August Mystery

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Posted by Gary Potter (205.188.200.44) on September 12, 2001 at 21:30:29:

I have looked at these images many times. I can not reconcile the shape and structure of the bird with the apparent color. On my moniter the color looks like the maroon/brown of a Varied Bunting. However, it is very obviously not a bunting! I was able to look at it on another computer where the pictures showed much better resolution. In addition to the points made by Phil Pickering, I noticed: 1. That mandible appeared mostly orange/pink on the lower surface, whether or not the tip was dark was not easy to judge, but the distal third or fourth may be dark. The orange was very thin. 2. There appear to be rictal bristles around the base of the bill, although it is so out of focus, I'm not sure that they are really there. 3.The back definately looks gray. 4.There appear to be white markings on the tertials. 5. The outer web of the outer rectrices appear to be whitish. 6. There is a hint of light(white?)on the tips of the greater coverts and less obviously on the lesser coverts. These translate into wingbars without much contrast.
7. The bill shape looks narrow, longish, with rather straight sides. 8. The inflorecense of the Common Mullein that it is perched on usually averages about an inch in diameter, which would make the bird about 5 1/2 to 6 inches long. All of these characteristics seem to support the idea that it is an Empidonax flycatcher, and most likely a Gray. The only thing that I can see that might indicate Phainopepla are the black color on the belly. (I don't see raised ridges on the nares mentioned by Andy Katter.) I totally agree with David Fix on the color of the Mullein, so why should the color of the bird be so far off??? Another point, the mullein looks to be lighted from the left side (shadows on the right side), and the bird seems to be lighted from above (shadow of wing on tail, and blackish belly). I have certainly been wrong as often as I've been right on Joe's quizzes, so I don't know what my opinion is worth, but inspite of the color, I'll vote for Gray Flycatcher.

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: I have looked at these images many times. I can not reconcile the shape and structure of the bird with the apparent color. On my moniter the color looks like the maroon/brown of a Varied Bunting. However, it is very obviously not a bunting! I was able to look at it on another computer where the pictures showed much better resolution. In addition to the points made by Phil Pickering, I noticed: 1. That mandible appeared mostly orange/pink on the lower surface, whether or not the tip was dark was not easy to judge, but the distal third or fourth may be dark. The orange was very thin. 2. There appear to be rictal bristles around the base of the bill, although it is so out of focus, I'm not sure that they are really there. 3.The back definately looks gray. 4.There appear to be white markings on the tertials. 5. The outer web of the outer rectrices appear to be whitish. 6. There is a hint of light(white?)on the tips of the greater coverts and less obviously on the lesser coverts. These translate into wingbars without much contrast. : 7. The bill shape looks narrow, longish, with rather straight sides. 8. The inflorecense of the Common Mullein that it is perched on usually averages about an inch in diameter, which would make the bird about 5 1/2 to 6 inches long. All of these characteristics seem to support the idea that it is an Empidonax flycatcher, and most likely a Gray. The only thing that I can see that might indicate Phainopepla are the black color on the belly. (I don't see raised ridges on the nares mentioned by Andy Katter.) I totally agree with David Fix on the color of the Mullein, so why should the color of the bird be so far off??? Another point, the mullein looks to be lighted from the left side (shadows on the right side), and the bird seems to be lighted from above (shadow of wing on tail, and blackish belly). I have certainly been wrong as often as I've been right on Joe's quizzes, so I don't know what my opinion is worth, but inspite of the color, I'll vote for Gray Flycatcher.

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