IDs for Confirmation

[floraphile]

Hi, All.  Taken 09/18/2019, lakeside, central Alabama.  

1.  ?Female Summer Tanager (male was seen earlier) 

2. &3.  ?Rough-Winged Swallow 

[akandula]

1. This actually looks better for an American Goldfinch - Scarlet Tanagers lack the finch-like conical bill and white undertail coverts.
2. Both look good for Northern Rough-wings, due to the brown above, dingy throat/breast, white belly, and square-tipped tail.

[floraphile]

I was calling it Summer Tanager, not Scarlet.  I didn't think about AGF--it looked big and I didn't see the white bars on the wings.  

[akandula]

16 minutes ago, floraphile said:

I was calling it Summer Tanager, not Scarlet.  I didn't think about AGF--it looked big and I didn't see the white bars on the wings.  

Oh, sorry, I misread it. Summer Tanagers never have such dark, contrasty wings and have huge bills. They also lack the white undertail coverts. I believe that American Goldfinches sometimes, in some plumages/molting, show very narrow wingbars. Maybe @Tony Leukering can expand on the plumages.

Sweetgum fruits (the spiky balls) measure 1 to 1.5", so approximately, this bird should be about 4.5 to 5", a perfect size for a small goldfinch (Summer Tanagers measure about 6.7" long). Goldfinches also love eating the seeds of sweetgum trees.

Edited September 18, 2019 by akandula

[floraphile]

So I also probably need a confirmation on what I ID'd as male Summer Tanager ?.  

 

[floraphile]

6 minutes ago, akandula said:

Oh, sorry, I misread it. Summer Tanagers never have such dark, contrasty wings and have huge bills. They also lack the white undertail coverts. I believe that American Goldfinches sometimes, in some plumages/molting, show very narrow wingbars. Maybe @Tony Leukering can expand on the plumages.

Sweetgum fruits (the spiky balls) measure 1 to 1.5", so approximately, this bird should be about 4.5 to 5", a perfect size for a small goldfinch (Summer Tanagers measure about 6.7" long). Goldfinches also love eating the seeds of sweetgum trees.

The sweetgum balls also look huge!  lol.  I blame the telephoto.

[floraphile]

39 minutes ago, akandula said:

1. This actually looks better for an American Goldfinch - Scarlet Tanagers lack the finch-like conical bill and white undertail coverts.
2. Both look good for Northern Rough-wings, due to the brown above, dingy throat/breast, white belly, and square-tipped tail.

My first NRWS! ? 

[akandula]

40 minutes ago, floraphile said:

So I also probably need a confirmation on what I ID'd as male Summer Tanager ?.  

 

Yes, this is an adult male Summer Tanager. Note the red overall and thick, blunt bill. In the first picture you can see how this bird is much larger than the goldfinch compared to the sweetgum fruit.

Congrats on the Northern Rough-winged Swallow lifer! I just got mine a month ago. 

Edited September 18, 2019 by akandula

[floraphile]

2 minutes ago, akandula said:

Yes, this is an adult male Summer Tanager. Note the red overall and thick, blunt bill. In the first picture you can see how this bird is much larger than the goldfinch compared to the sweetgum fruit.

I think my brain was fixated on Summer Tanager & when the next bird I saw in the same tree was yellow...? Not good birding on my part.  It's obvious now the size difference and bill/wing color.

 

Edited September 18, 2019 by floraphile

[Tony Leukering]

The AMGO is a worn, one-year-old (note the very brown primaries and rectrices), so is virtually missing wing bars on the secondary coverts (which were replaced in the prebasic molt in the previous fall, so are darker than the juvenile flight feathers).