Liam's Weekly Quiz!

[Liam]

Just now, Birding Boy said:

Do you still need photos of Finches (Purple/Cassin’s/House) and Swans? Forgot to dm you some when you put that out a week ago. I have a few of the above Sp I’ll send tonight as well.

Yeah. Those will be good for future quizzes.

[BirdNrd]

4 minutes ago, Liam said:

Yeah. Those will be good for future quizzes.

What about female orioles?

[PaulK]

46 minutes ago, Liam said:

Y'all have any preference on what we should do for the next quiz?

 

Orioles? Snoss's Gooses?

Winter loons could be fun too!

[Liam]

2 minutes ago, BirdNrd said:

What about female orioles?

I've been collecting images of those for a few weeks now!

1 minute ago, PaulK said:

Winter loons could be fun too!

Also a good idea!

[Liam]

On 2/15/2022 at 11:17 AM, Liam said:

Thanks everyone for sharing your photos! There were some great quiz photos and I've included some in this week's quiz!

 

Location for #3: inland Georgia, USA.

 

Bonus!! No points added for this one.

Thanks everyone for you participation!

This week's quiz was challenging in that Turdus thrushes are very similar! The subtleties of their plumage differences are difficult to discern for many and structurally they don't differ much. First look at the coloration of the cheeks, face, and rump/tail. Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's are very gray on the face and have a pretty subdued brownish-gray back, wings, and rump/tail. Swainson's and Hermit are more buffy on the cheek and face, even on the throat in Swainson's case, and have rich brown on the wings and tail with Hermit showing more of a bright rufous on the rump and tail. Finally, Veery is very rich in color, almost coppery, with rich brown cheeks and face and a buffy wash on the chest with subdued breast markings.

1). The eyering isn't as prominent as a Swainson's spectacles and note the bright rump and tail. This is a Hermit Thrush photographed by @Connor Cochrane in Marin County, CA in March.

2). The face is rich brown and the breast has a buffy wash and subdued breast markings. This is a Veery photographed in Emanuel County, Georgia in September.

3). The face is gray and the brown plumage has more gray tones. This is a Gray-cheeked Thrush. Location favors Gray-cheeked over Bicknell's. This was photographed by @HamRHead in Burke County, Georgia in September.

4). What's with this one? It's coppery like a Veery and has subdued or maybe even absent breast markings, but it's very grayish on the breast. It's still clearly a Catharus, but doesn't match any of our ABA species very well. That's because it's a Mexican endemic Russet Nightingale-Thrush, which have never been sighted in the USA, but actually have breeding records ~15 mi from the Texas border. This photo was taken by Micah Riegner in Chihuahua, MX in August only 140 mi from the New Mexico border.

5). This one is rich brown on the wings and head with a buffy wash on the face and chest and doesn't have a rufous tail. It also has prominent spectacles. This is a Swainson's Thrush photographed by @Connor Cochrane in Marin County, CA in December.

Bonus)! This one was just for fun. It's a special case in that it's leucistic so it's even more challenging to identify. This was taken by @stitch58 who had it identified as a Gray-cheeked.

Here is this week's scoreboard. Let me know if I messed anything up: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O-lJlp8rr2VAK3CFkMpCkMB-ayTbV7Us/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104899496886098762905&rtpof=true&sd=true

[PalmWarbler]

12 minutes ago, Liam said:

Thanks everyone for you participation!

This week's quiz was challenging in that Turdus thrushes are very similar! The subtleties of their plumage differences are difficult to discern for many and structurally they don't differ much. First look at the coloration of the cheeks, face, and rump/tail. Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's are very gray on the face and have a pretty subdued brownish-gray back, wings, and rump/tail. Swainson's and Hermit are more buffy on the cheek and face, even on the throat in Swainson's case, and have rich brown on the wings and tail with Hermit showing more of a bright rufous on the rump and tail. Finally, Veery is very rich in color, almost coppery, with rich brown cheeks and face and a buffy wash on the chest with subdued breast markings.

1). The eyering isn't as prominent as a Swainson's spectacles and note the bright rump and tail. This is a Hermit Thrush photographed by @Connor Cochrane in Marin County, CA in March.

2). The face is rich brown and the breast has a buffy wash and subdued breast markings. This is a Veery photographed in Emanuel County, Georgia in September.

3). The face is gray and the brown plumage has more gray tones. This is a Gray-cheeked Thrush. Location favors Gray-cheeked over Bicknell's. This was photographed by @HamRHead in Burke County, Georgia in September.

4). What's with this one? It's coppery like a Veery and has subdued or maybe even absent breast markings, but it's very grayish on the breast. It's still clearly a Catharus, but doesn't match any of our ABA species very well. That's because it's a Mexican endemic Russet Nightingale-Thrush, which have never been sighted in the USA, but actually have breeding records ~15 mi from the Texas border. This photo was taken by Micah Riegner in Chihuahua, MX in August only 140 mi from the New Mexico border.

5). This one is rich brown on the wings and head with a buffy wash on the face and chest and doesn't have a rufous tail. It also has prominent spectacles. This is a Swainson's Thrush photographed by @Connor Cochrane in Marin County, CA in December.

Bonus)! This one was just for fun. It's a special case in that it's leucistic so it's even more challenging to identify. This was taken by @stitch58 who had it identified as a Gray-cheeked.

Here is this week's scoreboard. Let me know if I messed anything up: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O-lJlp8rr2VAK3CFkMpCkMB-ayTbV7Us/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104899496886098762905&rtpof=true&sd=true

That was a tough one for me.

[IKLland]

14 minutes ago, Liam said:

Thanks everyone for you participation!

This week's quiz was challenging in that Turdus thrushes are very similar! The subtleties of their plumage differences are difficult to discern for many and structurally they don't differ much. First look at the coloration of the cheeks, face, and rump/tail. Gray-cheeked/Bicknell's are very gray on the face and have a pretty subdued brownish-gray back, wings, and rump/tail. Swainson's and Hermit are more buffy on the cheek and face, even on the throat in Swainson's case, and have rich brown on the wings and tail with Hermit showing more of a bright rufous on the rump and tail. Finally, Veery is very rich in color, almost coppery, with rich brown cheeks and face and a buffy wash on the chest with subdued breast markings.

1). The eyering isn't as prominent as a Swainson's spectacles and note the bright rump and tail. This is a Hermit Thrush photographed by @Connor Cochrane in Marin County, CA in March.

2). The face is rich brown and the breast has a buffy wash and subdued breast markings. This is a Veery photographed in Emanuel County, Georgia in September.

3). The face is gray and the brown plumage has more gray tones. This is a Gray-cheeked Thrush. Location favors Gray-cheeked over Bicknell's. This was photographed by @HamRHead in Burke County, Georgia in September.

4). What's with this one? It's coppery like a Veery and has subdued or maybe even absent breast markings, but it's very grayish on the breast. It's still clearly a Catharus, but doesn't match any of our ABA species very well. That's because it's a Mexican endemic Russet Nightingale-Thrush, which have never been sighted in the USA, but actually have breeding records ~15 mi from the Texas border. This photo was taken by Micah Riegner in Chihuahua, MX in August only 140 mi from the New Mexico border.

5). This one is rich brown on the wings and head with a buffy wash on the face and chest and doesn't have a rufous tail. It also has prominent spectacles. This is a Swainson's Thrush photographed by @Connor Cochrane in Marin County, CA in December.

Bonus)! This one was just for fun. It's a special case in that it's leucistic so it's even more challenging to identify. This was taken by @stitch58 who had it identified as a Gray-cheeked.

Here is this week's scoreboard. Let me know if I messed anything up: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O-lJlp8rr2VAK3CFkMpCkMB-ayTbV7Us/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=104899496886098762905&rtpof=true&sd=true

How was swainson’s ruled out for the second one?

[The Bird Nuts]

Aw man! I got all of them except for the bonus bird and #1, which I guessed was a Swainson's.  Must be a different subspecies of Hermit than I am used to seeing here.  But I got the Russet Nightingale-Thrush before the hint was given!

Edited February 21, 2022 by The Bird Nuts

[meghann]

20 minutes ago, The Bird Nuts said:

Aw man! I got all of them except for the bonus bird and #1, which I guessed was a Swainson's.  Must be a different subspecies of Hermit than I am used to seeing here.  But I got the Russet Nightingale-Thrush before the hint was given!

I got them all except 5 and the Bonus (although I went Swainson's there, so wasn't toooo far off. Lol.) 5 is the reason I took so long submitting. I thought Swainson's, but talked myself out of it, because the eyering seemed too thin, and here in Georgia, I almost never see them on the ground like that. Ah well.

[Kevin]

I fully blame how bad I did on being sick when I sent my guesses in. ?

 

[SirVive]

9 hours ago, Liam said:

Y'all have any preference on what we should do for the next quiz?

 

Orioles? Snoss's Gooses?

If I have to ask what a Snoss is for starters I'd probably better not vote for that one? 

[Liam]

18 hours ago, IKLland said:

How was swainson’s ruled out for the second one?

Firstly, it lacks the conspicuous spectacles that Swainson's has. Secondly, the breast markings are very subdued compared to Swainson's. The coloration is also kind of coppery if you look at the crown and cheeks.

[Liam]

10 hours ago, SirVive said:

If I have to ask what a Snoss is for starters I'd probably better not vote for that one? 

Snow/Ross's Goose!

[Liam]

I am counting additional points for sex for all birds, even the background species in #4. I am not counting points for age. I will count 1 extra point for subspecies, but only on 3, 4d, and 5.

[IKLland]

Gosh I gotta study up on purple/cassins...

[Avery]

52 minutes ago, Liam said:

I will count 1 extra point for subspecies, but only on 3, 4d, and 5.

HUGE hint, or a trick?

[meghann]

39 minutes ago, Avery said:

HUGE hint, or a trick?

I think both.

[Kevin]

I like these sooo much better than last week's! 

[Connor Cochrane]

I should've submitted this one

Edited February 22, 2022 by Connor Cochrane

[Liam]

6 hours ago, Avery said:

HUGE hint, or a trick?

Neither, really

[Kevin]

43 minutes ago, Connor Cochrane said:

I should've submitted this one

House Finch. 

[Connor Cochrane]

4 minutes ago, Kevin said:

House Finch. 

Nope!

[IKLland]

4 minutes ago, Connor Cochrane said:

Nope!

It’s purple finch, right? 

[Birding Boy]

53 minutes ago, Connor Cochrane said:

I should've submitted this one

I think I remember you posting that one! Super neat looking bird.

[SirVive]

I wonder if I need to try looking at these on a different screen - even looking back after the fact and fully zoomed in I can't see any gradient in color on that Hermit (1). And of all the species that is one I have seen and knew what markings to look for.