is subtle and complex and not very obvious (at least to our ears). Regional differences in song may offer the strongest support for splitting Brown Creeper into multiple species, but remain virtually unstudied.
Variation in Brown Creeper songs Read More »
Brown Creeper is such a familiar and easily-identified bird that few birders really study it closely. Slight regional differences in plumage and song have long been known, but recent DNA research (Manthey et al., 2010) has shown that these subtle outward differences go much deeper. (David Callahan summarizes the research at Birdwatch). There is a
Is the Brown Creeper more than one species? Read More »
Possibly… Like most herons, the calls of Great Egret are always hoarse, unmusical croaks and groans. There are slight variations, however, and listening to the selection of recordings available at Xeno-canto suggests that there may be consistent differences between the American and Eurasian Great Egrets.
Can Old World and New World Great Egrets be distinguished by call? Read More »