The bird ID thread « Nikon Rumors Forum

Nikon Rumors Forum » Nikon DSLR

The bird ID thread

(27 posts) (8 voices)

Tags:

12 Next »

Gentoo

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 1,538
offline

To keep from continuously highjacking the picture a day thread, I figured for more in depth bird ID's, a dedicated thread should be started.

Ok, with that said, the first thing I will address is the gull ID situation heartyfisher and I spoke about. Those were shots of adults wings which are the easiest. There are four species show cased there. Here are the pics once again:

Glaucous-Winged Gull
http://www.pbase.com/shonn/image/94758446

It's the easiest of this group. It's wing tips are not black but are about the same shade as the rest of the wing. This is unique among gulls.

Herring Gull
http://www.pbase.com/shonn/image/90662615

The common large gull of the northern hemisphere. Black in the wing tips is usually limited to near the tips. The white spots in the wing tips are called mirrors. Most Herring Gulls show 1 or two large mirrors on the out two flight feathers. Note the gray invades the black area. This is typical of birds from the east coast of NA and in Europe but not so much so in California. That gray area invading is called a tongue. The little white area at the end of the tongue is called a moon. These are all things us gull people look for. Like I said before, gulls are highly variable. Here is a typical west coast Herring Gull:

http://www.pbase.com/shonn/image/94813161

The black is a bit more extensive as the tongues are shorter and there are no moons. Also, there is often one mirror on the outer flight feather only. This makes it look similar to the next species:

California Gull
http://www.pbase.com/shonn/image/114122470

This species is smaller than the first two. It also has a black spot in addition to the red one on the lower part of the bill. It has dark eyes similar to Glaucous-Winged Gull but unlike the pale yellow of Herring Gull. It's gray on the back and wings (the mantel) is slightly darker. The black in the wing tips is more extensive than than even a west coast Herring Gull. There are always two mirrows on the outer two flight feathers and they are large.

Western Gull
http://www.pbase.com/shonn/image/94856026

Size of the first two species so larger than California Gull. It's a dark backed species so on the west coast of the US where it is found, it's identification is usually straight forward but there are rare occurrences of similar looking species. Black in the wing tips is the most extensive of this sample group. It normally has only one small mirror on the outer flight feather. Northern race (which this is), is slightly paler than the southern race which I've posted earlier in the PAD thread. Here's that one again:

http://www.pbase.com/shonn/image/109346659

Ok, I'm off my soap box now. LOL

Feel free to use this thread so we can keep the PAD thread on topic more.

Any questions?

Posted 3 years ago #
adamz

The Predator
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 3,461
offline

Great idea with this ID thread, will do my best not to ask about birds on the photo-a-day thread

Posted 3 years ago #
Gentoo

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 1,538
offline

Adamz, as I suspected, your bird is a third cycle Herring Gull. It looks like it was likely taken in the fall as it appears to be growing in some of it's wing feathers still. Larus argentatus would be it's scientific name. Use this if you cannot find an English name.

Posted 3 years ago #
adamz

The Predator
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 3,461
offline

gentoo - this picture has been taken not more than a month ago, thanks for providing the latin name - this plus wikipedia allows me to find the name in many different languages

Posted 3 years ago #
Gentoo

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 1,538
offline

Must be a weird molt cycle then which does happen. It does appear advanced enough for the partial spring molt but those molted wing feathers threw me off.

Posted 3 years ago #
NikoDoby

The Terminator
Joined: May '09
Posts: 6,598
offline

I woke up this morning and this was at the foot of my bed :^o

Joking, but I'm sure this is a super easy one for you Gentoo, I kinda feel stupid for even asking, but what kind of horned owl is this? Is it a Magellanic or a Great. And an even dumber question is whether it's male or female? I've been told you can tell by the markings and colors on the body. Is that true? What say you great wise one of the birds :)

Posted 3 years ago #
Gentoo

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 1,538
offline

Magellanic Horned Owls are in South America only. Until recently, they were considered part of the Great Horned Owl. The latter is more widespread throughout North America and parts of South America I believe. Where you took this pic will make a difference but this bird looks to me like a Great Horned Owl. Likely not of a western NA race as it's paler then the birds out here.

Posted 3 years ago #
NikoDoby

The Terminator
Joined: May '09
Posts: 6,598
offline

Taken last year around March or April on an "expedition" in Northern Mexico. I've been told it's a Great but also that it's a Magellanic. I've also been told that the color is not the right shade to be a Great. Could it be an adolescent so it's colors haven't "matured"? Is that possible?

Is it possible to tell the gender by the markings? Or is that an old wives' tale?

Posted 3 years ago #
Gentoo

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 1,538
offline

It would be a Great Horned as Mags. are restricted to South America. The coloring of GHO varies considerably from one region to another. Typical eastern birds have the orange face we're used to seeing in pictures. Birds of the boreal forest are very pale, almost ghostly looking while birds from most of the pacific coast are often quite dark.

Sex is best told by size. Females being up to a third larger than males.

Posted 3 years ago #
NikoDoby

The Terminator
Joined: May '09
Posts: 6,598
offline

So I guess this was a female Great Horned Owl then. She was very large and very beautiful. Thanks for the info Gentoo I figured you could clear it up for me. Appreciate it.

Posted 3 years ago #
Gentoo

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 1,538
offline

Maybe. Bird sizes are deceptive unless you can have a direct comparison. For a difference like this, even experts would have to see a pair side by side to tell which is which. Great Horned Owls are large birds altogether.

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

I'm under 18!
Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 1,999
offline

Hey Gentoo do you think you can ID this for me? It looks like a sparrow or something. Thanks! :^)

Posted 3 years ago #
Gentoo

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 1,538
offline

Alpha what you have there is a very nice White-Throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicolis). It resembles the closely related White-Crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys) I frequently post:

http://www.pbase.com/shonn/image/119602965

Notice the throat patch on your bird is more prominent and it's browner even than the brownest coastal White-Crowns. As far as the head striping, your particular bird is of the tan striped phase. They other slightly more common phase has black and white head stripes just like the white-crowned. The head striping in white-throats is a result of polymorphism with both forms occurring from the same nest. Generally tan striped birds seek out white striped birds when mating. It's not sex related either.

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

I'm under 18!
Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 1,999
offline

Thanks a bunch Gentoo! Such a detailed analysis! :^)

That's so fascinating—do you have any idea why its throat is browner?

So from my understanding the head stripes are simply genetic and are "randomly distributed" in nests, right? BTW, can you tell if it's male or female? I wonder if I can find its mate somewhere around here . . .

Thanks again!

Posted 3 years ago #
ShadeofBlue

preferred member
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 158
offline

That shot really evoked winter, Alpha. I like it a lot.

There's always a bunch of small birds about a 10 minute walk away from my house, but I have to clean and pack all day tomorrow since I have a flight in the evening :(. I think they're Robins, but I really doubt I will have time to take any shots.

Posted 3 years ago #
Gentoo

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 1,538
offline

alphanikonrex said:
Thanks a bunch Gentoo! Such a detailed analysis! :^)

That's so fascinating—do you have any idea why its throat is browner?

So from my understanding the head stripes are simply genetic and are "randomly distributed" in nests, right? BTW, can you tell if it's male or female? I wonder if I can find its mate somewhere around here . . .

Thanks again!

Throat patch looks pretty white to me. Looks like an adult. Sexes cannot be distinguished as is the case for almost all of our native sparrows. Yeah the color of the head stripes is genetic; the tan striped birds are recessive. White-Throats are the only zonotrichias (and I think our only sparrow) to be polymorphic.

That bird wouldn't have a mate right now. Perhaps a flock it goes around with this time of year, often mixes species flocks. Look for some white-crowns among them too.

Posted 3 years ago #
warprints

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 769
offline

Gentoo - why no pics of the Gentoo Penguin??

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

I'm under 18!
Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 1,999
offline

ShadeofBlue said:
That shot really evoked winter, Alpha. I like it a lot.

Thanks ShadeofBlue. It was the first big snow of the season, and with all those birds out there I simply could not miss the opportunity. It took me a while to find this bird. I kept on hearing a chirping nearby but I couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from. I got quite a few good shots of this bird eating berries off of the bush. My equipment got all covered in snow as it was still snowing heavily. I didn't mind but my dad did :^(

Posted 3 years ago #
alphanikonrex

I'm under 18!
Joined: Apr '09
Posts: 1,999
offline

Gentoo said:
Throat patch looks pretty white to me. Looks like an adult. Sexes cannot be distinguished as is the case for almost all of our native sparrows. Yeah the color of the head stripes is genetic; the tan striped birds are recessive. White-Throats are the only zonotrichias (and I think our only sparrow) to be polymorphic.

That bird wouldn't have a mate right now. Perhaps a flock it goes around with this time of year, often mixes species flocks. Look for some white-crowns among them too.

Hmmm, interesting. It looks like I'll go looking for it's flock then—maybe I'll be able to catch a white-crown :^) Thanks for the info Gentoo.

warprints said:
Gentoo - why no pics of the Gentoo Penguin??

I think Gentoo said somewhere that he hated the gentoos!

Posted 3 years ago #
Gentoo

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 1,538
offline

warprints said:
Gentoo - why no pics of the Gentoo Penguin??

It's funny you asked that because I once worked with Gentoo Penguins. But I wasn't a photographer yet.

Posted 3 years ago #
Gentoo

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 1,538
offline

alphanikonrex said:
I think Gentoo said somewhere that he hated the gentoos!

Yeah they were not my favorite at the time. I like the name though.

Posted 3 years ago #
ShadeofBlue

preferred member
Joined: Sep '09
Posts: 158
offline

Here's a grey bird from the San Francisco Bay area. It was right outside my parent's house.

Posted 3 years ago #
Panamon_Creel

senior member
Joined: Jun '09
Posts: 95
offline

Looks like a northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

Posted 3 years ago #
Gentoo

preferred member
Joined: Mar '09
Posts: 1,538
offline

What panama said. The only other possibility would be a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher but they are tiny and would be rare in the Bay Area.

Posted 3 years ago #
jonnyapple

Goldfingers
Joined: May '09
Posts: 3,400
offline

Saw this in NY, NY. Can you tell if it's male or female, Gentoo?

picture from muppet wiki.

Posted 3 years ago #