Outdoor Ontario
Request for Information => Bird ID => Topic started by: Shortsighted on December 07, 2017, 04:01:06 PM
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Mystery BIRD PORTRAITS ID Game (The Making of ...)
Bird I
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-Z3D94fh/0/82a929a0/Th/i-Z3D94fh-Th.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-Z3D94fh/A)
Bird II
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-r8Xbndm/0/362e6975/Th/i-r8Xbndm-Th.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-r8Xbndm/A)
Bird III
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-782W9dw/0/63e733f3/Th/i-782W9dw-Th.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-782W9dw/A)
Bird IV
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-853trgd/0/60919ce5/S/i-853trgd-S.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-853trgd/A)
Bird V
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-KNJzRwL/0/975cdc75/Th/i-KNJzRwL-Th.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-KNJzRwL/A)
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Bird V - Swamp Sparrow
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Here are my guesses.
Bird I is Dunlin. Bird IV is Northern Mockingbird.
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Bird II Bay breasted warbler;
Bird III Black and white warbler.
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Some correct ID's have been offered.
takkatakka correct for bird I (Dunlin) and bird IV (Mockingbird)
thouc correct guess for bird V (Swamp sparrow)
Sorry Ally, bird II is NOT a Bay-breasted warbler
and bird III is not a B*W warbler
Full photos in the photography section.
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Bird 2 Pine Siskin, Bird 3 Downy Woodpecker?
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Reply to MikeN:
Pine Siskin and Downy woodpecker are NOT among the mystery birds featured.
For bird II look carefully at two distinguishing colours on the photo-snippet
One colour is obvious and the other is barely there.
Bird III is not so much black and white as it is grayish-blue and white with
a fine and more delicate pattern of lines than a woodpecker.
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ii Chestnut-sided Warbler
iii YR Warbler
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Correct ID from canoncan:
Bird II is Chestnut-sided warbler (male)
Bird III is Myrtle warbler (Yellow-rumped)
See full photos in photography section
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PART - 2
Zeus
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-zph4mFL/0/5e63a246/S/i-zph4mFL-S.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-zph4mFL/A)
Hera
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-4vwrrKq/0/a4f6dd3b/S/i-4vwrrKq-S.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-4vwrrKq/A)
Athena
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-HsMT7N4/0/bdbc6a80/Th/i-HsMT7N4-Th.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-HsMT7N4/A)
Perseus
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-nprFvdC/0/4352ffde/Th/i-nprFvdC-Th.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-nprFvdC/A)
Aphrodite
(https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-8TBQD4x/0/d583b065/Th/i-8TBQD4x-Th.jpg) (https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-358cgw/i-8TBQD4x/A)
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Athena - American Robin?
Aphrodite - Blue-gray Gnatcatcher?
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Hera Purple Finch;
Perseus House Finch.
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Perseus - American Tree Sparrow?
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Three correct ID's to report for Dinusaur and thouc, sorry Ally please try again.
Athena is an American Robin
Aphrodite if a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher with a prize
Perseus is an American Tree Sparrow
Full photos in photography section as per usual
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:roll: :roll: But I only know like ten birds ......
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You need to mingle more. Try devouring a really good bird book.
Someone got me the Smithsonian ID book and I study it frequently.
You only see what you know, so expand your knowledge base and
you will discover what eluded you before. The precondition for
that to work is going out EVERY CHANCE YOU GET! Go out alone and
clear your mind and dial-in your senses without distraction. That means
no music, no cell phone, no partner, no dog, no ego, and no crowds
(off times such as early morning of late afternoon). That circle of ten
birds will become a hundred soon enough.
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Sir. Yes sir!
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Ally, you are doing great; you have identified some difficult ones that I had no clue of. You seem to be enjoying these challenges which matters the most. I started building my life list through photography not so long ago; if a bird can't be identified through the photos I take it doesn't make my life list. It is fun as Shortsighted mentioned above. I also have a few books including David Bird's Birds of Canada - that one is my go to book.
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Zeus = Wood Duck
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Hera - Cliff Swallow?
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Thank you for your kind words and guidance. I will get a field guide soon. I used to have one but I had to be part from it. It was so much fun on this forum and I learnt and enjoyed so much from browsing some of your flicker postings. You guys made it so much easier for a new birder like me by clearly naming them. I also started learning to draw them with pencils so I can remember them better. That aided my success ID in previous rounds.
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With form-recognition skills like that you are way ahead of me. I would imagine that
you could ID a bird in seconds just by its shape, something not everyone can do because
they cannot see shape well, just like some people can't recognize faces well.
You could be an illustrator of a bird book. The first bird book I owned featured drawings
instead of photographs, which was always more engaging anyway. What is more, the
drawings exaggerated certain cardinal features that make ID possible in the field.
In other words, it left the viewer with an image that closely resembles what one might
rightly recall from having seen the bird in the field because those special characteristic
are the ones that stick in your mind best. A scale modeler often exaggerates parts of
a model that are not necessarily the way they would look at scale, but those subtle
elaborations are FAR more satisfying to the viewer than true scale. The drawing of bird
works in the same way. The artist can cut through the myriad of clutter (superfluous details)
and capture the essence of a species and therefore offer a better reference guide that the absolute fidelity
of a photograph. You could marry photographer and artist, two skills most of us cannot recruit.
I always said I can only identify what I have had the good fortune to photograph. If you draw every
bird you encounter, or photograph, you will remember it for life.
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To KevinH - yes Zeus is a male Wood duck
To Dinusaur - Hera is indeed a Cliff Swallow
full photos on photo section
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Thank you. :D :D
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You may have just rendered "Little Urchin" into the technical lexicon.
You heard it here first folks.