Recent discussion of the identification of a white goose in Ohio (beginning here) prompted me to put together some sketches of bill shapes of Ross’s and Snow Geese, since bill shape is the most significant difference between those species. It was a very interesting exercise, as each species is surprisingly consistent in the relative size […]
Identification of white geese Read More »
A recent article by Tim Enthoven in the New York Times – Don’t Blink! The Hazards of Confidence – offers some fascinating thoughts on judgment, expertise, and illusions of confidence, and it’s an interesting perspective from which to examine the challenge of bird identification. One of his key points is that confidence does not arise
I recently commented on this ID problem on MassBird, pointing out differences in details around the eyes. Chipping sparrow has very distinct, narrow whitish arcs below and ABOVE the eye, contrasting with darker gray-brown feathers, and broken at front and BACK by the dark eyeline. Simply looking for these distinct white arcs is a good
On identifying Chipping and Clay-colored Sparrows Read More »
Thanks to Sheri Williamson (author of the Peterson Field Guide to Hummingbirds) and her recent post titled Orange-throated hummingbirds – not so mysterious after all, we have a solid contribution towards understanding the orange throats of some Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, although I contend that mysteries still remain. She explains the details of iridescent color on hummingbirds, and a
Progress on the orange-throated hummingbird mystery Read More »
Patterns of translucence in wing feathers provide useful identification clues for many species of birds – terns, gulls, hawks, and others. Generally the translucent parts of the wing are those where there are fewer layers of feathers to block the light, and less pigment in the feathers. I’ve written about this before in my book
The finer points of wing translucence Read More »
Now updated by a new post Progress on the Orange-throated hummingbird mystery. This adds to my previous post about orange-throated hummingbirds. After hearing from a couple of hummingbird banders affirming that they do not see a change in throat color in the fall as male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds go though their summer molt (and the fact
Orange-throated Hummingbirds: more questions Read More »
Albino and partial albino birds The presence of white feathers on a normally dark bird is the most frequently seen color abnormality. Every birder can expect to encounter white or partly-white birds with some regularity, and the more striking examples will stand out even to novices. All black and brown coloration in birds comes from
Abnormal coloration in birds: Melanin reduction Read More »
Update 16 August: a new post Progress on the orange-throated hummingbird mystery. Update 14 Aug 2011: A follow-up to this post is now available, tempering some of these points and adding more questions – Orange-throated Hummingbirds: more questions. Every year in August and September, a few perplexed observers in eastern North America send out questions about
The mystery of the orange-throated hummingbirds Read More »
A few records of “Snowy” Egrets with long head plumes have turned up in places where Little Egret has also occurred. Are they hybrids, or just rare variants of Snowy? Update 6 Aug 2011 – I had overlooked Martin Reid’s photos from Texas in May 1998 of a very similar long-plumed Snowy-like Egret. So obviously there is
Possible hybrid Little x Snowy Egrets Read More »
Usually. Experienced observers can almost always identify these species correctly based on careful judgment of head shape and bill size, but these are subtle and subjective impressions, and require a foundation of experience and/or direct comparisons with Sooty. Other features can offer supportive clues or draw attention to a potential Short-tailed, but are not very
Can Short-tailed Shearwater be identified in the field? Read More »