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.
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.
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.
This quiz groups some relatively long and narrow wings. Pay special attention to subtle differences in shape, and bold white patterns. With thanks to the online wing collection of the Slater Museum of Natural History, University of Puget Sound for allowing the use of these photos.
Here is a quiz with three very different wings, and a detailed explanation follows (don’t peek). With thanks to the online wing collection of the Slater Museum of Natural History, University of Puget Sound for allowing the use of these photos.
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 …
In recent posts and quizzes here I’ve been stressing the head feather groups, and how they provide a consistent structure for understanding the color patterns of birds. It is true that color patterns almost always follow the general arrangement of the feather groups, but there is a lot of variation in the details. The two …
Here are four more birds with questions about their head feathers. 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.
A teaser of spring wood-warblers on this bonus day of February. Two questions for each of the photos will help you practice applying your knowledge of head feathers. Thanks to Brian E. Small for allowing the use of his beautiful photos. You can see lots more at his website, and clicking any photo links there …
This quiz is about taking the feather groups you’ve learned in previous quizzes, and applying them to real birds, to see how color patterns follow the basic feather groups. And big thanks to Brian E. Small for allowing the use of his superb photographs for the quiz feature here. You can see more at his …
Quiz 11: Head feather groups and simple color patterns Read More »